IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


// 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


Ifia  nil 

:-'  us  iio 


;.8 


U    III  1.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


3.1  WKT  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14SB0 

(716)  873-4503 


^-. 


f/ 


& 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  institute  for  Hittoricai  IMicroreproductions  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquaa 


TNa  Inatitute  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  method  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


D 


D 


D 


D 
D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Cuuverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couvertura  andommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurAe  et/ou  pelliculAe 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  g6ographiques  en  couleur 


□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


D 


Coloured  plates  and/or  Illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutias 
lors  dune  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte. 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  M  film^es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl^mentaires; 


Th 
to 


L'Inatitut  a  microfilm6  le  meilleur  exemplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  6tA  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaira  qui  sont  paut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mtthoda  normala  de  filmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


□   Coloured  pagea/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

n    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagias 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^as  et/ou  pellicul^es 

r~^    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


D 


Th 
po 
of 
fill 


Or 
be 
th« 
sio 
oti 
fin 
bio 
or 


Pages  d6color6es,  tachet^es  ou  piquies 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tach6es 

Showthroughy 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materia 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppi^mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


I      I  Pages  detached/ 

r^  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I      I  Only  edition  available/ 


Th 
shi 
Til 
wl 

Mi 
dif 
en 
be 

rig 
re( 

m« 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6X6  filmdes  6  nouveau  de  fa^on  6 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  in  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

/ 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


tails 

du 
Ddifier 

une 
Tiage 


The  copy  filmad  her«  has  been  reproduced  shanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Dana  Portar  Arts  Library 
Univari'ty  of  Waterloo 

The  intages  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  iteeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
ginirositA  de: 

Dana  Portar  Arti  Library 
Univartity  of  Waterloo 

Lee  images  suivantes  ont  t%6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  ia  nettetA  de  rexemplaire  filmi,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  bacit  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exempiaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  filmAs  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exempiaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  nn  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboies  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
derniira  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 


Meps,  plate >,  (;r~*t<.  «tc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduct;  >'   stio^.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  ire  one  (Exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aii  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmis  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droits, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


rrata 
:o 


pelure, 
1  A 


□ 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY 


OP   THK 


UNITED   STATES, 


JFrom  t^e  Earliest  Settlements  to  tfje  present  Eimti 


BEING 

A  COMPLETE  SURVEY  OF  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES, 

EMBRACING 

AGRICUI/rURE  AND  HORTICULTURK;   INCLUDING  THE  CULTIVATION 
OF  COTTON,  TOBACCO,  WHEAT;   THE  RAISING  OF  HORSES,  NEAT- 
CATTLE,    ETC.;     ALL    THE    IMPORTANT    MANUFACTURES, 
SHIPPING    AND    FISHERIES,    RAILROADS,    MINES    AND 
MINING,    AND    OIL;     ALSO    A    HISTORY    OF    THE 
COAI^MINERS  AND  THE    MOLLY    MAGUIRES; 
BANKS,    INSURANCE,    AND    COMMERCE; 
TRADE-UNIONS,    STRIKES,    AND 
EIGHT-HOUR    MOVEMENT; 

TOGETHER   WITH   A    DESCRIPTION   OP 

CANADIAN   INDUSTRIES. 


Hn  ^cbcn  Boofts. 


CO/'fOUSLY  ILLUSTRATED   WITH  ABOUT  THREE  HUNDRED  ENGRAVINGS  BY 

THE  MOST  EMINENT  ARTISTS. 


BY 


ALBERT  S.  BOLLES, 

LBCTURBR   IN   POLITICAL   ECONOMY  IN   BOSTON   UNIVERSITY,  AND  AUTHOR 
OP    "THE  CONFLICT    BETWEEN   LABOR   AND  CAPITAL,"   AND 
"CHAPTERS  IN   POLITICAL  ECONOMY." 


NORWICH,  CONN. : 
THE  HENRY   BILL   PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

1879. 


Col'YRKlHT,    1878.    HY 

Thk  Henry  Hill  Puhlishino  Comiasy, 


franklin  Press: 

Eltctrotyptd  and  Printed  bf 

Rand,  Avery,  &•  Co., 

Boston. 


PREFACE. 


THIC  present  work  was  projected  by  the  author  several  years  ago,  and  is 
now  given  to  the  public  in  the  belief  that  it  will  prove  really  useful, 
inasmuch  as  nothing  worthy  of  the  name  has  appeared,  while  the  field  itself  is 
quite  as  deserving  of  study  as  any  otiier  portion  or  phase  of  American  history. 

A  great  variety  of  materials  have  been  collected  and  used  in  the  present 
undertaking :  many  facts,  also,  have  been  gathered  from  conversation  with 
persons  who  were  more  or  less  familiar  with  some  sjiecial  branch  of  American 
industry.  The  author  has  sought  to  make  projier  acknowledgment  for  all 
facts  and  incidents  herein  related,  though  doubtless  he  has  failed  to  do 
justice  to  every  work  and  author  from  whom  special  information  has  been 
drawn.  On  page  56  he  omitted  to  state  that  the  statistics  relating  to  ship- 
ments of  cotton  were  taken  from  Mr.  Dana's  valuable  work  entitleil  "  Cotton 
from  Seed  to  Loom  ; "  while  it  ought  to  be  mentioned,  that,  in  the  introductory 
chapter,  free  use  has  been  made  of  the  short  but  excellent  sketches  of  Ben  : 
Perley  Poore  and  Charles  L.  Flint  of  the  History  of  Agriculture  contained  in 
the  Unitetl -States  Agricultural  Reports,  as  well  as  the  paper  of  the  latter  on 
American  Horses  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  same  publication.  Likewise, 
in  describing  the  Pittsburgh  riots  of  1877,  liberal  use  was  made  of  the  mes- 
sage of  Gov.  F-^rtranft,  which  contained  a  very  concise  and  truthful  account 
of  that  shocking  affair. 

Nor  would  I  fail  to  express  my  very  great  indebtedness  to  Henry  Hall  of 
"  The  New-Vork  Tribune,"  and  James  Hall  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  without  whose 
assistance  the  preparation  of  this  work  for  the  press  would  have  been  much 
longer  delayed. 

To  Mr.  C.  A.  Cutter,  Librarian  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  my  sincerest 


IV 


PREFACE. 


thanks  arc  <iuc,  ami  arc  hereby  tendered,  for  tlie  exreedingly  liberal  use  of  the 
books  of  that  institution  ;  and  also  to  the  Librarian  of  the  Boston  I\jblic 
Library  for  sj)ecial  privileges  of  a  similar  character.  I  would  further  aild  my 
obligations  to  the  Librarian  of  the  Astor  Library  for  the  privilege  of  consulting 
to  my  Iwst  advantage  the  treasures  of  that  collection.  The  aids  thus  obtained 
from  these  three  noble  institutions  were  invaluable :  indeed,  without  them,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  the  author  to  have  executed  the  present  work. 

Norwich,  Conn.,  Oct.  15,  1878. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.. 


BOOK  I. 

AGRICULTURE  AND  HORTICULTURE. 

CHAPTER  I. 
General  History 1-31 

Inlroductory.  —  Indian  Agriculture.  —  Colonial  Agriculture  in  the  Southern  Colonies.  —  Colo- 
nial Agriculture  in  the  New-KngI.-ind  Colonies.  —  French  Coloni.il  Agriculture.  —  Kffects 
of  American  Revolution.  —  Causes  of  Progress  in  Agriculture.  —  Homestead  L:iws.  — 
Agricultural  Societies.  —  Granger  Movement.  —  Agricultural  Education  and  Literature. 
~  Establishment  of  State  Boards  of  Agriculture. 

CHAPTER   n. 
Agricultural  Implements 32-45 

CHAPTER  Hf. 
Cotton 46-61 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Wheat 62-72 

CHAPTER  V. 
Corn       .       .       ., 73-79 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Sugar  and  Molasses 80-89 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Tobacco 90-98 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Grass  and  Hay 99-iot 

T 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IX. 
Minor  Crops 102-113 

CHAPTER  X. 
Nkat-Cattle 1 14-126 

CHAPTER   XI. 
Butter  and  Cheese 127-136 

*                                    CHAPTER   XH. 
The  Horse i37-'4S 

The  Trotting- Horse.  —  The  Pacing- Horse. 

CHAPTER    XHI. 
Sheep 149-156 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
.Swine      . 157-163 

CHAPTER   XV. 
Horticulture,  Nurseries,  and  Fruit-Raisinc. 164-181 


BOOK    II. 


MANUFA  CTURES. 

CHAPTER    I.           ...               .    I,      • 
Manufacture  or  Iron  and  Steei 185-216 

E.irly  History.  —  Forty  Yc.nrs  of  Repression  .ind  Struggle.  —  The  r,(Tect  of  T.iriffs.  —  The 
Er.i  of  Anthr.ncite  Fuel  .ind  the  Hot  Hl.ist.  — The  Growth  cif  Kolling-Mills.  —  Influence 
of  Paris  Exposition  on  American  Iron-Manufacture.  —  The  Manufacture  of  Steel. 

CHAPTER   II. 
Iron  and  .Steel  Manufactures 217-315 

Nails,  —  Cutlery.  —  Clocks  and  W.itches.  —  Iron  Pipes  and  Tubes.  —  Ixjcomotives.  —  Sewing- 
Machincs.  —  Fiic-Arms.  —  Iron-working  Machinery.  —  Axes  and  .Saws.  —  Stoves.  —  Safes. 
—  Iron  Bridges.  —  Printing-Presses.  —  Wire.  —  Water- Wheels.  —  Locks.  —  Pumps. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Manufactures  of  Gold,  Silver,  and  Other  Metals  .....    316-368 

Coinage.  —  Jewelry.  —  Gold  and  Silver  Leaf.  —  Silver  T.ible-Ware.  —  Copper  and  Brass  I'ttn- 
sils.  —  Bronze  Ware  and  Statinry.  —  Bells.  —  Lead-Manufactures.  —  Stereotyping.  — 
Tin  -Ware.  —  Toys.  —  Applicat'ons  of  Zinc. 


CONTENTS.  vU 

Cri AFTER   IV. 

TiiK  Manukacturk  of  Wool 369-402 

(ieneral  History  of  the  Woollen-Manufacture. —  Spinning  and  Weaving.  —  HaU.  — Carpet!.— 
Shoddy.  —  Clothing.  —  Hoitiery. 

CHAITKR   V. 
TiiK  Manufacture  of  Cotton 403-426 


CHAl'TKR   VI. 


Sii.k-Manufacturk 


CHAPTER  VII. 
.SiiuK  and  Leather  Manufactures  . 


I'ArKR    AND    I'AI'KR-IIaNGINCS 


Gunpowder  and  Fireworks 


iNniA-RuBiiER  Manufactures 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CHAPTER  X. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


•      • 


•      • 


C11E.MICAL  Manufactures 


427-443 
444-456 
457-468 

469-478 
479-487 
488-496 


CHAPTER   XII. 
Wood  ano  Other  Manufactures 

Lumber.  —  WooJ-Working  Machinery.  —  Furniture.  —  Starch. —Wine,  Spirits,  and  Beer. — 
Cordage  and  Ragging.  —  .Soap.  —  Flour.  —  Musical  Instruments. — Matches. — Glass- 
Ware  and  Pottery.  —  Glue.  —  Veneering.  —  Carriages  and  Cars. 


497-559 


CHAPTER   XIH. 


Conclusion 


560-565 


BOOK    III. 

SHIPPING  AND  RAILROADS. 
CHAPTER    1. 


Wooden  Ships 


CHAPTER  II. 

STEAXf  BOATS 


•  • 


369-582 
583-595 


Vili  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   III. 
Iron  STRAMsiiirs 596-602 

CIIAI'TKR   IV. 
Canals 60J-60K 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Fisiieriks 609-618 

CHAPTER   VI. 
Railroads 619-664 

BOOK    IV. 

MIXES  AND  MINING,  AND  OIL. 
CHAPTER    I. 

MlNINC. 667-672 

Central  History. 

CHAPTER   II. 
Goi.n 673-6S5 

CHAPTER  III. 

Stl.VKR 686-692 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Lkai) 693-696 

CHAPTER  V. 
Copper     697-703 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Coal 704-734 

Coal-Mineri.  —  The  Molly  Maguires.  —  Later  History.  —  Bituminous-coal  Mining. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Iron 73S-747 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Minor  Metals 748-753 


COA  TENTS.  li 

CHAITKR   IX. 
gUARRYINC 754-759 

CHAriKR   X. 
Salt 760-767 

CHAl'TER  XI. 

TETROLEtM 768-780 

BOOK    V. 

liAAKLXG,  INSURANCE,  AND   COMMERCE. 

CIIAPTKR    I. 

IIankinc 783-812 

Early  C\>loni;il  Pcriixl.  —  First  Bank  of  the  United  States.  —  Second  Bank  of  the  United  Stale*. 
—  .State  Hanks.  —  Massachusetts.  —  New  York,  —  Ohio.  —  Indiana.  —  llhnois.  —  Ken- 
tucky.  —  Tennessee.  —  Mississippi, 

CIIAPTKR    II. 
Insurance 813-849 

Marine.  —  Kire.  —  Life.  — Accident, 
CHAPTER   III. 

CuMMKRCK 850-878 

Ante-Revolutionary  Period.  —  PostRovolutionary  Period. 

BOOK    VI. 

TRADE-UXIOiXS  AND   EIGHT-HOUR  MOVEMENT. 

CHAPTER    I. 
Trade-Unions 881-888 

CHAPTER   II. 
EiciiT-HouR  Movement 889-890 

CHAPTER   III. 
Later  History  of  Tradk-Unions 891-90J 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK    VII.  -     •      • 

THE  INDUSTRIES  OE  CANADA. 
,       t  ... 

The  Industries  ok  Canada        ....  907-936 

The  Fisheries.  —  The  Lumber-Trade.  —  Mining.  —  Farming.  —  Manufacturing. 


907-9J6 


BOOK    I. 


AGK.CULTUKK  AND  HORTICULTUR,, 


I 


1 

tl 
h 
n 

wl 
th 

of 

aiK 
tak 
Icai 
a  h 
Ijroi 


the 

/arm 

Ill's  ^ 

from 

the 

rich 

for  w 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY  OF  THE 
UNITED    STATES 


CHAPTER   I. 

CKSERAL  HISTORY, 
INTRODUCTORY. 

pOR  ages  historians  have  been  l.„.    ■ 

^'-"  ;  J,  by  ::^  J^  ;j-";  '-;o-ns  a  truer  his:^;^^^:^^ "' 
»"-'  they  are  settin/b    o  e  ,  ,  i      ;,"•'"'  "^^"  ^^^'^--^  ^ 

n^ore  complete  pictures  o    the  ^  •'  ^"^^'^'  "^«^e  varied    and   """"""' 

torians  there  -ire  u-h/    .  civ.hzation  of  the  past      Hm       f       •""thodsof 

'^'^'^^^"°«^xIiibitonIvasin,ri„    •,         '  Other  his-   ^""ng  u,. 

J'^:  but,  unlike  their  predecesors''      ^'■l^'^^^^^^  "material   ""'■ 

,  ™  ;'"'''"S  ••"^  »"y  o,l,er  phase  If  I  ^l;;  "   "'"=»'  '°'  ""  "^  >leep  -■»■.- 

'^^"'»  the  enemy       a,,,?,-  '^^  '^'^  '^^^1   dehVered   his   conL      '^"^  •f-"«t 

the    cares    of     .  /  ''^'"''^  ^^'ashington   when  •        ^"^  """  ""-«= 

rich  a,,?  ''^^'''   "^'^I    to    Mount   vS.  ?  '■*'"""^'  ^'•°'"   '"" '^''■ 

'  "  ''"•'  numerous  acres  he  .uTT         "*""'   ^^''^^'"e,  amid    his   """""»• 


3  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

more  troubled  days  of  the  Revolution.  Even  of  Webster  it  may  be  questioned, 
whether,  with  all  his  fitness  and  fondness  for  the  national  Senate,  he  did  not 
derive  greater  happiness  from  his  farm  in  Marsiifield  ;  for  what  fact  can  more 
touchingly  attest  his  attachment  to  it  than  his  dying  request  for  his  cattle  to 
be  driven  one  by  one  past  the  window  of  the  room  where  he  lay,  that  he  might 
look  once  more  upon  them  before  his  eyes  were  forever  closed  ? 

Remembering  how  vast  is  the  space  filled  by  agriculture  in  the  industries  of 
our  country,  no  further  justification  is  recjuired  for  writing  its  historv.  I'or  a 
lustification  '""^  ])eriod,  agricultural  i)roducts  have  led  the  list  of  ex])orts  to 
for  writing  a  Other  countries,  and  will  lead  them  for  years  and  centuries  to  come, 
history  of        jf  ,^  histor\'  of  the    efforts  to  destrov  life   be  worth  preserving. 

agriculture.  •  i  o 

surely  a  history  of  those  means  in  which  so  many  are  engaged  to  sus- 
tain life  is  not  less  worthy  of  preser\'ation.  The  famous  minister  of  Henry  IV. 
<^f  France,  Sully,  called  agricuUure,  including  both  tillage  and  pasturage,  "  the 
two  breasts  of  the  state."  Strikingly  true  as  the  figure  is,  will  not  a  review  of 
the  subject,  by  showing  what  has  been  already  accomplished,  excite  the  farmer 
to  new  experiments  and  inquiry  ? 


INDIAN    .\r.KICL"LTl-RF,. 

The  Xorth-.\inerican  Indian  was  not  an  agriculturist :  he  regarded  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil  as  degrading.  Vet.  as  it  was  necessary  for  some  one  to 
Indians  cultivate    it  in  order  to  obtain  a  living,  the  task  fell  to   the   old 

raised  corn,  womeu  and  children.  Though  the  Indian  was  slack,  careless,  and 
lazy,  he  exercised  more  forethought  and  care  about  his  corn-crop  than  any 
thing  else.  When  ('apt.  John  Smith  visited  Virginia  in  1609,  in  writing  of  the 
Indians  he  says,  "  The  greatest  labor  they  take  is  in  planting  their  corn  ;  for 
the  country  i  i  naturally  overgrown  with  wood.  To  prepare  the  ground,  they 
bruise  the  bark  of  trees  near  the  roots  ;  then  do  they  scorch  the  roots  with  fire, 
that  they  grow  no  more."  Very  likely  from  them  our  ancestors  learned  the 
process  of  belting  or  girdling  trees  by  cutting  through  the  sap-woo<l ;  thus 
causing  the  fill  of  the  spray  and  the  decay  of  the  smaller  branches,  and  admit- 
ting the  sun  and  air  in  sufficient  f|uantities  for  corn  to  grow  and  bear  fruit. 

The  mode  of  planting  and  cultivating  corn  was  rude  enough,  and  betokens 
as  clearly  as  any  other  trace  of  their  civilization  how  simple  and  low  it  was. 
Mode  of  Every  spring-time,  the  dead  wood  on  the   ground,  and  perhaps 

•lanting.  other  branches  and  brush,  were  collected  and  burned  to  obtain 
ashes  to  enrich  the  soil  ;  after  which  the  surface  of  the  ground  was  scratched 
with  the  fiat  shoulder-blade  of  the  moose,  or  with  crooked  pieces  of  wood. 
Then  hills  were  made  with  the  nidest  sort  of  wooden  hoes  or  clam-sliells. 
aiiout  four  feet  apart,  in  each  of  which  was  placed  an  alewife  caught  from  the 
adjoining  stream,  or  a  horseshoe  crab  picked  up  from  the  seashore.  Upon 
this  stimulant  were  dropi^ed  half  a  dozen  grains  of  corn,  which  were  covered  : 


OJ^    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


ll>e  same  „,asd™  vi„,l.i„,e.      '        ""'  '')'  "«  ''Kreisu  of 

.w  ti,,;'':;.:.r,r;'';'-'z'' ""  ■""'"■■"  "°-i  ■•■  --i 

'"^"•r  l-am  of  ,|,e  country.     i,;;ore',r"'"   "'"  '''""^'"'  "' 

;— n,s  „K.  ,ar«.,.  nnn    er     /'  ^r!' f "  ""  '*""'  f"™  "-  -.Iks 
'■-•ma,n<lcr  „as  <lri,,|  i„  „,,  ,,„  ,   '  "'^'  ""''  l'»n(;  „,,  i„  „,^.  „  ".','■'• 

»"" ;  after  ,vl,i,-„  ,,rocL     ,         ',  "7  ^""'''"".S  "as,  „r  i„  „,  f   ■""■     '  ''^• 

-^  ',o.s.  an,  iLrjrin":  ;r  ;:^' :  *"■  i-f«' '- 1-."-  "=::? 

»«lll.arkl„|,r„ii,,  ,1,     ,„.  "^  ""''•  "h'^l.  «„c  l,n„l   ■»'"■"■ 

-JY'-r  --va,„l  ,,L     "     J   M  '''  '^'•""  ^'  -I  "..„s,„rc..    .,  ,vri,„ 

•:',;;:':;;':; """  "•"'■  '«■  •'-■> -^    irz'"' 'r "■^- ""■"™ '>- .'. " 

-^nf  ;^r;:;;:rt!rrT  •"" «-- -"  ";^:::;r' 

"P-  parched   corn    called    ^r^^';;  ^';:./""-  --..  1..,,   „        "'^^ 
J-rneyed  through  the  forests  o    tlt t",,  ,  ""'"    ''"^^^   ^^'"-ns    "a7.  "o;.., 

";ver  proved, rcarheroustoln,        ^'^^^"'''-"-^  »l>o.n    he  loved    and  u-I 

ornbtaJk.,  thus  economising  the 


4  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

use  of  pea-brush  and  bean-poles.  Surely  this  was  an  exhibition  of  economy 
in  labor  and  material  worthy  of  a  savage.  During  the  month  of  May  they 
Other  fruiu  also  planted  "  pumpkins  "  among  their  corn,  "  and  a  fruit  like  unto 
raited.  3  musk-melon,  but  less  and  worse,  which  they  called  '  macocks.'  " 

The  bold  and  unljlushing  sunflower  was  also  cultivated  ;  but  instead  of  putting 
its  seeds  to  the  ignoble  use  of  hen-fodder,  as  the  modems  do,  they  were  made 
into  bread.  In  some  parts  of  the  country  wild  rice  was  gathered  and  kept 
for  winter  use;  and  Barlowe,  who  visited  North  Carolina  in  1584,  affirms  that 
he  saw  there  "both  wheat  and  oats."  Tobacco  was  everywhere  cultivated. 
Huge  grape  vines  intwined  many  a  forest-tree,  and  the  woods  abounded  with 
other  wild  firuits  and  berries.  Gourds  were  raised,  of  all  sizes,  from  the  huge 
"  cal-a-bash-es,"  holding  two  or  three  gallons  apiece,  to  the  "  tiny  receptacles 
of  pigments  used  in  painting  for  war."  Cherries  and  plums  also  abounded, 
large  quantities  of  which  were  dried  for  winter  use.  Concerning  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  apple,  something  will  be  said  in  another  place. 

Although  the  Indians  knew  nothing  about  sugar-cane,  tiiey  were  not  without 
sugar ;  for  they  extracted  it  from  the  maple,  just  as  we  do  now.  Mixed  with 
Dainty  freshly- pounded  "  sup-paun,"  and  seasoned  with   dried  whortle- 

dishe*  and  berries,  a  dainty  dish  was  baked  for  high  festivals ;  and,  for  an 
beverages.  accompanying  beverage,  the  dried  meats  of  oil-nuts  were  pounded, 
and  boiled  in  the  juice  of  sassafras.  For  lights  on  such  occasions,  candles 
were  made  from  the  green  wax  of  the  bayberry,  with  rush  wicks,  which  burned 
brightly,  and  yielded  a  pleasant  odor. 

Their  provisions  were  stored  in  boxes  made  of  birch-bark ;  and  their  cutting 
instruments  and  sharp  weapons  were  pointed  with  flint-stone,  shells,  or  bones. 
Instruments  ^  ^^^  earthen  vessels  were  used  ;  but  the  superiority  of  our  civili- 
and  domestic  zation,  in  its  material  characteristics,  over  the  aboriginal,  presents 
animals.  ^^  more  Striking  contrast  than  in  the  variety  and  improvement  of 
means  for  cultivating  the  soil.  It  may  also  be  added,  that  the  Indian  possessed 
no  domestic  animals  except  a  few  small  dogs,  and  no  poultry. 

Such  is  a  brief  picture  of  the  agricultural  life  of  the  Indian.  Long  ago  the 
cheerless  wigwam  was  supplanted  by  the  pleasant  home,  the  crabbed  orchard 
Fate  of  In-  ^^  ^'"H^  ^ind  more  luscious  fruit,  and  the  ill-tilled,  scanty  corn- 
dianacricui-  patch  by  more  careful  tillage  and  abundant  crops.  Although 
*""■  cattle-shows  and   agricultural  aimiversaries   were   unknown,    the 

Indians  celebrated  their  "  green-corn  dance  "  and  the  feast  of  the  "  harvest- 
moon."    But, 

"  Alas  for  them  1  their  day  is  o'er ; 
Their  fires  are  out  from  hill  to  shore: 
No  more  for  them  the  red  deer  bounds ; 
The  plough  is  in  their  hunting-grounds ; 
The  pale  man's  axe  rings  through  their  woods, 
The  pale  man's  sail  skims  o'er  their  floods ; 
Their  pleasant  springs  are  dry." 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


colonial' AGRICULTURE   IN   THE   SOUTHERN   COLONIES. 

The  system  of  agriculture  which  swept  away  the  aboriginal  system,  though 
vastly  superior  to  it,  was,  nevertheless,  very  imperfect  compared  with  the 
system  of  modem  days.  Two  very  different  systems  flourished  in  who  settled 
the  colonies,  each  of  which  requires  a  separate  description.  To  Virginia, 
the  Southern  colonies  first  came  an  aristocratic  people,  with  their  servants  and 
slaves.  They  were  followe4  by  Scotch  merchants  and  mechanics,  who  were 
succeeded  by  French  Huguenots  of  high  spirit  and  attainments ;  while  at  a 
later  period  flocked  large  numbers  of  Scotch  Jacobins,  on  account  of  the 
unsuccessful  rebellions  of  the  pretenders  to  the  Scottish  throne.  A  true 
glimpse  of  the  immigration  by  which  Virginia,  the  mother  of  the  South  Atlantic 
States,  was  colonized,  may  be  obtained  from  the  response  of  the  governor, 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  to  one  of  the  interrogatories  propounded  to  him  by  the 
British  lords-commissioners  of  foreign  affairs.  In  response  to  the  intjuiry, 
"  What  number  of  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  have,  for  these  seven  years  last 
past,  come  yearly  to  plant  and  inhabit  with  your  government?  "  and  also,  "  What 
blacks  or  slaves  have  been  brought  within  the  same?"  he  replied,  "Yearly 
there  come  in  of  servants  about  fifteen  hundred.  Most  are  English,  few 
Scotch,  and  fewer  Irish,  and  not  above  two  or  three  ships  of  negroes  in  seven 
years."  Nothing  is  said  of  the  free  immigrants,  though  included  in  the 
interrogatory  ;  and  their  number  was,  doubtless,  too  inconsiderable  for  notice. 
In  the  same  examination  Sir  William  says,  "  But  I  thank  God  there  are  no 
free  schools  or  printing  ;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience  and  heresy  anil 
sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them  and  libels  against  the 
best  government.     God  keep  us  from  both  !  " 

The  feudal  system  also,  which  was  weakening  in  England,  was  adopted, 
though  in  an  earlier  form,  as  the  following  extract  from  one  of  tlie  royal 
grants  will  show.  It  gave  the  patentee  the  right ''  to  divide  the  Feudal  »y». 
said  tract  or  territory  of  land  into  counties,  hundreds,  parishes,  ^"'^  adopted, 
tithings,  townships,  hamlets,  and  boroughs,  and  to  erect  and  build  cities, 
towns,  parishes,  churches,  colleges,  chapels,  free  schools,  almshouses,  and  houses 
of  correction,  and  to  endow  the  same  at  their  free  will  and  pleasure ;  and  did 
appoint  them  full  and  perpetual  patrons  of  all  such  churches  so  to  be  built  and 
endowed ;  with  power,  also,  to  divide  any  part  or  parcel  of  said  tract  or 
territory,  or  portion  of  land,  into  manors,  and  to  call  the  same  after  their  own 
or  any  of  their  names,  or  by  other  name  or  names  whatsoever ;  and  within  the 
same  to  hold  a  court  in  the  nature  of  a  court-baron,  and  to  hold  pleas  of  all 
actions,  trespasses,  covenants,  accounts,  contracts,  detinues,  debts,  and  demands 
whatsoever,  when  the  debt  or  thing  demanded  exceed  not  the  value  of  forty 
shillings  sterling  money  of  England ;  and  to  receive  and  take  all  amerce- 
ments, fruits,  commodities,  advantages,  perquisites,  and  emoluments  whatso- 
ever, to  such  respective  court-barons  belonging  or  in  any  wise  appertaining ; 


I 


6  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

and,  further,  to  hold  within  the  same  manors  a  court-Ieet  and  view  of  frank- 
l)Iedge  of  all  the  tenants,  residents,  and  inhabitants  of  the  hutidred  within  such 
respective  manors." 


NEW   RIVER  PLOl'GH-TEAM,  VIRCIN'IA. 

The  farms  in  Virginia  and  Maryland  were  extensive,  fronting  on  the  Ches- 
apeake I-ay  or  its  tributaries,  and  running  a  long  way  into  the  interior.  Not 
Farms  and  far  from  the  shore  of  river  or  bay  was  located  the  planter's  mansion, 
mansions.  jq  which  came  ships  from  England,  bringing  merchandise  in 
exchange  for  tobacco ;  or  other  craft  laden  with  the  products  of  New- 
England  fisheries,  or  of  West-India  plantations,  to  barter  for  tobacco,  wheat, 
or  com.  The  intervening  space  between  the  mansion-house  and  water-side 
was  usually  laid  out  as  a  garden,  m  the  prim,  stiff  style  of  those  days,  with 
terraces,  arbors,  and  wide  walks  bordered  with  box.  Most  of  the  houses  were 
built  of  English  brick,  the  iron-work,  and  also  niu(  h  of  the  interior,  being 
imported.  Entering  the  hall,  we  are  told  by  a  Virginia  anticjuarian,  walls 
were  seen  covered  with  deer's  antlers,  fishing-rods,  and  guns  ;  portraits  of 
cavaliers  and  dames  and  children ;  even  carefully-painted  pictures  of  race- 
horses, on  whose  speed  and  bottom  many  thousands  of  pounds  had  been 
staked,  and  lost  and  won,  in  their  day  and  generation.  f)n  one  side  of  the 
hall  a  broad  staircase,  with  oaken  balustrade,  led  to  the  numerous  apartments 
above  ;  and  on  the  opposite  side  a  door  gave  entrance  into  tlie  great  dining- 
hall.  The  dining-room  was  decorated  with  great  elegance  ;  the  car\ed  oak 
wainscot  extending  above  the  mantlepiece  in  an  unbroken  expanse  of  fruits 
and  flowers,  hideous  laughing  faces,  and  armorial  devices,  to  the  cornice.  The 
furniture  was  in  the  Louis  Quatorze  style,  with  carved  backs  to  the  low-seated 
chairs.  There  were  Chelsea  figures,  and  a  sideboard  full  of  plate,  and  a 
Japan  cabinet,  and  a  Kidderminster  carpet ;  while  in  the  great  fire-place  a  few- 
twigs  crackled  on  huge  and  highly-polished  brass  andirons.  On  the  walls 
hung  pictures  of  gay  gallants,  brave  warriors,  and  fair  dames  whose  eyes  out- 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


dition  of 
■lavet. 


shone  their  diamonds ;  and  more  than  one  ancestor  looked  grimly  down  clad 
in  cuirass  and  armlets,  and  holding  in  his  mailed  hand  the  sword  which  had 
done  bloody  service  in  its  time.  ITie  lady  portraits,  as  an  invariable  rule, 
were  decorated  with  sunset  clouds  of  yellow  lace ;  the  bright  locks  were 
powdered ;  and  many  little  black  patches  set  off  the  dazzling  fairness  of  the 
rounded  chins. 

Near  the  mansion  were  tenements  for  the  manager  and  the  overseers, 
and  the  slave  cabins.  The  first  philanthropist  to  improve  the  condition  of 
his  slaves,  according  to  tnistworthy  authority,  was  Col.  John  j^^ 
Taylor  of  the  Rappahannock  Valley,  who  was  equally  distin-  ment  of  con. 
guished  in  the  last  century  as  a  farmer,  author,  and  statesman. 
"  He  built  commodious  brick  dwellings  for  them,  and  accustomed 
them  to  plank  floors,  glass  windows,  and  decent,  civilized  habits  of  living. 
He,  besides,  furnished  them  more  regularly  and  abundantly  with  food  and 
clothing  than  was  then  usual.  His  negroes  multiplied  rapidly,  became  more 
honest  and  industrious  ;  and  his  crops  increased." 

The  pioneers  of  Virginia  are  described  as  contrasting  strongly  with  the 
planters  and  their  adherents.  In  most  cases  they  were  younger  sons,  unlucky 
gamesters,  turbulent' spirits,  rejected  lovers,  or  disbanded  soldiers,  Thepioneen 
who  turned  their  backs  upon  civilization  to  live  an  untrammelled  *•'  Virginia, 
life  in  some  fertile  mountain-gap  or  rich  river-bottom.  Game  was  plentiful ; 
and  they  were  hunters  rather  than  farmers,  sending  their  peltries  to  market, 
and  only  cultivating  enough  land  to  supply  their  wants.  This  unrestrained  life 
became  a  passion ;  and,  as  the  tide  of  civilization  advanced  westward,  the 
pioneers  would  leave  their  "  settlements  "  with  their  "  improvements,"  to  seek 
some  spot  in  the  wilderness  where  as  yet  no  white  man's  foot  had  trodden. 

Tobacco  early  became  the  staple  product  of  Virginia,  although  laws  numer- 
ous and  stringent  were  enacted  to  prevent  its  cultivation.  Efforts  were  put 
forth  to  encourage  other  branches  of  industry  ;  yet  little  attention  Cultivation 
was  paid  to  them  except  for  purposes  of  home  consumption.  "'  tobacco. 
Planters  still  continued  the  culture  of  the  exhausting  tobacco-plant,  with  con- 
tinuous cropping,  shallow  ploughing,  and  no  fertilizing,  until  the  soil  grew  weak, 
and  unfit  for  cultivation.  Small  ploughs  and  heavy  hoes  were  used  in  cultivat- 
ing it ;  and  when  the  crop  was  gathered,  cured,  and  packed  into  hogsheads, 
it  was  rolled  away  to  the  nearest  wharf  for  inspection  and  transportation. 
In  those  early  days  good  roads  were  unknown,  and  wagons  were  few :  so  a 
pole  and  whipple-trees  were  attached  to  each  hogshead  by  an  iron  bolt  driven 
into  the  centre  of  one  head,  thus  converting  the  cask  into  a  huge  roller.  For 
many  years  the  places  for  deposit  and  inspection  of  tobacco  were  called 
"  rolling-houses." 

Though  cotton  was  raised  at  an  early  date,  it  was  not  grown  in  sufficient 
(juantities  for  export :  indeed,  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  absorbed  the  chief 
attention  of  the  planter,   especially  in  Virginia,   until  the  opening  of  the 


8 


INDUSTRIAL    HtSTORY 


eighteenth  century.  Farther  south,  in  South  Carolina,  rice  was  cultivated. 
It  is  related,  that,  in  1694,  a  vessel  from  Madagascar  put  into  Charleston  in 
Cotton,  rict,  distress,  the  captain  of  which,  in  return  for  favors  rendered  by  the 
and  ether  govemor,  gave  him  a  bag  of  -^ice.  The  governor,  who  had  seen 
pr  uct*.  ^^  ^\axi\.  growing  in  the  hot  swamps  of  Madagascar,  conceived 
the  idea  of  raismg  rice  in  his  own  colony :  accordingly  it  was  planted,  and  brought 
forth  abundantly.    The  soil  proved  well  adapted  to  the  plant,  and  it  was  not 


MANNER   OF  CARRYING  TOBACCO   FoKl'Y  YEARS  AGO. 


long  before  the  marshes  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  were  covered  with  rice- 
plantations.  Exports  of  rice  to  England  soon  after  began,  and  in  1724 
a  hundred  thousand  barrels  were  sent  from  the  latter  State.  Experiments  in 
wine-making  were  undertaken  at  an  early  period;  and  in  1758  the  London 
Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts,  Commerce,  and  Manufactures,  pro- 
posed premiums  for  its  production.  The  same  society  offered  premiums  for 
hemp,  opium,  olives,  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  barilla,  logwood,  scammony,  myrtle- 
wax,  sarsaparilla-root,  and  the  gum  from  the  persimmon-tree.  It  was  supposed 
that  this  gum  might  prove  a  substitute  for  gum-arabic  ;  but  the  cost  of  gather- 
ing and  transporting  it  was  too  great,  and  the  experiment  failed,  .\fter  a 
three-years'  trial,  the  premium  was  withdrawn. 

Besides  the  premiums  offered  by  this  society,  the  British  Parliament  granted 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  9 

considerable  sums  of  money  at  various  times  to  stimulate  the  culture  of  silk, 
indigo,  and  other  plants.     Colonial  trade,  however,  was  guarded   p„„,u„, 
none  the  less  strictly ;  for  the  colonists  were  obliged  to  send  all  offered  by 
their  surplus  products  to  England,  and  were  forbidden  purchasing  ^^JJ,'*^,**"* 
any  foreign  manufactures  save  in  a  British  port. 


COLONIAL   AGRICULTURE   IN   THE   NEW-ENGLAND   C0LO?iIES. 

Let  us  now  look  toward  the  North,  and  watch  the  iunding  of  the  Pilgrims, 
and  their  first  efforts  in  cultivating  the  soil.  The  colonists  of  Virginia,  a  ho 
came  somewhat  earlier,  as  we  have  seen,  had  confined  their  atten-  ThePiigrimi 
tion  chiefly  to  the  raising  of  tobacco ;  and  as  their  climate  was  •«>  egricui- 
less  rigorous,  and  their  summers  were  longer,  it  was  easier  for  them  *""  ''*"'' '" 
to  obtain  a  living.  The  Pilgrims  were  an  agricultural  people,  the  clergy  form- 
ing no  exception  ;  and  for  a  long  period  they  were  among  the  foremost  in 
New  England  in  trying  experiments,  and  inciting  their  flocks  to  patient  and 
intelligent  industry.  One  of  the  reasons  why  they  came  here  from  Holland, 
according  to  Bancroft,  was,  because  they  "  had  been  bred  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits," which  they  could  not  follow  in  the  land  of  their  temporary  adoption. 

That  they  continued  to  follow  their  original  pursuit  as  their  chief  one  for 
many  years  after  their  arrival  is  familiar  history.     But  their  task  was  a  severe 
one.    Cleared  fields  were  small  and  few ;  and  their  implements  Difficulty  of 
were  ill  fitted  to  clear  the  dense  woods,  and  subdue  the  stubborn  cultivating 
soil.    Some  implements,  doubtless,  were  obtained  from  the  mother-  **"  •°"" 
land  ;  but  the  only  metal  to  be  found  here  that  they  could  work  was  bog- iron 
ore,  which  was  very  brittle,  and  often  spoiled  a  day's  work.     The   Want  of 
magnitude  of  their  task,  from  lack  of  appropriate  means,  it  is  per-   p^op''  "»»'»• 
haps  more  difficult  for  us  in  this  age  to  realize  than  almost  any  other  feature 
of  our  history,  because  farming-implements  have  been  brought  to  such  a  degree 
of  perfection. 

The  system  of  agriculture  best  adapted  to  the  country  could  only  be 
learned  by  experiment.    Of  course  the  settlers  brought  with  them  the  ideas  and 
products  of  their  mother-land  ;  but  how  poor  was  their  outfit  they  success  in 
soon  learned,     Indian-corn,  pumpkins,  squashes,  beans,  potatoes,   farming 
tobacco,  and  other  vegetables  and  fruits,  which  were  found  grow-   ter"mined 
ing  here,  it  was  easy  to  cultivate  by  inquiry  from  the  Indians,  and  only  by  ex- 
with  greater  success  than  ever  attended  the  efforts  of  their  teach-  p"'''"*"*- 
ers ;  but  in  respect  to  the  fruits  transplanted,  as  well  as  the  horses,  sheep,  and 
other  animals  brought  hither,  it  was  only  found  out  by  numerous  experiments 
and  many  losses  what  our  climate  and  soil  were  best  fitted  to  raise  and  sustain. 
What  did  the  English  immigrant  know  about  the  country  until  he  came  here, 
and  how  English  catde  and  fruits  would  thrive  under  such  altered  conditions? 
It  would  be  an  interesting  chapter  to  trace  the  history  of  these  experiments ; 


10 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


MAVrLOWBR. 


but  our  spare  is  too  limited,  even  if  the  necessary  information  could  he  gath- 
ered. Suffice  it  to  say,  after  trial  some  vegetables  and  grasses  were  aban- 
doned, while  the  appropriate  locality 
of  others  was  discovered.  Hemp, 
indigo,  rice,  cotton,  madder,  millet, 
spelt,  lentils,  lucem,  sainfoin,  and 
many  other  things,  were  tried  in 
New  England,  and  failed,  as  did 
other  crops  in  the  Southern  c:olo- 
nics.  N'^»  only  the  i)lants  of  Kii- 
ropc,  bui  many  from  Asia  and  the 
East  Indies,  were  tried,  including 
cinnamon  and  various  commercial 
plants.  Some  of  these  crops,  on 
experiment,  failed  entirely ;  others 
flourished  after  a  fashion,  but  proved 
unprofitable ;  others  flourished  with 
peculiar  luxuriance,  and  with  characters  imchanged  ;  and  still  others,  under 
the  new  conditions,  assumed  new  characters  or  excellences.  Before  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  these  trials  had  been  made  from  Maine  to  Texas ;  and  so 
completely  had  this  century  and  a  half  of  experiments  solved  the  great  ])rol)- 
lems  of  adaptation,  acclimation,  and  often  naturalization,  that  not  a  single 
important  species  of  domestic  animal  has  been  profitably  introduced  since, 
nor  but  one  plant  (sorghum)  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  recognized  in  our 
official  statistics.    So  writes  one  whose  accuracy  none  will  question.' 

Let  us  reproduce  the  picture  of  a  New- Eng- 
land colony  during  this  period.  It  is  the  one 
flourishing  at  Massachusetts  Bay,  which  was 
founded  not  long  after  the  Plymouth  Colony. 
Picture  of  •  ^^  •tli'i''  diis  peaceful  realm  squatter- 
New-Eng.  sovereignty  was  unknown  ;  for  no 
Und  colony.    i,i,ii^,jj^ai  ^.^^  permitted  to  establish 

himself  without  authority  of  the  government. 
Each  body  swarmed  out  with  a  regular  allotment 
of  individual  farms,  based  in  extent  upon  the 
wealth  of  the  settlers ;  a  great  pasture,  a  peat- 
meadow,  a  salt-marsh,  and  fishing-grounds,  being 
held  in  common.  These  farms  were  so  laid  out, 
that  no  house  was  over  half  a  mile  from  the 
meeting-house  ;  and  it  was  with  astonishing  ra- 
pidity that  agricultural  communities  sprang  up,  like  the  fabled  warriors  of 
Cadmus,  into  full-armed  life.     Like  those  mythological  knights,  they  were 


KNOT-REEL. 


'  Profeuor  Brewer  of  Vale  College. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


II 


armed  with  weapons,  not  for  their  own  destruction,  but  for  the  defence  of 
their  liberties  and  their  homes.  From  these  small  farming-hamlets  have  grown 
up  most  of  the  towns  and  cities  of  our  country,  and  from  one  of  them  went 
forth  the  alpha  of  colonization  in  the  (Jrcat  West.  In  the  log-cabin  of  that 
agricultural  or.i  were  first  cultivated  the  true  thougli  austere  religion,  the 
domestic  virtues,  the  sturdy  habits  of  frugal  imlustry,  the  daring  spirit,  and 
the  devoted  love  of  liberty,  tliat  have  so  advanced  the  prosperity  and  the  glory 
of  this  Western  continent.  The  acorns  plantctl  by  our  fathers  have  become 
stately  trees,  under  wliose  lunbrageous  foliage  thousands  of  tiieir  descendants, 
and  others  whom  the  grateful  shailc  has  invited  from  less-favored  lands,  fuul 
protection,  shelter,  antl  repose. 

The  same  writer  has  given  a  felicitous  sketch  of  the  houses  of  the  early  set- 
tlers, drawn  from  a  careful  perusal  of  the  materials  collected  by  the  tireless 
anti(niarian.     Imagine  yourself  as  belonging  to  a  "committee  on  Hou»«to( 
farms."  and  then  let  us  visit  one  of  these  yeomen.     Riding  along  the  e«riy 
a  "  trail,"  indicated  by  marked  trees,  we  find  his  horse  and  cattle-   ••"'"•• 
shed  standing  near  an  old  Indian  clearing,  encircled  by  a  high  palisade,  which 
inchules  the    spring, 
that  water    may    be 
brought  without  dan- 
ger from  the  "  bloody 
savages."       The 
house,  which  is  over 
a  small  ileep  cellar,  is 
built  of  logs,  notched 
where   they  meet    at 
the    corners,    v/ith    a 
that':hctl  roof,  and  a 
laige  chimney  at  one 
end,   built  of  stones 
cemented    with  clay. 
The    small    windows 
are  covered  with  oiled 
paper,   with   protect- 
ing shutters ;  and  the 
massive  door  is  thick 
enough  to  be  bullet- 
proof.      Pulling   the 

"latch-strinc;,"  we  enter,  and  find  that  the  floor,  and  the  floor  of  the  loft  which 
forms  the  -  iling,  are  made  of  "  rifted  "  or  split  pine,  roughly  smoothed  with 
tlie  adze ;  while  the  immense  hearth,  occupying  nearly  an  entire  side  of  the 
house,  is  of  large  flat  stones.  There  are  no  partition-wnlls ;  but  thick  serge 
curtains  are  so  hung,  that  at  night  they  divide  off  the  flock-beds,  upon  which 


HOUSE  OP  AN  EAKLV  SETTLER, 


IS 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


UIBLE  AND  SPECS. 


there  are  piles  of  rugs,  coverlets,  and  flannel  sheets.  A  high-backed  chair  or 
two,  a  massive  table,  a  large  chest  with  a  carved  front,  and  some  Indian  birch- 
bark  boxes,  are  ranged  around  the  walls  ;  while  on  a  large  "  dressoir  "  we  see 
wooden  bowls  and  trenchers,  earthen  platters,  horn  drinking-cups,  and  a  pewter 
tankard.  The  corselet,  matchlock,  and  bandoliers  are  ready  for  defence,  with 
a  halberd,  if  the  senior  occupant  of  the  house  holds  a  commission  in  "  ye 
trainband  j  "  and  from  a  "  lean-to  "  shed  comes  the  great  wheel  or  the  clang 
of  the  loom,  as  the  busy  "  helmates  "  hasten  to  finish  their  "stents."     High 

on  the  mantle-shelf,  with  a  "  cresset- 
lamp  "  on  one  side,  and  the  time- 
marking  hour-glass  on  the  other,  is 
tlie  well-thumbed  Bible,  which  was  not 
left  for  show.  "  Our  especial  desire 
is,"  say  the  company's  instructions, 
"  that  you  take  especial  care,  in  set- 
tling these  families,  that  the  chief  in 
the  family  be  grounded  in  religion, 
whereby  morning  and  evening  family 
duties  may  be  duly  performed,  and  a 
watchful  eye  held  over  all  in  each 
family  liy  one  or  more  in  each  fiimily 
appointed  thereto,  so  that  disorders  may  be  prevented,  and  ill  weeds  nipt 
before  they  take  too  great  a  head." 

While  a  greater  variety  of  crops  was  cultivated  in  New  England  than  in  the 
Southern  colonies,  yet  nowhere  was  seen  any  thing  like  scientific  farming.  As 
FartninK  new  lands  could  be  easily  obtained,  old  ones  were  not  thoroughly 
unscientiflc.  tilled.  When  the  soil  became  exhausted  from  much  bearing,  and 
no  enrichment,  and  grew  too  poor  to  raise  wheat,  corn  was  planted  ;  when  this 
would  no  longer  thrive,  barley  or  rye  was  sown  :  thus  the  quality  of  the  crop 
decreased  with  the  starving  soil,  until  beans  alone  were  raised ;  and,  when  these 
ceased  to  grow,  the  field  was  abandoned. 

A  dearth  of  interest  in  cultivating  the  soil  continued  until  the  close  of  the 
Revolution.  Previous  to  that  time,  no  spirit  of  inquiry  in  this  great  industry 
Lttie inter-  ^^''"^^  abroad  to  give  a  charm  to  daily  toil.  Hard  work  was  the 
est  taken  In  order  of  the  day,  into  which  neither  poetry  nor  science  ever  en- 
■gricu  ture.  jg^gj^  -pj^g  farmer  remained  fast  to  his  farm  ;  and  it  was  almost 
as  true  of  him  as  it  was  of  the  Sybarites,  who  dwelt  on  the  eastern  side  of  Italy, 
and  who  prided  themselves  on  growing  gray  between  the  bridges  of  their 
Lagoon  City,  —  he  never  went  beyond  his  narrow  boundaries,  and  hardly  knev^ 
of  a  world  outside  of  himself. 

There  were  gatherings,  it  is  true,  besides  those  for  religious  worship,  where 
neighbors  met  and  conversed  with  each  other.  Upon  election-days  people 
mingled,  and  also  at  "  raisings,"  when  flip  and  cider  flowed  plentiftilly.     The 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


»3 


"  husking,"  too,  was  a  social  as  well  as  industrial  gathering,  where  the  same 
favorite  drinks  went  round,  followed  by  a  rich  feast  upon  pump-   ctherings 
kin-pies,   which   formed   one    of   the    most    thoroughly-enjoyed   of  the  early 
dishes  of  the   early   settlers.     Longfellow  has   immortalized  the    ■""*'•• 
"  husking  "  in  the  song  of  Hiawatha,  and  we  are  sure  our  readers  will  delight 
in  recalling  the  scene.     The  maize-field  having  grown  and  ripened, 

"Till  it  stood  in  all  the  splendor 
Of  its  garments  green  and  yellow, 
Of  its  tassels  and  its  plumage, 
And  the  maize-ears  full  and  shining 
Gleamed  from  bursting  sheets  of  verdure  j 
Then  Nokomis,  the  old  woman," 

spoke  to  Minnehaha,  the  merry  Laughing- Water ; 

"And  they  called  the  women  round  them. 
Called  the  young  men  and  the  maidens, 
To  the  harvest  of  the  cornfields. 
To  the  husking  of  the  maize-ear. 
On  the  border  of  the  forest. 
Underneath  the  fragrant  pine-trees. 
Sat  the  old  men  and  the  warriors, 
Smoking  in  the  pleasant  shadow. 
In  uninterrupted  silence 
Looked  they  at  the  gamesome  labor 
Of  the  young  men  and  the  women ; 
Listened  to  their  noisy  talking, 
To  their  laughter  and  their  singing; 
Heard  them  chattering  like  the  magpies. 
Heard  them  laughing  like  the  bluejays. 
Heard  them  singing  like  the  robins. 
And,  whene'er  some  lucky  maiden 
Found  a  red  ear  in  the  husking, 
Found  a  maize-ear  red  as  blood  is, 
'  Nershka  ! '  cried  they  all  together, 
'  Nershka  I  you  shall  have  a  sweetheart. 
You  shall  have  a  handsome  husband  ! ' 
'  Ugh  ! '  the  old  men  all  responded 
From  their  seats  beneath  the  pine-trees." 


The  obstinacy  with  which  old  ideas  were  cherished  quenched  the  spirit  of 
agricultural  improvement.     It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  our  ancestors,  that,  in  many 
a  town,    the  possession    of  superior  intelligence,  except  by   the   causes 
minister  and  doctor,  was  not  honored,  but  ridiculed.     If  a  choicer  which 
spirit   arose,   who   ventured  to  try  experiments,    he  was   neither  ^icuiturai 
cheered  nor  encouraged,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  was  laughed  at  improve- 
for  his   folly.     One  who  has  studied  the  history  of  these  times   '"'°  ' 
well  says,  that  if  such  a  one  "did  not  plant  just  as  many  acres  of  com  as 


14 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


his  fathers  did,  and  tliat,  too,  in  the  '  old  of  the  moon  ; '  if  he  did  not  sow- 
just  as  much  rye  to  the  acre,  use  the  same  number  of  oxen  to  plough,  and 
get  in  his  crops  in  the  same  day ;  or  if  he  did  not  iioe  as  many  times  as  his 
father  and  his  grandfather  did  ;  if,  in  fine,  he  did  not  wear  tiie  same  kind  of 
iiomespiui  dress,  and  adopt  the  same  religious  views  and  prejudices,  —  he  was 
shunned  in  company  by  the  old  and  young,  and  looked  upon  as  a  visionary." 


' 


WHITEFIELD  S   HOUSE,   LOOKING   WEST. 


WHITEKIELU  S    HOISE,    LOUKINLi    SdlTH. 


ment  of 
cattle. 


The  rotation  of  crops  was  a  thing  unknown  in  those  times.  No  one  ever 
Rotation  of  thought  of  fertilizing  the  soil.  It  has  been  said,  that,  even  within 
crops  the  memory  of  men  now  living,  barns  were  sometimes  removed  to 

nown.  ^^^  them  out  of  the  way  of  heaps  of  manure  by  which  they  were 
surroruided,  rather  than  incur  the  expense  and  trouble  of  jjutting  these 
accumulations  \\\ww  the  fields.  Swine  were  generally  alKnved  to  run  at  large. 
Manage-  ^^^'^  cattle  were  rarely  housed  during  night  or  winter.  It  was 
thought  necessary  o  leave  them  oiit  of  doors,  and  e\|)ose  them  to 
the  sunnner's  sun  ^nd  dew  and  to  the  winter's  storm,  in  order  "  to 
toughen  "  them.  A  writer  says,  "  It  was  the  conunon  opinion  in  the  Virginia 
Colony,  that  housing  and  milking  cows  in  winter  would  kill  them."  ISrief  as 
this  sketch  is,  who  cannot  fail  to  see  how  great  and  numerous  Iiave  been  tlie 
improvements  in  farming  since  the  Pilgrims,  to  use  their  own  words,  "  left  their 
pleasant  and  beautiful  homes  in  England  to  jilant  their  i)oor  cottages  in  the 
wilderness"?  For  a  century  anil  a  half  the  colonists  throughout  the  cuunlry 
remained  in  a  stationary  state  in  respect  to  their  leading  pursuit.  Their 
implements,  few  and  imperfect,  were  never  improved  ;  the  hoe,  plough,  spade, 
fork,  and  occasionally  a  harrow,  comprising  pretty  nearly  the  wiiole  inventory. 
With  this  coarse  and  slender  outfit  their  heavy  task  was  continued  for  many  a 
long  and  weary  year. 


''  r  I 


FRENCH  COLONIAL  AGRICULTURE. 

A  word  may  be  said  concerning  the  French  colonists,  before  closing  the 
Iiistory  of  this  period.  While  the  English,  Dutch,  and  Swedes  were  taking 
possession  of  the  soil  from  the  Penobscot  to  the  Altamaha,  the  PVench  en- 
teretl  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  ascended  the  river  bearing  that  name, 
crossed  the  lakes,  found  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  were  borne 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


15 


i6 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


on  its  broad  current  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  discoveries  of  the  French, 
Cultivation  ^^  joumey  of  La  Salle  among  the  Indians  and  down  the  mighty 
of  the  lugar-  Stream,  are  full  of  romantic  interest ;  but  we  can  only  stop  to 
*^'"*"  note  what  was  done  when  the  French  landed  in  Louisiana,  and 

began  the  permanent  conquest  of  the  soil.  A  variety  of  crops  was  planted  ;  but 
none  flourished  like  the  sugar-cane,  which  had  been  transported  into  Spain  from 
India  by  the  Saracens,  again  to  Madeira,  and  thence  to  the  West-India  Islands, 
from  which  the  French  planters  obtained  their  plants.  For  several  years  its 
cultivation  proved  unsuccessful.  Not  until  1 764  did  the  experiment  succeed, 
upon  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  under  the  intelligent  and  careful 
culture  of  Chevalier  de  Mazan.  The  following  year,  Destrehan,  the  royal 
treasurer  in  the  colony,  and  other  planters,  erected  works  on  the  opposite 
bank  below  New  Orleans ;  but  the  results  were  disappointing.  Indeed,  the 
planters  lost  so  much  heart,  that,  in  1 769,  they  abandoned  the  business,  and 
turned  their  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  indigo,  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  corn, 
and  other  crops.  A  few  small  gardeners  continued  to  plant  sugar-cane  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  city,  which  they  retailed  in  the  market  for  the  use  of 
children ;  or  expressed  the  juice,  making  sirup,  which  they  sold  in  bottles. 
More  than  twenty-five  years  elapsed  before  further  efforts  were  made  to  culti- 
vate the  sugar-plant. 

The  engraving  here  inserted  represents  the  early  process  of  manufacturing 
sugar,  and  will  not  be  without  interest  to  our  readers.  The  cane  was  stripped 
Early  mode  ^^  '^^  leaves,  and  ground,  or  rather  crushed,  by  a  heavy  stone  made 
of  making  to  revolve  by  manual  force.  Iht'  expressed  juice,  after  boiling  in 
sugar.  ^   caldron,  was  ladled  into  large  stone  jars,  which  were  exposed 

to  the  rays  of  the  sun  until  the  sugar  cr)stallized.  Later  on  we  shall  learn 
what  success  attended  renewed  efforts  in  the  way  of  cultivating  the  sugar- 
plant. 

EFFECTS    OF    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

The  American  Revolution  wrought  a  profound  change  in  the  agriculture  of 
the  country  ;  not,  indeed,  in  the  way  of  stimulating  interest  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil,  but  in  giving  greater  freedom  in  the  exchange  of  commodities.  Thrift- 
less as  was  the  mode  of  farming  prior  to  that  event,  during  the  Revolution  it 
was  well-nigh  paralyzed  ;  nor  did  it  speedily  recover.  So  dull  were  the  people 
to  the  vast  capacities  of  the  country  and  to  the  great  fortunes  which  lay 
before  them,  that  the  same  spirit  which  animated  the  ante-Revolutionary  farmer 
Revolution  was  found  to  live  within  the  breast  of  his  immediate  descend- 
ants. But  the  policy  of  England,  which  was  to  make  the  colonies 
as  profitable  as  possible  to  the  mother-country  without  thought  of 
an  adequate  return,  came  to  an  end.  Restrictions  against  manu- 
facturing were  removed.  The  colonists  were  free  to  buy  where 
they  pleased  :  no  longer  could  England  compel  them  to  buy  of  her.     On  the 


gave  free- 
dom in  pur- 
chase and 
sale  of  com- 
modities. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


17 


Other  hand,  they  were  at  liberty  to  sell  their  surplus  in  any  market  in  the 
world.  Thus  their  horizon  was  immensely  broadened.  The  transition  from 
a  colony  to  a  state  was  complete. 


CAUSES   OF   PROGRESS    IN   AGRICULTURE. 

Until  the  present  century  was  fairly  inaugurated,  American  agriculture  can- 
not be  said  to  have  made  any  notable  progress :  it  had  simply  made  a  com- 
mencement. Since  then  a  number  of  causes  have  combined  to  c«uie»  of 
give  it  marked  development  and  stimulus.  Among  the  first  of  protperityin 
these  is  national  peace.  In  time  of  war,  the  agricultural  classes  ■«'''•="'*"'«• 
are  drawn  on  most  heavily  for  soldiery.  The  extent  to  which  foreign  nations, 
especially  those  of  Europe,  were  en- 
gaged in  war  prior  to  181 5,  was  a  great 
hinderance  to  their  agricultu.al  pros- 
perity. The  United  States  have  enjoyed 
a  remarkable  advantage  in  this  regard. 
A  second  influence  which  we  have  felt 
was  the  foreign  demand  for  our  produc- 
tions. This  is  touched  upon  repeat- 
edly in  the  ensuing  chapters  of  this 
work.  It  will  suflfice  to  note  here  the 
fact  that  densely-populated  countries 
like  those  of  Europe,  especially  where 
the  people  are  largely  engaged  in  man- 
ufacturing pursuits,  look  to  the  regions 
of  the  earth  which  are  sparsely  settled 
for  agricultural  products,  food,  arid  tex- 
tile fabrics.  Even  in  our  colonial  days 
we  had  shown  great  possibilities  of  pro- 
duction, though  but  little  reality  j  and 
as    soon    as    our    independence    was 

achieved,  and  we  took  a  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  we  were  looked 
to  eagerly  as  a  supplier  of  agricultural  produce  to  the  world.  This  foreign 
demand  has  been  felt  more  particularly  by  cotton  and  tobacco  planters,  grain- 
growers,  and  stock-raisers ;  but  an  immense  variety  of  other  produce  has 
gone  to  make  up  our  enormous  export  trade.  Still  another  great  stimulus  has 
been  afforded  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  this  country  by  the  invention  of 
improved  implements  for  use  by  the  husbandman.  This  marked  advance 
in  agriculture  is  treated  by  itself  in  another  chapter  of  this  work. 

Five  other  influences  that  have  operated  to  forward  and  develop  this  in- 
dustry are,  —  the  occupation  of  the  West  under  the  encouragement  of  govern- 
ment legislation  and  land  and  railroad  companies  j   coroperative.  effort,  the 


SPINNINC-WHRBL. 


z8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


mutual  exchange  of  experience,  and  the  patronage  of  organized  agricultural 
Other  cause*  Societies ;  the  foundation  of  a  special  department  of  government 
■pedfled.  fg^  (|^g  collation  and  dissemination  of  information  among  the  agri- 
cultural classes,  and  othenvise  aiding  them  in  their  pursuits ;  the  development 
of  a  class  of  literature  devoted  to  these  subjects ;  and  the  special  scientific 
education  afforded  by  agricultural  colleges. 


'I 


i! 


HOMESTEAD   LAWS, 

The  vast  expanse  of  our  arable  territory,  and  the  steps  we  have  taken  to 
encourage  its  occupation  and  settlement,  have  been  elements  of  prime  inipor- 
Extention  of  tance  in  the  development  of  our  agricultural  interests.  Prior  to 
farming  the  Revolution,  the  American  settlements  were  confined  chiefly  to 

*"*■  the  Atlantic  coast.     After  the  war,  adventurers  began  to  explore 

and  locate  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  Louisiana  purchase  in  1803,  the  large 
annexation  of  territory  from  Mexico  in  1847,  and  the  definition  of  our  British- 
American  boundary,  enlarged  our  domain  wonderfully,  and  added  greatly  to 
the  area  susceptible  to  tillage  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

At  one  time  the  unsettled  "  public  "  domain  of  the  United  States  embraced 
1,446,716,072  acres,  exclusive  of  the  Alaska  purchase.  It  is  out  of  this  that 
Unsettled  ^'^^  States  and  Territories  not  included  within  the  present  limit  of 
public  the  original  thirteen  were  erected.     Of  this  vast  area,  large  grants 

domain.  y^ss'i  been  made  to  soldiers  for  military  service,  to  railroads,  to 
agricultural  colleges  and  other  purposes,  and  reservations  made  for  Indians 
and  government  use.  A  very  considerable  proportion  is  mountainous  or 
st  -rile  sand ;  yet  the  extent  of  territory  suited  to  agricultural  purposes  exceeds 
the  like  territory  of  any  country  in  Europe. 

But  the  United  States  not  only  had  the  land,  but  promoted  its  purchase  and 
settlement  by  munificent  offers.  In  1841  Congress  passed  a  law  providing  for 
Sale  of  pub-  the  sale  of  these  public  lands  for  the  remarkably  low  price  of  a 
lie  lands.  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an  acre,  in  lots  of  a  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  or  less  each,  to  ii;ose  who  would  really  go  to  live  thereon,  and  cultivate 
them.  This  pre-em,ition  law  was  followed  up  in  1862  by  another  piece  of  legis- 
lation, known  as  the  "  Homestead  Act,"  which  provided  that  the  setder  might 
have  the  land  for  notning,  under  proper  conditions.  Prior  to  and  during  the 
operation  of  these  laws,  the  new  Western  States  and  the  railroad  companies 
therein  put  forth  special  efforts  to  draw  agriculturists  thither. 

The  consequence  of  these  inducements  was  to  draw  people  in  large  num- 
bers from  the  Eastern  States,  and  even  from  Europe.  Doubtless  the  Irish 
famine  between  1845  and  1847,  and  the  poor  success  of  the  Ger- 
man revolution  of  1848,  did  much  to  accelerate  foreign  emigra- 
tion, —  a  movement  which  the  Know-nothing  movement  in  politics  a  decade 
later  slightly  checked.     But  as  large  numbers  of  unopposed  Swedes  also  came 


m 


Emigration. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


»9 


* 


over,  and  as  the  greater  proportion  of  the  new-comers  went  West  to  live  on 
farms,  it  is  apparent  that  our  pre-emption  and  homestead  laws  were  a  great 
attraction.  The  perfectly  surprising  growth  of  the  States  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Valleys  can  hardly  be  attributed  solely  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil  in 
that  section,  remarkable  as  that  feature  of  it  was. 

Those  who  have  looked  into  the  subject  say  that  agriculture  thrives  nowhere 
with  such  life  and  success  as  where  the  men  who  do  the  work  own  the  soil. 


BMICRANT  TRAIN. 


Under  the  European  feudal  system,  and  the  tenantry  system  which  has  suc- 
ceeded it,  the  rustic  populace  are  either  hired  by,  or  lease  their  land  from, 
exacting  owners,  and  never  know  such  a  thing  as  proprietorship.  . 

But  here   the   agriculturist  is  made  to  feel  the  dignity  of  labor  of  agricui- 
and  a  larger  stimulus  of  self-interest  bv  the  consciousness  that  he  '""■*'  p"""*" 

°  ■  perity. 

may  own  the  broad  acres  which  he  tills.      No  other  country  in 

tiie  world  has  felt  the  influence  of  this  incentive  as  has  the  United  States. 


AGRICULTURAL    SOCIETIES. 

The  first  steps  toward  organization  for  encouraging  and  fonvarding  tillage 
and  the  arts  related  thereto  in  this  country  were  taken  by  the  Philadelphia 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture  in  1 784.     Similar  ones  pormation 
were  formed  in  New  York  in- 1791  (incorporated  two  years  later),  of  agricui- 
in   Massachusetts    in   1792,   and    in    South   Carolina.      At   this  ♦"'•••ocie- 

.  ties. 

time  the  conception  of  such  societies  was  almost  entirely  new. 

Their  formation  had  onlyjust  begun  in  England.     But  few  men  understood 


20 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


how  the  institution  was  to  operate ;  and  the  membership  being  slim,  and  not 
over-practical,  little  good  was  at  first  effected.  There  was  much  talk,  at  first, 
of  taking  these  boards  under  governmental  management,  and  assisting  them 
with  governmental  appropriations.  Washington  was  interested  greatly  in  the 
subject.  He  was,  while  yet  President  of  the  United  States,  an  honorary  mem- 
ber of  the  Philadelphia  organization  to  which  we  have  alluded.  He,  as  well  as 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  was  a  practical  farmer  on  a  large  scale.  He  caught  part 
of  his  inspiration  from  correspondence  with  Arthur  Young  and  Sir  John  Sinclair 
of  England,  who  were  active  in  the  spheres  of  agricultural  organization  and 
information.  These  gentlemen  suggested  to  him  the  value  of  a  national  agri- 
cultural board  founded  and  fostered  by  the  United-States  Government ;  but 
Washington's  idea  was,  that  the  formation  of  smaller  societies  was  a  pre- 
recpiisite  to  the  greater  one.  These  continued  to  be  organized  throughout 
the  States  slowly,  and  with  slight  results.  The  Kennebec  Agricultural  Society 
was  instituted  at  Augusta,  Me.,  in  1800,  being  the  second  society  incorpo- 
rated inside  of  Massachusetts,  the  separation  between  the  two  States  not  hav- 
ing been  effected  until  a  later  period.  A  voluntary  association  of  Middlesex- 
county  husbandmen  existed  in  Massachusetts  as  early  as  1 794  ;  but  it  was  not 
incorporated  until  1803. 

The  first  agricultural  fair  in  this  country  was  held  at  Washington,  then  a  "  city 
in  the  woods,"  in  1804,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  commissioner  of  patents,  and 
The  first  under  the  auspices  of  the  municipal  authorities,  who  voted  to  hold 
agricultural  them  scmi-annually.  The  first  one,  held  in  October  of  that  year, 
*'"^"  showed  the  advantage,  educationally,  of  exhibiting  choice  produce 

and  stock ;  and  at  the  spring  exhibition  the  next  year  over  one  hundred 
dollars  in  premiums  were  offered,  which  proved  a  stimulus  to  the  farmers' 
efforts.  The  next  provision  for  a  fair  was  that  made  by  the  Columbian  .Agri- 
cultural Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Rural  and  Domestic  Economy,  at 
Georgetown,  D.C.  The  organization  was  effected  in  the  fall  of  1S09,  and  its 
first  fair  was  held  the  following  May.  Large  premiums  were  offered  on  that 
occasion  for  sheep-raising.  In  1S16  the  Massachusetts  society  held  a  fair  at 
Brighton,  at  which  premiums  were  offered  for  a  variety  of  articles ;  and  a 
ploughing-match  was  had  to  show  off  the  training  of  cattle. 

These  fairs  brought  the  farmers  together  for  an  interchange  of  thought  and 
experience,  far  more  valuable  than  the  old  husking-bees  and  sheep-shearings 
Advantage  that  formed  the  earlier  neighborhood  rural  gatherings.  They 
of  fairs.  excitcd  rivalry  as  well  as  afforded  new  hints.     Furthermore,  they 

advertised  the  stock  of  some  enterprising  breeder  to  his  neighbors ;  and  the 
consequent  sales  enabled  him  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  from  his  venturesome 
_,.  investments  of  time,  trouble,  and  money.     The  agricultural  soci- 

Dissemina-  '  •'  ° 

tion  of  eties  also  collected  and  printed  such  information  as  they  could 

knowledge      procure,  individual  members  contributing  papers  on  topics  with 
which  they  were  familiar,  and  these  transactions  being  pubhshed 
either  for  circulation  or  reference. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


%\ 


I,  and  not 
Ik,  at  first, 
ting  them 
itly  in  the 
rary  niem- 
,  as  well  as 
:aught  part 
ihn  Sinclair 
zation  and 
tional  agri- 
imcnt ;  but 
was  a  pre- 

throughout 
ural  Society 
;ty  incorpo- 
Ltes  not  hav- 

Middlesex- 
ut  it  was  not 

,  then  a  "city 

patents,  and 

oted  to  hold 

f  that  year, 

ice  produce 

ne  hundred 

the  farmers' 

uiibian  Agri- 

fxonomy,  at 

809,  and  its 

red  on  that 

eld  a  fair  at 

les;   and  a 

(thought  and 
lep-shearings 
]ngs.     They 
^rmore,  they 
prs ;  and  the 
venturesome 
lultural  soci- 
they  coulil 
topics  with 
[g  published 


aa 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


For  the  first  forty  years  of  the  present  century  the  organization  of  county 
inereateof  *"*^^  ^^'^'^  societies  was  slow  and  infrequent.  But  between  1840 
agricultural  and  1850  State  and  county  societies  were  numerously  formed  all 
tQciaties.  ^ygj.  jj^g  country;  and,  since  that  time,  scarcely  an  agricultural 
region  within  our  national  limits  has  been  without  one  or  both. 

In  1841  an  effort  was  made  in  Washington  to  organize  a  national  agricul- 
tural society  with  the  fund  bequeathed  for  the  purpose  by  Hugh  Smithson. 
But  the  establishment  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  made  the  endowment 
available  for  the  other  purpose;  and  the  project  was  abandoned  until  1852, 
when  a  convention  of  a  hundred  and  fifty-two  delegates,  representing  twelve 
state  agricultural  associations  and  eleven  other  States  and  Territories,  met,  and 
organized  a  national  society,  which  was  a  realization  of  George  Washington's 
long-cherished  idea.  It  was  not  incorporated  until  i860;  but  before  that 
time  it  had  undertaken  a  special  publication  of  its  own,  and  had  held  service- 
able national  fairs.  The  interruptions  of  the  war,  and  the  assumption  of  some 
of  its  functions  by  the  general  department  of  agriculture  in  1863,  resulted  in 
its  disintegration  arid  virtual  abandonment. 

S[)ecial  societies^  too,  have  been  organized  in  the  interest  of  special 
branches  of  agricultiure.  Horticultural  societies  (of  which  the  first  was 
Ri  and  formed  in  1829),  pomological  societies,  Southern  planters'  societies, 
progress  of  dairymen's  societies  (state  and  national),  sheep-raisers' and  wool- 
speciai  so.  growers*  cattle  and  horse  breeding  societies,  poultry  and  bee 
keepers'  associations,  and  the  like,  have  grown  up  within  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century  very  numerously ;  and  these,  like  the  more  comprehen- 
sive "  agricultural "  societies;,  have  done  much,  by  the  interchange  of  observa- 
tions, experiment,  and  exhibition,,  to  awaken  and  heighten  individual  interest, 
improve  the  standards  of  stock,  enlighten  the  cultivator  or  breeder  as  to  the 
best  methods  of  operation,  and  to  dignify  the  agricultural  industry  before  the 
world. 

In  1867  the  records  of  the  department  of  agriculture  showed  that  1,367 
organizations  of  this  general  character  were  in  nominal  existence  throughout 
the  country.  Some  few  had  been  discontinued ;  but  most  of  them  were 
revived,  or  supplanted  by  new  ones.  And,  besides  these,  many  other  such 
societies  have  since  been  formed. 


GRANGER    MOVEMENT. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  mention  a  system  of  organization  for 
Granger  the  promotion  of  agricultural  interests  which  is  still  more  recent, 
movement,  ^^d  somewhat  different  from  the  societies  we  have  thus  far  men- 
tioned. We  refer  to  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  whose  association  and  influ- 
ence constitute  what  is  known  as  "the  Granger  movement"  in  this  country. 

At  the  close  of  the  civil  war  the  agriculturists  of  the  West  found  them- 


OP   THE    UmTED   STATES. 


selves,  for  one  reason  or  another  h,^i     •  »3 

I  rcpecs   were   g|„o„y   -.^^^^      7'  '''="  P™du<:e,  and   ,heir  „     ^  ^    ' 
-  -and  o.her  kindred  ev  s  p„„t:nl''L  "7'""'   "■»"'  °-""°" 

"  .1.0  ,>„s,.„ffiee  departmen,),  Mr  J  R  Th    ''  '°  *"••  °-  «■  K-'Hey  (a  clerk 
nil  of  whom  were  Masons ,  ,„  Z  Rev  A  TT"'  ""''  "■"«'""  «•    'eland 

*■","•  '8^7.  'I>«e  gentlemen  met  and  kl     \  ''■  J™-    O"  the  ,d  of 

autumn   a  spmnH    n  •   .  "b^'^-u'tural  friends  in  ihp  ««»        •  ^ 

ci  second,  thirc ,  and   fnmth   ^  ^   enterprise.     In   th» 

'•a;rons  of  Husbandry"  was  aZed  ^h!  T-  ""''="'''•  """  *=  name 
m  Ilccember,  with  the  following  o^ts  ■  U-^'''°"'' °"°8«^  »«  orga"™d 
I  lompson,  lecturer;  Anson  BartltroT.  '  '""'  ^'"'"<''=«.  "aster     Tr 

M»«,  assistant  steward,  the  Re"  "'  p  f  "'  *r"™  "'"'^  «ewid  ■  A  S 
'--"'er;  O,  H.  Kelley,  secretary  a^.'-if'  ^>'-^i  Wlliam  M.  I  eland 
constuution  provided  for  the  ad,i"  of  "''  ^^  ''""'■  8«e-keeper  At' 
"r  'r""'  "^^X  '==P-«ively  clres  P„T™'.™  '■""  *"""'-  "ffice 

»f  /anua^,  r^rMr^S::  T'^  "'"■  ^^^  «  "»  ^  ^':th"e  ": 


24 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Iti  object!. 


Mode  of 

■ttaining 

them. 


close  of  the  last-named  year,  a  few  Granges  having  become  extinct,  there  were 
about  30,000  in  the  country  altogether,  with  a  membership  of  about  2,500,000. 
Since  then  it  has  grown  but  little,  the  movement  having  about  reached  its 
climax  in  1875. 

The  objects  of  this  order,  which  was  secret  but  strictly  non-political,  were 
the  higher  social  and  intellectual  culture  of  the  members,  and  the  dispensing 
with  the  services  and  profits  of  the  middlemen  in  both  buying  and 
selling.  The  former  end  was  attained  by  the  introduction  of 
music  and  literary  exercises  at  the  meeting  of  the  (Irange  ;  and  thus  thousands 
of  rude  fanners  and  farmers'  wives  were  led  to  develop  and  gratify  tastes,  and 
engage  in  avocations,  pursued  by  persons  in  more  advantageous  conditions  of 
life.  The  latter  end  was  secured  by  several  means.  Agencies 
were  established  for  the  sale  of  produce  directly  to"  shippers  and 
other  legitimate  purchasers,  thereby  dispensing  with  the  medium 
of  speculators.  Thus  the  farmers  were  enabled  to  get  better  prices  for  their 
crops.  The  same  sort  of  co-operation  saved  to  the  farmers  the  large  profits 
of  middlemen  in  buying  household  furniture  and  farming-utensils.  IJooks, 
sewing-machines,  all  kinds  of  implements  and  merchandise,  were  i)rocured  at  a 
saving  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent  through  these  agencies.  These 
advantages,  and  co-operation  in  other  directions,  put  the  farmers  in  a  more 
prosperous  condition  than  ever  before,  cleared  off  their  debts,  and  gave  them 
many  comforts  and  novelties  which  othenvise  they  could  not  have  enjoyed. 

It  was  one  of  the  first  principles  of  the  order  that  it  should  in  no  way 
meddle  with  politics  ;  and  though  it  has  been  alleged  repeatedly  that  tiiis  or 
_.    _  that  candidate  for  local,  state,  or  national  office,  had  been  elected 

The  Grange  '  '  ' 

dissociated      Or  defeated  through  Granger  influence,  positive  and  emphatic  deni- 
from  poii-       ^^  qJ-  jj^g  same  have  been  made  by  the  officers  of  the  organiza- 
tion.   The  discussion  of  political  topics  in  meetings  of  the  Grange 
is  also  prohibited. 

A  semi-political  influence  has,  however,  been  exerted  by  the  order,  though 
to  an  extent,  doubtless,  far  less  than  has  been  generally  believed.  One  of  the 
Demands  ^^''^  against  which  the  Western  agriculturist  declaimed  most  bit- 
made  of  the  terly  was  the  discrimination  of  the  railroad  companies  against 
railroads.  j^^^j  shippers  of  freight,  in  favor  of  through  shippers.  It  was  felt 
that  these  exactions  were  grievous,  and  a  remedy  was  sought  in  legislation. 
No  "  Granger  "  tickets  were  put  in  nomination  ;  yet,  doubtless  with  this  object 
in  view,  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  gained  sufficient  strength  in  the  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin  legislatures  to  secure  the  enactment  of  State  laws  in  1873,  restrict- 
ing the  railroad  tariffs  to  a  basis  more  favorable  to  the  farmers  who  were  way- 
passengers  and  shippers.  The  railroad  companies  resisted  this  legislation  at 
first  as  unconstitutional,  declaring  that  a  State  had  no  right  to  modify  their 
charters  when  once  granted.  The  matter  went  into  the  State  courts,  and,  by 
appeal,  to  the  United-States  courts.     But  in  1876  a  test  case,  appealed  to  the 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


•s 


Supreme  Court  of  the  nation,  evoked  a  decision  to  the  effect  that  the  '*  Potter 
Law  "  of  Wisconsin,  the  most  famous  of  all  these  "  (Iranger  "  enactments,  was 
constitutional.  The  moral  effect  of  this  decision  was  to  secure  greater  or  less 
concessions  from  the  \Vestern  railroads  to  the  agricultural  interest. 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION    AND    LITERATURE. 

Both  in  England  and  in  this  country  the  idea  of  governmental  cnrour- 
agemcnt  was  at  first  associated  with  poinilar  organizations  for  promoting  hus- 
bandry.    It  has  been  remarked,  that,  until  a  (juarter  of  the  present 
century  had  passed  away,  agriculture  had  become  no  more  of  a     ^^°* 


science  in  Europe  than  it  had  been  for  centuries. 


to  govern- 
But    IJacon's    mentfcl  en- 

philosophy  was  api)licd  to  agriculture  by  original  and  enterprising  "^nd*^^"* 
liritish  minds  in  the  eighteenth  century;  and  the  writings  of 
Jethro  Tull,  .Arthur  Young,  Lord  Kames,  and  Sir  John  Sinclair,  were  followed 
by  the  establishment  of  a  British  National  Board  of  Agriculture  by  William  Pitt 
in  1793.  In  the  minds  of  many  Americans  of  that  day  and  later  the  idea 
of  congressional  provision  for  this  industry  was  warmly  cherished ;  but  it  was 
long  in  attaining  realization. 

In  1837-38  the  country  was  roused,  by  the  necessity  for  importing  several 
million  dollars'  worth  of  breadstuffs,  to  a  consciousness,  that  owing  to  the 
exhaustion  of  the  soil,  and  bad  management  in  other  respects, 
agriculture  was  sailly  languishing.     One  of  the  two  means  of  relief  pJation'^T'' 
suggested  by  the  leading  minds  of  that  day  was  a  government  money  ror 
appropriation,  to  be  expended   by  the   commissioner  of  patents  "B"'"""'"' 
for  the  "  collation  of  agricultural  statistics,  investigations  for  pro- 
moting agriculture  and  rural  economy,  and  the  procurement  of  seeds   and 
cuttings  for  gratuitous  distribution  among  the  farmers."     At  this  time  the  Hon. 
Henry  L.  Ellsworth  was  commis:;ioner  of  patents,  and  it  was  at  his  suggestion 
that  Congress  appropriated  a  thousand  dollars  for  this  purpose  in   1839.     A 
like  one  was  made  in   1842  ;   for  each  of  the  next  two  years  two  thousand 
dollars  were  appropriated;  in  1845  the  amount  was  three  thousand  dollars; 
then  a  year  was  missed.     Resuming  at  the  same  figure  in   1847,  the  govern- 
ment thereafter  regularly  made  provision,  gradually  increasing  the  sum,  until, 
in  1862,  it  amounted  to  sixty  thousand  dollars.     Twice  and  thrice  that  sum 
has  since  been  expended  in  a  single  year.     Previous  to  this  date  the  depart- 
ment had  been  little  more  than  a  clerkship  in  the  patent  office ;   and   the 
annual  reports,  beginning  with  one  in   1854,  long  constituted  a  part  of  the 
report  of  the  commissioner  of  patents.     By  a  law  of  1862  a  dis-  organization 
tinct  bureau  of  agriculture  was  erected,  with  a  commissioner  at  of  bureau  of 
its  head,  a  chief  clerk,  botanist,  entomologist,  statistician,  and  ■k''''="""''"- 
other  subordinates.     Since  that  time  the  size  and  capacity  and  the  usefulness 
of  the  department  have  steadily  increased.  .•    \>\>  .,::'■-•      ,,  ■  .,        1?* 


26 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


of  informa- 
tion. 


This  government  establishment  has  done  far  more  thoroughly  and  on  a 
much  broader  scale  much  of  the  work  of  a  local  agricultural  society,  and  a 
Work  ac-  great  deal  besides.  By  the  collection  of  facts  and  figures  showing 
compiithed  the  extent  to  which  stock-raising  and  crop-growing  of  various  kinds 
by  bureau.  ^^^^  conducted  in  different  sections  of  the  country,  the  value  of 
the  property,  the  cost  of  the  several  branches  of  the  business,  the  profits,  the 
character  of  maladies,  pests,  bad  weather  and  other  embarrassments,  the  pecu- 
liarities of  soil  and  climate  which  were  favorable  and  unfavorable  to  certain 
crops,  the  effects  of  experiments  with  various  plants  and  breeds  of  animals, 
the  results  of  observation  upon  the  use  of  new  implements  and  new  methods 
of  cultivation,  and  so  on,  it  was  possible  to  draw  deductions  scientifically, 
which  could  not  be  reached  in  any  other  way,  and  which  were  of  immense 
value  to  the  farming-interest. 

Agricultural  publications  and  correspondence  from  abroad  were  procured, 
showing  the  general  condition  and  special  features  of  the  industry  in  other 
Collection  P^*^^  °^  ^^  world,  and  the  useful  parts  of  such  information  made 
and  diffusion  accessible  to  the  American  farmer.  Special  essays  upon  various 
plants,  modes  of  culture,  and  breeds  of  animals,  were  obtained 
from  gentlemen  of  experience  and  knowledge  all  over  the  coun- 
try ;  and  these  were  made  to  bear  more  particularly  upon  the  value  and  use- 
fulness of  the  choicer  kinds  of  stock,  and  varieties  of  crops,  in  order  to  excite 
a  desire  to  select,  raise,  and  breed  only  the  best. 

In  addition  to  the  collection  of  this  information,  the  department  procured 
abroad  and  elsewhere  the  choicest  seeds,  plants,  and  cuttings,  and  experi- 
mented with  them  on  government  grounds  in  order  to  ascertain 
their  habits,  vitality,  and  utility.  The  more  perfect  and  valuable 
specimens  were  extensively  propagated ;  and  the  seeds,  cuttings, 
and  plants  were  distributed  all  over  the  country  among  farmers 
and  gardeners.  Thus  a  greater  degree  of  excellence  was  secured 
The  adaptation  of  these  to  the  locality  whither  they  were  sent, 
and  the  success  of  their  introduction,  was  ascertained  by  the  department  for 
its  own  and  the  public's  information. 

Improved  varieties  of  our  staples,  such  as  cotton,  wheat,  and  corn,  were 
sought  after.  Great  attention  was  given  to  the  introduction  of  plants  not 
Introduction  indigenous,  but  valuable,  and  likely  to  be  suited  to  our  country. 
of  new  The  silk-worm  and  the  mulberry-tree,  ramie-grass,  jute  or  Chinese 

plants.  hemp,  sorghum,  vines  for  wine,  raisins,  olives,  and  tea  and  coffee 

plants,  are  only  a  few  of  the  innumerable  importations  made  by  the  department, 
cultivated  on  its  own  grounds,  and  disseminated  throughout  the  country. 
The  department  has  never  gone  into  stock-breeding  and  importation,  bul 
has  procured  a  vast  amount  of  information  upon  the  subject  in  all  its 
ramifications. 

The  printing  of  all  this  valu?'  le  information,  and  its  broad  dissemination 


Collection  of 
serds,  &c., 
and  experi- 
ments with 
them. 

in  produce. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


»7 


id  on  a 

y,  and  a 
showing 
lus  kinds 
value  of 
ofits,  the 
he  pecu- 
}  certain 
animals, 
methods 
ntifically, 
immense 

procured, 
in  other 

ion  made 

n  various 
obtained 

the  coun- 
and  use- 

■  to  excite 

procured 

experi- 

ascertain 

valuable 

cuttings, 

farmers 

Is  secured 

rere  sent, 

Itment  for 

jrn,  were 
lants  not 
country. 
Chinese 
Id  coffee 
Lrtment, 
[country, 
[ion,  but 
all   its 

lination 


gratuitously  throughout  the  land,  have  educated  the  country  and   advanced 
the  science  of  agriculture  almost  beyond  computation.     Without   u,gf„,„ 
doubt  it  has  enriched  the  agricultural  classes  and  the  country  ofagricuu 
generally  a  thousand-fold  more  than  its  cost ;  and  there  is  reason  *"''■'  •'•p*'^- 
to  believe,  that,  before  many  years,  the  facilities  and  influence  of 
the  bureau  will  be  increased  by  its  erection  into  a  full-grown  "  department " 
of  the  administration,  co-equal  with  those  which  conduct  our  revenue,  postal, 
military,  and  naval  service. 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF   STATE   BOARDS   OF   AGRICULTURE. 

In  several  of  the  States,  Boards  of  Agriculture  have  been  constituted  under 
government  auspices,  sometimes  based  upon  the  remains  of  a  defunct  State 
agricultural  society,  and  sometimes  organized  independently.  These  State 
boards  are  maintained  by  appropriations,  establish  experiment-stations,  provide 
for  lectures  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  promote  local  farmers'  clubs,  and 
publish  their  proceedings.  Their  work,  in  some  cases,  will  compare  very 
favorably  with  that  carried  on  at  Washington. 

Education  in  the  science  of  agriculture,  however,  is  the  great  thing  that 
has  developed  the  industr-  This  has  been  done  partly  by  the  discussions  of 
clubs  and  societies,  by  the  ".issemination  of  documents  by  socie-  t  ^  j  h 
ties  and  the  government,  by  the  literature  produced  by  individual  of  scientific 
enterprise,  and  by  special  schools  for  the  thorough  training  of  «net*^o<i»  "»»<> 
students  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  farming.  In  the  olden  time, 
and  indeed  until  within  a  century,  the  farmer  looked  at  agriculture  as  little 
more  than  gathering  what  Mother  Earth  would  yield  him  spontaneously.  He 
had  not  studied  the  subject  of  vegetation,  weather,  soil,  chemistry,  and  the 
other  elements  which  entered  into  and  vitally  affected  his  industry.  He  had 
not  indulged  in  wide  observation,  nor  reduced  his  labor  to  what  could  be 
termed  a  science.  Nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,  scientific  methods  of  wide- 
spread observation,  logical  deduction,  and  experimental  application  of  theory, 
were  begun  by  a  few  enterprising  agriculturists,  or  patrons  of  agriculture, 
in  the  Old  World,  and  subsequently  in  America.  But  no  provision  for  pro- 
curing scientific  information,  and  making  it  practically  useful,  has  equalled 
the  establishment  of  special  agricultural  colleges.  Except  Germany,  this  coun- 
try has  no  equal  in  the  educational  advantages  she  offers  her  people  in  this 
direction ;  although  the  establishment  of  these  institutions  is  comparatively 
recent. 

The  first  three  agricultural  schools  were  started  in  Germany  and  Switzerland 
in  1799.     They  were  located  at  Celle  in  Hanover,  near  Berne,  pounjingof 
and  at  Kruman,  Bohemia.     In  181 1  a  private  forestrj'-school  was  agricultural 
established  in  Saxony,  which  in  1816  was  transferred  to  the  state,   *^  *"*'' 
and  in  1830  became  an  agricultural  college.     The  great  agricultural  college  of 


r 


28 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Europe  —  that  at  Hohenheim,  near  Stuttgart  —  was  founded  in  1818,  and 
another  such  institution  was  started  in  Pomerania  in  1835.  Ten  years  ago 
Contrast  be-  there  were  a  hundred  and  forty-four  stations,  institutes,  schools, 
tween  ^^^  colleges   in   Germany.     Great    Britain  has  but  two   of  any 

Europe  and  tj  ^  j 

United  cousequence,  —  one  at  Cirencester,  established  before  1840,  and 

States.  one  near  Dublin.     French  legislation  in  1848  led  to  the  organiza- 

tion of  one  college  at  Versailles,  and  several  minor  schools  in  various  parts  of 
France. 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  facts,  and  from  others  which  we  are  about  to 
state,  that  Europe  led  us  but  very  little  in  agricultural  education,  and  soon  fell 
Efforts  of  behind.  We  have  already  referred  to  the  depression  of  agriculture 
Judge  Buei.  j^  America  between  1830  and  1840.  Besides  the  suggestion  then 
made  for  a  government  bureau  of  agriculture,  the  establishment  of  technical 
schools  in  this  department  of  knowledge  was  strongly  recommended.  Judge 
Buel  of  New  York  being  foremost  in  pressing  the  idea.  No  immediate  action 
was  taken,  however. 

In  1844  an  agricultural  department  was  established  in  connection  with 
Oberlin  College,  Ohio.  A  separate  college  was  founded  at  Cleveland  in 
Increase  of  1855,  to  which  the  Oberlin  endowment  was  transferred.  In  1854 
agricultural  Dr.  William  Terrell  made  a  bequest  to  the  University  of  ( leorgia, 
amounting  to  $20,000,  to  establish  a  professorship  of  agriculture. 
Arrangements  for  a  similar  department  in  connection  with  Amherst  College 
were  made  by  Massachusetts  in  1855.  Subsequently  a  veterinary  institute 
was  established  at  Boston.  In  1852  a  charter  was  obtained  for  an  independent 
agricultural  college.  The  endowment  was  to  be  raised  from  town,  county, 
and  personal  subscriptions.  Litde  was  done  toward  organization  until  1855. 
It  was  i860  before  the  school  was  in  operation  ;  and,  the  war  breaking  out  soon 
after,  it  closed  after  two  terms. 

Michigan  was  the  first  State,  after  Ohio,  to  get  an  independent  agricultural 
college  in  actual  operation.  The  act  of  incorporation  and  appropriation 
passed  Feb.  12,  1855.  A  farm  of  676  acres,  mostly  wooded, 
at  first  was  purchased,  and  buildings  erected  for  college-purposes, 
students'  boarding-house,  and  professors'  residences.  The  institu- 
tion went  into  practical  operation  in  1857  ;  and  its  stock-stables, 
botanical  gardens,  and  course  of  instruction,  soon  made  it  famous. 
The  original  grant  was  of  $56,000  :  a  subsequent  one  of  $40,000  was  made  ; 
and  even  then  there  was  a  debt  of  $13,000,  making  a  total  cost  of  $109,000. 
In  i860  it  passed  under  control  of  the  State  Board.  The  third  such  independ- 
ent institution  was  the  Farmers'  High  School  of  Pennsylvania,  opened  in  Centre 
County  of  that  State  in  1859.  Three  years  later  its  name  was  changed  to  the 
Agricultural  College  of  Pennsylvania.  Iowa  made  a  grant  of  $10,000  for 
such  an  institution  in  1858,  and  got  it  going  on  a  small  scale  in  1859.  The 
Ovid  College  appears  to  have  been  the  fifth  of  these  institutions. 


Formation  of 
agricultural 
schools  in 
Michigan 
and  Penn- 
sylvania. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


ig 


CoagTf' 
■ional  grant 
for  State 
agricultural 
collr  %t». 


In  1862  Congress  passed  an  act  granting  land  to  each  State  in  the  Union,  to 
the  extent  of  30,000  acres  for  each  representative  in  Congress,  the  proceeds 
of  the  sales  of  which  were  to  go  to  agricultural  and  mechanical 
colleges.  Immediately  steps  were  taken  in  several  of  the  Northern 
States  for  the  foundation  of  industrial  schools  of  this  sort.  Massa- 
chusetts devoted  the  proceeds  of  one-tenth  of  her  land-scrip  to 
buying  a  farm  at  Amherst,  which  cost  $40,000  j  and  $75,000  more 
was  appropriated  for  the  buildings  of  her  Agricultural  College.  In  New  York 
the  land-scrip  was  given  to  Cornell  University,  which  had  an  agricultural 
department.  In  Connecticut  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  profited  in  the 
same  way.  Kentucky  at  first  established  a  college  in  connection  with  the 
State  University,  but  subsequently  separated  it,  and  bought  a  farm  for  it, 
which  included  "  Ashland,"  the  historic  estate  of  Henry  Clay.  This  school 
was  opened  in  1866  ;  in  which  year  the  colleges  of  Maine,  Vermont,  and  New 
Jersey,  were  nearly  or  quite  completed.  Where  some  institution  had  already 
been  founded,  as  in  Iowa,  Michigan,  and  Ohio,  they  were  made  the  recipients 
of  the  Federal  grants.  In  some  States  the  endowment  was  utilized  at  existing 
universities  by  the  opening  of  special  departments.  The  Southern  States 
followed  suit  soon  after  the  war.  In  1876  all  the  States  but  Nevada  had 
availed  themselves  of  the  government  provision;  and  there  were  then  41 
industrial  colleges  in  existence  in  this  country,  with  463  professors  and  3,703 
students  in  all  grades.  In  1875  there  were  382  graduates  from  these  colleges  ; 
a  number  steadily  increasing  since.  At  the  present  time  nearly  all  the  land- 
scrip  has  been  sold,  some  of  it  having  been  exceedingly  desirable. 

Our  agricultural  literature  has  been  regarded  by  eminent  authority  as  not 
exclusively  a  cause  of.  the  development  of  agricultural  science,  but  as  partly 
an  outgrowth  of  that  advance  in  thought  and  interest ;  for,  with  Agricultural 
slight  exceptions,  we  had  very  little  until  nearly  a  quarter  of  the  »"''•»"'•«• 
present  century  had  passed.  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  Rev.  Jared 
Eliot  of  Connecticut  prepared  and  published  several  papers  on  the  state  of 
husbandry  in  this  country,  which  were  almost  as  valuable  to  his  generation  as 
the  famous  "  Georgics  "  of  Virgil.  But  these  essays  were  a  little  ahead  of  the 
time,  and  had  but  few  readers.  The  Philadelphia,  New- York,  and  Massachu- 
setts societies  also  published  their  transactions,  which  were  valuable.  Those 
of  Massachusetts,  beginning  in  1 796,  were  especially  helpful. 

Mr.  Flint  thinks  that  "  The  American  Farmer,"  published  in  Baltimore  for 
the  first  time  in  1819,  was  the  first  purely  agricultural  periodical  in  the  United 
States.  It  soon  attained  a  wide  circulation,  and  seems  to  have  Agricultural 
set  the  farmers  to  reading  and  thinking  more  scientifically  than  pei^'odicau. 
before.  "  The  Agricultural  Intelligencer  "  was  started  in  Boston  the  following 
year;  but  it  lived  only  a  few  months.  In  1822,  however,  a  new  venture 
was  made  with  better  success.  Mr.  T.  G.  Fessenden  founded  "The  New- 
England  Farmer,"  which  was  continued  until  1846;  when,  upon  its  death, 


30 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


i| 


another  periodical  of  the  same  name,  weekly  and  monthly,  succeeded  it.  Mr. 
Samuel  Fleet  started  "  The  New- York  Farmer  "  soon  after  the  New-England 
publication  made  its  advent,  subsequently  selling  it  out  to  D.  K.  Miner. 
Mr.  Luther  Tucker,  an  experienced  agricultural  editor,  started  still  another 
paper  in  New- York  State,  near  Rochester,  in  183 1.  It  was  called  "The 
Genesee  Farmer,"  and,  though  it  was  long  in  becoming  firmly  established, 
eventually  became  a  valuable  and  widely-circulated  periodical.  Judge  Buel 
of  Albany  founded  "The  Cultivator"  in  1833;  and  in  1839,  on  ^'^  death,  it 
was  consolidated  with  "The  Genesee  Farmer."  "The  American  Agricul- 
turist" was  started  in  1842.  Shortly  prior  to  this,  and  since,  numerous  other 
periodicals,  weekly  and  monthly,  sprang  up ;  and  their  publication,  and 
increase  of  circulation,  rapidly  developed.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned 
"The  Maine  Farmer,"  "The  Rural  New-Yorker,"  "The  Country  Gentle- 
man," "The  Ohio  Farmer,"  "The  Michigan  Farmer,"  " The  Valley  Farmer," 
"  The  Wisconsin  Farmer,"  "  The  North-western  Farmer,"  "  The  Southern 
Planter."  There  are  now  between  fifty  and  sixty  weekly  and  monthly  agricul- 
tural periodicals  in  this  country.  Besides  these,  many  other  papers  devote 
a  special  department  to  agriculture,  stock-raising,  dairying,  poultry,  and  fruit. 

Then,  too,  within  the  past  forty  years,  a  considerable  number  of  books  have 
been  written  on  special  topics  in  agricultural  and  horticultural  science  ;  Andrew 
Agricultural  Jackson  Downing  having  been  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  prolific 
books.  writers  on  the  subject.     The  reports  of  the  United-States  Govern- 

ment, first  prepared  by  a  clerk  of  the  Patent  Office  in  1839,  and  then,  after 
1862,  by  the  commissioner  of  the  Agricultural  Bureau,  have  also  proved 
exceedingly  valuable  accessions  to  this  class  of  American  literature. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES, 


31 


id  it.    Mr- 
w-Engbnd 

K.  Miner, 
till  another 
lUed  "Tlie 
established, 
Judge  Buel 
his  death,  it 
:an  Agricul- 
lerous  other 
ication,  and 
;  mentioned 
ntry  Gende- 
lley  Farmer," 
'he   Southern 
nthly  agricul- 
papers  devote 
y,  and  fruit, 
of  books  have 
;nce;  Andrew 
d  most  prohfic 
Jtates  Govern- 
ind  then,  after 
also   proved 
lire. 


1 


3» 


y»' 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


CHAPTER  II. 

AGRICULTURAL  IMPLEMENTS. 

ONE  of  the  most  interesting  and  important  features  in  the  history  of 
American  agriculture  relates  to  the  improvement  of  means  for  cultivat- 
ing the  soil.  The  history  is  a  record  of  marked  originality,  perseverance, 
„.  jj  .  _  and  great  triumphs,  with  enough  of  tragic  disappointment  or 
ter  of  Ameri-  pecuniary  loss  to  spice  the  tale  ;  while  the  vast  development  given 
to  American  resources  and  wealth  by  the  improvement  of  these 
prerequisites  to  toil  has  given  this  nation  its  distinctive  pre-emi- 
nence. Our  highest  rank  among  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  in  a  material  point 
of  view,  is  as  an  agricultural  people  ;  and  though  great  progress  has  been  made 
in  other  industries,  to  which  Americans  can  look  with  justifiable  pride,  im- 
provement in  means  for  subduing  and  cultivating  the  land  is  still  the  most 
marked  characteristic  of  native  inventive  genius. 

The  most  important  of  agricultural  implements  is  the  plough :  besides,  it  is 
one  of  the  oldest ;  for  its  origin  is  lost  in  the  dim  twilight  of  antiquity.  The 
Origin  of  the  plough  is  probably  an  improvement  upon  the  hoe,  which  can  lay 
piouEh.  claim  to  a  still  more  ancient  history.    At  first,  it  was  made  of  the 

tough  crotches  of  trees  j  then  the  forked  piece  was  trimmed  and  bound  to  the 


can  inven- 
tive genius 


ANCIENT  HOB  AND  PLOUGHS. 


handle  to  prevent  the  two  from  splitting  apart.  In  the  accompanying  engraving 
an  ancient  kind  of  hoe  is  given.  The  plough  had  a  similar  and  equally  humble 
origin.  It  was  not  the  product  of  great  and  enduring  genius.  The  earliest 
ploughs  known  to  us  were  rude  enough  in  their  construction.  Like  hoes,  one 
limb  of  a  tree  formed  the  beam  of  the  plough,  and  the  other  the  share  ;  from 
which  simple  device  improvements  have  been  slowly  made,  until  this  imple- 
ment has  been  brought  nearly  to  perfection. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


33 


When  the  colonists  first  began  to  upturn  the  soil,  the  plough  was  a  very  rude 
affair.    It  was  made  wholly  of  wood.    The  beam,  standard,  and  handles,  if  the 
plough  had  two,  were  of  seasoned  stuff;  and  the  mould-board  was  a  Rude„e„ 
block  of  wood,  and  approximating  to  the  curve  required.    A  great  of  early 
deal  of  power  ^v«s  needed  to  draw  it.    Yet  even  this,  rude  as  it  p'**"**'*- 
was,  far  excelled  the  plough  used  in  the  days  of  Elisha,  who,  when  summoned 
to  assume  the  functions  of  prophet  and  teacher  for  the  Hebrew  children,  was 
walking  behind  his  plough  drawn  by  twelve  yoke  of  oxen.    The  earliest  ploughs 
were  doubtless  imported,  and  as  early  as  1617  they  might  be  seen  pirstimpor- 
upon  a  Virginia  plantation.    The  complaint  of  the  governor  at  that  tation  of 
time  was,  not  lack  of  instruments,  but  "  skilful  husbandmen,  and  p'""***'" 
means  to  set  their  ploughs  on  work,  having  as  good  ground  as  any  man  can 
desire,  and  about  forty  bulls  and  oxen ;  but  they  wanted  men  to  bring  them  to 
labor,  iron  for  ploughs,  and  harness  for  the  catde."    But  ten  years  later,  it  is 
recorded  there  were  only  thirty  ploughs  in  the  colony  at  Massachusetts  Bay  ; 
and,  for  twelve  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  the  farmers  there  had 
none  whatever,  and  were  compelled  to  prepare  their  lands  for  seed  with  clumsy 
hoes.     It  has  been  affirmed  that  it  was  the  custom  in  that  part  of  the  country, 
even  to  a  much  later  period,  for  any  one  owning  a  plough  to  go  abc 't  and  do 
the  ploughing  for  the  inhabitants  over  a  considerable  extent  of  territory.     A 
town  often  paid  a  bounty  to  any  one  who  would  buy  and  keep  a  plough  in 
repair  for  the  purpose  of  going  about  to  work  in  this  way.     The  massive  old 
wooden  plough  required  a  strong  and  well-fed  team  to  move  it  through  the 
soil,  a  heavy,  muscular  man  to  press  it  into  the  ground,  another  to  hold,  and 
another  to  drive. 

During  all  the  centuries  preceding  the  present  one,  but  few  improvements 
were  made  in  this  most  important  of  all  agricultural  implements.  All  the 
earlier  ones  never  turned  a  furrow,  but  only  stirred  up  the  ground  ;  slowness  of 
and  hence  they  were  difficult  to  draw,  beside  (icing  their  work  early  im- 
very  imperfectly.  In  the  last  century  the  plough  in  use  among  the  p''°^«'"*"*»- 
French  settlers  in  Illinois  was  made  of  wood,  with  a  small  point  of  iron  tied 
upon  the  nose  with  strips  of  raw-hide.  The  beam  rested  upon  an  axle  and 
small  wooden  wheels  j  while  the  oxen  which  drew  it  were  yoked  by 
their  horns  by  means  of  a  straight  yoke  attached  by  raw  leather 
straps,  with  a  pole  extending  from  the  yoke  back  to  the  axle. 
Knight  has  described  the  English  plough  in  use  among  the  colo- 
nies along  the  coast  in  1776  as  being  made  of  wood,  except  the 
wrought-iron  share,  and  some  bolts  and  nuts  whereby  the  parts  were  fastened 
together.  The  standard  rose  nearly  vertically,  having  attached  to  it  the  beam 
and  the  sole-piece.  On  the  nose  of  the  beam  hung  the  clevis.  The  mould- 
board  and  share  were  attached  to  a  frame  braced  between  the  beam  and  the 
sole.  The  wooden  mould-board  was  sometimes  plated  with  sheet-iron,  or  by 
strips  made  by  hammering  out  old  horseshoes.     A  clump  of  iron  shaped  like 


Description 
of  early 
ploughs  used 
in  this 
country. 


54 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


a  half  spear  formed  the  point.  It  was  known  as  a  "  bull-plough,"  "  bull- 
tongue,"  or  "  bar-share  "  plough.  Two  pins  in  the  standard  formed  the  handles, 
and  it  required  the  strength  of  a  man  to  manage  it.  The  work  was  slowly 
and  poorly  performed  by  cattle. 

During  the  last  century,  the  Carey  plough,  as  it  was  termed,  was  more  ex- 
tensively employed  than  any  other,  and  may  be  briefly  described,  although  the 
Carey  form  varied  very  much,  according  to  the  ideas  and  skill  of  the 

plough.  blacksmith  who  made  it.     It  had  a  clumsy  wrought-iron  share,  a 

land-side  and  standard  made  of  wood,  a  wooden  mould-board,  often  plated 
over  in  a  rough  manner  with  pieces  of  old  saw-plates,  tin,  or  sheet-iron. 
The  handles  were  upright,  and  were  held  by  two  pins.  A  powerful  man  was 
required  to  holil  it,  and  double  the  strengtn  of  team  now  commonly  used  was 
required  in  doing  the  same  kind  of  work. 


-^*i 


^^^^^^^^•^i^^ 


rtOUGH  OF   l8l3. 


of  the  first 
cast  iron 
plough. 


interest  in 
the  subject. 


The  first  cast-iron  plough  ever  seen  in  this  country  was  imported  from 
,        ,  ,,        Scotland  soon  after  the  Revolution,  and  was  the  invention  of  James 

Importation  '  ■' 

Small  of  Berwickshire.  The  mould-board  was  cast-iron,  with  a 
wrought-iron  share,  the  form  being  somewhat  similar  to  those 
now  in  use. 

The  first  person  in  this  country  who  devoted  his  attention  seriously  to  this 
subject  was  Thomas  Jefferson.  Immersed  as  he  was  in  the  politics  of  the 
Jefferson's  time,  he  never  lost  his  interest  in  the  greatest  of  all  pursuits  ;  and 
from  1788  to  1793  he  studied  and  experimented  diligently  to 
determine  the  proper  form  of  the  mould-board,  treating  it  as  a 
"  lifting-wedge  and  an  upsetting-wedge,"  and  endeavoring  to  ascertain  the 
cur\'e  necessary  to  accomplish  this  purpose  with  the  least  friction.  Probably 
he  was  stimulated  to  exercise  his  genius  in  this  direction  by  receiving  an 
improved  plough  from  the  agricultural  society  of  the  Department  of  the 
Seine  in  France.  His  son-in-law.  Col.  Randolph,  whom  Jefferson  regarded  as 
the  best  farmer  in'  Virginia,  soon  after  invented  a  side-hill  plough  adapted 
to  the  hilly  regions  of  that  State.  This  plough  was  made  with  two  wings 
welded  to  the  same  bar,  with  their  planes  at  right  angles  to  each  other ;  so 
that,  by  turning  a  bar  adjusted  to  an  axis,  either  wing  could  be  laid  flat  on  the 
ground,  while  the  other,  standing  vertically,  served  as  a  mould-board. 

Stimulated  by  the  example  of  Jefferson,  others  entered  this  field  of  inven- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


35 


i  more  ex- 
lihough  the 
skill  of  the 
ron  share,  a 
uften  plated 
r  sheet-iron, 
ful  man  was 
nly  used  was 


tion.  Robert  Smith  of  Pennsylvania,  it  is  said,  took  out  the  first  patent  for 
the  mould-board  alone  of  a  plough ;  and  Newbold  of  Burlington,  g,,,  jn^en- 
N.J. ,  in  1797  patented  a  plough  with  a  mould-board,  share,  and  tioni lecured 
lan<l-side  all  cast  together.  Peacock  in  his  patent,  in  1807,  cast  ""yp'**"'- 
his  plough  in  three  pieces,  the  front  of  the  colter  entering  a  notch  in  the 
breast  of  the  share.  We  now  come  to  the  invention  of  Jethro  Wood  of 
Scipio,  N.Y.,  whose  improvement  was  made  in  1819.  It  was  much  wood'«  in- 
superior  to  any  previous  invention ;  but  he  entertained  a  wrong  mention. 
ifiea  concerning  its  novelty,  supposing  it  to  be  the  first  iron  plough  ever 
invented.  Its  peculiar  merit  consisted  in  the  mode  of  securing  the  cast-iron 
portions  together  by  lugs  and  locking-pieces,  doing  away  with  screw-bolts,  and 
much  weight,  complexity,  and  expense.  Wood  did  more  than  any  other  person 
to  drive  out  of  use  the  cumbrous  contrivances  common  throughout  the  coun- 
try by  supplanting  them  with  a  lighter,  cheaper,  and  more  effective  implement. 
It  was  the  first  plough  in  which  the  parts  most  exposed  to  wear  could  be 
renewed  in  the  field  by  the  substitution  of  cast  pieces.  Wood  was  entitled 
to  a  great  deal  of  credit  for  the  genius  and  enterprise  which  he  displayed ; 
but,  like  many  an  unlucky  inventor  before  and  since  his  time,  he  s^ient  all  his 
fortune  in  developing  and  defending  his  invention. 

Since  his  day  improvements  have  been  continuous,  and  every  year  new 
designs  are  sent  to  the  Patent  Office ;  nor  does  human  skill  show  scarce  a  sign 
of  abatement  in  this  direction. 

The  application  of  steam  to  ploughing  in  the  United  States  makes  another 
phase  of  improvement  in  agricultural  implements  worthy  of  mention.  The 
first  invention  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States  was  patented  by  E.  steam- 
C.Bellinger  of  South  Carolina  in  1833;  but,  for  some  reason  or  piouRht. 
other,  it  never  went  into  general  use.  Twenty-one  years  later,  John  Fowler 
of  England  improved  upon  Bellinger's  invention  so  far  as  to  manufacture  and 
employ  several  of  his  machines.  About  the  same  time  that  Fowler's  invention 
appeared,  several  other  American  improvements  were  made  upon  a  very 
different  principle.  Engines  were  designed  to  travel  over  the  field,  drawing 
ploughs  behind  them.  Promising  as  these  various  inventions  are,  many  im- 
provements are  required  to  make  them  perfect ;  and  a  splendid  field  still  lies 
before  the  genius  of  the  inventor. 

Great  as  has  been  the  economy  effected  by  using  the  improved  plough,  the 
farmer,  for  a  long  time,  did  not  take  so  kindly  and  quickly  to  successive  im- 
provements in  this  most  important  of  all  agricultural  implements  p,y„„, 
as  he  does  now.     Slowly  learned   as  were  the  principles  upon  were  slow  to 
which  the  true  construction  of  the  plough  depended,  —  the  turning  """p*  '""■ 
over  and  pulverizing  of  the  soil  with  the  least  friction,  —  farmers 
were  slower  still  in  adopting  any  improvement.     Not  unfrequently  they  asserted 
that  cast-iron  poisoned  the  ground,  and  spoiled  crops ;  and  so  they  adhered 
to  their  old  clumsy  wooden  affairs.     Slowly  has  this  prejudice  worn  away,  and 


if> 


INDUSTRIAL    HtSTORY 


with  its  disappearance  every  real  improvement  has  been  more  and  more 
eagerly  tested.  The  inventor  has  been  stimulated  to  prosecute  his 
efforts  more  critically  :  he  has  found  that  different  kinds  of  ploughs 
will  work  to  the  best  advantage  on  various  soils ;  that,  while  one 
is  best  adapted  for  a  damp  soil,  another  is  for  dry ;  and  that, 
while  one  works  well    on   level   ground,  another  turns   over  the 

soil   more  perfectly  on  the  hill-side.     Besides,  there  has  been  an  enormous 


Eagernett  of 
modern 
farmers  to 
test  inven- 
tions. 


STBAM-PLOUCH. 


improvement  in  the  manufacture  of  the  plough  itself.  Formerly,  ploughs  were 
made  by  every  country  blacksmith  ;  and  his  work,  however  skilful,  must  have 
bcLMi  rude  enough  compared  with  that  performed  by  the  great  concerns  which 
are  expressly  fitted  up  to  manufacture  these  instruments. 

The  saving  which  follows  the  employment  of  this  one  invention  is  enormous. 
We  know  of  no  method  of  estimating  it  with  exactness ;  but  he  who  stops  a 
moment  to  consider  how  many  days  he  would  be  in  digging  up  ten  acres 
with  a  hoe   or  with  one   of  the   earliest  ploughs  invented  as   a  substitute, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


37 


and   realizes  how  (inickly  and  how  much   more  perfectly  the  work  is  done 
now,  will   be   able    to   form   an   estimate   for   himself.     Without   Economy  of 
this  invention,  thousands  of   acres  would  be  untilled,  or,  if  cul-   modern 
tivatcd  at  all,  only  in  a  very  imperfect  manner.  pioughi. 

There  are  several  outgrowths  of  the  |Jlough,  among  which  are  the  horse-hoe, 
invented  by  James  Aklen  of  New- York  State,  and  others,  and  the  so-called 
cultivator,  ijfovided  with  a  series  of  diminutive  jilough-points  to   Honehoe 
stir  the    soil  about  the  roots   of  corn,  cotton,  and   other  crops,   andcuitiva- 
These  implements,  while  of  minor  importance,  have  been  of  vast  '°'" 
value  ;  for  with  one  of  them,  one  horse,  and  a  man,  more  work  can  be  ilone 
than  thirty  men  caii  do  provided  with  hand -hoes. 


HOKSB-MOE. 


The  harrow. 


The  harrow,  the  next  imj^lement  to  be  used  in  tillage  after  ploughing,  is  but 
a  little  different  tool  from  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  ancients. 
Indeed,  few  implements  have  changed  so  immaterially  in  construc- 
tion, and  principle  of  operation,  as  this. 

Very  little  data  is  attainable  showing  the  progress  of  seed-drills  for  plant- 
ing. Jared  Eliot,  writing  in  1754,  alludes  to  Mr.  Tull's  wheat-drill  as  a 
wonderful  invention  ;  but,  owing  to  its  cumbersome  and  compli-  punting- 
cated  construction,  he  urges  Mr.  Clai^p,  President  of  Yale  College,  ""achines. 
to  apply  his  "  mathematical  learning  and  mechanical  genius  "  to  the  invention 
of  a  simpler  machine.  Drills  for  spreading  manure  were  soon  after  devised. 
'I'he  most  marked  improvement  in  seed-drills  adapted  to  all  kinds  of  crops 
has  been  made  within  the  present  century. 

.^s  regards  practical  value,  probably  no  agricultural  implement  can  compare 
with  the  mower  and  reaper.     .After  the  farmer  has  planted  and  raised  a  crop, 
he  must  harvest  it :  and  it  happens  that  most  of  his  hay  ripens  at   Mower  and 
one  time  ;  and  so  with  his  wheat,  rye,  barley,  oats,  and  buckwheat,   '■eaper- 


38 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


If  the  hay  be  cut  too  soon  or  too  late,  it  is  of  poor  <iuality :  and,  if  grain  is 
allowed  to  get  over-ripe,  it  rattles  out  of  the  husk,  and  is  lost ;  or  it  sprouts  in 
the  head,  and  spoils.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  acres  of  wheat  in  the 
fertile  West  were  wasted  in  a  single  season  before  the  reaper  was  perfected, 
owing  to  the  inability  of  the  owner  to  secure  help  enough  to  harvest  it  in  tlie 
proper  time. 

While  it  is  true  that  American  mowers  and  reapers  are  acknowledged  to  be 
the  best  in  the  world,  and  have  always  triumphed  over  all  rivals  in  competitive 
^jij  trials  in  England,  France,  (lermany,  Russia,  and  St)uth  America, 

American  they  are  not  of  .\merican  origin.  The  mower  was  invented  in  l')u- 
nvent  oni.  ^ope  ;  but  Yankee  genius  simplified  and  improved  it  greatly.  Not 
is  the  invention  so  very  recent.  The  great  improvement  of  the  original  dates 
back  scarcely  more  than  a  generation  ;  but  the  first  reaping-machine  of  history 
is  that  mentioned  by  I'liny  the  elder  as  in  use  among  the  (lauls  over  eighteen 
centuries  ago,  or  about  the  year  23  of  the  Christian  era.  .\t  that  time,  and 
until  within  fifty  years  of  the  present  day,  most  of  the  rea|)ing  of  grain  was 
»lone  by  the  sickle.  But  Pliny  mentions  particularly  a  large-six.ed  van  on 
^      ,    .         wheels,  with  teeth  projecting  from  the  forward  edge,  and  driven 

Description  i       j  o  r>    > 

of  Pliny's  through  the  oat  and  barley  fields,  with  an  ox  yoked  in  the  rear, 
reaping.  between  thills,  in  such  a  way  as  to  inish  the  machine  ahead  of 

machine. 

him.  Sometimes  the  sickles  thus  employed  cut  off  the  heads  o 
grain  at  the  top  of  the  stalk,  and  sometimes  half  way  down  the  stalk  ;  l)ut 
in  either  case  the  grain  fell  over  into  the  van.  Palladius,  an  Kastern  eccle- 
siastical writer,  A.I).  391,  describing  these  same  reapers,  or  an  iini)rovement 
thereupon,  says  that  the  driver  could  regulate  the  elevation  or  depression  of 
the  teeth  by  means  of  a  lever.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  a  semi-barbaric  race 
had  invented  and  used  a  reaping-machine  long  before  Rome's  glory  had 
departed,  and  even  before  Christ  was  crucified. 

In  1785  we  read  of  jjroposals  being  submitted  in  England  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  reaper ;  but,  from  the  description,  it  does  not  appear  to  have  differed 
Early  Ene-  substantially  from  that  of  the  ancient  Gallic  husbandmen.  And 
lish  reaping-  yet,  as  in  the  development  of  a  i)lant  or  of  a  fine  art,  we  now 
mac  mes.  i^j^gin  to  scc  in  rudimentary  shape  some  new  elements  of  the 
perfected  machine.  The  power  was  applied  as  formerly,  from  behind,  by 
either  horse  or  ox ;  antl  the  big  box  or  van  was  em})tied  into  a  storeroom 
when  full.  But  mention  is  made  of  a  heavy  drive-wheel,  toothed  wlieels,  anil 
pulleys  ;  which  indicates  that  a  series  of  knives  were  made  to  beat  against  the 
teeth  in  a  ilifferent  manner  from  those  of  old.  .\nother  reaper  is  described  in 
I  799,  which  cut  a  swath  two  feet  wide,  and  threw  it  to  the  ground  on  one  side. 
This  was  another  advance  on  the  past ;  for  the  machine  could  now  work  with 
less  frecjuent  interruption.  Agricultural  writers  always  estimate  the  work  of  a 
horse  as  e<iual  to  five  men.  and  judge  the  value  of  a  machine  accordingly 
As  this  reaper,  with  a  horse  and  a  boy,  could  do  more  than  six  men  will'. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES, 


39 


}\. 


III  II 


'i,Vl'i 
/;i 


ii.:l!;'" 


40 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


m 


sickles,  it  fulfilled  the  requirements  of  a  iabor-saving  machine.  Two  more 
British  machines  deserve  to  be  noticed.  Mr.  Gladstone  devised  one  in  1806, 
which  delivered  the  grain  in  gavels  to  be  bound  ;  and  Mr.  Plunckett  constructed 
one  the  following  year,  which  was  drawn,  ins'ead  of  pushed,  by  the  horse.  In 
1822  Mr.  Mann  brought  forward  a  reaper,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Highland 
Society  of  Scotland,  which  would  cut  ten  acres  in  ten  hours.  In  addition  to 
being  drawn,  and  having  a  side-projecting  cutter-bar,  this  machine  made  use 
of  a  sliding  or  reciprocating  knife,  had  a  reel  to  beat  the  grain  against  the 
knives,  and  had  a  platform  on  which  the  grain  fell. 

The  first  record  of  an  American  invention  of  this  sort  is  of  a  mower, 
constructed  by  an  ingenious  mechanic  of  Genoa,  Cayuga  County,  N.Y.,  in 
First  Ameri-  1 826  or  1 828.  The  characteristic  feature  of  it  was  a  large  wheel, 
can  mower,  ^hich  revolved  horizontally  near  the  ground,  and  which  was  pro- 
vided with  scythe-like  knives  on  its  periphery.  A  heavy  drive-wheel  commu- 
nicated the  •  jcessary  power.  It  was  drawn  by  a  single  horse.  The  machine 
never  amounted  to  much,  and  was  never  perfected  ;  but  it  marks  the  first 
awakening  of  decided  interest  in  this  direction  in  America. 

In  1828  Samuel  Lane  of  Maine  invented  a  reaper,  and  is  said  to  have 
combined  therewith  a  "thresher ;  "  but  we  think  this  is  a  verbal  error,  and  that 
Lane's  "  mower  "  is  meant.     A  successfiil  mower,  which  had  some  little 

veaper.  popularity,  was  invented  by  William  Manning  of  New  Jersey  in 

183 1  ;  and  in  1834  the  Ambler  patent  applied  Hussey's  vibratory  knives  to 
the  mcwer. 

In  1833  the  first  really  successful  and  famous  American  reaper  was 
invented  by  Hussey  of  Maryland.  This  had  reciprocating  knives,  which  oper- 
Hus.ey's  ated  through  slatted  fingers, —  an  entirely  new  principle,  —  and 
reaper.  jj^g  cutter-bar  was  hinged  so  as  to  turn  up  at  right  angles  with  the 

ground.  M'Cormick  of  Virginia  patented  a  combined  mower  and  reaper  in 
1834,  which,  with  subsequent  improvements,  took  a  council  medal  at  the 
World's  ^■\\x  in  London  in  1851. 

The  period  from  1830  to  1850  was  one  during  which  great  attention  was 
given  to  imjjroving  these  machines  ;  but  even  more  ingenuity  h.ns  been  ap- 
plied to  their  improvement  since  then,  no  less  than  three  thousand  patents 
having  been  taken  out  for  such  harvesters  in  this  country.  Among  the  most 
important  attachments  to  the  reaping-machine  is  the  self-rake,  which  lays  the 
grain  off  in  gavels  for  binding  ;  which  work  was  formerly  done  by  an  extra  man 
seated  on  the  machine. 

From  about  1855,  experiments  have  been  made  to  devise  and  perfect  a 
machine  which  shall  bind  grain  as  fast  as  it  's  cut.  The  man  who  has  given  tlic 
most  attention  thereto  is  Allen  Sherwood  of  Auburn,  N.Y.  His 
api)aratus  consists  of  a  series  of  fingers,  arranged  horizontally, 
tipon  which  the  grain  is  delivered  by  the  rake  in  bundles  ;  which 
fingers,  co-operating  with  a  slender,  curved  arm,  are  made  to  embrace  tiie  1 


Grain- 
binding 
machine. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


41 


bundle,  and  instantaneously  girdle  it  with  fine  wire,  which  is  •:ut  from  a  reel, 
and  its  ends  are  twisted  together  for  a  knot.  As  yet,  we  believe  that  the  ma- 
cliine  has  never  come  into  practical  use. 

The  American  mowers  and  reapers  are  now  awarded  the  palm  of  superi- 
ority the  world  over.     In   1855  a  competitive  trial  of  reapers  was  had  near 
I'aris,  France,  in  which   machines  from   F^ngland,  .Vmerica,  and   §„    riority 
Algiers,  participated.     The  result  was,  that  the  American  machine  of  American 
cut  an  acre  of  oats  in  twenty-two  minutes  ;  the  English,  in  sixty-   '"°"'='^*  ■'''' 

■  C&pCrS* 

six  minutes ;  and  the  Algerian,  in  seventy-two  ;    and  the  same 
triumph  has  been  repeatedly  achieved  in  other  similar  contests.    Our  machines 
arc  exported  to  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world,  in  preference  to  those  of  every 
other  country. 

'i'he  average  capacity  of  the  American  reaper  is  fifteen  acres  per  day ; 
l)Mt,  under  favorable  circumstances,  it  will  reap  twenty  or  twenty-five  :  whereas, 
by  hand,  an  acre  and  a  half  to  a  man  is  a  large  average.     But  ^  ^^ 

tills  comparison  does  not  fully  represent  the  great  advantage  of  advantages 
this  invention  to  the  farmer.     It  must  be  remembered  that  these   °'  American 

reaper. 

increased  harvesting  fiicilities  enable  him  to  gather  crops  which 

otherwise  would  sjioil  and  be  lost  altogether,  so  short  is  the  season  in  which 

grain  must  be  harvested,  if  at  all. 

The  maniifacHure  of  reapers  and  mowers  amounts  to  between  eighty  thou- 
santl  and  a  hundred  thousand  a  year  ;  and,  though  they  are  made   Manufacture 
at  Chicago  and  elsewhere  in  large  numbers,  the  principal  centre   of  mowers 
of  the  industry  in  America  is  .\uburn,  N.Y.  ""  reapers. 

Several  machines  have  been  invented  within  the  present  century,  which 
have  materially  facilitated  the  gathering  of  the  hay-croj).  One  of  these  is  the 
tedder,  which  upturns  the  new- cut  and  half-cured  grass  as  it  lies  Tedders 
upon  the  groiuid,  and  promotes  its  more  rapid  curing.  Thus  the  rakes,  and 
risk  of  exposure  to  sudden  simmier  storms  is  gready  lessened.  "  *' 
Another  very  valual)le  implement  is  the  horse-rake.  It  is  found  in  many 
forms ;  but  the  two  most  esteemed  are  those  with  cur%-ed  steel  tines  attaclied 
to  a  bar  hinged  to  a  light  axletree,  —  first  brought  out  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
manufactured  by  the  Messrs.  Sprout  at  Muncy,  Lycoming  County, — and  those 
whicli  liave  two  sets  of  wooden  teeth,  lie  close  to  the  ground,  and  revolve  at 
the  will  of  the  driver.  Tliese  latter  were  invented  by  H.  N.  Tracy  of  I'.ssex 
JtiiK  tion,  Vt.  These  rakes  are  used  to  gather  pease,  beans,  and  other  crops, 
ami  enable  the  farmer  to  handle  both  them  and  his  hay  with  far  greater 
rapidity  tiian  of  old.  It  is  estimated  that  they  do  ten  times  the  work  of  hand- 
rakes.  The  invention  of  the  horse-fork,  by  means  of  which  whole  haycocks 
I  (an  be  hoisteil  into  the  wagon,  or  from  tlie  wagon  to  the  stack  or  mow,  has 
I  also  l)een  the  work  of  the  past  generation,  a:ui  largely  conduced  to  the  saving 
I  of  labor  and  time. 

.\gTicultural  implements  may  be  divided  into  three  principal  classes,  —  those 


43 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


which  prepare  and  till  the  soil,  those  which  gamer  the  crop,  and  those  which 
Potato-dig-  separate  the  precious  part  of  the  product  from  its  refuse.  In  ad- 
«f«'-  dition  to  the  mower  and  reaper  and  the  borse-rake  and  tedder, 

there  are  several  less  important  machines  belonging  to  this  second  cia^s.  The 
most  interesting  is  the  potato-digger.  Several  attempts  to  devise  a  machine 
which  shall  plough  up  these  tubers  from  the  furrow,  separate  them  from  the 
loose  earth,  and  deposit  them  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  have  been  made, 
but  none  of  them  with  perfect  success.  The  great  difficulty  is  in  separating 
the  potatoes  from  the  dirt,  when  once  exhumed. 


H/VV-TEDDER. 


Prominent  among  the  third  class  of  machines  above  referred  to  is  that 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  flail.  For  thousands  of  years,  even  back  in  the 
Threshing-  days  of  Israel's  glory,  grain  was  separated  from  its  husk  by  throw- 
machine,  ing  jj.  upon  large  threshing-floors,  beating  it  with  flails,  or  causing' 
it  to  be  trampled  by  horses  or  oxen,  and  then  purging  the  floor  with  a  fan  in 
the  hand. 

The  modern  threshing-machine  is  less  than  a  hundred  years  old,  and,  like 


OF   THE    UN/TED   STATES. 


43 


[the  reaper,  is  a  foreign  invention,  which  has  been  greatly  improved  upon  by 
I  American  ingenuity.     Attempts  were  made  to  devise  such  appara-   a  foreign 
Itus  by  Menzies  in  1732,  and  Stirling  in  1758,  in  Scotland;  but  '"venUon. 
both  failed,  because  of  an  unsuccessful  principle.     In  1786  Andrew  Meikle 
of  East  Lothian,  also  a   Scot,  invented  a   machine  which  proved   effective. 
This  device  introduced  the  sheaf  between  rollers,  and  caused  it  to  be  beaten 
[with  arms   on  a  drum.     The   English  improved  upon  this  arrangement  by 
making  this  drum  operate  in  a  concave  "  breasting,"  which  allowed  of  a  more 
vigorous  scutching  and  rubbing.     The  loosened  grain  fell  mostly  through  bars 
in  this  concave,  while  the  straw  was  carried  onward  to  the  shaker.    The  Ameri- 
cans improved  on  this  still  further  by  putting  spikes,  or  teeth,  both  on  the  drum 
and  the  concave,  and  also  by  making  the  whole  machine  lighter  and  swifter 
than  the  cumbrous  English  apparatus.     A  famous  trial  of  rival  threshers  was 
had  in  England  in  1853  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Mechi,  Tiptree  Hall,   j^ 
Kelvedon  ;  and  the  A.  -"erican  machine  did  nearly  three  times  the   ments  in 
work  the  English  ma.hine  did  in  the  same  time,  and  turned  out  t*"'=s^»"K- 

°  machines. 

the  grain  much  cleaner.     A  subsequent  trial  was  made  in  France, 
which  resulted  as  fj;lows :  Pitt's  (American)  machine  threshed  seven  hundred 
and  forty  litres  of  wheat  in  an  hour;  Clayton's  (English),  four  hundred  and 
ten;  Duvoir's  (French),  two  hundred  and  fifty;  Pinet's  (French),  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty ;  and  six  experts  with  flails,  sixty  altogether. 

The  threshing-machine  is  generally  owned  by  itinerant  proprietors,  who  go 
tiirough  the  country  working  for  successive  farmers,  as  in  the  early  colonial 
days  did  the  plough-owners.     At  first  they  were  operated  by  tread-   ^^i,.  ^t 
mill  and  rotary  lever  horse-powers ;  but  now  portable  six  or  ten  operating 
horse  power  engines  are  largely  employed.     The  capacity  of  one  *''*'"■ 
good  steam-power  threshing-machine  in  a  season  of  three  months  is  from  forty 
thousand  to  a  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  grain.     There  is  a  record  of  a 
horse-power  thresher  cleaning  eighty  thousand  four  hundred  bushels  in  fifty- 
two  days,  of  which  eleven  thousand  three  hundred  were  threshed  in  five  days 
and  a  half.  ■ 

Small  winnowing-machines,  for  hand  use,  have  been  used  from  early  colo- 
nial days.  Special  machines  for  threshing  clover,  and  gathering  its  winnowing- 
sjed,  have  also  been  devised  during  the  present  century.  maciiines. 

No  effective  machine  for  cutting  corn  or  husking  it  has  yet  been  de- 
vised, although  repeated  attempts  in  those  directions  have  been  made.  A 
sheller  exists,  hovever,  which  removes  the  grain  from  the  cob,  and 
wliich  is  operated  by  hand,  shelling  one  ear  at  a  time ;  and  a 
more  rapid  separator,  worked  by  horse-power,  has  also  been 
developed  therefrom,  and  come  into  extensive  use  in  the  V/estern 
grain  regions. 

Probably  no  machine  has  so  conduced  to  the  sudden  and  vast  develop- 
ment of  any  agriculturnl  indtistry  in  the  whole  world  as  the  cotton-gin.     The 


Machines  for 
cutting, 
husking,  and 
shelling 
corn. 


44 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Cotton  gin. 


Roller-gin. 


cotton-bo!l  contains  coarse,  hairy  seeds,  which  cling  to  the  soft  fibre,  and 
which  need  to  be  removed  therefrom  before  the  latter  can  be  marketed  or 
manuiactured.  A  century  ago  this  labor  was  generally  performed 
by  women  and  children  in  the  house,  at  evening ;  and  the  process 
was  so  slow  and  laborious,  that  cotton-culture  was  not  particularly  profitable. 
In  India  a  bow  and  string  were  used  to  whip  the  cotton,  ?nd  thus  remove 
the  seeds  :  this  implement  was  first  used  in  this  country  in  Georgia,  the  market- 
able fibre  being  called  "  Georgia  bowed  cotton." 

A  machine  called  a  gin,  designed  to  accomplish  this  object  more  expedi- 
tiously, is  said  to  liave  been  invented  in  1 742  by  a  French  planter  who  lived  on 
Dubreuii's  the  present  site  of  New  Orleans,  and  who  was  named  Dubreuil. 
invention.  'pj^^.  invention  greatly  stimulated  the  culture  of  the  plant.  Its 
mechanism  is  not  described ;  but  it  probably  was  a  less  efficient  apparatus 
than  the  roller  or  saw  gin. 

Early  in  the  Revolution,  a  roller-gin,  composed  of  burnished  gun-barrels 
fixed  in  v/ooden  rollers,  was  devised  by  Kinsey  IJorden,  —  the  man  who  brought 
the  Sea-Island  cotton  to  this  country.  \Vhether  the  idea  was  origi- 
nal with  him,  or  imported,  is  not  known.  Mr.  15issell  of  Georgia 
simplified  the  roller-gin  in  1 788.  Its  product  for  a  day  was  about  five  pounils 
of  cleaned  cotton.  Shortly  after  the  Revolution,  Joseph  Eve,  or  Eaves,  of 
Rhode  Island  (who  is  also  spoken  of  as  the  son  of  a  Pennsylvania  loyalist 
who  had  moved  to  the  West  Indies),  introduced  into  Georgia  an  im])rovement 
on  the  roller-gin.  It  was  furnished  with  a  double  set  of  rollers,  and  operated 
by  ox-power  instead  of  a  hand-crank  or  treadle.  It  was  not  patented  until 
1803.  In  letters  written  at  that  day,  there  is  a  suggestion  of  the  possibility, 
that,  before  Eve's  niaciiine  was  introtluced,  a  foot-gin  was  in  extensive  use  near 
Philadelphia,  which  was  suj^erior  to  that  employed  in  Georgia.  Still  another 
roller-gin  is  mentiuneil  as  having  been  introduced  from  the  West  Indies,  or 
invented  by  Mr.  Crebs,  who  used  it  on  his  plantation  on  the  Pascagoula  River, 
in  what  was  then  called  West  Florida,  but  is  now  Alabama. 

The  l)est  of  all  machines  for  this  purpose,  however,  is  that  which  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  the  invention  of  Eli  Whitney ;  namely,  the  saw-gin.  \Vc 
Whitney's  refer  to  this  in  connection  with  the  history  of  cotton-culture  in 
invention.  t|^jg  country.  This  machine  employed  an  entirely  new  principle ; 
namely,  teeth  on  a  roller,  for  which  sets  of  circular  saws  were  afterwards 
substituted,  rotating  so  closely  to  a  set  of  parallel  bars  as  to  catch  the  fibrous 
cotton  on  the  other  side,  and  pull  it  through,  leaving  the  seeds.  Its  relative 
superiority  will  be  better  understood  when  we  say  that  it  enabled  the  planter, 
with  the  employment  of  a  single  hand,  to  clean  a  thousand  pounds  of  cotton 
a  day ;  whereas  the  roller-gin  would  clean  but  twenty-five,  and  hand-pickini,' 
but  five  or  six.  Lishop  truly  remarks  of  this  invention,  that,  "  in  economical 
value,  it  ranks  with  those  of  Arkwright  and  Fulton."  Indeed,  it  did  more  for 
the  southern  section  of  this  country  than  the  improvements  on  the  plough,  the 
sickle,  and  the  flail,  did  for  the  North. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


AS 


Besides  all  these  machines  of  which  we  have  made  mention,  a  host  of 
otiiers  of  less  importance  have  been  invented.  Stone  and  stump  extractors, 
wliich  are  of  material  use  in  clearing  the  soil  for  cultivation,  have  come  into 
use  within  a  generation.  But,  while  they  were  valuable  in  the  improvement  of 
limited  areas  in  the  East,  the  most  rapid  extension  of  our  agriculture  has  been 
in  the  West,  where  trees  were  scarce,  and  such  apparatus  was  unnecessary. 
Hence  they  have  really  promoted  our  agricultural  interests  as  a  whole  but 
little.  Saws  for  lumber,  ditching-machines,  drain-tiles,  land-rollers,  planting- 
macliines,  improved  hoes,  rakes,  shovels,  scythes,  wagons,  churns,  bee-hives, 
pnining-knives,  and  other  apparatus  and  implements  for  farm-labor,  have  been 
invented  almost  without  number,  some  of  them  proving  highly  popular  and 
convenient. 

The  introduction  of  these  new  means  of  culture  and  harvesting  has  revo- 
lutionized the  several  branches  of  agriculture  completely  within  the  past 
century  of  our  history,  and  has  incalculably  increased  our  capacity  of  pro- 
duction. The  wide  use  into  which  these  have  come  will  be  realized  when  it 
is  known  that  the  agricultural  implements  manufactured  in  the  United  States 
in  1870  amounted  in  value  to  fifty  million  dollars;  though  but  part  of  this,  it 
must  be  remembered,  was  for  the  export  trade.  The  aggregate  value  of  such 
apparatus  owned  throughout  the  country  was  a  hundred  and  fifty-two  million 
dollars  in  1850:  in  1870  it  had  increased  to  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
million  dollars,  or  more  than  doubled.  Without  doubt,  it  will  be  twice  this 
fii{uro  bv  1880.  .     ■      •      ■  ,       ■    :         ,       '  ,    ■ 


■■■ 


46 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  III. 


COTTON. 


NO  one  industry  in  the  United  States  is  of  so  great  value  and  importance 
to  the  nation  and  to  the  world  as  cotton-culture.  Though  the  annual 
product  is  not  worth  more  than  half  as  much  as  either  our  com  or  wheat  crop, 
Importance  ^^  '^^^^  enough  left  over  to  export,  after  our  own  consumption,  to 
of  cotton-  more  than  equal  the  sum  total  of  our  cereal  exports.  It  is  the  one 
"*'''■  great  product  which  we  offer  the  other  nations  of  the  globe  in 

exchange  for  what  we  want  from  them.  Except  petroleum,  it  is  the  leading 
product  upon  which  the  outside  world  is  most  dependent  upon  America.  Yet 
our  total  product  annually  is  worth  four  times  our  total  product  of  rock-oil. 
Moreover,  while  we  export  scarcely  two-thirds  of  our  petroleum,  we  send 
abroad  nearly  three-fourths  of  our  cotton.  Within  a  century,  cotton  has 
come  to  succeed  silk,  linen,  and  wool,  as  the  most  useful  and  common  textile 
fabric  for  clothing.  It  is  a  necessity  of  life  in  all  civilized  and  semi-civilized 
quarters  of  the  globe,  and  the  United  States  raises  seven-eighths  of  the 
world's  supply.  And  not  only  do  we  raise  the  most  cotton,  but  also  the  best 
cotton  produced  by  any  nation  under  heaven.  It  is  as  characteristic  a  product 
of  this  country  as  spices  are  of  the  Indies,  or  tea  of  Chma,  but  vastly  more 
precious.  It  has  exerted  a  greater  political  influence  over  this  country  than 
any  other  one  interest.  For  a  century  it  was  intimately  associated  with  negro 
slavery,  and  those  who  were  identified  with  both  constituted  one  party  to  the 
greatest  civil  war  known  on  this  continent.  In  that  strife,  the  dependence 
of  Great  Britain  on  the  cotton  States  of  our  Union  for  the  basis  of  her  greatest 
manufacturing  industry,  and  source  of  wealth,  determined  the  sympathies  of 
the  empire,  whose  friendship  was  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  contending 
factions.  As  the  well-informed  and  thoughtful  American  looks  forward 
into  the  industrial  future  of  his  country,  he  sees  no  agricultural  interest  that 
promises  to  be  an  equally  permanent  and  remunerative  reliance  in  coming 
years.  Great  Britain,  it  is  true,  is  trying  to  become  independent  of  the  United 
States  by  raising  her  cotton  supply  in  India.  Thus  far,  however,  her  efforts  have  j 
not  been  very  successful.    The  quantity  has  been  largely  increased ;  but  the 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


47 


quality  has  not  been  much  improved.  So  inferior  is  its  value  for  manufac- 
turing purposes,  that  India  cotton  can  only  be  used  by  mixing  it  with  some 
longer  staple.  Even  the  India  manufacturers,  who  aspire  to  the  production 
of  only  the  coarsest  and  cheapest  fabrics,  are  obliged  to  import  cotton  to  mix 
with  that  of  native  growth.  Nor  is  this  defect  likely  to  be  soon  remedied. 
I'he  physical  conditions  of  India  are  such  as  to  render  it  quite  impossible  for 
cotton  ever  to  be  grown  there  possessing  the  same  length,  strength,  and  deli- 
cacy of  fibre,  as  is  found  in  the  American  product.  Thus  Nature  has  crowned 
our  country  with  an  advantage  in  raising  cotton  which  will  probably  ever  bafile 
human  genius  to  overcome. 


INDIA  SPINNING-WHEEL. 


Although  the  name  "  cotton  "  is  of  Arabic  origin,  and  the  plant  is  indige- 
nous to  all  warm  climates  of  the  world,  the  fibre  was  first  utilized  in  India, 
whence  came  our  word  "  calico,"  and  then  in  Persia,  which  gave   gj^^,   g^,,. 
us  the  first  "  muslin."     Thence  its  culture  and  use  extended  into  ture  of  cot- 
China,  Arabia,  Africa,  and    Europe.     Herodotus   discovered   the  *°"" 
Hindoos  cultivating  the  plant,  and  weaving  its  delicate  fleeces  into  cloth,  450 
15.C. ;  and  from  that  people  the  Greeks  and  Romans  imported  it  before  the 
Christian  era,  first  for  awnings,  then  tents,  and  then  for  clothing.     Hin^-istan 
still  produces   considerable  cotton ;   but  her  poor  communications  from  the 
interior  to  the  coast,  and  her  inability  to  raise  as  good  a  quality  of  cotton  as 
the  United  States  (the  American  varieties  not  being  successfully  cultivated), 
leave  her  far  in  the  background  as  a  reliance  for  the  world,  although  England 
still  imports  largely  from  her.     Farther  India  and  the  islands  of  the  Indian 
.Archipelago  produce  cotton  likewise,  to  some  extent.     China  has  cultivated  it 


48 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


since  the  eleventh  century,  but  has  to  import  to  supply  her  own  manufactories. 
Japan  raises  a  coarse,  inferior  grade  of  cotton.  Livingstone  found  it  growing 
Culture  of  *"  abundance  in  Central  Africa.  On  the  western  coast  of  that 
cotton  by  grand  geographical  division  it  has  been  cultivated  with  marked 
various  success,  although  to  no  very  notable  extent.    The  late  Lord  Palm- 

countriet.  °  /.  ^      t       n 

erston,  for  many  years  one  of  England  s  greatest  statesmen,  and 
long  her  prime-minister,  is  said  to  have  feared  that  the  supply  from  the  United 

States  would  some  time 
give  out ;  and  he  urged 
upon  his  country  the 
policy  of  encouraging 
cotton-culture  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa  as 
the  great  resource  of  the 
future.  As  yet,  his  fears 
and  expectations  have 
been  but  poorlyjustified. 
The  Moors  brought  the 
cotton-plant  from  Ara- 
bia into  Northern  Afri- 
ca and  Spain.  In  the 
latter  country,  its  use  by 
the  Moslems  for  mak- 
ing turbans  gave  rise 
to  a  Christian  prejudice 
against  its  culture.  Es- 
pecial efforts  were  made 
to  introduce  cotton  into 
f^gypt  in  1821,  and  they 
have  been  attended  by 
quite  successful  results. 
Columbus  discovered  cotton  growing  on  the  new-found  Island  of  His- 
paniola ;  Magellan  saw  it  in  Brazil  j  and  Pizarro,  in  Peru.  Cortez  gathered  it 
Ditcovery  of  ^"^  Southem  Cuba  to  quilt  into  his  soldiers'  armor,  and,  on  reach- 
cotton  in  ing  Mexico,  found  it  under  high  cultivation  and  use ;  the  natives 
New  World,  ^g^yjjjg  \<^  jnto  the  most  delicate  and  beautiful  curtains  and  robes, 
and,  mingled  with  feathers,  converting  it  into  the  most  lovely  and  richly- 
colored  ornaments.  Other  explorers  found  it  growing  as  far  north  as  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  some  of  its  tributaries,  and  some  of  the  Indians 
of  Texas  and  New  Mexico  even  yet  utilize  it  for  blankets. 

Naturalists  find  many  varieties  of  cotton  in  existence,  and  their  classifi- 
cation thereof  differs  gready.  The  division  is  made  by  them  according  to 
botanical  distinctions,  rather  than  such  practical  ones  as  the  length  and  quality 


COTTON-PLANT. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


49 


(lanufactories. 
nd  it  growing 
coast  of  that 
with  marked 
te  Lord  Pahn- 
itatesmen,  and 
)m  the  United 
ukl  some  time 
and  he  urged 
}   country  the 
f    encouraging 
ilture    on    the 
ist  of  Africa  as 
L  resource  of  the 
As  yet,  his  fears 
pectations  have 
t  poorly  justified. 
)ors  brought  the 
plant   from  Ara- 
3  Northern  Afri- 
.  Spain.     In  the 
jountry,  its  use  by 
jslems  for  mak- 
.-bans    gave    rise 
irislian  prejudice 
its  culture.     Es- 
fforts  were  made 
jduce  cotton  into 
[in  1 82 1,  and  they 
keen  attended  by 
uccessful  results. 
I  Island  of  His- 
ortez  gathered  it 
Ir,  and,  on  reach- 
use  ;  the  natives 
.•tains  and  robes, 
)vely  and  richly- 
far  north  as  the 
[e  of  the  Indians 

Ind  their  classifi- 

[em  according  to 

;ngth  and  quality 


of  the  fibre.  But  all  kinds  of  cotton  may  be  narrowed  down  substantially 
to  three  botanical  classes,  —  the  Gassypium  herbaceum,  ardoreum,  and 
hirsutum,  or  herbaceous,  tree,  and  shrub  cotton.  The  tree  and  varietiet  of 
shrub  cotton-plants  have  a  life  of  from  six  to  ten  years,  and  the  =<>"<">• 
arborescent  species  sometimes  grow  to  a  height  of  twenty  feet.  In  the  United 
States,  liowever,  only  the  herbaceous  or  annual  varieties  are  under  cultivation  ; 
and  these  may  be  classified  as  follows  :  — 

The  upland  cotton,  with  a  short  staple,  a  yellow  blossom  changing  to  red, 
and  naked  black  seeds  (this  was  the  first  kind  introduced  into  this  country)  ; 
the  Tennessee  cotton,  which  partially  succeeded  the  above-named,  cussiflca- 
liecause  of  its  freedom  from  rot,  and  which  has  seeds  covered  tion  of  cot- 
with  green  down ;  the  Mexican,  which  has  to  a  great  extent  sue-  *°"' 
cccilcd  both  of  the  two  previous-named  varieties  (especially  in  Mississippi) 
because  of  its  greater  vigor  and  productiveness,  and  which  has  seeds  covered 
with  a  dingy,  whitish-brown  down ;  and  the  Sea-Island  cotton,  which  has  black 
seeds  and  a  long  staple,  and  is  the  finest  cotton  in  the  world. 

The  historian  Purchas  says  that  cotton,  probably  the  short-stapled,  was 
planted  in  this  country  by  early  settlers  in  1621.     Historical  papers  in  South 
Carolina  indicate  that  it  was  under  cultivation  in  that  colony  in  cultivation 
1666.     Maryland  is  known  to  have  grown  it  as  a  garden-plant  of  cotton  by 
in  1 739  ;  and  some  forty  years  later  it  was  to  be  found  in  Cape-  '=°'''"'"'' 
May  County,  New  Jersey.      At  the  breaking-out  of  the  Revolutionary  war. 
Gen.  Delagall  had  no  less  than  thirty  acres  of  green-seed  cotton  under  culti- 
vation.    Up  to  about  this  time  the  manufacture  of  cotton  was  attended  with 
great  disadvantages.     The  demand  was 
slight,  and   scarcely  any  one  but  fan- 
ciers thought  of  raising  it  in  this  coun- 
try.    There  were,   nevertlieless,   some 
exports  prior  to  the  Revolution,  state- 
ments to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
In    1748    seven   bags   of  cotton-wool 
were   sent    from   Charleston,  S.  C,  to 
England,  valued  at  three  pounds  eleven 
shillings  and  fivepence  each.     Further 
shipments  were  made  in  1 754  and  1 7  70.  cotton-gin. 

And  yet  in  1 784,  when  eight  bags  were 

found  aboard  an  American  vessel  by  the  British  at  sea,  they  were  seized,  on 
I  the  plea  that  America  could  not  produce  so  much,  —  two  thousand  pounds. 

To  Alexander  Bissell  is  due  the  credit  of  bringing  here  the  Sea-Island 
1  cotton.    He  cultivated  it  first  on  St.  Simon's  Island,  at  the  mouth  introduction 
of  the  Savannah.    For  a  time  its  culture  was  limited  to  the  islands  of  Sea-i8i«r.d 
off  a  part  of  South  Carolina's  coast  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  *'*'"''"• 
Savannah  River.    Afterwards  it  was  cultivated  in  the  lowlands  of  the  conti- 


so 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


i 


nent,  in  most  places  less  than  fifteen  miles  from  the  coast,  but  in  one  place  in 
Georgia  no  less  than  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  inland.  In  Miildle  and 
Western  Florida  the  Sea-Island  cotton  has  since  been  very  extensively  grown. 
Something  was  done  toward  the  cultivation  of  Sea-Island  cotton  on  the  Texan 
coast  upwards  of  twenty  years  ago,  with  tolerable  success.  It  deteriorates 
rapidly,  however,  when  cultivated  in  the  interior.  Its  excellence  and  the 
limited  size  of  the  crop  give  it  the  ascendency  in  the  market.  In  1806  it 
brought  thirty  cents  a  pound  when  the  short-stapled  cotton  brought  but 
twenty:  in  181 6  it  was  worth  forty-seven  cents  to  twenty-seven  for  the  short. 
By  careful  selection  of  seed,  and  unique  improvement  of  the  plant,  Mr.  Kinscy 
Burden  of  St.  John's,  Colleton  District,  S.C,  raised  the  best  Sea- Island  cotton 
about  that  time,  and  could  get  twenty-five  cents  more  a  pound  than  other 
raisers.  The  crop  of  1832,  amounting  to  eight  million  pounds,  was  the  largest 
of  this  variety  ever  produced  in  this  country ;  and  a  bale  sent  to  England  in 
1857,  from  Edisto,  S.C,  brought  the  highest  price  on  record,  —  one  dollar 
and  thirty-five  cents  a  pound.  It  might  be  remarked  in  this  connection,  that 
the  Hindoos  spun  the  cotton  fibre  so  finely  on  one  occasion,  that  it  took  a 
hundred  and  fifteen  miles  of  thread  to  make  a  pound.  Englisli  spinners  have 
stretched  American  Sea-Island  cotton  out  so  fine,  that  a  pound  of  it  would  | 
reach  a  thousand  and  twenty-six  miles. 

In  "  The  Year-Book  of  Agriculture  "  we  find  this  accoimt  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Mexican  cotton  to  the  United  States  by  Walter  Burling  of  Natchez; 
Introduction  "  ^^^  x^od  he  was  scnt  by  Gen.  Wilkinson  to  the  city  of  Mexico, 
of  Mexican  where  he  dined  with  the  viceroy.  In  the  course  of  the  comer- 
cotton.  sation  at  the  table  concerning  the  products   of  the  country,  he  I 

requested  permission  to  import  some  of  the  Mexican  cotton-seed,  —  a  reciuesll 
that  was  not  granted,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  prohibited  by  the  Spanish  Gov-| 
ernment.  But  the  viceroy,  over  his  wine,  sportively  accorded  his  free  permis- 
sion to  take  home  with  him  as  many  Mexican  dolls  as  he  might  fiincy, — al 
permission  well  understood,  and  which,  in  the  same  vein,  v\'as  accepted.  The| 
stuffing  of  these  dolls  was  understood  to  have  been  cotton- seed." 

By  the  careful  selection  of  seed,  the  use  of  seed  from  another  section 
the  country,  and  like  expedients,  enterprising  growers  have  at  various  tiine| 
developed  seemingly  new  varieties  in  many  localities  South,  and  each  of  thesel 
has  had  an  ephemeral  local  fame.  But  they  did  not  differ  substantially  frorJ 
any  of  the  foregoing  varieties.  Attempts  have  been  made,  too,  to  naturalizJ 
other  foreign  species,  such  as  the  Nankin  in  Georgia,  but  not  to  any  notabia 
extent.  The  upland  varieties  most  popular  at  the  present  time  are  said  to  b.j 
the  Dickson,  Peeler,  Cheatham,  Boyd's  Prolific,  Simpson,  Petit  Gulf,  Johnsto"! 
Hurlong,  Shupeck  (or  Schupach),  Ramases,  Matagorda  Silk,  Java  Prolific,  aiiij 
South-American  Champion. 

Five  causes   have   operated   very  decidedly  to   develop   the   culture 
cotton  in  this  country.    The  first  of  these  was  the  remarkable  improvementj 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


n  one  place  in 
n  MiiWle  and 
insively  grown, 
on  iht;  Texan 
It  deteriorates 
Hence   and  the 
et.     In  1806  it 
,n   brought  but 
I  for  the   short, 
ant,  Mr.  Kinscy 
ea- Island  cotton 
,und  than  other 
s,  was  the  largest 
It  to  England  in 
j.(l,  —  one  dollar 
i  connection,  that 
,n,  that  it  took  a 
ish  spinners  have 
,ound  of  it  would  I 

^t  of  the  introduc- 
urling  of  Natchez; 
,e  city  of  Mexico,  I 
rse  of  the  conver- 
If  the  country,  he  I 
•seed,  — arequcstj 

,  the  Spanish  Gov- 
■d  his  free  peniiiH 
[e  might  fancy, --2| 
las  accepted.    Thel 

iced." 

.nother  section  o!l 
■e  at  various  timei 

and  each  of  tbesl 
:i-  substantially  fro^ 

,  too,  to  naturalizl 
Lt  to  any  notal)lJ 
lime  are  said  to  1)1 

■etit  Gulf,  Johnstorl 

L  Java  Prolific,  a«j 

lop   the   culture 
table  improvement! 


made,  a  little  over  a  century  ago,  in  the  machinery  for  spinning  and  weaving 
( otton,  together  with  the  gradual  discovery  in  Kngland  that  cotton  alone  could 
be  used  for  making  cloth.  In  1738  Wyatt  invented  the  spinning- 
jenny  to  succeed  the  distaff.  Later  the  process  uf  carding  cot-  vvMcMedto 
\M\  was  devised  by  I'aul.  Arkwright  and  Hargreaves  improved  development 
oil  the  previous  spinning-machines;  and  then,  in  1779,  Crompton  "'.ton""  °' 
invented  the  mule,  utilizing  the  ideas  of  his  predecessors.  Cart- 
wright  patented  his  power-loom  in  1787;  but  it  was  not  until  the  present 
century  that  it  came  into  use.  These  remarkable  improvements  very  naturally 
stimulated  the  production  of  cotton,  and  the  application  of  Watt's  steam- 
rngine  to  the  manufacture  of  the  fibre  in  1785  added  still  further  impetus  to 
tlie  industry.  For  a  time,  in  England,  cotton  was  used  only  to  adulterate 
linen.  Some  time  afterwards  it  was  found  that  it  might  be  used  altogether  for 
filling  a  flaxen  warp  ;  and  finally  both  warp  and  woof  were  made  of  cotton. 


COTTON-c;lN. 


A  Still  greater  stimulus  to  cotton-culture  was  given  by  the  invention  of  the 
cotton-gin.  Previous  to  that  event  the  difficulty  of  separating  the  seeds  from 
the  fibre  of  the  cotton-boll  was  so  great,  that  the  cost  of  the  prod-  invention  of 
uct  formed  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  its  use ;  but  the  cotton-  ""on-K*"- 
gin  removed  this,  and  immediately  gave  this  material  the  most  marked  ascend- 
ency over  other  textiles  for  cheapness  aiad  utility. 


52 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  honor  of  this  invention  unquestionably  belongs  to  Eli  Whitney,  who 
went  from  New  Haven,  Conn.,  to  Savannah,  Ga.,  as  a  tutor  in  the  family  of 
Whitney'!  Mrs.  (len.  Clrecne,  in  1793.  Here  he  learned  of  the  difficulty 
invantion.  experienced  by  the  short-staple  cultivators  in  separating  the  cotton 
from  the  seed.  Being  of  an  ingenious  turn  of  mind,  he  applied  himself  to 
tlie  construction  of  a  machine  which  would  perform  the  work.  At  first  he 
covered  a  roller  with  hooked  wire  teeth  like  those  of  the  nrds,  and  revolved 
it  close  to  a  frame  of  parallel  wires  on  which  the  ball  cotton  lay,  so  as  to  catch 
the  fibre,  and  draw  it  through,  leaving  the  seeds.  The  teeth  not  proving 
strong  enough,  he  substituted  a  series  of  saws  on  his  cylinder,  wliich  worked 
far  better.  Heiiind  the  saw  cylinder  he  placed  revolving  brushes,  which  dex- 
terously removed  the  fibre.  When  the  machine  was  completed,  he  showed  it 
to  the  neighboring  farmers,  who  pronounced  it  a  success.  The  next  year  he 
got  his  invention  patented,  and  then,  with  the  co-operation  and  capital  of  one 
Miller,  went  into  the  business  of  manufacturing  it,  and  using  it  to  gin  cotton 
for  i)atrons.  IJiit  patent-laws  were  then  new,  almost  unknown,  and  poorly 
miderstood.  Cotton -cultivators  hired  ordinary  mechanics  to  make  these 
machines  for  them,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  patentee's  rights.  In  1794 
Whitney's  sickness  and  that  of  his  employees  delayed  their  work ;  and  in 
1 795  their  shop  was  destroyed  by  fire.  Thus  the  infringers  were  given  still 
greater  chance  to  impose  upon  him,  the  immense  value  of  the  invention 
being  almost  instantly  recognized.  Protracted  and  wide-spread  litigation 
ensued  ;  but  so  ably  was  Whitney  fought  in  the  courts,  that  he  could  get  but 
slight  damages,  or  none  at  all,  in  return  for  his  i)ains  and  his  own  outlay. 
Subsecjuently  the  State  of  South  Carolina  paid  him  fifty  thousand  dollars  for 
his  invention ;  but  the  costs  of  his  litigation  swallowed  it  all  up.  The  story  is 
one  of  the  most  pitiable  in  American  history.  The  original  invention  was  sus- 
ceptible of  little  improvement,  unlike  many  others  for  which  Americans  have 
become  famous ;  and  he  deserves  the  honor  of  being  one  of  his  country's 
greatest  material  benefactors.  Yet  he  reaped  not  a  bit  of  fruit  for  his  skill, 
and  there  stands  not  a  monument  to  his  memory  to-day. 

Of  course  the  invention  of  the  gin  wrought  a  wonderful  effect.     The  prof^ 
Effect  of  his  of  cotton-culture  was  thus  immensely  enhanced,  and  the  I    sin 
invention.       ^y^g  rapidly  extended  ;  rice  and  tobacco,  which  for  a  ti 
ed  cotton  in  value  as  an  export,  very  quickly  dropping  to  a  subordii        .ank. 

A  third  influence  upon  American  cotton-culture  was  the  introu  lion  of 
negro  labor ;  which,  however,  was  an  effect  as  well  as  a  cause.  The  l;Iacl 
seemed  to  be  admirably  adapted  to  perform  the  requisite  labor  in  the  scorch 
ing  climate  of  the  Southern  States,  where  alone  the  plant  could 
be  grown :  hence  the  rapid  development  of  the  slavery  system, 
already  ingrafted  upon  our  body  politic.  Although  the  experience  of  the 
past  twelve  years  shows  that  slavery  is  not  essential  to  cotton-culture ;  that  free 
negro  labor  is  as  good  as  slave  labor,  so  far  as  the  yield  is  concerned,  if  not 


Negro  labor. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


53 


l^hitney,  who 
lie  family  of 
he   difficuhy 
ig  the  cotton 
tl  himself  to 
At  first  he 
tnd  revolved 
o  as  to  catch 
not  proving 
i'liich  worked 
,  which  dex- 
le  showed  it 
next  year  he 
apital  of  one 
o  gin  cotton 
,  and  poorly 
make    these 
ts.     In    1794 
rark;   and  in 
re  given  still 
the  invention 
;ad    litigation 
:ould  get  but 
own  outlay, 
id  dollars  for 
The  story  is 
tion  was  sus- 
cricans  have 
bis  country's 
for  his  skill, 

The  prof' 

I  the  I  .di'. 

[i 

in        .ank. 

|ou  lion  of 
The  blacl 
the  scorch 
I  plant  could 
Very  system. 
Ince  of  the 
[e ;  that  free 
Irned,  if  not 


lietter;  and  that  acclimated  whites  can  do  good  service  on  the  cotton-planta- 
tion.—  yet  practically  the  work  of  raising  our  cotton  was,  until  the  late  civil 
war,  done  altogether  by  the  negroes  of  this  country  ;  and  they  have  been  an 
important  means  in  the  extension  of  the  industry. 

Fourthly,  the  exjjansion  of  the  area  of  the  United  States  in  the  South 
iMturally  gave  further  development  to  cotton-culture.  At  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  as  we  have  already  indicated,  the  little  cotton  grown   „ 

•"  ■'  "  Expansion 

ill  this  country  was  confined  almost  entirely  to  South  Carolina  and   of  area  of 
(ieorL'ia.     From  the  former  it  extended  into  North  Carolina,  and   ""°"- 

'^  culture. 

from   the    latter  into  wiiat    soon    became   the  State  of  .Alabama, 
Kintucky  and  Tennessee  were  rapidly  occupied   by  settlers  at  that  period  of 
our  history,  and  the  latter  gave  great  attention  to  cotton.     At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century  the  Louisiana  purchase  gave  us  tht;  State  of  that 


eoTTo.s-i;i.s. 


name,  Arkansas,  and  other  territory  beyond  the  Mississippi,  which  soon  wa'j 

occupied  an('  'eveloped.     The    State  of  Mississij^pi  rose  to   the  dignity  of 

sisterhood  in  ir  Union.     Florida  was  annexed   in   1820,  and  finally  Texas 

was  added  t-  r  domain  in  1845.     Each  of  these  territorial  acquisitions,  and 

the  enterp.  thereby  stimulated,  gave  impetus  to  this  particular  branch  of 

American  ag  ilture. 

And,  fifth  ,  the  great  foreign  demand  for  this  product  of  America  has 


54  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

conduced  enormously  to  its  culture.  To  be  sure,  much  of  the  cotton  which 
we  exported  for  manufacture  abroad,  particularly  in  England,  came  back  to  us 
„  a^ain  for  our  own  use  as  clothing.     But,  inasmuch  as  our  manufac- 

Exportation.      °  ^ 

turing  industry  was  not  developed,  we  could  not  have  utilized  the 
staple,  and  would  not  have  had  any  occasion  to  raise  it  if  Europe  had  not 
called  for  it.  And  the  demand  was  the  greater,  because  it  was  soon  discovered 
that  our  cotton  was  altogether  the  best  in  the  world.  For  instance,  in  the 
year  1 790  only  one  bale  out  of  every  thousand  imported  into  England  came 
from  this  coimtry  :  in  1 799  the  proportion  was  one  in  every  nine.  This  pro- 
lx)rtion  steadily  increased,  until,  in  thirty  or  forty  years,  we  furnished  England 
v/ith  seven  bales  out  of  every  eight  that  she  consumed.  Of  late  years  our 
exportation  to  England  has  not  kept  pace  with  our  production,  because  we  are 
coming  to  nunufactnre  a  larger  sliare  of  our  yield  ourselves,  both  for  our  own 
use  and  for  export ;  yet  our  export  has  steadily  increased,  and  even  now 
amounts  to  neaiiy  two-thirds  of  our  yield,  and  still  constitutes  England's  chief 
reliance. 

The  stimulus  which  the  foreign  demand  gives  to  our  cotton-culture  will  be 
better  understood  if  one  considers  the  proportion  in  which  the  various  coun- 
Cottonpro-  ^'"'*^^  ^^  ^^^  world  producc  the  raw  material,  fnd  the  proportion  in 
auction  of  which  they  manufacture  it.  The  foregoing  figures  represent  the 
t  e  wor  .  situation  before  our  late  war ;  since  which  time  we  have  come  to 
manufacture  more  of  our  product  ourselves,  and  foreign  countries  have 
obtained  a  uerceptibly  smaller  supply  trom  us.  As  yet,  however,  these  changes 
are  slight.     Tlie  production  of  the  world  in  1856  was  as  follows  :  — 

BALE5;. 

West  Indies 4,090 

Brazil S>Soo 

Egypt 86,445 

East  Indies 445,637 

Total  outside  United  States 541,672 

United  States 3,880,580 

Tliat  is,  we  produced  seven-eigliths  of  the  world's  cotton.  Now  for  the 
consumption.     In  1850  it  was  thus  estimated  :  — 

BALES. 

Great  Britain 1,513,000 

United  States 487,800 

France 369,300 

Russia 125,200 

Trieste  and  Austria 125,200 

Hamburg  and  Bremen 70,700 

Holland  and  Belgium 71,700 

Spain 80,400 

Italy,  Sweden,  &c 52,100 

Total 2,895,400 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  55 

Thus  it  appears  that  England  manufactured  half  or  more  of  the  world's 
cotton.     Very  naturally,  then,  the  principal  producer  furnished  the  Quality 
j)rincipal  consumer  most  of  her  supply,  as  will  appear  from  the   exported  by 
Ibllowing  statement  of  our  export  in  i860  :  — 

BALES. 

To  England 3,037,762 

"    France 709,918 

"    Other  Countries 671,535 

Total 4,419,215 

This  figure  represents  the  abnormal  export  of  the  year  following  that  of  our 
largest  crop,  and  is  the  largest  aggregate  shipment  we  ever  made  in  any  one 
year.     We  propose  to  give  now,  somewhat  more  in  detail,  a  state-   shipment 
nient  showing  the  extent  of  our  exportation  of  cotton  during  a  for  several 
s'.ries   of  years ;    and,  if  this   be   compared  with  the   statement  *"""• 
which  we  shall  presently  give  of  our  total  production,  it  will  be  easy  to  see 
what  share  of  the  whole  yield  we  have  been  accustomed  to  sell  to  other  coun- 
tries in  exchange  for  what  we  have  been  obliged  to  buy  from  them. 

We  have  already  mentioned  that  we  sent  small  amounts  in  "  sacks  "  to 
England  in  1748,  1754,  and  1770;   and  that  seventy-one  bags,  amounting  to 
aliout  eight  bales,  were  seized  aboard  an  .\merican  vessel  in  1 784,   Early  ship- 
because  it  was  deemed  imi>ossible  that  this  country  could  produce   ">«"*»• 
so  much,  and  that  such  a  cjuantity  of  cotton  could  only  have  been  obtained  by 
the  ship  illegitimately.     In  1789  we  shipped  no  less  than  842  bales  to  Eng- 
land.    In  1 791,  it  is  stated  in  the  Agricultural  Bureau's  Report  for  1862,  we 
exported  189,316  pounds,  or  4,733  bales  of  the  modem  standard.'     In  1800, 
so  rapid  was  the  development  of  the  industry,  we  exported  17,789,803  pounds, 
or  44.476  bales,  —  an  increase  of  nearly  ten  to  one  in  a  single   shipments 
decaile.     During  the  next  thirty  years  the  increase  was  about  four-   iSso-'Sss- 
teen-fold,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  table  :  — 

POINDS. 

Five  years  ending  1830'^ 1,273,232,281 

1835 1,695,970,409 

"        "         "        1840 2,621,360,414 

'        1845 3.443.757.674 

1850 3.5S'.036.3i7 

"       18553 5,128,295,805 

During  the  twenty-five  years  from  the  first  half-decade  to  the  last  half- 
decade   here   registered   die  increase  was   a  trifle   over  fourfold,   shipments 
Herewith  we  give  the  figures  for  the  next  twenty-two  years,  sepa-   »856-i877. 
rately  and  in  bales  :  — 

'  Four  hundred  pounds.  '  Average  per  year,  in  bales,  636,616. 

'  Average  per  year,  in  bales,  2,564,148. 


5 6  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

YEAR.  BALES. 

»8s6 2,953,771 

IS57 2,251,496 

1858 2,589,732 

1859 3.''2o,5i9 

i860 • 3-773.256 

1861 3,126,867 

1862 12,661 

1863 28,462 

1864 29,982 

1865 16,517 

1866 J,SS2.4S7 

1867 1,552-761 

186S 1,657,015 

1869 1,448,020 

1870 2,178,917 

1871 3,166,742 

1872 i,9S7,3'4 

1873 2,679,986 

1874 2,838,172 

1875 2,680,841 

1876 3,248,409 

1877 3,043,084 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  in  i860  we  attained  the  climax  of  our  exportation, 
the  amount  being  nearly  a  hundred  times  what  it  was  in  1800,  and  almost  a 
Comments  thousand  times  what  it  was  in  1791.  The  war  accounts  for  the 
on  foregoing  falling-off  of  the  next  five  years,  and  the  slow  recuperation  from 
table.  j^i^^j.  influence  for  the  figures  of  the  next  fivi .     While,  however,  the 

crops  have  once  more  gotten  up  to  ante-war  figures,  the  development  of  our 
manufactures  lessens  the  exportation  of  the  raw  material ;  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  we  reach  the  figures  of  i860  again  for  many  years.  It  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that,  prior  to  the  war,  a  share  of  the  cotton  which  we 
exported  came  back  to  us  manufactured,  and  costing  us  nearly  six  times  what 
we  were  paid  for  it  in  a  raw  state  :  hence  our  receipts  for  exported  cotton  were 
not  clear  gain.  But  now  we  are  repurchasing  only  small  quantities  of  our 
cotton  in  thread,  yarn,  or  cloth,  and  are  sending  abroad  manufactured  cotton 
to  an  extent  more  than  compensating  for  the  falling-off  in  the  raw  material. 
At  the  commencement  of  this  century,  the  export  to  England  represented 
auction  P'"^t^y  much  our  whole  yield.  We  manufactured  at  home  an 
before  and  Utterly  insignificant  amount.  As  late  as  1850,  our  export  com- 
after  civil  prised  over  five-sixths  of  the  crop.  The  following  table  shows  the 
total  production  for  the  eleven  years  immediately  before  the  wat 
and  the  eleven  immediately  after,  the  bales  averaging  440  pounds  each  :  — 

YEAR.  DALES. 

1850 2,355,257 

I85I 3.015,029 

1852 3,262,88; 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  57 

YEAR.  RALES. 

1853 2,930,027 

IS54 2,847,339 

185s 3.527.845 

1856 2,939,519 

1857 3."3.962 

1858 3.851.481 

IS59 4.669,770 

i860 3,656,006 

Total 36,169,117 

1865 2,193,987 

1866 2,019,774 

'867 2,593,993 

1S6S 2,439,039 

1S69 3.'54.946 

1870 4.352.317 

1S71 2,974,35[ 

1S72 3.930.508 

1873 •        •  4.170,388 

1874 3.832.991 

1875! .  4,669,288 

Total 36,33r,582 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  increase  in  our  crop  is  quite  steady.     The  varia- 
tions noticeable  are  partly  due  to  pests  (of  which  the  army-worm  is  the  most 
destructive),  to  wet  weather,  and  to  the  fluctuation  of  prices.     Inasmuch  as 
the   increase    in   the   demand   is  very  slight   and   gradual,    it   is   Effect  of 
noticeable  that  over-production  usually  so  depresses   the   price,   production 
that  the  cultivation  next  year  is  slightly  discouraged.     This  will   °"  '"^"^^' 
be  apparent  from  a  com[)arison  of  the  yield  of  1859  with   i860,  and   1870 
with  1 87 1.     The  effect  of  iiuantity  on  price  will  be  realized  from  the  follow- 
ing; comparison  :   1869,  crop  of  3,154,940  bales  brought  23.6  cents  a  pound, 
or  .^346,223,774;  1870,  crop  of  4,352,317  bales  brought  only  14.9  cents  a 
pound,  or  $301,550,283. 

The  effect  of  the  late  civil  war  was  to  stop  the  production  of  cotton 
almost  altogether  for  four  years.  Some  of  the  staple  i)ro(luced  before  that 
interruption  was  hoarded  ;  some  was  captured,  especially  in  the  Effect  of  war 
Attakapas  region  of  Louisiana  in  1863  ;  some  was  burned  to  keep  on  produc- 
it  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Unionists  ;  and  a  very  little  of  *'°"' 
it  was  taken  out  by  blockade-runners  to  foreign  countries.  The  Southern 
States  made  loans  of  money  in  England  in  anticipation  of  future  production 
and  of  securing  independence  ;  which  loans  were  necessarily  left  unpaid. 
During  the  war,  attempts  were  made  in  the  North  to  cultivate  cotton ;  seed 
from  our  own  country,  China,  Peru,  and  elsewhere,  being  widely  distributed 

'  The  crop  of  1876  was  about  4,500,000  bales,  and  that  of  1877  was  4,750,000,  —  the  largest  ever  known  in 
this  country. 


58 


t^ 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


and  planted.  From  Maine  to  Minnesota,  and  from  Canada  to  Mason  and 
Dixon's  Line,  earnest  efforts  to  cultivate  this  then  rare  and  precious  fibre  were 
put  forth.  But,  while  the  plant  flourished  finely,  the  bolls  would  not  mature ; 
and  except  in  limited  localities,  in  Delaware,  Maryland,  Missouri,  and  Kansas, 
nothing  was  accomplished,  Meantime  India's  crop  and  export  were  largely 
auj^^mented,  and  became  the  chief  reliance  of  the  outside  world.  But,  as 
soon  as  the  war  was  over,  this  country  quickly  came  to  the  front  as  the  world's 
chief  producer. 


COTTON-PRESS. 


I  if"  • 


It  .1 


Indeed,  the  recuperation  of  this  industry,  in  view  of  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves,  the  change  from  compulsory  to  free  labor,  the  necessary  demorali- 
Production  z^tion  of  society  attendant  upon  the  substitution,  and  the  repeated 
since  the  predictions  that  we  could  never  raise  a  crop  of  three  million 
bales  again,  is  simply  mar\ellous.  Reference  to  our  tables  of 
production  will  show,  that,  during  the  :'ven  years  next  after  the  war,  we 
raised  more  cotton  than  during  the  corresponding  period  before,  and  that 
five  times '  since  the  war  we  have  raised  a  larger  crop  than  any  year  an- 
terior to  it,  omitting  the  exceptional  crop  of  1859;  and  there  is  no  doubt, 
that,  were  our  market  once  assured,  we  could  increase  our  annual  yield  to 
ten  million  bales  inside  of  ten  years. 

Besides  the  substitution  of  free  for  slave  labor,  some  other  notable 
changes  have  lately  been  taking  place  in  this  industry. 

As  with   most   of  our   other   agricultural   interests,  there    is   a  westward 


<  In  1870,  1873,  187s,  1876,  and  1877,    The  last-named  crop  exceeds  even  that  of  1859. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


59 


Mason  and 
s  fibre  were 
lot  mature ; 
ind  Kansas, 
were  largely 
rid.  But,  as 
s  the  world's 


lancipation  of 
[ssary  deniorali- 
kI  the  repeated 
three   million 
our  tables   of 
[er  the  war,  we 
^fore,  and   that 
any  year  an- 
[•e  is  no  doubt, 
innual  yield  to 

other    notable 

is   a  westward 

L  of  i859- 


movement  of  the  centre  of  cotton  production.     In  1849  Alabama  stood  in 
the   front  rank,  with   Georgia   next,  and   Mississippi  third.      In  pjodug^i<,„ 
1X59  Mississippi   had  the  lead,  with  Alabama  second,  Louisiana  of  the  scv- 
third,  and  (Georgia  fourth.     In  1876,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  follow-   ""'  =°"°" 
ing  table  showing  distribution  of  yield  and  fertility,   Mississippi 
was  first,  Texas  second,  Louisiana  third,  Alabama  fourth,  and  Arkansas  and 
( Jeorgia  nearly  equal :  — 


ACRES    PER 

DALES. 

UALE. 

ACRES. 

N'orlh  Carolina 

210,000 

2.9 

609,000 

South  Carolina 

310,000 

3-05 

945.500 

f;cor;;ia 

505,000 

3 

1,515,000 

I'"l(irl(la 

50,000 

z--;, 

165,000 

Alabama    . 

S33.00O 

325 

1.732.250 

Mi>sis.sippi 

760,000 

2.6 

1,976,000 

Louisiana  . 

560,000 

2.25 

1,260,000 

Texas 

690,000 

2.15 

1,483,500 

Arkansas  , 

515,000 

2.2 

1,133,000 

'ronncssee . 

260,000 

2.S5 

741,000 

Indian  'i'cnitoiy,  &c. 

.)  5,000 

2.6 

I  17,000 

Total 

• 

• 

4,438,000 

2.63 

11,677,250 

It  may  be  remarked  in  passing,  that,  while  our  product  is  as  large  as  before 
tlie  war  (larger  on  the  average),  our  acreage  is  less,  it   having   Acreage  less 
been  upwards  of  thirteen  million  in  1S60.'     This  shows  an  im-   than  before 
provenieiit  in  methods  of  cultivation.  **"  ^"'" 

Improved  cultivation  is  noticeable  in  several  respects.  The  relative  pro- 
portion of  corn  and  other  supply  crops  is  increasing.  Heretofore  pork  and 
meal  have  been  bought  from  the  North ;  but,  raising  them  at  home,  the  food 
of  the  laborer  is  made  cheaper,  and  the  profit  on  labor  is  greater.  Then,  too, 
rotation  of  crops  is  studied  more  closely  in  consequence. 

Greater  pains  are  taken  to  prevent  waste  of  the  soil,  and  also  to  feed 
and  restore   it.      Beyond    the   Mississippi,   along   the   new  and  ^ 
rich  alluvial  bottom-lands  of  the  Red  River  and  Ouachita,   no   economy  in 
such  expedients  are  now  necessary  :  but,  in  the  States  east  of  the  <:"i*'vation 

,,....  .  ,  of  cotton. 

Mississippi,  greater  economy  is   practised  with  cotton-seed   and 

lot  manures ;  and  experiments  are  numerous  with  commercial  fertilizers  used 

chiefly  in  combination  with  composts  of  home  material. 

'  The  distribution  of  the  cotton-ciiltiire  in  the  so-called  cotton-belt  is  very  uneven.  Out  of  seven  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  counties,  no  less  than  ninety-three  produced  no  cotton  at  all  in  1870,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  others  from  less  than  a  thousand  bales  down  to  one;  whereas  seventy-nine  produced  atmut  half  of  the 
whole  ciop,  each  yielding  upwards  of  ten  thousand  hales.  As  an  illustration  on  a  smaller  scale,  it  may  be  stated 
lh.1t  fiiur  out  of  Tennessee's  eight>--five  counties  produced  four-tenths  of  that  State's  crop  in  1870.  Corn,  the 
other  iiromincnt  Southern  crop,  though  of  much  less  importance  in  the  aggregate,  is  much  better  distributed. 


60 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


lip': 


.1  ! '  ■■  . 


UliJ, 


'    •). 


The  soil  is  being  cultivated  more  thoroughly,  and  with  improved  imple- 
ments, especially  in  those  regions  where  white  labor  is  in  the  largest  pro- 
portion. 

A  noticeable  diminution  in  the  size  of  farms  is  going  on,  which  conduces 
to  higher  culture.  Between  i860  and  1870  the  number  of  farms  of  over  a 
SmaUer  hundred  acres  decreased  in  every  cotton  State,  and  those  of  under 

farms.  ^  hundred  acres  increased,  the  reduction  being  twenty-two   per 

cent,  and  the  increase  thirty-five  per  cent.  This  movement  is  still  progress- 
ing, the  ratios  being  largest  in  South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  and  Florida. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  depart  from  the  method  of  working  on  shares 
(which  came  into  vogue  immediately  after  the  war),  and  to  pay  cash  wages 
Mode  of  instead  ;  and,  on  the  whole,  wages  are  growing  a  trifle  less.  Where 
working  the  share  system  prevails,  —  and  it  still  predominates,  —  contracts 
farms.  ^^^.y  ggmewhat  in  particulars.     Thus  bare  labor  gets  about  one- 

fourth  of  the  crop  on  rich  lands,  and  one-third  on  poor  soils.  If  the  laborers 
Rates  of  re-  fumish  their  own  rations,  they  get  from  four-tenths  to  one  half  the 
muneration.  crop,  according  to  the  productiveness  of  the  soils.  As  the  supply 
of  crops  becomes  more  plenty  and  larger,  the  tendency  will  be  for  the  help  to 
provide  themselves  more  and  more  with  rations,  and  rely  less  on  the  land- 
owner.    The  proprietor  receives  a  third  or  half  of  the  yield ;  if  he  provides 

implements,       live- 
■^i  stock,    and    rations 

for  the  help,  about 
two-thirds.  Rations 
consist  of  about  two 
hundred  pounds  ui 
bacon  and  fifteen 
bushels  of  meal  per 
man  a  year,  wliich 
is  ecjuivalenl  lu  from 
forty  dollars  to  sixty 
dollars.  A  landlortl 
will  sometimes  let 
his  land  for  a  L:;1j 
of  cotton  to  a  man, 
and  half  a  bale  for  a 
woman,  giving  thcin 
the  rest.  Where  cash 
is  paid,  the  yearly 
system  rather  than  the  monthly  is  pursued ;  and  the  rate  is  from  a  hundred 
doUaro  to  a  hundred  and  forty-five  dollars  for  a  "full  hand,"  and  half  or 
two-thirds  that  for  youths  and  women. 

The  freedmen  are  coming  to  take  a  proprietary  interest  in  the  labor,  rather 


COTTON-l'ACKET. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


61 


•oved  imple- 
largest  pro- 

ch  conduces 
ns  of  over  a 
lose  of  under 
enty-two  per 
still  progress- 
jrida. 

ng  on  shares 
ay  cash  wages 
e  less.    Where 
;s,  —  contracts 
;ts  about  one- 
[f  the  laborers 
o  one  half  the 
As  the  supply 
for  the  help  to 
s  on  the  land- 
if  he  provides 
ements,       live- 
:,    and    rations 
he  help,  about 
;hirds.    Ration; 
list  of  about  two 
Ired  pounds  ui 
n    and     fifteen 
|els  of  lueal  per 
a  year,  which 
uivalcnt  lu  from 
dollars  to  sixty 
.vs.     A  landlord 
J  sometimes    let 
land  for  a  bd-; 
jDtton  to  a  man, 
Ihalf  a  bale  for  a 
]an,  giving  them 
£St.  Where  cash 
lid,   the  yearly 
torn  a  hundred 
and  half  or 


than  to  work  as  hirelings ;  which  tends  to  greater  economy,  thrift,  and  energy. 
One  in  twenty  of  the  freedmen  are  cultivating  lands  of  their  own,  and  in 
Florida  the  proportion  is  one  in  twelve. 

Like  every  other  great  industry  of  the  country,  cotton-culture  has  given 
cliaracter  and  development  to  cities,  railroads,  and  shipping-interests.     Just  as 
Chicago  and  Buffalo  are  l;uilt  up  out  of  the  grain-business,  Cincinnati  out  of 
pork-production,  and  Pittsburg  out  of  iron ;   so  cotton  has  done  Effect  of  cot- 
nnich  to  create  Charleston,  Savannah,  Mobile,  New  Orleans,  Gal-  ton-cuiture 
veston,  Vicksburg,  and  Memphis.     Railroads  from  the  interior  of  j^fdlj" trier 
the  cotton  States  to  their  centres  of  export  have  been  built  more  "nd  move- 
for  this  class  of  freight  than  for  passenger-traffic,  and  it  is  the  *"*"*'• 
cotton-interest  that  so  earnestly  seconds  the  schemes  of  Northern  capitalists 
for  a  Texas  Pacific  Railroad.     Except  river-boats,  the  South  has  never  owned 
much  shipping ;  but  the  heavy  export-trade  of  cotton  necessarily  has  given 
great  expansion  to  American  and  foreign  ship-building  and  navigation.     So 
wide-spread  and  huge  is  the  production,  that  no  cotton-rings,  like  the  coal,  oil, 
r.nd  grain  cliques,  have  ever  existed  to  control  the  markets.     But  the  jjolitical 
iafliience  of  the  cotton-growers  has  been  the  most  powerful  that  has  ever  been 
wieided  by  any  one  interest  in  this  country  ;  thougli  now,  the  necessity  for 
its  assertion  having  gone  by,  it  is  no  longer  noticeable. 


lie  labor,  rathe  t 


63 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


'Ml 


m 


'If  i 


!:■'!■; 


I  lit!  '^■' 


CHAPTER   IV. 

WHEAT. 

THE  culture  of  wheat  is  among  the  very  earliest  products  in  American 
agriculture,  and  is  now,  in  point  of  aggregate  cash  value,  one  of  the  three 
Importance  most  valuable.  Moreover,  it  is  a  prime  necessity  of  existence. 
of  wheat.  Food  to  maintain  life,  and  clothing,  and  houses  to  shelter  us,  are, 
of  course,  the  very  essentials  of  living.  Bread  is  indeed  the  staff  of  life  ;  and 
thougii,  previous  to  its  invention  by  the  Greeks  several  centuries  before  Christ, 
other  art'cles  of  diet  formed  the  staple  of  human  food,  yet  wheat  bread  is 
now  characteristic  of  civilization.  No  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe  have 
fully  emerged  from  barbarism  who  do  not  live  principally  upon  wheat. 

Indeed,  the  cultivation  of  that  grain  has  had  more  than  any  other  one 
thing  to  do  with  raising  man  from  a  nomadic  and  unintellectual  life,  as  will 
Effect  ^^  apparent  to  almost  any  one  upon  reflection.     Crfevecceur,  the 

wheat-  old  French  traveller,  illustrates  this  point  by  attributing  this  utter- 

raising  upon   ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^  aboriginal  chiefs  in  this  countrv,  in  a  speech 

nomadtc  life.  °  .  >  i 

to  his  own  people  :  "  Do  you  not  see  the  whites  living  upon 
seeds,  while  we  eat  flesh  ?  that  flesh  requires  more  than  thirty  moons  to  grow 
up,  and  is  then  often  scarce  ?  that  each  of  the  wonderful  seeds  they  sow  in  the 
earth  returns  them  a  hundred-fold  ?  The  flesh  on  which  we  subsist  has  four 
legs  to  escape  from  us,  while  we  have  but  two  to  pursue  and  capture  it.  The 
grain  remains  where  the  white  men  plant  it,  and  grows.  With  them  winter  is 
a  period  of  rest,  while  with  us  it  is  a  time  of  laborious  hunting.  For  these 
reasons  they  have  so  many  more  children  than  we,  and  live  longer  than  we  do. 
I  say,  therefore,  unto  every  one  that  will  hear  me,  that  before  the  cedar  of  our 
village  shall  have  died  down  with  age,  and  the  maple-trees  of  the  valley  have 
ceased  to  give  us  sugar,  the  race  of  the  little  corn  (wheat)  sowers  will  ha\e 
exterminated  the  race  of  flesh-eaters,  provided  their  huntsmen  do  not  become 
sowers." 

The  thought  might  be  traced  still  further ;  but  it  is  not  within  our  province 
to  do  so. 

The  earliest  origin  of  wheat  is  unknown.     It  is  generally  conceded,  that. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


(>i 


unlike  our  fruits  and  domestic  animals,  it  was  not  developed  from  a  wild, 
inferior  growth  by  human  culture.'  It  is  claimed,  moreover,  that  it  has  been 
found  growing  wild  in  uninhabited  regions  of  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  and  Texas. 
Egypt  was  one  of  the  greatest  wheat-producing  countries  of  origin  of 
ancient  times :  thither  Jacob's  sons  went  for  it  in  the  days  of  a  wheat. 
famine  in  Canaan  thirty-six  centuries  ago.  Identically  the  same  grain  of 
that  age,  extracted  from  the  cerements  of  mummies  that  were  entombed  in 
Joseph's  time,  has  lately  been  planted;  and  the  product  is  a  grain  substan- 
tially the  same  as  our  modern  wheat,  only  a  trifle  larger  and  better.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen,  that,  from  the  earliest  historical  period,  this  grain  has  remained 
substantially  unchanged ;  and,  though  upwards  of  three  hundred  varieties  are 
said  to  exist,  these  may  practically  be  narrowed  down  to  three,  —  the  hard 
wheat  of  Southern  Russia,  Italy,  Sicily,  Egypt,  the  Barbary  States,  Chili, 
Peru,  and  other  warm  countries ;  the  so-called  Polish  wheat ;  and  the  soft 
wheat  of  Northern  Russia,  France,  England,  and  North  America.  The  hard 
wheats,  it  may  be  remarked,  possess  rather  more  of  gluten  than  the  other 
varieties  ;  while  the  soft  wheats  ijbound  rather  in  starch. 

The  Egyptians  were  not  only  among  the  most  famous  of  ancient  agricul- 
turists, but  they  also  devised  a  method  of  preserving  grain  which  has  never 
yet  been  excelled ;  namely,  placing  it  in  stone  depositories  her-   cultivation 
metically  sealed.     Many  eminent  historians  have  taken  the  mam-   of  wheat  in 
moth   Pyramids  of  that  land  for  granaries  :    but,  besides  these,   ^'^p*' 
they  are  known  to  have  had  other  huge  receptacles  in  which  they  stored  grain 
for  years  at  a  time. 

The  Israelites  were  educated  in  the  arts  of  husbandry  during  their  bond- 
age to  the  Pharaohs,  and  practised  them  extensively  in  later  days ;  and  the 
Bible  contains  many  beautiful  references  to  the  wheatfields  of  Palestine. 

Without  dwelling  further  upon  the  ancient  history  of  this  precious  grain, 
we  proceed  to  consider  its  introduction  to  and  culture  in  our  own  country. 
Cereal  grasses  were  found  under  cultivation  in  Mexico  by  Cortez  in  1530; 
but  European  wheat  was  introduced  there  by  a  cident ;  one  of  the  Spaniards 
finding  a  few  grains  mixed  with  his  rice,  which  he  carefully  sorted  ^  ^j 
out,  and  planted.  Thus,  in  time,  the  newly-brought  grain  was  scat-  cultivation 
tered  about  the  Spanish-.\merican  colonies,  and  finally  spread  into   °}  wheat  in 

'  ■'  America. 

tenitory  now  belonging  to  the  United  Stales.     Wheat  was  neces- 
sarily sown  jy  the  earliest  English  colonists  of  this  country  almost  immedi- 
ately upon  their  arrival :  indeed,  Gosnold  is  said  to  have  planted  it  on  the 
Elizabeth  Islands,  off  Massachusetts,  as  early  as  1602.     For  a  time,  Virginia 
gave  much  attention  to  its  cultivation;  and  in  1648  several  hundred  acres  in 

'  In  The  Year-Book  of  Agriculture  for  1856  the  editor  mentions  jome  curious  facts  which  h.id  recently  been 
laid  before  the  French  Academy,  relative  to  the  transformation  of  two  grasses,  —  ^^'/c/j  ovata  and  ^silo/>i 
triitriistratn.  A  gardener  named  Esprit  Fabre  of  Adge,  France,  by  seven  years  experimenting  found  he  could 
develop  from  these  two  grasses  all  or  the  greater  number  of  our  species  of  wheat.  A  savage  plant,  under  culti- 
vation, was  thus  made  to  change  its  entire  aspect  and  figure,  and  gradually  assume  a  new  character. 


64 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


that  colony  were  sown  with  wheat.  But  the  more  profitable  tobacco-crop 
soon  supplanted  it ;  and  for  nearly  a  century  scarcely  any  was  raised,  even 
though  the  colonial  authorities  offered  a  premium  thereon.  Since  the  Revo- 
lution, however,  this  branch  of  agriculture  has  revived ;  and  Virginia  raises  a 
good  wheat-crop.  In  New  England,  wheat  was  grown  rather  assiduously  until 
about  1663,  when,  for  four  successive  years,  the  blast  and  mildew  damaged  the 
crop  to  such  an  extent  as  to  greatly  discourage  those  who  raised  it ;  and  so 
the  colonists  fell  back  again  on  corn  and  potatoes,  to  which  they  have  given 


{It 


',>■•  '■ 


II  III 


m 


BCVrrrAN  CRANARV, 


"4 


n 


m 


great  attention,  even  down  to  the  present  time.  Colonial  subsidies  to 
wheat-growers  in  those  days  stimulated  them  but  very  little,  the  failure  of 
their  crops  more  than  offsetting  such  encouragement.  Wheat  was  grown  in 
New  England  somewhat  more  generally  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century ;  but  the  wearing-out  of  the  soil,  and  other  causes,  led  to  its  neglect. 
Vigorous  efforts  have  been  made  to  revive  the  industry,  but  without  success. 
During  the  last  century  considerable  wheat  was  grown  in  the  Hudson  and 
Mohawk  River  valleys  of  New  York,  and  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 
In  1750  New  Jersey  produced  more  wheat  than  any  other  of  our  colonies; 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


6S 


obacco-croi) 
raised,  even 
e  the  Revo- 
inia  raises  a 
duously  until 
damaged  the 
d  it  J  and  so 
:y  have  given 


al   subsidies   to 
the  failure  of 
was  grown  in 
|of  the  present 
to  its  neglect, 
kthout  success. 
|e  Hudson  and 
Pennsylvania. 
our  colonies; 


,111(1,  long  before  that  date,  wheat  and  wheat-flour  were  exported  from  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  After  the  Revolution,  Western  New  York  gradually 
( aiuc  to  be  settled  ;  and  it  is  now  a  particularly  protluctive  region,  although 
the  impoverishing  of  the  soil  makes  a  slight  decline  in  the  culture  of  the 
wheat  there. 

Writing  nearly  twenty  years   ago,  when   the   enormous   development   of 
wheat-culture    in  the  Western    States  had    not  been  attained,   Klippart  said, 
'•  The  States  south  of  North  Carolina,  or,  say,  latitude  thirty-three 
ilegrees,  never  have  been  and  never  will  be  wheat-growing  States,   opinion  upon 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri  are  best  adapted  to  corn  ;  and   b'°"''"k 

wheat. 

wheat  tan  never  be  regariled  as  the  great  staple  of  either.     Cotton 
is  tiie   great   staple   of  Tennessee  ;    hemp   and   tobacco,   of  Kentucky  and 
Missouri.     Kentucky,  and    Missouri  too,  are  unsurpassed  as  grazing-sections 
and  for  raising  stock ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  will  change 
the  agriculture  best  suited  to  their  conditions  for  wheat-culture." 

The  census  of  i860  and  of  1870  verify  these  preilictions  won-   j... 
derfully  ;  although  the  wheat-map  given  in  connection  with  the  last   opinion  veri- 
national  census  shows  an  area  where  some  wheat  is  cultivated  in   '*"'  ^^  '^""* 

SU(. 

North-western  South  Carolina,  and  Northern  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

Kliijpart  furthermore  says,  in  the  same  connection,  '■  It  is  a  melancholy 
trutli,  and  one  that  reflects  much    on   the   skill  and   foresight  of  American 
farmers,  that,  while  the  wheat-crop  of  England  has  increased '  at  least  fifty  per 
cent  in  the  last  century,  that  of  the  United  States  has  fallen  off  in  ^^^^  ^  . 
nearly  the  same  proportion.     A  century  ago.  New  England,  Dela-  wheat-pro- 
ware,-  and  Virginia  raised  an  ordinary  crop  ;  now  a  wheatfield  is  a  ''"='"« 
rarity  in  those  States,  and  they  may  be  regarded  as  no  longer 
wheat-producing  regions.     Portions  of  New  York  that  formerly  produced  thirty 
bushels   to    the   acre    now   seldom    average    over  eight   bushels ;    and  Ohio, 
new  as  she  is  (in  i860),  with  her  virgin  soil,  does  not  yield  thir-   consequence 
teen  bushels  to  tiie  acre.     If  we  go  on  as  we   have  for  the  past  of  change 
century,  from  bad  to  worse,  in  our  tillage,  the  lands  in  Ohio,  in   '=''"""""=■■ 
half  a  century  from  this  time,  will  not  produce  wheat  enough  to  supply  our 
own  wants.     It  is  less  than  that  time  since  Vermont  was  a  great  wheat-export- 
ing State  :  now  she  does  not  export  a  bushel,  but  imports  at  least  two-thirds  of 
all  the  flour  consumed  in  that  State.     Instead  of  increasing  the  productiveness 
of  our  wheat-land,  as  is  done  in  England,  our  wheat-region  is  diminished  more 
than  one-half,  and  the  productive  quality  of  what  is  still  used  has  diminished 
in  equal  proportion." 

'  The  writer  evidently  does  not  mean  increase  in  the  aggregate  yield,  but  increase  in  proportion  to  acreage 
and  population.  Perhaps  he  uses  some  such  basis  of  calculation  as  that  employed  by  the  commissioner  of  the 
United-States  census  for  1870  in  his  crop  maj.s.  By  him  the  number  of  bushels,  tons,  or  pounds,  produced  in 
each  county,  is  divided  separately,  first  by  the  number  of  inhabitants,  and  then  by  the  number  of  acres  of  im- 
proveil  Innd:   the  two  quotients  thus  obtained  are  multiplied  together,  and  the  square  root  taken  of  the  result. 

-  This  is  less  true  to-day  of  Delaware  than  the  other  sections  named.  It  certainly  is  not  true  of  Maryland 
uid  Pennsylvania. 


66 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


UliL'thcr  or  not  these  lugubrious  i^redittions  will  ultimately  prove  true,  it 
is  impossible  to  say.  In  the  concluiliny  paragraph  of  this  chapter  we  show 
Wheal  cui-  ^^'^X  ''^^T  '"''-*  ""'  ''^  '"^  fccelvetl  with  the  utmost  confidence.  IJut 
lure  moving  this  much  is  Certain  :  within  the  past  thirty  years  the  star  of  empire 
westwar  .  j^^  wheat- i)ro(lu(tion  has  moved  rapidly  westward  :  and  the  coun- 
try has  rapidly  increaseil  its  wheat-production,  even  out  of  jjroportion  to  tiic 
increase  of  population.  Thus  in  1850  Pennsylvania  was  the  largest  wheat- 
producing  State  in  the  Union,  (Jhio  second,  New  York  third,  and  Virginia 
fourth.  For  the  next  decade,  Ohio  held  the  lead.'  In  i860  Illinois  was  first, 
Indiana  second,  Wisconsin  third,  Ohio  fourth,  Virginia  fifth,  Pennsylvania 
sixth,  and  New  York  seventh,  with  Iowa  and  Michigan  a  close  eighth  and 
nintii.  In  1870  Pennsylvania  had  sunk  to  the  seventh  rank,  with  Virginia  and 
New  York  still  lower;  and  to-day  they  rate  still  farther  down  the  list.  In  1850 
Maryland  prochiced  as  much  as  either  Michigan  or  Wisconsin  :  now  each  (jf 
those  States  yields  from  four  to  six  times  as  iinich  as  then,  while  Maryland's 
production  has  scarcely  changed. 

The  United-States  commissioner  of  agriculture  brings  out  this  Western 
movement  forcibly  in  his  rejwrt  for  1876.  He  says,  "  Not  only  is  the  voluinc 
of  wheat  to-ilay  more  than  threefold  greater  than  twenty-eight  years  ago,  but  the 
inctease  of  that  portion  of  it  grown  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  is 
greater  than  the  entire  crop  of  1849.  Five  per  cent  only  was  then 
produced  west  of  the  Mississippi  River;  and  in  1876,  a  yt.-  of 
comj)arative  failure  in  the  North-West,  it  was  forty  per  cent. 
Dividing  the  country  into  three  sections,  —  the  first  including  the 
Atlantic-coast  States,  with  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Virginias  to  the  Ohio  River, 
and  the  second  and  third  separated  by  the  Mississippi  River,  —  we  find  more 
than  half  the  wheat  grown  in  the  first  in  1849,  the  percentages  in  each  section 
changing  rapidly,  as  follows  :  — 


Wheat 
grown  west 
of  the  Mis- 
sissippi 
River. 


Atlantic  Coast 
Central  Iklt  . 
Trans-Mississippi  Belt 


1849. 

5>-4 

43-3 

5-3 


1859. 


307 
54-6 
14.7 


1869. 


20 
49 
3' 


1876. 

19.6 
40.8 
39-6 


"  The  first  section  has  now  a  little  more  than  one-third  of  its  former  jiro- 1 
portion  ;  even  the  second,  which  was  swept  with  so  heavy  a  wave  of  inimigra- 
Proportions  ^'°"  ''^  ^^^  '^''^^  decennial  period,  exhibits  a  declining  percentage:! 
while  the  third  has  eight  times  its  former  prominence,  even  in  a| 
year  of  low  production  of  spring  wheat,  and  promises  to  make  llui 
proportion  nine  to  one  in  1877.     A  few  years  more  will  find  a  prepondennind 

'  Pennsylvania  was  returned  as  yielding  15,367,691  bushels  of  wheat  in  the  census  of  1850,  and  Olii  1  J- 1 
only  16,487.351.     This  was  really  the  crop  of  1849.     Ohio  produced  28,769,139  bushel.i  of  wheat  in  185',—  ' 
tremendous  leap  to  the  frnnt. 


between  the 
sections. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


67 


^  prove  true,  it 
laptcr  we  show 
mfuk'ncc.     Hut 
L-  star  of  empii'^' 
and  the  coun- 
oi)ortion  to  the 
;  largest  wheal - 
cl,  ami  Virginia 
[Uinois  was  first, 
h,   IV-nnsylvania 
lose  eighth  and 
nth  Virginia  and 
he  list.    In  1S50 
n  :  now  each  of 
ivhile  Maryland's 

Dut  this  Western 
nly  is  the  volume 
years  ago,  but  the 
lississippi  River  is 
:ent  only  was  then 
in  1876,  ayt.-    of 
s   forty  per   cent, 
first  including  the 
the  Ohio  River. 
1^  —  we  find  more 
IS  in  each  section 


1869. 

— 

1876. 
19.6 

20 

49 
3' 

40.S 
39''' 

of  its 

former  pro- 

wave 

of  immigra- 

lining  percentage : 

inence,  even  m  ^ 

nises 

to  make  tlu' 

a  prep 

onderatinc 

weight  of  wheat-production  beyond  the  '  Father  of  Waters.'  Comparing  rela- 
tive (luantities,  rather  than  proportions  of  the  crop,  we  find  that  the  .Atlantic 
coast  has  held  its  own  and  little  more  :  the  central  belt  produces  three  times 
as  much ;  the  trans- Mississippi  belt,  more  than  twenty  times  as  much.  The 
figures  are  as  follows  :  — 


SBCTION, 

1849.                   1859. 

1 

1869. 

1876. 

.■\tl.-»ntic  Coast 

Coiitnl  Helt     .... 

Traiis-.Mississippi  Belt     . 

51,657,020 

43,522,646 

5,306,278 

53.294,137 
94,458,609 

25.352.178 

57,476,37' 
140,877,070 

89.392,185 

56,489.500 
118,122,000 

114,745.000 

Total .... 

100,485,944 

173,104,924 

287,745.626 

289,356,500  " 

hsus  of  1850,  and  01u^>  J" 
heU  of  wheat  in  :S:v'.-' 


If  the  exact  distribution  of  the  crop  of  1877,  amounting  to  three  hundred 
and  sixty  millions   of  bushels,  could   be  given,  we  imagine  the 
change  would  appear  even  more  marked  than  in  these  figures  of 
the  commissioner. 

The  population  of  this  country,  for  the  years  1850,  i860,  1870,  and  1877, 
was  in  the  almost  exact  ratio,  respectively,  of  three,  four,  five,  u,,,^  „, 
and  six  ; '  but  the  aggregate  wheat-production  of  those  years  was  duction  to 
in  the  ratio  of  four,  seven,  eleven  and  a  half,  and  fourteen  and  a  '"'''"  '*  °"' 
haU?    .As  the  increase  from  1840  to  1850  was  only  fifteen  per  cent,  —  scarcely 
equal  to  the  increase  in  population,  —  it  is  easy  to  see  when  the  new  impulse 
began  to  be  felt. 

We  now  come  to  consider  some  of  the  causes  of  the  marked  development 
of  this  department  of  American  agriculture.  The  first  of  them  was  the  rapid 
occupation '  of  the  prairie-land  in  the  Ohio  and  Upper-Mississippi  Valleys  by 
emigrants  from  the  Eastern  States,  and  from  Germany,  Scandi-  c«u«eto( 
navia,  and  other  countries  of  Europe,  toward  the  middle  of  this  development 
century.     Another  was  the  remarkable  adaptability  of  the  soil  and  °^  wheat- 

■'  *  '  culture. 

climate  of  that  section  to  wheat-growing.*    Still  another  was  the 
famine  in  Ireland  in  1847,  which  made  an  unusual  foreign  demand  for  Ameri- 
can cereals.      Still  another  was  the  development  of  the  railroad "  system  in 

'  Tho  exact  figures  are,  33,191,876,  31,443,331,  38,358,371,  and  about  45,000,000. 

'  Tlic  figures  are,  100,485,941  bushels,  173,104,934,  387,745,636,  and  about  360,000,000. 

^  While  emigration  promoted  wheat-culture  and  exportation,  the  wheat-interest,  in  turn,  built  up  cities. 
For  twenty  years  Chicago  has  been  the  greatest  grain-d^pot  of  the  world.  BufTalo  was  likewise  built  up  by 
the  grain-trade. 

*  J.imes  Caird,  an  Englishman,  having  travelled  through  Illinois  in  1858,  remarked  upon  the  fertility  of  iLs 
soil  in  his  writings.  He  attributed  it  largely  to  the  luxurious  growth  of  grass  on  the  prairies,  which,  being 
bumcd  by  the  Indians  or  whites,  year  after  year  for  centuries,  deposited  a  great  wealth  of  ashes.  He  took 
several  samples  of  the  soil  to  Prof.  Voelcker,  consulting  chemist  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England, 
who  said,  "  I  have  never  before  analyzed  soils  which  contained  so  much  nitrogen;  nor  do  I  find  any  soils  richer 
in  nitrogen  than  these." 

'  The  railroad  companies,  by  advertisement  and  by  selling  lands  at  low  figures,  did  much  to  promote 
emigration. 


68 


NDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


those  States,  and  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  which  opened  up 
amp'v,  lacilities  for  tre  isportation  eastward.  But  more  than  any  of  these 
other  Influences,  perhaps,  the  improvement  of  agricultural  implements  (by 
Yankee  ingenuity)  gave  impetus  to  wheat-culture.  Elsewhere  we  have  con- 
sidered this  matter ;  and  of  the  improvement  in  the  plough  early  in  this 
century,  and  of  the  invention  of  the  threshing-machine  in  place  of  the 
poetic  but  feebly-efificient  old  flail,  we  need  not  here  remark.  But  what  Mr. 
Charles  L.  Flint  says  of  th  ^  reaper  bears  immediately  upon  the  subject. 
He  remarks,  — 

"  The  sickle,  which  wps  ir,  almost  universal  use  until  a  very  recent  date, 
is  undoubtedly   one   of   the   most   ancient   of   all   our   farming-implements. 

Reaping  by  the  Usc  of  it  was  always  slow 
and  laborious;  while,  fiom  the  fact  that 
many  of  our  grains  would  ripen  at  the  same 
time,  there  '.tas  u,  liability  to  loss  before  they 
could  be  gathered ;  and  practically  there 
Quotation  was  a  mucli  greater  loss  fiom 
from  Flint,  jj^jg  causc  than  there  is  at  the 
present  time.  It  is  not,  therefore,  voo  much 
io  say,  that  the  successful  introduction  of  the 
reaper  into  the  grainfieids  of  this  country 
has  added  millions  of  dollars  to  tlie  value  of 
our  annual  han'ests,  by  enablirg  us  to  se- 
cure the  whole  product,  and  to  enlarge  the 
area  of  ou.r  wheatfields,  with  a  certairi'.y  of 
being  able  to  gather  the  crop.  Nothing 
was  more  surprizing  to  the  me'  cantile  com- 
munity ol  Europe  than  the  fart  that  we 
could  continue  to  export  such  vast  quanti- 
ties, of  wheal  and  other  breadstuffs  through 
the  i'.iidst  of  the  late  Rebellion,  with  a  mil- 
lion cr  two  of  able-bodied  men  in  arms. 
.  .  .  Tie  number  of  two  -  horse  reapers 
in  opera' io,i  throughout  the  country  in  the 

WHBAT.  '  1  r 

har\'est  of  1861  performed  an  amount  of 
work  equal  to  about  a  million  of  men." 

Probably  the  number  of  these  machincr  n^ed  in  ibe  summer  of  1877  was  more 
than  three  hundred  thousand,  —  equiva.enl  to  at  least  l./e  millions  of  men. 


The  exportation  of  wheat  and  wh..'at-flour  from  this  country  was  a  large 
Exijortatioa     t)«siness  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war  and  for  twenty- ♦ive  years 

of  wheat  and 
wheat-flouT. 


subsequently.     In  1791  we  sent  abroad  619,681  barrels  of  flour 
and  1,018,339  bushels  of"  wheat :  this  was  equivalent  to  a  trifle  over 
4,000,000  bushels.     What  proportion  of  our  lotal  product  this  was,  we  cannot 


OF    THE    U XI TED    STATES. 


69 


ch  opened  up 

I    any  of  these 

mplements  (by 

we  have  con- 

li   early  in  this 

place   of  the 

But  what  Mr. 

n   the   subject. 

;ry  recent  date, 
ng-implements. 
IS   always  slow 

the  fact  that 
len  at  the  same 
oss  before  they 
■actically  there 
ater  loss  fijm 
there  is  at  the 
'fore.  100  much 
jduct.on  of  the 
if  this  country 
to  tlie  value  of 
lirg  us  to  se- 
0  enlarge  the 
a  certainty  of 
•op.  Nothing 
ecantile  com- 

fart  that  we 
h  vast  quanti- 
:lstuffs  through 
1,  with  a  mil- 
men  in  arms, 
horse  reapers 
ountry  in  the 
,n  amount  of 

[S77  was  more 
IS  of  men. 
y  was  a  large 
nty-*ive  years 
irrels  of  flour 
0  a  trifle  over 
as,  we  cannot 


say.  The  quantity  has  steadily  increased  in  a  larger  proportion  than  the 
yield,  just  as  the  yield  has  increased  in  larger  proportion  than  the  population. 
For  the  five  years  ending  1845,  the  average  exportation  was  but  7,000,000 
bushels,  including  flour.  This  was  a  comparatively  slow  increase.  From 
that  point  it  was  more  rapid,  partly  owing  to  the  start  given  by  the  Irish 
famine.  For  the  next  five  years,  the  average  was  over  14,000,000;  and,  as 
the  crop  of  1849' was  100,485,941  bushels,  it  will  be  seen  that  our  exports 
amounted  to  about  cne-seventh  of  the  yield.  The  Crimean  war,  by  reducing 
Russia's  production,  stimulated  our  export  of  wheat.  During  our  own  civil 
war,  the  Southern  market  being  cut  off"  and  our  supply  steadily  increasing,  we 
exported  abnormally,  the  proportion  to  the  whole  crop  being  something  like 


THRKSHING   WHEAT. 


one-fifth.  Our  average  crop  for  the  years  1870-74  was  261,015,920  bushels  ; 
and  the  average  exportation  61,579.517.  or  nearly  one-fourth.  TIu-  export  of 
that  year  was  slightly  abnormal,  owing  to  the  failure  of  foreign  crops.  In  1874 
it  aggregated  91.510,408  bushels;  but  in  1875  'twas  only  72,802,605.  The 
crop  of  1877  was,  in  round  numbers,  360,000,000  bushels  ;  and  the  estimated 
exports  very  nearly  a  third  thereof.- 

In  his  report  for  1868,  the  United-States  commissioner  of  agriculture  says, 

'  Cer.ius  of  iSco. 

2  The  commissioner  of  agriculture,  in  his  report  for  1E76,  says,  thst,  in  our  exports  of  wheat  and  flour,  the 
iendency  is  to  send  k'ss  flour,  and  more  grain.  Fifty  years  ago,  flour  oonsiuuted  nearly  the  whole  of  our  wheat 
expou;  hut  in  1876  it  was  I  '.it  little  over  one-f  iirth  cf  the  whole,  either  in  value  or  cju.intify.  A  special  reason 
fir  this  is  found  iii  the  necessity  for  givinj;  ever/  poasihle  scope  to  industrial  protluction  in  Europe.  The 
increasing  cost  of  grain -produn  n  in  Europe,  on  the  one  haml,  ^n<\  the  improvement  in  transatlantic  transjxir 
tp'ion,  on  the  other,  gave  to  the  mlllmg  inter<st,  especially  in  EngUn  1  i\  I  France,  a  margin  of  profit  in  grinding 
.^niericnii  grain,  which  secured  to  that  interest  an  enormous  development. 


7° 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


m 


"The  policy  of  growing  grain  for  exportation,  except  as  a  pioneer  expedient 
Ascendency  ^"  Opening  and  improving  farms,  is  not  to  be  commended.  No 
over  other  material  portion  of  our  exports  can  ever  be  made  up  of  breadstuffs, 
countr  es.  ^^^  j^  j^  desirable  that  this  should  be."  But  since  then  our  produc- 
tion and  exportation  of  cereals  have  rapidly  increased  ;  while  the  exportation  of 
cotton,  with  which  he  made  comparison,  has  decidedly  decreased.  Our  exports 
of  cotton  in  1868  were  worth  $152,820,733  ;  of  wheat  and  flour,  $51,135,430  ; 
and  of  all  breadstuffs,  $79,046,187.  In  1875  o"''  cotton  export"-  amounted  to 
only  about  $175,000,000;  while  wheat  antl  wheat-flour  amounted  to  $83,317,- 
937;  corn,  to  $25,747,470  more;  and  these,  with  other  breadstuffs,  to  about 
$125,000,000.  Cotton  increased  only  about  one-sixth,  and  cereals  about  one- 
half,  in  the  interval,  ^^'hen  we  consider  that  Russia  and  the  United  States 
furnish  those  countries  of  the  world  which  cannot  raise  wheat  enough  for 
themselves  with  three-quarters  or  more  of  the  surplus  in  the  producing  coun- 
tries ;  that  the  United  States  now  export  nearly  twice  what  Russia  does  :  that, 
notwithstanding  Russia's  recent  introduction  of  improved  agricultural  imple- 
ments, we  are  likely  to  maintain  the  same  ascendency  over  her  as  regards 
production,  —  we  see  that  our  wheat-exportation  promises  to  continue  a  lead- 
ing industry  for  many  years  to  come.  This  will  furtlier  appear  on  the  consid- 
eration of  two  or  three  other  promising  features  c '"  the  history  of  wheat-culture 
in  America. 

Although  the  wheat-crop  is  susceptible  to  many  hurtful  influences,  —  such 
as  rust,  blast,  smut,  the  wheat-fly,  weevil,  chinch-bug,  grasshopper,  winter-killing 
Injurious  in-  ^''^"^  exposure  to  frost,  and  the  blowing  and  lodging  from  heavy 
sects,  grass-  galcs,  —  yet  thcsc  influences  have  thus  far  proved  local,  and  have 
hoppers,  &c.  g^^^jj^-giy  affected  the  total  production  of  the  country  at  any  time. 
The  New-England  blights  of  1662-65,  though  discouraging,  were  limited.  The 
grasshopiK-r  depredations  of  1875  and  1876,  in  Minnesota  Nel)raska,  Iowa. 
Kansas,  Missouri.  Illinois,  and  Wisconsiii.  were  very  serious  in  their  effects 
upon  the  farmers  temporarily ;  and  yet  tlie  effect  on  the  total  yield  of  the 
country,  or  the  price  of  flour  in  the  Kast,  inasmuch  as  we  had  some  of  1874's 
wheat  left  on  hand,  was  to  lessen  but  slightly  our  ex])()rtation.  In  1877  the 
])est  had  nearly  disappeared  ;  and,  by  planting  an  extra  area,  we  more  '  than 
maele  u])  the  loss. 

The  wars  of  independence  and  of  18x2-14  temporarily  impaired  our 
])roduct  and  exportation  ;  but  the  war  with  Mexico  in  1847-48,  ami 
the  late  civil  war,  did  not  interfere  ]x'r(eptil)ly.  Gieat  Britain  is 
now  so  dependent  upon  us  for  bread,  that  she  can  scarcely  go  to 
war  with  us  again  under  any  circumstances  :  so  we  are  safe  in  thai 


Effect  of 
wars  upon 
production 
of  wheat. 


regard. 


'  Tlic  cx^-\\i  of  1875  was  lint  mon'  ihaii  two  |icr  cent  below  the  average,  ami  tli  it  of  1876  not  more  than  thne 
[jcr  cent,  —  alxmt  cievc.i  riiillion  bushels  short.  Ihe  crop  of  1877  was  twenty  per  cent  above  the  r.verage,  and 
fifty  million  bushels  more  than  any  previous  yield. 


ilMiii., 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


71 


not  more  than  thn  e 
e  the  r.verage,  aiul 


u 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Within  ten  or  fifteen  years  the  centre  of  wheat-production  has  moved  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River.  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan 
Future  pro-  '^^^P  Steadily  increasing  their  yields ;  while  Minnesota,  Iowa, 
duction  of  Nebraska,  and  Kansas  have  each  a  still  greater  development  yet 
^  '**■  in  store.     Then,  too,  California  is  looming   up   tremendously  as 

a  wheat-growing  State.  In  1850  she  raised  but  1 7,325  bushels  ;  ten  years  later, 
5,928,470;  twenty  years  later,  16,676,702;  and  now,  upwards  of  30,000,000. 
If  not  so  already,  she  will  soon  be  the  largest  producer  of  wheat  in  the  Union, 
with  a  huge  latent  capacity  for  further  development.  Outside  of  the  States 
here  named,  there  is  comparatively  little  new  territory  which  we  can  devote  to 
the  culture  of  this  grain ;  yet  here  is  still  magnificent  promise,  and  one  which 
even  Russia  cannot  equal. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  Klippart's  gloomy  prophecies  as  to  the  failure 
of  our  wheat-production  through  impoverishment  of  the  soil.  The  expe- 
Restoring  rience  of  the  Atlantic  States,  however,  where  the  chemical  ele- 
exhausted  ments  of  the  soil  are  different  from  those  of  the  prairie-lands 
^°'  *■  and  from  those  of  California,  offers  no  sure  analogy.      It  mus'.   ue 

admitted  that  Ohio,  which  in  1859  yielded  over  thirteen  bushels  to  the  acre, 
now  produces  but  nine  bushels  and  a  half;  yet,  within  a  few  pages  of  these 
same  dark  auguries,  Klippart  points  out  the  ability  of  American  husbandmen 
to  restore  the  fertility  of  the  soil  by  artificial  manures,  as  the  Englishmen  do, 
and  quotes  Mr.  Caird's  allusions  to  the  wheatfields  of  Lombardy,  which 
have  steadily  yielded  crops  for  two  thousand  years.  In  view  of  all  these  facts, 
we  fail  to  see  why  America  is  likely  to  be  worse  off  than  her  principal  rival, 
Russia.  •    ■ 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


73 


CHAPTER  V. 


CORN. 


INDIAN-CORN,  or  maize,  is  the  crop  which  this  country  produces  in  the 
largest  quantity  and  value,  and  which  has  the  widest  acreage,  while  it  ranks 
next  to  wheat  among  our  agricultural  exports.  Thus  in  1875  we  raised 
292,136,000  bushels  of  wheat,  and  1,321,069,000  of  corn.  In  importance 
1877  the  corn-product  was  the  same  nearly,  while  wheat  had  «>' corn-crop. 
increased  to  360,000,000  bushels.  In  1875  the  value  of  our  corn-crop  was 
$555,445,930  ;  of  wheat,  $294,580,990  ;  of  hay,  $342,203,445  ;  and  of  cotton, 
8272,936,400.  That  same  year  we  '""ad  10,803,030  acres  yielding  cotton, 
23,507,964  yielding  hay,  26,381,512  yielding  wheat,  and  44,841,371  yieldiniij 
corn.  Such  is  the  story  which  the  figures  tell  by  comparing  them.  Though 
used  almost  exclusively  among  the 
cereals  by  the  mass  of  the  Southern  /^-'^</ 

people  as  an  article  of  diet,  it  is  not 
so  exclusively  an  article  of  human 
food  in  the  United  States  as  wheat. 
It  is  fed  to  horses  largely,  and  to  cattle, 
sheep,  and  poultry,  but  to  swine  more 
than  to  any  other  animal,  the  pork  of 
this  country  being  largely  fattened  on 
this  grain.  The  stalks  of  this  grain, 
too,  make  more  nutritious  fodder  for 
live-stock  than  the  straw  of  any  other. 
There  is  also  a  perceptible  consump- 
tion of  corn  by  distillers  of  whiskey  ; 
and  at  times  it  has  been  so  plentiful 
in  some  of  the  Western  States,  that  it 
has  been  used  for  fuel.  It  was  much 
cheaper,  its  heat  considered,  in  many 

localities,  in  187 1,  than  coal  at  nine  dollars  a  ton  ;  and  it  was  thus  consumed 
in  large  quantities,  although  fires  made  of  it  required  close  attention. 


CORN-SMUT. 


74 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Regarding  the  origin  of  this  particular  grain,  there  has  been  much  con- 
troversy. It  has  been  claimed  as  a  purely  American  product,  all  other 
Origin  of  countries  getting  it  from  the  New  World.  While,  however,  there 
corn.  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  indigenous  to  America,  it   cannot 

be  established  that  it  first  made  its  appearance  in  this  country.  In  1204  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat  and  his  conii)anions  brought  back  from  the  Orient  to 
Italy  a  grain  known  as  "  melica,"  or  "  melaga,"  —  a  name  which  was  afterwards 
used  interchangeably  with  that  of  the  real  maize,  and  led  to  the  supposition 
that  this  kind  of  corn  came  first  from  Asia.  The  name  "Turkish  corn," 
which  it  long  bore  in  Europe,  gave  rise  to  a  supposition  that  it  came  from 
Turkey's  Asiatic  possessions.  Neither  of  these  theories  has  been  demon- 
strated, however.  Better  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  Old  World  hail  this 
same  grain  under  cultivation  before  Columbus  discovered  America  is  found 
in  the  flict  that  the  Chinese  historian,  Li-chi-tchin,  speaks  of  a  plant  exactly 
corresponding  to  it  in  his  country  toward  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  proverbial  slowness  of  that  people  in  introducing  new  ideas  and  institu- 
tions, the  shortness  of  the  interval,  and  the  inference  from  his  remarks  that 
the  crop  was  long  established,  incline  one  to  believe  that  they  really  had  our 
Indian-corn  in  China  more  than  four  centuries  ago.  Indeed,  Oriental  trav- 
ellers incline  to  believe  that  it  has  been  cultivated  in  the  islands  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago  from  the  earliest  ages.  A  fact  of  still  more  decisive  character  is 
the  discovery  of  maize  in  the  cerements  of  a  mummy  exhumed  at  Thehcs, 
Egypt,  under  circumstances  leading  to  a  belief  that  it  was  two  or  three 
thousand  years  old. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  known  that  it  was  cultivated  on  this  continent  a  great 
many  centuries  ago.  Longfellow  embodies  in  his  "  Hiawatha  "  a  well-known 
E  rii  tcui-  ^^g*^"*^'  "f  ^'""^  Ojibways  as  to  the  gift  of  maize  to  the  red  man 
tivation  of  by  the  Great  Spirit.  The  Aztec  nations  of  Mexico  and  Central 
corn  in  AmcritM,  who  attained  a  high  civilization,  have  a  tradition  that 

America.  °  ' 

the  Toltecs  introduced  the  culture  of  maize  into  this  country  in 
the  seventh  century  ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  already  com- 
mon with  the  natives  at  that  time,  and  that  the  Toltecs  merely  improved  the 
methods  of  cultivation.  The  Mexicans  had  a  deity  corresponding  to  the 
Ceres  of  the  Romans,  who  was  supposed  to  watch  over  this  crop,  and  whom 
they  worshipped  accordingly.  The  grain  was  raised  plenteously  from  Southern 
Chili  to  the  southern  part  of  Pennsylvania  when  Europeans  first  visited  America. 
Parched  corn  was  the  great  vegetable  staple  of  Indian  diet. 

Corn  recjuires  less  cultivation  than  almost  any  other  food-crop  in  tlii'^ 
country,  although  it  is  affected  more  by  the  condition  of  the  season  than  st)nic 
Mode  of  cu?-  others.  It  prefers  dry,  loamy  soils,  and  rich  bottom  lands,  to  wet. 
tivation.  liard  clays.  Though  there  are  many  varieties  (some  growin;;  to 
the  height  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet,  and  others  scarcely  aboxe  one's  knee  ;  an<l 
some  being  better  adapted  to  one  section  than  another,  there  being  variatiDn, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


73 


[\  much  con- 
ict,   all   other 
lowever,  there 
ca,  it   cannot 
In  1204  the 
the  Orient  to 
was  afterwards 
le  supposition 
Lurkish  com," 
it  came  from 
been   demon- 
VorUl  had  this 
lerica  is  found 
a  plant  exactly 
teenth  century. 
;as  and  institu- 
is  remarks  that 
f  really  had  our 
\,  Oriental  trav- 
s  of  the  Indian 
sive  character  is 
.med  at  Thebes, 
s   two    or   three 

antinent  a  great 

"  a  well-known 

to  the  red  man 

lico  and  Central 

a  tradition  that 

this  country  in 

•as  already  com- 

V  improved  the 
;ponding  to  the 
cro]),  and  whom 

V  from  Southern 
visited  Ameri(  a. 

)od-crop  in  thi^ 
?ason  than  some 
)nv-lands,  to  wet. 
iome  growin;;  to 
one's  knee  ;  and 
being  variation, 


also,  in  the  shape,  size,  and  color  of  the  kernel),  there  are  practically  but  two 
kinds,  —  the  white  and  yellow,  —  each  being  divided  into  the  hard  and  soft ;  and 
one  or  another  is  culti\ated  in  almost  every  part  of  the  United  States  where 
agriculture  is  practised  at  all.  From  the-.e  various  causes,  the  first  emigrants 
to  this  country  raised  it  extensively,  relying  upon  it  as  the  princii)al  article  of 
f(jo(l,  and  using  it,  also,  for  barter  and  export.  Later,  the  crop  was  combined 
with  potatoes  or  pumpkins,  or  both,  on  small  tracts  of  land  ;  and  the  three 
tlourisiied  together  more  prosperously  than  any  one  of  them  would  with  any 
other  common  agricultural  product.  Thus  we  find  that  corn-culture  followed 
the  whites  into  all  new  territory  which  they  occupied.  New  England  raised 
but  comparatively  little  ;  but,  long  before  the  Revolution,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
s\  Ivania,  and  Delaware  were  exporting  corn  extensively,  Virginia  even  more  so, 
and  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia  also,  having  a  surplus  to  exchange  with 
Europe  for  necessary  imports.  The  aggregate  export  of  the  colonies  in  1770 
was  578,349  bushels,  —  an  amount  more  than  once  eciualled  by  Virginia  alone, 
before  the  Revolution. 

At  the  close  of  that  war,  for  a  time,  agriculture  in  this  country  made  little 
headway ;  and  some  special  causes,  like  the  sudden  development   Effect  of 
of  cotton-culture  in  the  South,  may  have  retarded  the  progress  ot   Revolution- 

ary  war 

other  lines  of  agriculture.      From  these  various  causes,  we  find,   upon  corn- 
that  from  1 79 1,  when  we  exported  corn  and  meal  amounting  to  culture, 
about  2,064,936  bushels  of  grain,  there  was  a  gradual  decline  for  over  twenty 
years  in  the  export.     In  1800  it  amounted  to  2,032,435  bushels,  and  in  1810 
to  only  140,996. 

In  the  next  two  decades,  influences  of  a  stinnilating  character  began  to 
operate  on  this  industry,  which  were  followed  up  by  others  during  succeeding 
years ;  so  that  the  corn-crop  has  for  the  past  fifty  years  shown   in^^gagg 
rai)id  increase.     In  1825  the  Erie  Canal  was  opened,  giving  cheap   during  next 
transportation  to  Western  crops.     Railroads  were  built  later,  pen-   *^*"*y 
etrating  all  the  more  productive  sections  of  the  West.     Emigra- 
tion rapidly  increased.      Farm-implements  greatly  improved,  although  these 
were  not  so  essential  to  corn  as  to  some  other  grains.     The  value  of  this  cereal 
for  fattening  cattle,  too,  began  to  be  realized  ;  and  its  demand  for  this-  use  was 
soon  vigorous.     From  1840  to  1850,  the  total  yield  increased  from  377,531,- 
S75  bushels  to  592,071,104,  — a  gain  of  fifty-seven  per  cent,  while  population 
was  increasing  but  thirty-five  per  cent.     The  increase  of  wheat  during  this 
time  was  only  fifteen  per  cent.     By  i860  the  figures  had  grown  to  838,792,- 
742,  —  an  advance  of  but  a  trifle  over  forty-one  percent,  —  three-   increase 
quarters  of  which  gain  was  in  the  Northern  States.     During  that  """• 
ilc<  ade  the  population  increased  thirty-five  per  cent  as  before,  and  wheat  had 
increased  nearly  seventy-five  percent.     In  1870  a  falling-off  was  noticeable,  the 
product  being  only  760.944,549  bushels.     This,  probably,  was  due  to  the  corn- 
lands  being  converted,  in  some  cases,  to  wheat-culture  ;  which,  however,  is  not, 


76 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


M 
.i\i- 


■['If'    ,  .' 

"i.'|;fY  ' 


in  the  long-run,  quite  so  profitable.  To  continue  the  comparison  :  it  may  be 
remarked  that  the  increase  in  population  during  that  time  was  but  a  trifle  over 
twenty-two  percent;  but  the  wheat-yield  rose  over  sixty  per  cent.  In  1871 
corn  was  unusually  plenty  in  the  West,  and  so  cheap  as  to  be  used  for  fuel. 
In  1875  the  product  was  1,321,000,000,  nearly  500,000,000  of  which  gain  was 
cfTected  within  the  last  year  of  the  five.  This  was  a  jump  of  nearly  seventy- 
five  i>er  cent ;  while  wheat  was  increasing  but  two  or  three  per  cent,  and  the 
population  about  eighteen.  . 


CORN-HUSKER. 


I'iffii 


Large  yield 
depresses 
the  price. 


It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  a  large  crop  of  cereals  or  cotton  so  depresses 
the  price,  that  the  real  gain  is  but  slight ;  and  a  re-action  usually  ensues, 
which  checks  the  production  for  a  year  or  two.  Thus,  despite  the 
increase  in  the  corn -production  from  1874  to  1875  above  men- 
tioned, the  two  crops  were  marketed  respectively  fjr  $550,043,000 
and  $555,445,000.  The  yield  of  the  two  years  subsec[uent,  accordingly,  fell 
off  somewhat. 

The  export  of  corn  from  this  country  to  Europe  is  a  very  important  item 
of  our  trade.  Corn  and  corn-meal  make  up  forty  per  cent  of  our  cereal 
Export  of  export.  We  have  already  remarked,  that  from  1791,  when  we 
corn.  ggfit;  abroad  2,064,936  bushels  of  corn,  there  was,  for  many  years, 

a  falling-off  in  the  export  of  that  commodity.  For  the  whole  five  years  end- 
ing 1845,  the  total  export,  including  corn  reduced  to  meal,  was  but  8,005,005 
bushels,  —  an  average  of  less  than  in  1791.  But  the  Irish  famine,  during  the 
next  half-decade,  made  a  tremendous  demand ;  ard  during  that  interval  the 
exports  aggregated  53.796,953  bushels,  or  over  10,000,000  bushels  a  year. 
With  the  termination  of  that  famine  came  a  falling-off  in  our  export  j  and  these 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


77 


Dependence 
of  other 
countries 
upon  United 
States. 


figures  were  not  paralleled  again  until  1865-70,  when  we  sent  abroad  53,413,- 
372  bushels.  During  the  next  five  years  we  sent  off  152,569,127  bushels, — 
an  average  of  over  30,000,000  a  year.  In  1876'  we  sent  50,910,532  bushels, 
of  which  1,416,960  was  in  the  form  of  meal.'' 

Corn  being  cultivated  in  but  small  quantities  in  Europe,  especially  outside 
of  France  and  Russia,  the  nations  of  that  section  of  the  globe  are  dependent 
cliicfly  upon  the  United  States  for  their  supply  ;  and  our  shipments 
to  Italy,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Holland,  Belgium,  and  France,  are 
!.tc;ulily  increasing.  As  an  article  of  human  diet,  it  is  inferior 
to  wheat :  nevertheless,  it  is  finding  constantly-increasing  applica- 
tions as  such.  As  food  for  horses,  its  consumption  in  Conti- 
nental cities  is  also  rapidly  augmenting,  it  having  been  discovered  that  the 
investing  of  money  in  corn  is  more  economical  than  the  purchase  of  oats. 
The  enormous  crop  of  1875,  and  the  consequent  low  prices,  led  Chicago 
parties  to  negotiate  with  British  stock-raisers  to  purchase  corn  for  fodder. 
From  the  low  prices  and  freights  then  prevailing,  it  was  estimated  that  this  trade 
would  prove  profitable  to  both  countries.  But  the  movement  partly  defeated 
itself  by  calling  out  supplies  of  grain  in  excess  of  a  normal  demand,  aiul, 
consequently,  by  cutting  down  prices  in  England  below  the  calculated  mini- 
mum. Some  of  the  grain,  from  lack  of  care  in  shipment,  was  injured  by 
heating  in  ocean  transit,  causing  considerable  losses.  On  the  whole,  however, 
it  is  estimated  that  the  profits  of  this  movement  more  than  counterbalanced 
its  losses.  This  was  one  of  the  causes  that  so  greatly  enlarged  llie  export  of 
corn  during  the  fiscal  year  1876. 

In  1862  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  remarked  that  the 
export  of  corn  was  very  undesirable,  as  it  was  worth  more  to  this 
country  to  keep  our  supply  at  home,  have  low  prices,  and  fatten 
our  cattle  more  cheaply.  As  the  possibilities  of  our  product  are 
comparatively  unlimited,  such   solicitude   does   not  seem  to   be  '"pof*  »' 

-  „  ■   ,  corn. 

fully  warranted. 

It  may  be  remarked,  that  corn  exhausts  our  lands  less  rapidly  than  wheat ; 

that  it  returns  more  handsome  profits  for  increased  care  in  cultivation  than 

some  other  crops  ;   and  that  careful  experiments  show  that  ex-   _ 

'     '  •^  Corn  a  more 

hausted  land  may  be  renewed  with  artificial  manures  to  such  an   exhaustive 
extent  as  to  pay  immense  dividends  on  the  investment.     These   "°'^  **'"" 

*    ■'  wheat. 

facts,  and  the  steady  increase  of  territory  devoted  to  the  produc- 
tion of  this  cereal,  make  the  outlook  for  the  future  of  the  industry  rather  more 
certain  and  bright  than  that  of  wheat-culture. 


Opinion  of 
commis- 
sioner of 
agriculture 
concerning 


'  These  dates  are  of  fiscal  years,  ending  June  30.  The  export  of  1876,  therefore,  is  really  based  upon  the 
crop  of  the  calendar  year  1875. 

'  As  in  the  case  of  wheat,  the  tendency  in  our  corn-exoort  has  been  steadily  to  send  less  manufactured 
grain,  and  more  unground.  Thus,  during  the  five  years  ending  1830,  we  sent  abroad  3,530,710  bushels  of  corn 
unground,  and  3,133,63a  in  the  form  of  mtal.  In  1876  the  com  sent  abroad  as  meal  was  but  two  and  three- 
fourths  per  cent  of  the  whole  quantity. 


78 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  distribution  of  corn-culture  throughout  the  country  is  more  even  than 

that   of  any  other  crop.     Sugar,  cotton,  tobacco,  hay,  and  wheat  arc  eacli 

more  sectional  than  corn.     However,  it  is  more  particularly  con- 

generaiiy        fiuccl  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Valleys.     Illinois  produces  not 

raited  than     Q„|y  j^^Q^g  ji^^n  any  otiier  one  State,  but  more  than  all  the  ten 

cotton   States   together,  with   Maryland  and   the   two   Virginias ; 

while  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Iowa,  Missouri,  and 
Kansas,  together,  produce 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  crop 
of  the  country.  The  cul- 
ture of  corn,  however,  is 
more  evenly  distributed 
than  that  of  cotton,  sugar, 
and  tobacco  in  the  South- 
ern and  Border  States  ;  and 
the  policy  of  raising  home- 
supplies  of  this  cereal  is 
coming  to  be  more  gener- 
ally pursued  there,  that 
section  having  suffered 
more  than  once  recenUy 
from  insufficient  food-sup- 
ply. New  England,  en- 
gaged in  manufacturing 
pursuits  rather  than  in 
agriculture,  does  almost  nothing  in  corn. 

Production  ^^  '"^  ^'^^  ^^^^  °f  wheat,  SO  with  maize,  there  is  a  westward 

moving  migration  of  the  centre  of  our  production,  as  will  be  apparent 

from  the  following  table  of  percentages  :  — 


IMPROVBD  GRIST-MILI.. 


weitward. 


SECTION. 

1849. 

1859. 

1869. 

1875, 

Atlantic-coast  States 

Central  IJelt 

Trans-Mississippi  Belt 

30 

12 

24 

ss 

21 

20 

S3 
27 

14 

5' 
35 

The  East  has  declined  continuously  and  hopelessly ;  the  centre  has  held 
a  determined  struggle,  yielding  only  inch  by  inch;  tie  West  has  trod  the 
track  of  destiny  with  accelerated  step. 

As  a  result  of  the  rapid  growth  and  the  geographical  location  of  the 
great  cornfields,  there  has  been  an  immense  growth  of  cities  and  railroads 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


70 


jre  even  than 
icat  are  eacli 
.rticularly  con- 
procluct'3  not 
in  all  the  ten 
wo  Virginias; 
Indiana,   Illi- 
Missouri,   and 
;ther,   produce 
the  whole  crop 
try.     The  ciil- 
1,   however,   is 
ly     distributed 
■  cotton,  sugar, 
I  in  the  South- 
Jer  States ;  and 
f  raising  home- 
this   cereal   is 
je  more  gener- 
•d     there,    that 
iving     suffered 
once   recendy 
cient  food-sup- 
England,    en- 
manufacturing 
ther    than     in 


in  that  section  of  country  between  tht  Ohio  and  the  Great  Lakes,  and  just 
wcrit  of  the  Mississippi.     On  the  rivers  and  lakes,  especially  the  latter,  bhip- 
ping  has   grown   immensely,  to  carry  on  the  work  of  trinspor-  con.equen. 
t.uion.      It  would  be  difficult  to  say  exactly  how  much  of  this  ceto(  raiting 
mat'-'rial  wealth  of  development  is  due  to  corn,  and  how  much  oth«r"ndu«. 
t(j  wheat ;  but    the   division  would   give    the   former   the   larger  triot  and 
share.     Chicago  is,  of  course,  the  great  centre  of  the  corn-interest ;   "novomenti. 
but  many  other  lake  and  interior  cities  are  the  product  of  this  industry.     So 
completely  dependent,  too,  on  the  grain-transportation  business,  are  many  of 
the  W  cstern  railroads,  that  their  stocks  rise  and  fall  on  Wall  Street  with  every 
iluctuation  of  the  crops  and  the  demands  therefor.     Indeed,  to  corn,  more 
tiian  to  any  other  one  agricultural  product  of  this  country,  do  we  owe  the 
expansion  of  our  material  prosperity. 


is  a  westward 
lill  be  apparent 


869. 

1875. 

20 

14 

53 

5' 

27 

35 

lentre  has  held 
It  has  trod  the 


location  of  the 
and  railroads 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


12.2 

IM 

1.8 


1.25 

1.4      1.6 

■* 6"     

► 

Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


73  WEST  MAIN  STtEET 

WEBSTER.  N.Y    14S80 

(716)  873-4503 


ho 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SUGAR  AND   MOLASSES. 


SUGAR  and  molasses  are  among  those  agricultural  products  of  the  United 
States,  which,  in  amount,  fall  far  short  of  our  necessities,  rendering  a 
heavy  import  (chiefly  from  the  West  Indies)  requisite  to  supply  the  defi- 
Detcription  ciency.  The  production  is,  moreover,  limited  in  locality,  as  well 
of  lugar-  as  in  quantity,  being  mostly  confined  to  Louisiana.  The  cane 
cane  region.  jj,jjy.gg^  j^^j  j^  jj,„  staple  product,  in  all  parts  of  the  State  south 
of  the  latitude  of  Haton  Rouge,  except  in  the  pine  uplands  bordering  on 
Texas.  It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the  whole  of  the  region  within 
these  boundaries  actually  produces  sugar.  The  area  of  cultivated  land  is 
comparai  .ely  small ;  swamps,  lakes,  rivers,  and  bayous  occupying  most  of 
the  surface  of  the  country,  and  the  territory  available  for  planting  being 
restricted  to  narrow  strips  along  the  water-courses.  The  shores  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, for  fifty  miles  above  and  below  New  Orleans,  are  lined  with  cane- 
fields,  extending  back  for  about  a  mile  to  the  cypress- swamps.  Along  the 
Atchafalaya,  and  the  La  Fourche,  Plaquemine,  Teche,  Boeuf,  Courtableau, 
and  other  bayous  west  of  the  Mississippi,  there  is  little  besides  sugar  raised. 
The  Teche,  and  the  parishes  bordering  upon  it,  known  under  the  general 
name  of  the  Attakapas  country,  is  the  paradise  of  the  sugar-planter.  Per- 
haps the  land  is  no  better  than  that  along  the  other  bayous ;  but  its  conforma- 
tion makes  it  easy  of  drainage,  while  the  proximity  of  the  Gulf  gives  it  cool 
breezes  in  summer,  and  the  natural  beauties  of  the  region  make  it  the  most 
attractive  part  of  Louisiana.  Longfellow's  description  in  "  Evangeline  "  fits 
it  very  well :  — 

"  Beautiful  is  the  land,  with  its  prairies,  and  forest  of  fruit-trees : 
Under  the  feet  a  garden  of  flowers ;  and  the  bluest  of  heavens 
Bending  above,  and  resting  its  dome  on  the  walls  of  the  forest. 
They  who  dwell  there  have  named  it  the  Eden  of  Louisiana." 

There  are  manv  little  descriptive  passages  in  the  poem  that  are  remarkably 
tnie  to  nature ;  and  the  wonder  is  that  Longfellow  could  have  got  the  local 
coloring  so  well  without  once  visiting  the  region  he  pictures. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


8l 


Long  before  the  Revolutionary  war  the  New-England  colonies  carried  on 
a  large  commerce  in  sugar  and  molasses,  which,  with  rum,  they  brought  from 
the  West  Indies,  and  carried  hence  to  Europe.     There  were  re-   _    , 

'  *^  Early  com- 

fineries  in  various  parts  of  Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts  too,  merce  >n 
mostly  for  such  sugar  as  was  kept  for  home  consumption.    The  ""'■''  "*' 
enactment  of  laws  by  Parliament,  restrictmg  this   carrying- trade 
to  British  vessels,  as  also  the  stamp-acts,  which  threatened  to  lay  a  tax  on 
such  sugar  and  molasses,  seriously  affected  this  industry. 

Accounts  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  by  the  earliest  settlers,  speak  of 
sugar-canes  as  indigenous  to  that  section,  but  inaccurately.     Sugar-canes  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  grown  in  any  part  of  what  is  now  the  g,^,  g^^,. 
United  States  until  1751,  when  the  Jesuits  introduced  them  to  vauon  in 
Louisiana  from  San  Domingo.    The  first  sugar-mill  in  this  section  ^""*••••°•• 
was  erected  by  M.  Dubreuil,  whose  plantation  is  now  covered  by  the  city  of 
New  Orleans,    But  little  headway  was  made  in  the  culture  until  1 794,  when 
persecuted  Frenchmen  fled  from  San  Domingo  to  Louisiana,  and  carried  their 
business  ideas  with  them.     This  State  did  not  form  a  part  of  our  Union, 
however,  until  1803.     In  later  years  the  culture  extended  into  Texas  to  a 
slight    it:c<-!(      In  1805  an  enterprising  Georgia  planter  obtained  Extension  of 
and  set  o.  *  i*^  his  own  State  one   hundred   young  sugar-canes,  culture. 
These  were  idpidly  propagated ;    and  the   culture   extended   into   Florida, 
Alabama,  and  elsewhere.     It  was  soon  found,  though,  that  the  soil  of  Lou- 
isiana was  by  far  the  most  productive,  and  the  industry  never  prospered  very 
much  elsewhere.     In   1850  eleven-twelfths  of  the   yield  of  cane  sugar  and 
molasses  of  this  country  was  Louisiana's.    The  following  table  shows  the 
distribution  in  1870:  — 


STATBS. 


Louisiana 
Texas 
Tennessee 
South  Carolina 
Florida   . 
Georgia  . 
Arkansas 
Mississippi      . 
Missouri 
Alabama 
North  Carolina 

Total 


87.043 


SUGAR, 

MOLASSES, 

H0C8HKADS. 

GALLONS. 

80,706 

4.585.' 50 

2,020 

246,063 

1,410 

3.629 

>.0SS 

436,882 

952 

344.339 

644 

553.'9a 

92 

72,008 

49 

152.164 

49 

3« 

166,009 

35 

33.888 

6.593.3*3 


83 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Just  as  the  tolwicro-industry  built  up  Richmond,  so  the  sugar-business 
built  up  New  Orleans,  although  the  cotton-interest  had  a  share  in  the  latter 
work.  Very  few  statistics  are  obtainable,  showing  the  product 
of  cane  sugar  and  molasses  in  other  States  ;  and  statisticians 
trt  :t  that  of  Louisiana  as  alwut  ail  there  is  in  the  country. 
Bearing  this  fact  in  mind,  one  can  learn  much  of  the  history  of 
the  cane-sugar  industry  of  this  country,  antl  realize  how  far  it  is 
from  meeting  our  needs,  by  glancing  at  the  following  table,  showing  the  total 
consumption  in  this  country  by  tons,  and  what  proportion  thereof  was  im- 
ported, and  how  much  was  raised  in  Louisiana :  — 


Bugar- 
intarattt 
save  rit*  to 
New 
OrUana. 


VBA«S.                   IMrORTBD.' 

1 

1.0UISIANA. 

TOTAL." 

1 

l83l   ....  1      26,672 

14,000 

40.672 

1831 

44.178 

35.000 

79.<7S 

1841 

« 

65,601 

38.000 

103,601 

1842 

69,474 

39,200 

10.S.674 

"843 

28,854 

64,360 

93.214 

1844 

83,801 

44.400 

irS.20I 

1845 

88,336 

4^.000 

'33.336 

1846 

44.9:4 

83,028 

1  ::S,002 

1847 

9«.4io 

71.040 

169,450 

1848 

104,214 

107.000 

21 1,214 

1849 

103,121 

9<.).'So 

20^,301 

1850 

160,210 

144,600 

304  .S 10 

1851 

201,493 

■20,331 

32'.S24 

1852 

196,558 

118,659 

3'.S.2'7 

•853 

200,610 

'72,379 

372,989 

1854 

150,854 

234.444 

385,298 

185s 

192,607 

i«5.M5 

377.752 

1856 

255.292 

.23,468 

378.760 

1857 

241,165 

39,000 

280.-65 

1858 

244.758 

M3.734 

388,492 

'859 

239.034 

192,150 

431.184 

i860 

296,950 

«>8.:3' 

415,181 

1861 

241,420 

122,399 

363.819 

1862 

241,411 

191,000 

432,4" 

1863 

23'.398 

52.9'0 

284,308 

1864 

192,660 

28.000 

220,()6o 

1865 

345.809 

5,000 

350,809 

1866 

383.178 

8,500 

391.698 

1867 

378.068 

22,500 

400,568 

I86S 

446.533 

23,000 

469.533 

1869 

447.899 

45.000 

492.899 

1870 

483.892 

46,800 

530,692 

1871 

553.7>4 

79,600 

633.3 '4 

1872 

567.573 

69,800 

637.373 

1873 

592.725 

59.300 

652.025 

1874 

661,869 

48,500 

7 '0,369 

1875 

621.352 

63,500 

685,352 

1876   .... 

561.369 

77.000 

638,369 

I  Omitting  tliat  which  wai  exported  again.  '  Omitting  the  trifle  contumed  on  the  Pacific  coatt. 


OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


83 


sugar-business 
e  in  the  latter 
^  the  product 
1(1  statisticians 
I   the    country. 

the  history  of 
;  how  far  it  is 
jwinp  the  total 
hereof  was  inv 


TOTAL.' 

40.672 

79.' 78 
103,601 
108.674 

93.2 « 4 

i:S,;oi 

•33.336 

I  iS.002 

169.450 

21  1.214 

202,301 

304  .S 10 

321.824 

3'.S.2«7 
372.9S9 
3S  5.298 

3::'752 
37^.760 
2S0.765 
3SS.492 
431.184 
415,181 

3<''3.8>9 
43-.4'> 
284,308 

220.(')60 
35O.S09 
391,698 
400. 56S 

469.533 
492.899 
530.693 

633.3 '4 

637.373 
652,025 

710,369 

68  5.352 
638,369 


Starting  at  nothing,  our  domestic  production  rn|)idly  gained  on  our  im- 
|K,  s  until  1843,  when,  si)asmodically  as  it  were,  it  sucklenly  overleaped  .itul 
more  than  douhled  them.  In  1S46.  1.S4S.  and  1854,  our  domestic  product 
(•x(  ceded  the  imports,  hut  not  to  so  great  an  extent.  Owin;^  to  increaie  of 
the  .iccimiulation  of  a  large  stock  in  tiie  country  in  1S56,  the  pro«i"=»'on- 
next  year's  home  yieUl  fell  off  amazingly.  What  p.!>r\ipt  and  utter  ruin  was 
l)rought  uiM)n  this  in<histry  I)y  tlie  war  may  he  inferred  from  the  fact,  that,  by 


SUOAR-MILL. 


'.lie  year  1S63,  the  cane-crop  had  dwindled  down  to  50.000  tons.  In  1S64  it 
fell  to  30,000  ;  and  in  1865,  the  last  year  of  the  war,  shrunk  to  the  minimum  ol' 
onl)-  5,000  tons.     The  great  trade  that  was  thus  shattered  in  three  years,  has. 


:  Pacific  COHt. 


INDUSTRIAL    ///STORY 


since  the  war,  been  slowly  reviving ;  but  still  a  long  time  will  have  to  elapse 
before  it  again  reaches  the  proportions  to  which  it  had  attained  in  1853.  For 
the  past  three  or  four  years,  owing  to  labor-troublrs  and  |)olitical  causes 
which  need  not  now  be  mentioned,  the  crop  har>-ested  in  Louisiana  was  not 
so  large  as  many  supposed  it  would  l)e :  still,  in  spite  of  every  drawlKick,  it 
has  increased  25,000  hogsheads  each  year,  and  during  the  season  of  1876-77 
amounted  to  169,331  hogsheads,  or  a  total  of  190,673,570  pounds.  It  is 
confidently  expected  that  the  crop  of  the  season  of  1877-78  will  amount  to 
not  less  than  300,000  hogsheads. 

It  is  asserted '  that  the  business  of  sugar-planting  offers  peculiar  induce- 
ments to  Northern  people  who  want  to  find  new  homes  in  the  South.  The 
Profit  nd  Pi'ofits  3re  immediate,  and,  with  proper  management,  very  large, 
protpecuof  A  plantation  near  Franklin,  with  1,100  acres  in  cane,  received  for 
its  product  of  sugar  and  molasses  $120,000;  and  the  net  profit, 
deducting  all  expenses,  even  to  the  cigars  smoked  by  the  planter 
and  his  friends,  was  56o,ooo  dollars.  This  is  an  exceptionally  large  plantation. 
About  300  acres  under  cultivation  is  an  average  one.  The  following  is  the 
condensed  balance-sheet,  for  1876,  of  a  300-acre  place  above  Franklin  :  — 


this  indue 
try 


RECEIPTS. 

400  hhds.  sugar  at  eight  cents  per  pound |L(  1,600 

300  bbls.  molasses  at  two  dollars 60c 

Total $42,^:00 

i:XPENSKS. 

Labor :  twenty-five  hands  throughout  year,  and  ten  extra  in  sugar-mak- 
ing season $t2,000 

Rations:  five  pounds  pork  and  a  peck  of  meal  a  week  to  each  hand  2,500 

Mule  feed 1,500 

Hogsheads  and  barrels 2,500 

Purchase  of  mules,  tools,  repairs,  &c 3.000 

Commission  on  sale  of  crop      ....                ....  i,27<; 

'■      22.775 

Profit »i9.4i5 

The  cost  of  a  plantation  like  this,  in  good  condition,  with  sugar  house  and 
machinery  in  good  repair,  would  range  from  $40,000  to  $75,000.  There  is 
usually  three  or  four  times  as  much  swamp  as  arable  land  sold  with  a  planta 
tion.  But  the  swamp  has  a  value  j  for  it  furnishes  the  wood  required  for  fiii-l 
in  the  sugar-mill.  A  hogshead  of  sugar  to  the  acre  is  a  small  yield,  a  hog"^- 
head  and  a  half  a  fair  yield,  and  two  a  large  one.  There  are  thirteen  hundrcil 
pounds  of  sugar  in  a  hogshead ;  and  the  price  in  New  Orleans  ranges  from 
seven  cents  for  an  ordinary  brown  grade  to  ten  and  eleven  cents  for  the 
white  coiTee-sugar  made  by  vacuum  pans  and  centrifugal  machinery  for  sepa- 

*  NtwYork  TribuM. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


H 


to  elapse 

853-     I'Of 
cal   causes 

la  was  not 

rawback,  it 

if  1876-77 

tids.     It  is 

amount  to 

liar  induce- 
Duth.    The 

very  large, 
received  for 

net  profit, 
the  planter 
:  plantation, 
wing  is  the 
klin :  — 


.    JLti,6oo 

Too 


.    |42,:;oo 


p.OOO 

,500 

.500 
,500 

J.CXX) 

1.27.'' 


house  an<l 
.  There  is 
a  planta- 
kred  for  fii<-l 
lid,  a  hog'^- 
len  hundred 
fanges  from 
Us  for  the 
for  sepa- 


rating the  molasses  from  the  sugar.  Field-hands  are  paid  sixteen  dollars  a 
month  and  a  ration,  and  have  Saturday  afternoons  to  themselves,  and  the  use 
of  ■x  mule  to  cultivate  patches  of  their  own.  The  cane  they  raise  on  these 
patches  is  worked  up  by  the  planter,  and  they  get  half  the  product.  An  in- 
dustrious negro  will  thus  add  a  hundred  dollars  or  more  to  his  yearly  earnings. 

Thus  far  the  land  has  usually  been  cultivated  in  large  sections,  two  hun- 
dred acres  being  considered  the  minimum  quantity  that  would  sustain  the 
expenses  of  a  sugar-mill  and  of  the  colony  of  hands  necessary  to  work  both 
laud  and  mill.  The  large  planters  are  now  encouraging  the  tenant-system, 
and  a  tendency  to  separate  the  business  of  sugar-making  from  Large  and 
<  aiie-growing  begins  to  show  itself.  On  the  smaller  farms,  where  ■•"•"  '••■">•• 
only  a  few  hogshea<ls  of  sugar  are  produced,  the  owners  are  obliged  to  con- 
tent themselves  with  crushing  and  boiling  in  the  old-fashioned  style ;  thus 
wasting  much  of  the  cane,  and  producing  a  very  inferior  brand  of  sugar. 
Indeed,  it  is  stated,  that,  of  the  1,050  sugar- houses  in  operation  in  Louisiana, 
iil)\var(l  of  250,  or  nearly  one-fourth,  still  crush  the  cane  by  horse-power,  —  an 
ex(  ceilingly  |)riniitive  and  unsatisfactory  process,  by  which  it  is  impossible  to 
extract  any  high  percentage  of  juice  from  the  cane.  (Jreat  waste,  and  conse- 
([iiently  great  loss,  is  naturally  the  result  of  this  practice.' 

It  is  proposed  to  revolutionize  the  whole  system  of  sugar  manufacturing  by 
alM)lishing  all  the  old-fashioned  and  comparatively  useless  sugar  houses  and 
presses,  and  establishing  in  each  district  of  the  great  cane-growing  region  an 
accessible  antl  well-appointetl  mill  of  the  most  approved  descrip-    i^^^  ^^^^ 
tion,  and  containing  all  the  latest  machinery.     To  these  mills  all   o(  making 
small  liirmers  are  to  send  their  cane  as  soon  as  it  is  cut,  disposing  •"*""• 
of  it  at  a  fair  market-pri<e,  or  having  it  ground  into  sugar,  paying  the  mill- 
managers  a  small  |H.'rcentage  for  the  work.     It  will  be  noticed  that  this  system 
is  similar  in  many  respects  to  that  v.l.iv h  governs  the  manufacture  of  cheese  in 
some  of  the  great  dairy  districts  of  this  State.     There  seems  to  be  no  reason 
why  its  establishment  in  Louisiana  should  not  l)e  the  l)eginning  of  a  new  and 
more  pros[)erous  era  in  the  history  of  the  sugar-i)ro<lucing  districts  of  the  Peli- 
can State.     It  ought  certainly  to  result  in  the  employment  of  large  ca|)ital  in 
the  manufacture  of  the  staple,  and  a  great  increase  in  the  area  cultivated. 

The  consumption  of  sugar  in  all  parts  of  the  worlil  is  constantly  increasing, 
—  increasing  with  amazing  rapidity.  In  the  United  States  alone,  during  the 
year  1876,  the  total  consumption,  including  the  product  of  the  maple-tree  and 
the  sugar  made  froi.i  molasses,  is  estimated  at  not  less  than  745,000  tons. 
This  is  fully  one  hundred  per  cent  more  than  the  amount  consumed  in  1863, 
or  than  the  average  of  the  decade  immediately  preceding  that  year.  From 
thise  figures  it  will  reailily  be  seen,  that,  even  were  every  acre  of  the  rich  allu- 
viil  bluff  and  prairie  lands  of  I^uisiana  devoted  exclusively  to  the  cuhivation 
of  sugar,  there  would  still  be  no  fear  of  over-production.     Every  pound  that 

*  Ncw-Vork  Times,  Sept.  ii,  1877. 


86 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ReAninf. 


i*  made 
from. 


Beet-iugar. 


ran  1^  manufactured  will  find  a  ready  market,  and  a  quick  sale  at  remunera- 
tive prices. 

Most  of  the  molasses  produced  in  this  country  is  in  suitable  condition  for 
table-use  when  it  leaves  the  Southern  sugar-house.  'I'he  condition  of  sugar 
usually  is  very  diflt'Tnt,  as  it  is  the  raw  brown  muscovado  whi»  h 
needs  to  be  refined.  There  are  refineries  for  this  product,  as  well 
as  for  the  raw  sugars  imported  in  many  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country, 
which  do  an  enormous  business,  and  which  have  generally  been  very  success- 
ful. The  process  of  refining  has  been  much  improved  within  a  few  years  ; 
and  the  former  methoil,  which  seemed  to  be  any  thing  but  a  refining  process, 
is  rapitlly  going  into  ilisuse. 

What  lugar  Sugar  is  made  from  three  other  plants  besides  the  .American  or 

West-Indian  cane  ;  namely,  the  sugar-beet,  the  Chinese-cane  or 
sorghum,  and  maple-sap. 
Forty  per  lent  of  the  total  sugar-product  of  the  world  is  made  from  beets. 
Kxperiment  was  made  in  (icrmany.  toward  the  latter  part  of  the  la.st  century, 
by  a  chemist  named  Achard,  who  demonstrated  that  sugar  could 
be  made  from  beets.  Tiie  first  Napoleon  did  mu«h  to  en<ourage 
this  industry  in  France,  especially  in  1812,  when  the  blockade  of  French  jiorts 
precluded  a  foreign  su|)ply  of  cane-sugar.  At  one  time  ^200,000  were  i>lacc(l 
in  the  hands  of  the  minister  of  agri'ulture  to  encourage  it.  Hut,  after  Water- 
loo, beet-sugar  production  almost  died  out.  In  1S20  it  revived  again,  and. 
with  lliictuations,  has  since  rai)idly  and  extensively  developed,  until  the  prod- 
uct is  immense.  Kxperiments  in  this  country  began  as  early  as  1S3.S  ;  David 
L.  Child  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  having  i)ro(lu(  ed  1,300  pounds  of  sugar  that 
year.  The  next  attempt  was  that  of  the  (lennert  brothers,  (lermans,  at  Chats- 
worth,  III.,  in  1863,  who  l)ought  2,400  acres  of  land,  and  went  into  beet-culture 
for  sugar  very  extensively.  They  had  bad  luck  for  several  years.  In  1870 
they  consolitlated  with  a  like  establishment  at  Freeport,  III.,  and  ])roducc(l 
that  year  200,000  pounds  of  good  sugar  at  moderate  cost.  Messrs.  Bonestecl 
&  Otto  embarked  in  the  business  at  Fond  du  I^c,  Wis.,  in  1867 ;  and 
another  co-operative  enterprise  was  started  at  Black  Hawk,  Wis.,  in  1870. 
Several  ventures  were  made,  too,  in  California,  Mr.  Wentworth  of  .Mvaradi^ 
securing  the  assistance  of  Honesteel  and  Otto  in  1870;  and  the  next  year 
they  produced  1,000,000  pounds  of  sugar.  Amherst  Agricultural  ColL-ge, 
the  Virginia  University,  and  other  institutions  and  individuals,  have  experi- 
mented. 

Sorghum,  or  the  Chinese-cane,  was  introduced  into  this  country  by  the 
Bureau  of  Agriculiure  in  1856.  It  can  be  cultivated  in  almost  any  i>art  of  the 
countrv' ;  and,  under  the  extensive  notices  given  it  by  the  commis 
sioncr's  rei)orts.  it  soon  met  with  a  wide  acceptance.  It  yicKls  ;i 
good  sirup,  and  but  little  sugar.  The  census  of  i860  showed  the  product  of 
that  year  to  be,  — 


Sorghum. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


87 


remunera- 


American  or 
ese-canc  or 


at  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

GALLONS. 

Iowa 1,211,512 

Indiana 881,049 

Illinoia 806,589 

Missouri .  796,111 

Ohio 779.076 

TcnnesHce 706,663 

Uther  States 568,133 

Total 6,749,123 

Iowa  was  then  the  largest  producer ;  but  Ohio  developed  the  industry 
more  rapidly  until  1 866,  since  which  year  it  has  gradually  declined  there  and 
Production  •"  Indiana  and  Illinois.  It  extended  up  into  Wisconsin  too, 
irom  sor-  somewliat,  but  rather  more  largely  in  Kansas,  and  all  through  the 
ghum.  South,  prominently  in   (Jeorgia.     It   is   estimated   that  we   raise 

annually  1 2,000,000  gallons  of  sirup,  which,  at  sixty-five  cents  a  gallon,  would 
come  to  ^7,800,000 ;  and  250,000  pounds  of  sugar,  which,  at  six  cents  a 
pound,  would  make  the  annual  yield  worth  over  J 7,8 15, 000.  When  the 
value  of  the  crop  comes  to  be  better  understood,  it  is  believed  its  culture  will 
be  vastly  increased. 

The  maple-sugar  industry  dates  from  the  earliest  colonial  days,  but  has 
not  been  carried  on  extensively  in  any  part  of  the  country.  It  is  mostly  in  the 
Maple-  hands  of  individual  farmers,  and  is  chiefly  confined  to  the  North- 

sugar,  gr,^  States,  from  Maine  into  Minnesota,  though  reaching  into  Ken- 

tucky. Statistics  are  imperfect  and  scarce ;  but  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
says,  that,  in  181 1,  Ohio  produced  3,033,086  pounds,  Kentucky  2,471,647, 
and  Vermont  but  1,200,000.  Proliably  the  total  production  throughout  the 
country  was  something  like  15,000,000  or  20,000,000,  with  sirup  equivalent  to 
as  much  more,  a  gallon  of  sirup  counting  for  ten  pounds  of  sugar.  The 
census-returns  for  1850,  i860,  and  1870,  show  the  following  total  product  in 
pounds  and  gallons  :  — 


1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

Sugar     .... 
Sirup      .... 

34,253,436 
106,782 

40,120,205 
1.597.589 

28,443.645 
921,436 

In  1850  New  York  was  the  leading  State,  producing  about  thirty  per  cent 
of  the  whole.  Vermont  held  the  second  place,  with  Ohio  third, 
and  Indiana  fourth.  In  i860  the  order  was, —  New  York,  Ver- 
mont, Michigan,  and  Ohio.  In  1870  Vermont  had  reached  the  first 
place,  with  New  York  second,  Ohio  third,  Michigan  fourth,  and 
Indiana  fifth.  Several  of  the  States  have  since  improved  on  the  fig- 
ures of  1870 ;  anu  it  is  likely  that  the  total  product  now  almost  equals  that  of 


Production 
of  maple- 
sugar  in  the 
several 
States. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


89 


13 

49 
^9 
111 

)76 
M 
123 

«23 

le  industry 
there  and 
onsin  too, 
irough  the 
t  we  raise 
Hon,  would 
six  cents  a 
When  the 
culture  will 


i860,  and  is  worth  something  like  $6,000,000.  The  utmost  limit  has  already 
liccn  reached,  in  all  probability,  however;  though  we  are  not  likely  to  see  a 
very  marked  decline  for  a  numl)cr  of  years.  Much  of  the  maple  sugar  and 
simp  used  in  this  country  comes  from  Canada. 


ys,  but   has 
lostly  in  the 
^  the  North- 
into  Ken- 
Agriculture 

ghout  the 
uivalent  to 
igar.  The 
product  in 


1870. 


3.645 
21,436 


ky  per  cent 
)hio  third. 
York,  Vcr- 
^d  the  first 
lourth,  and 
in  the  fig- 
lIs  that  of 


9© 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER   VII. 


TOBACCO. 


Early  his- 
tory of 
tobacco. 


WHF.N  Cohimhns  landed  in  Hispaniola,  in  1492,  he  saw  the  natives 
l)rcatliing  out  smoke  from  tlieir  nostrils  ;  and  he  was  offered  a  roll  of  a 
fragrant  nareotit:  weed,  in  the  form  of  a  cigar,  that  he  might  do  likewise.  This 
wa.s  the  first  that  tlie  civilized  workl  ever  knew  of  tobacco.  'I'he 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese  soon  made  Kurope  accjuainted  with  the 
plant  and  its  uses.  In  1560  the  agent  of  the  King  of  France  in 
Portugal,  named  Jean  Nicot,  obtained  from  a  Dutchman  some  seed  of  the  plant 
from  Florida  ;  and  thus  it  was  introduced  into  France,  where  it  was  known  as 
the  Nicotian  weed.  Tobacco,  the  Indian  name,  appears  to  have  been  aj)plie(l 
originally  to  the  j)ipes  wherein  the  ("aribbees  smoked  the  dried  leaves.  In 
1586  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  his  colleagues,  who  had  been  unsuccessful  in 
founding  a  colony  in  .\merica,  brought  back  to  Fngland  the  custom  of  using 
tobacco;  but  until  1607,  when  the  Jamestown  Colony  was  |)lanted,  Kngland 
obtained  the  little  tobacco  which  it  used,  indirectly,  through  the  Spaniards, 
from  the  \\'est  Indies.  As  the  various  nations  of  the  world  were  using  narcot- 
ics and  stimulants  of  various  sorts,  this  new  one  had  to  fight  its  way  into  favor 
against  great  prejudice.  King  James  I.  of  Fngland  wrote  a  pamphlet  in  1616. 
vigorously  (lenouncing  its  use  ;  in  1624  I'ope  Urban  VIII.  decreed  excommu- 
nication to  all  who  used  snuff;  in  1634  Russia  affixeil  a  penalty  of  cutting  off 
the  nose  for  smoking  tobacco  ;  and  other  nations  restricted  its  importation, 
culture,  and  use,  in  various  ways,  a  favorite  plan  being  to  lay  very  heavy  ta\t> 
thereupon.  Yet  the  use  of  the  weed  —  which  the  .American  Indians  smoked  ;w 
a  solace  to  care,  a  cheer  in  idleness,  ami  a  token  of  fidelity  around  the  council 
fire  and  at  i)eace  negotiations  —  soon  became  jiopidar  in  Furope.  and  th>i> 
spread  all  over  the  Old  World.  —  into  Turkey,  Fgypt,  .Arabia,  Persia,  tin 
Indies,  and  China.  More  than  any  other  product  of  the  soil,  tobacco  has  an 
unquestioned  title  exclusively  to  .American  origin. 

The  culture  of  tobacco  was  midertaken  almost  immediately  by  the  fir^t 
setUers  in  Virginia;  and  it  is  recorded,  that,  in  1615,  not  only  the  garden^ 
and  fields,  but  also  the  streets,  of  Jahiestown,  were  planted  therewith.     It 


OF    THE    UXTTRD   STATES. 


f« 


quickly  became  the  staple  crop  of  the  colony.     The  laws  of  the  mother- 
( Diintry  forbade  any  manufactures,  even  of  necessary  clothing  ;   and  tobacco 
was  soon  found  to  l>e  the  most  valuable  of  agricultural  producrts,  cuUivMion 
rvcn  wheat  being  al)andoned  for  its  culture.     Hy  the  year  162a   oJ  tobacco 
the  |)r()duct  of  Virginia  had  increased  to  sixty  thousand  |)ounds,    "    "f  "  •• 
.\w\  it  doubled  in  twenty  years.     Its  culture  was  begun  in  the  Dutch  colony  of 
Nfw  Netherlands  (afterwards  called  New  York)  in  1^)46  ;  but  it  never  spreail 
ury  rapidlv.     Later,  it  was  ( ultivated  (juite  extensively  in  the  neighborhood 
!    I'hiladelphia.     From   Virginia  the  industry  extended  southward   into  the 
(.  .iioliiias.      Ihe  French  corporation  known  as  "  The  Company  of  the  We.sl  " 


:\w  the  natives 
lored  a  rt)ll  of  a 
likewise.     This 
tobacco.     'I'h^' 
minted  with  the 
ijr  1)1   France  in 
,ced  of  tlie  plant 
it  was  known  as 
ve  been  applii^^d 
ried  leaves.     In 
unsuccessful  in 
ustom  of  usinj; 
lulled,  Knglan.l 
iho  Spaniards, 
■re  using  narcot- 
|s  way  into  favor 
[mphlet  in  1616. 
reed  excommu- 
ly  ot  cutting  oil 
,its  importation, 
cry  heavy  ta\e> 
jlians  smoked  a> 
ind  the  council 
|jrope.  and  thu> 
,ia,  IVrsia.  th> 
tobacco  has  an 

jly  by  the  fir-i 
ily  the  garden- 
therewith,     b 


SMOKlNli   INMKlMENTs   lir   Al.I.   NATIONS. 


m'.roduced  it  into  Louisiana  in  1718.  So  rapidly  did  the  production  increase 
at  first  in  Virginia,  and  so  slowly  was  its  consumption  augmented  abroad,  that 
jiriies  fell,  and  the  colonists  could  not  make  tobacco  i)ay  for  their  clothing. 
In  1639  the  Assembly  ordered  the  product  of  the  next  two  years  to  be  burned, 
i'\<  ept  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds,  i)r()i)erly  divided  among  the 
liLuiters,  in  order  to  check  production  and  raise  pri»  es.  .\  tract  on  Virginia, 
printed  in  London  in  1649,  said  that  the  price  of  tobacco  in  the  colony  had 
lallen  to  threepence  a  pound  on  account  of  the  supply.     In  1652  Cromwell 


pa 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


ordered  all  tobacco-plants  in  England  to  be  destroyed,  in  order  to  give  the 
colonies  a  better  chance ;  and  the  increasing  popularity  of  the  weed  also 
stimulated  the  production  in  the  colonies  again,  and  it  made  rapid  strides. 
In  1729  the  product  of  Virginia  and  Mar>-land  had  increased  in  quantity  and 
value,  so  as  to  be  worth  ^375,000 ;  and  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  sail  was 
employed  in  its  transportation.  The  annual  export  from  all  the  colonies  for 
the  ten  years  prior  to  1 709  averaged  28,868,666  pounds ;  and  from  1 744 
to  1776  the  average  was  40,000,000'  pounds,  or  one-tenth  of  our  present 
yield.     Of  this  amount,  more  than  three-quarters  came  from  Virginia  alone. 

Prior  to  the  Revolutionarv-  war  the  planters  had  discovered  that  their 
lands  were  deteriorating;  and  from  1758,  when  Virginia  exported  75,000 
Increase  of  hogsheads,  there  was  a  falling-off  for  a  number  of  years  in 
acreage  until  the  amount  raised  on  the  original  plantations.  The  acreage  in- 
'*•"*  creased,  however,  extending  into  new  States,  notably  Georgia  and 

Kentucky ;  so  that  the  total  yield  of  the  country  kept  about  the  same,  or 
increased  slightly.     In  1790  our  exports  were  118,460  hogsheads,  —  a  figure 

not  reached  again  until  1840.  In- 
asmuch as  domestic  consumption 
was  increasing  meantime,  and  the 
taxes  were  enormous  which  foreign 
countries  imjxjsed  upon  our  tobacco 
when  imported  by  them,  it  is  proba- 
ble that  our  product  increased  at 
least  threefold  during  that  period  of 
fifty  years,  —  from  something  like 
60.000,000  to  over  200,000,000 
(Mjunds. 

lietween  1840  and  1850  tobacco 
culture  remained  almost  at  a  stand- 
still :  indeed,  the  figures  given  by 
the  .Agricultural  Bureau  show  a  slight 
Production  falling-off.  Thus  in  1 840 
since  1840.  j^e  yield  was  219,163,- 
319  pounds,  while  in  1850  it  was 
but  199,752,655.  During  the  next 
decade,  however,  there  was  a  very 
marked  development  of  the  industry. 
In  that  short  time  it  attained  double 
dimensions,  the  returns  for  1860 
being  434,209,461  pounds.  Since  that  time  it  has  lK?en  impossible  to  more  than 
approximate  the  yield,  inasmuch  as  the  hea\y  internal  revenue-tax  on  tobacco 
has  induced  producers  to  falsify  their  returns  by  diminishing  them.     Thus  the 

>  Probably  equivalent  lo  100,000  hogsheads  in  Clut  <la;.    A  hogihead  now  contains  about  1,300  pa.mds. 


Tobacco- I'l^  NT. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


93 


census-statement  for  1870  gives  262,735,341  pKJunds  as  the  total  yield;  but 
the  commissioner  of  agriculture  estimates  that  it  was  at  least  360,000,000 ; 
and,  as  a  further  illustration,  it  may  be  stated,  that  in  Ohio,  in  1870,  while  the 
returns  to  Federal  census-takers  aggregated  but  18,741,923  pounds,  the  State 
assessors  declared  the  crop  to  be  38,953,206  pounds.     The  returns  for  1875 
were  379,347,000  pounds;  and,  allowing  for  underrating  in  the  statements,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  we  raised  something  like  500,000,000  or  600,000,000,  or  a 
([uarter  more  than  in  i860.     That  we  have  made  no  more  headway  is  chiefly 
attributed  by  the  old  planters  to  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.     They  say 
that  the  industrial  demoralization  attendant  upon  freeing  the  blacks   £,,,5,  . 
is  felt  far  more  by  the  tobacco-growers  than  by  the  cotton-growers,   emancipat- 
It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that,  while  the  culture  of  cotton  '"'  **" 
was  almost  entirely  suspended  during  the  war,  the  tobacco-interest 
was  but  slightly  affected,  a  small  portion  of  the  crop  coming  from  Northern 
States,  and  the  Border  States,  which  yielded  the  most,  being  largely  free  from 
the  depredations  and  paralysis  of  the  pending  conflict. 

Though  produced  in  all  of  the  States,  yet  there  were  but  fourteen,  accord- 
ing to  the  census  of  1870,  which  yielded  as  much  as  one  million  pounds 
apiece.  Kentucky  alone  furnished  forty  per  cent  of  the  crop  of  1870,  and 
over  thirty  per  cent  of  that  of  1875.  Kentucky  and  Virginia  have,  for  twenty- 
five  years,  raised  more  than  half  of  the  total  product.  The  following  table 
shows  the  quantity  produced  in  each  State  :  — 


STATES. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1875. 

Kentucky          .... 

SS.SOM96 

108,102,433 

105,305.869 

130,000,000 

Virginia    . 

56,803,227 

123.967.757 

38,086,364 

59,240,000  * 

Total  . 

112,304,423 

232,070,190 

'43.392.233 

189,240,000 

North  Carolina 

11,984,786 

32,853,250 

n,!5r„o87 

14,750,000 

Tennessee 

20,148,932 

38.93'. 277 

21,465,452 

35,000,000 

Missouri  . 

17.n3.784 

?  5,086, 1 96 

12,320,483 

40,000,000 

Maryland 

21,407,497 

38,410,965 

'5.785,339 

22,000,000 

Ohio 

10,454,449 

25,528,972 

i8,74'.973 

13,500,000 

Total  . 

"93.413.87' 

392,880,850 

221,855,567 

314,490,000 

Pennsylvania    . 

1 6,000,000 

Indiana    . 

12,750,000 

Connecticut 

9,900,000 

Massachusetts  . 

8,500,000 

Illinois      .         . 

8,000,000 

Other  States     . 

6,338.784" 

41.328,611 » 

40,879,774" 

9,707,000' 

Grand  total 

'99.752.655 

434,209,461 

262,735,341 

379,347,000 

'  Includes  1,140,000  from 
at  all  in  tlra 


.Vest  Virginia.  *  Include*  li.it  five  StAtet  tbove  named,  with  thoM  not  turned 

ubl«.  *  With  the  fiv«  SiiiUii  above  named,  makes  64,647,000. 


94 


IKDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


tures  in  prO' 
duction. 


This  irregularity  of  distribution  will  more  clearly  appear  on  a  more  minute 
examination  of  returns.  Thus  one  county  in  New  Hampshire  (Cheshire) 
Other  fea-  yielded  ninety-seven  per  cent  of  tiie  State's  crop  in  1870.  Three 
counties  in  Massachusetts,  adjoining  the  Connecticut  River, 
yielded  all  but  23,610  of  the  7,812,885  pounds  raised  in  that 
State.  Connecticut  grows  some  in  each  of  her  eight  counties ;  and  yet 
Hartford  County  produced  5,830,209  of  the  8,328,798  pounds  raised  in  the 
State  that  year.  In  New-York  State,  three  counties  (Onondaga,  Chemung,  and 
Steuben)  yielded  1,884,048  out  of  2,324,730  pounds.  Pennsylvania  produces 
seven  times  what  New  York  does ;  and  yet  the  great  proportion  of  her  yield 
is  confined  to  Bucks,  Lancaster,  and  York  Counties ;  while  nine-tenths  of 
what  is  grown  in  Bucks  County  is  produced  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
old  William  Penn  mansion,  in  Falls  Township.  In  1869  three-fourths  of 
Ohio's  yield  was  inside  of  one  county  (Montgomery)  ;  although  the  next  year 
the  crop  was  so  disseminated,  that,  according  to  the  returns,  ten  counties 
produced  only  a  trifle  over  half  In  the  great  tobacco  belt,  of  course,  the 
distribution  is  considerably  more  even  in  proportion  to  the  whole  yield  ;  yet 
the  difference  between  the  yield  of  the  several  towns  in  a  county  is  often- 
times very  marked. 

Among  the  more  marked  minor  changes  in  the  production  of  tobacco 
is  the  development  of  the  yield  in  Indiana,  Illinois,  Pennsylvania,  Con- 
Production  necticut,  and  Massachusetts,  within  the  past  twenty-five  years. 
by  States.  Ohio  had  already  come  to  grow  it  largely  prior  to  1850.  Tiie 
two  States  next  west,  doubtless,  were  incited  to  the  experiment  more  by  her 
example  than  by  any  thing  else.  In  New  England  the  culture  is  confined 
mostly  to  the  Connecticut  and  Housatonic  Valleys ;  though  tobacco-raising 
was  scarcely  known  there  even  in  1850.  Massachusetts  yielded  but  138,426 
pounds  that  year ;  while  in  i860  she  [jroduced  3,233,198,  and  now  raises  more 
than  8,000,000  pounds  annually.  Pennsylvania  raised  but  912,651  pounds  in 
1850;  but  in  1875  her  crop  amounted  to  16,000,000  pounds.  New  York  re- 
turned 83,189  pounds  as  her  yield  in  1850.  In  1869  the  figures  were 
8,500,000  :  since  then  they  have  greatly  declined.  This  decline,  as  also  that 
to  be  noticed  in  some  of  the  other  States,  is  probably  less  than  is  returned. 
Coming  to  the  more  productive  regions,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  Maryland, 
North  Carolina,  Ohio,  and  Tennessee  have  bravely  held  their  own  during  the 
past  quarter  of  a  century,  on  the  whole,  though  not  doing  as  well  now  as  they 
did  formerly.  Virginia,  long  the  chief  producer,  has  been  compelled  to  take 
a  second  place  in  the  line ;  and  Kentucky  has  come  to  the  head  of  the  pro- 
cession. This  westward  movement  of  the  centre  of  production  is  also 
noticeable  in  the  growth  of  Missouri's  production. 

The  varieties  of  tobacco  raised  in  the  United  States  differ  somewhat 
according  to  the  section.  Connecticut  yields  a  light-colored,  fine-fibred  leal, 
which  makes  particularly  good  wrappers,  and  which  is  exported  largely  to 


OF    THE    UNI  TED   STATES.  95 

Havana  for  the  famous  Havana  cigars.    This  variety  is  used  also  for  the  fillers 
of  a  cheaper  grade  of  cigars.     Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  New  York, 
and  Ohio  mostly  raise  the  Connecticut  seed-leaf;  although  West-   varieties  oj 
field,  Mass.,  has  a  cross   between  the  Connecticut  and  Cuban ;  tobacco 
and  Ohio  has  also  the  so-called  "  Baltimore  Cuba,"  and  some  of  k'°^"- 
the  stronger,  heavier  Virginia  and  Kentucky  varieties,  which  are  cut  or  pressed 
for  chewing,  and  are  exported.     Gadsden  County,  Florida,  has  alone  succeed- 
e<l  in  raising  the  Cuban  tobacco  in  all  its  excellence.     It  has  a  narrow  leaf, 
and  possesses  the  peculiar  aroma  and  delicious  fragrance  that  characterize 
the  genuine  Havana  cigar.     The  northern  counties  of  North  Carolina  raise 
particularly  fine  wrappers,  being  both  light-colored  and  of  fine  texture.      In 
other  parts  of  the  State,  coarser,  ranker  kinds  are  cultivated.     In 
Maryland  two  principal  varieties  are  noticeable,  —  the  broad  and 
narrow  leaf.     The  former  commands  the  higher  price ;    but  the 
latter  yields  the  greater  quantity.     Only  a  litUe  is  used  for  wrap- 
jK-rs :    most  of  it  is  used   for  the  fillers  of  strong  cigars,  snuff, 
and  as  plug  and  twist  for  chewing.     It  is  exported  largely,  es- 
pecially to  France.     When  cured,  it  v.nries  in  color  from  a  bright 
yellow  to  nutmeg  or  mahogany.     The  same  is  the  case  with  Vir-     tinst  pipe. 
ginia's  product  and  Kentucky's,  which  are  of  coarse  texture  and 
great  pungency.     These  three  States  are  the  principal  exporters  of  the  leaf. 

We  have  already  remarked,  that,  previous  to  the  Revolution,  tobacco  was 
for  a  long  time  our  most  valuable  export ;  and  our  export  constituted,  doubt- 
less, nearly  or  quite  three-fourths  of  our  production.  Our  export 
of  1790,  which  was  118,460  hogsheads,  was  not  reached  again 
nominally  until  1840,  although  in  the  interim  the  quantity  contained  in  a 
hogshead  materially  increased.  A  hogshead  of  tobacco  now  averages  between 
1,200  and  1,450  pounds.  Herewith  we  give  a  statement  of  our  exports  since 
1S40:  — 

HOGSHEADS. 
1840         V 119,484 

iS4t 147,828 

IS42 158,710 

>S43 94.454 

•844 163,042 

1845 147.168 

•846 147,99s 

'S47 ,-578.440 

1848 130,665 

1849 101,521 

'850 145.729 

ISS> 95.945 

'852 137.097 

1853 159.853 

1854 126,107 

'855 X50'2'3 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 

HOCSHKADS. 

1856 116,963 

1857 156,848 

1858 127,670 

1859 198,846 

i860  ; (67,274 

1861 160,816 

«862 107,233 

1863 111,896 

1864 109,905 

1865 149.03* 

rouNDS. 

1866 190,826,348 

1867 184,803,065 

1868 206,020,504 

1869 181,527,630 

1870 185,748,881 

187 1 215,667,604 

•872 234,936,892 

'873 213,995,176 

1874 318,097,804 

'875 223,901,913 

1876 218,310,265 

1877 282,386,426 


Our  present  export  amounts  to  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  crop-retnms, 
but  probably  amounts  to  scarcely,  if  any,  more  than  half  our  real  production. 
Where  the  '^^^  value  of  our  tobacco  export  is  upwards  of  twenty  million 
export  goes,  dollars.  Most  of  the  product  goes  abroad  in  the  form  of  leaf- 
and  in  what  tobacco :  only  a  small  proportion  of  it  is  manufactured.  Some 
of  the  raw  material  comes  back  to  us  worked  up,  though  but 
little.  Most  of  our  little  import  is  of  foreign  varieties,  desired  for  their  pecul- 
iar flavors.  The  great  bulk  of  our  export  goes  to  England,  France,  Holland, 
and  Germany.  In  the  large  cities,  there  are  extensive  cigar-manufactories. 
In  England,  the  tobacco  from  America  is  chiefly  for  chewing.  Scotland's  im- 
port is  largely  converted  into  snuff". 

It  is  worth  noticing,  in  connection  with  our  exports  of  tobacco,  that  Euro- 
pean countries  impose  a  very  heavy  tax  upon  the  American  article ;  England's 
Foreign  duty  ^^""'^  amounting  to  seventy-five  cents  a  pound,  and  the  average 
upon  to-  duty  on  the  bulk  of  American  tobacco  imported  into  all  Europe 
bacco.  being  about  fifty  cents  a  pound.     In  some  of  those  countries  the 

cultivation  of  the  plant  is  prohibited,  in  order  that  the  government  may  get 
the  full  benefit  of  this  source  of  revenue.  In  1859  the  United  States  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  secure  the  repeal  of  these  taxes.  Were  they  once 
removed,  undoubtedly  our  exports,  and  consequently  our  production,  would 
be  greatly  increased. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


97 


It  is  estimated  that  the  world's  pro(hiction  of  tobacco  to-day  is  4,500,- 
000.000  poumls.  CouUi  we  get  at  the  truth,  we  should  doubtless  llnd  that  the 
I 'nitcd  States  i)rodu(e  more  than  one-ninth  of  this.  Most  <  oun-  worid'spro- 
tries  that  produce  it  either  use  up  their  own  sui)ply.  like  Mexico,  diction. 
or  vail  for  even  more,  as  do  France  and  Germany.  This  country  is,  therefore, 
the  main  resource  of  Northern  Kurope. 

.Already  our  tobacco-crop  is  worth  forty  million  dollars   or  more   to   us. 
Were  we  able  to  secure  its  free  admission  into  foreign  countries,  and  were  we 
\o  resort  to   improved   culture,   restoring  the  soil   where  impov-   value  of 
crished.  this  industry  might  attain  a  development  almost  beyond   American 

,      ,      .  product. 

calculation. 

The  several  ways  of  using  tobacco  are  too  well  known  to  require  descrip- 
tion. It  may  be  worth  while,  however,  to  note  how  the  "  hard  times  "  have 
affected  those  who  indulge  in  this  luxury.  In  the  cigar-trade  cigars  and 
tiiere  has  been  a  large  decrease  in  sales,  and  cigarettes  have  grown  cig»rette». 
in  popular  favor.  The  sale  of  cigarettes,  until  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  was  an 
unimportant  item  in  trade,  and  they  were  kept  more  as  a  matter  of  conven- 
ience for  fashionable  people  than  as  a  profitable  investment.  Heretofore 
there  were  only  a  few  brands,  and  the  majority  were  of  foreign  manufacture  : 
now  a  hundred  and  twenty-one  different  brands  find  a  ready  sale  in  the 
market,  two-thirds  of  which  have  been  manufactured  within  the  past  eighteen 
months.  During  the  year  1877  the  trade  of  New-York  retail  dealers  in  this 
line  increased  two  hundred  per  cent.  That  the  habit  of  sinoking  tobacco  in 
this  form  is  resorted  to  as  a  matter  of  economy  is  plainly  shown  by  the  fact 
that  old  customers  who  were  wont  to  purchase  cigars  of  a  sujierior  (juality 
are  now  content  with  those  of  an  inferior  grade.  Cigar-manufacturers,  on 
the  contrary,  deny  that  cigarettes  are  taking  the  place  of  cigars,  and,  while 
admitting  the  great  increase  in  the  sale  of  cigarettes,  regard  it  as  a  fashion 
among  smokers,  and  not  as  a  matter  of  economy.  They  further  declare,  that 
the  greatest  economy  is  shown  by  the  trade  in  the  purchase  of  inferior  cigars. 
The  high-priced  cigars  once  largely  sold  are  now  manufactured  in  smaller 
quantities,  owing  to  the  hard  times.  This  does  not  include  the  very  finest 
quality  of  Havana  cigars,  which  were  heretofore  obtained  almost  exclusively 
from  abroad.  Their  manufacture  is  now  carried  on  in  this  country,  and.  to  a 
great  extent,  has  usurped  the  trade  formerly  confined  to  Havana  and  Key 
\\  est.  because  here  they  can  be  made  and  sold  much  cheaper.  The  manu- 
facturers at  those  places  are  said  to  have  become  greatly  alarmeil  at  the 
increasing  trade  in  fine  cigars  in  this  country.  Domestic  manufacturers 
athrni.  in  relation  to  the  prevailing  custom  of  cigarette-smoking,  that  it  is 
injurious,  because  certain  poisonous  ingredients  are  used  in  preparing  the 
paper  of  which  the  outer  covering  is  made.  Statistics  at  Washington  show  a 
very  large  decrease  in  the  manufacture  and  importation  of  cigars  last  year 
in  comparison  with  that  of  the  previous  year.     According  to  the  Bureau  of 


98 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Statistics,  the  total  number  of  cigars  and  cheroots  upon  which  the  internal- 
revenue  tax  was  paiti  during  tlie  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1876,  was 
1,828,807,396.  This  is  a  decrease  of  nearly  98,000.000  cigars  from  the  year 
l)revious.  'Die  amount  of  cigars  manufactured  and  1  nported  in  this  country 
<luring  the  year  1875  reached  nearly  2,000.000,000.  The  value  of  the  im- 
ported cigars  consumed  in  the  United  States  during  1876  amounted  to 
$2,289,712.89,  and  of  snuff  to  $18,470. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


99 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


GRASS    AND    HAY. 


T\\\\  hay-industry  appears  to  li.ive  l)een  forced  upon  the  early  colonists  in 
tills  country  immediately  upon  their  occupation.     This  was  especially  the 
case  in  the  Northern  and  Kastern  States,  where  the  winters  were    _  ,,,    ,, 

'  Cultivation 

long  and  severe,  and  where  there  was  great  danger  of  the  cattle   of  grasses 
and  iiorses  dying  of  starvation.      In  those  days  the  implements  '"''  '"''*' 
lor  cutting  and  gathering  it  were  the   simple  scythe,  rake,  and 
pitchfork.     The  grasses  utilized  .vere  native,  and  grew  wild,  either  on  upland 
meadows   or   sea-marshes.      In    England   the   clover   and   other  "artificial" 


HAV-LOADBR. 


grasses  were  cultivated  before  the  native  and  real  grasses ;  but  the  reverse 
was  tlie  case  in  this  country.  It  was  not  until  about  a  century  ago,  either, 
that  any  attempt  worth  noting  waa  made  to  sow  grass- seed,  and  reduce  its 
culture  to  a  science. 


lOO 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Timothy. 


Probably  the  most  nutritions  hay  in  this  country  is  made  from  the  so- 
called  "  Timothy-grass,"  which  is  named  after  Timothy  Hanson,  who  carried 
the  seed  of  it  from  New  York  to  Virginia  and  Carolina  about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century.  It  is  also  known  as  Herd's-grass. 
especially  in  New  Kngland.  Jared  Kliot  says  that  a  man  named  Herd  found 
it  growing  in  a  swami)  near  Piscataqua,  N.H.,  early  in  the  eighteenth  centtir)'. 
In  Kngland  it  was  already  known  and  cultivated,  and  it  is  said  to  have  been 
taken  to  Virginia  by  Peter  Wynche  in  1 760.  The  Hungarian  millet,  which 
has  been  moderately  cultivated  within  a  few  years  past,  was  introduced  hy 
the  Department  of  .\griculture.  Another  importation  is  the  orchanl  grass,  or 
rough  cock's-foot,  common  the  world  over,  and  introduced  into  \'irginia  from 
Kngland  in  1 764,  and  which  afterwards  obtained  a  wide  popularity  farther  north. 
It  endures  drought  admirably,  yields  a  luxuriant  aftermath,  and  affords  excel- 
lent i)asturage.  Clover,  which  is  a  forage  plant  of  the  leguminous  family,  and 
not  a  genuine  grass,  was  likewise  imported  into  this  country. 

The  varieties  of  native  grass  in  this  country  are  almost  innumerable, 
though  but  few  have  any  agricultural  value.  .-Xmong  the  earliest  known  and 
Varieties  of  ^ost  esteemed  is  the  Kentucky  blue-grass,  widely  prevalent  in 
early  the  West  and  in  New  F^ngland.     It  thrives  best  on  limestone  soils, 

grasses.  _^^^^  j^  ^.^^^  fiittening.     Cattle  and  horses  fed  thereon  are  usually 

the  choicest-looking  stock.  It  is  an  early  and  vigorous  plant,  and  makes 
a  permanent  turf.  It  is  prized  both  for  hay  and  pasturage.  The  red-top, 
sometimes  called  Herd's-grass,  in  Pennsylvania  and  farther  south  is  quite  a 
favorite,  but  is  generally  mixed  with  Timothy  and  clover.  A  grass  called 
"  Knglish  bent,"  indigenous  to  the  Connecticut  Valley,  and  swamp  wire  or 
fowl  meadow,  are  two  local  New- England  varieties.  Besides  these,  the  salt- 
marsh,  goose  or  creeping  sea-meadow,  is  frequently  grown  at  the  seaside,  and, 
mixed  with  other  hay,  is  regarded  as  excellent  fodder.  Most  of  the  wild 
prairie-grasses,  while  affording  good  pasturage,  are  not  eligible  for  hay.  In 
the  Far  West,  mostly  in  the  Territories,  the  plains  are  covered  with  a  short, 
curly,  native  vegetation,  called  "gramma,"  or  "buffalo-grass."  It  is  the 
natural  and  principal  food  of  the  bison,  and  cattle  are  fond  of  it.  It  is  not 
gathered,  however,  as  hay. 

The  increasing  demand  for  fodder  for  live-stock,  and  the  improvement  in 
implements  for  cutting  and  curing  hay,  —  the  mower,  horse-rake,  tedder,  and 
horse-fork,  —  have,  within  the  present  century,  given  a  great  stim- 
ulus to  the  hay-business.  In  the  Southern  States  little  attention 
is  given  to  it,  because  the  stock  can  be  pastured  so  large  a  part 
of  the  season ;  but,  in  the  North,  the  severity  of  the  season  com- 
pels the  farmer  to  devote  more  attention  thereto.  There  is  a  larije 
demand  for  hay,  too,  in  the  cities,  where  horses  are  stall-fed  the  year  round, 
and  where  large  numbers  of  these  animals  are  employed  for  private  and  pullic 
conveyance  and  cartage.    The  villages  and  smaller  cities  in  agricultural  dis- 


Causes  of 
increase  of 
cultivation 
and  con- 
sumption. 


OF    THE    UxVlTED    STATES. 


101 


1  the  so- 
lo  carrieil 
about  the 
rd's-grass, 
crd  found 
h  contun*. 
have  been 
illct.  which 
(xhucd  by 
rd- grass,  or 
rginia  from 
irlhcr  north, 
fords  excel- 
family,  and 

nnunierable, 
known  and 
prevalent  in 
iiestone  soils, 
1  are  usually 
,  and   makes 
[The  red-top, 
:h  is  quite  a 
grass  called 
[-amp  wire  or 
lese,  the  salt- 
seaside,  and, 
of  the  wild 
for  hay.    1" 
^vith  a  short, 
It   is  the 
it.     It  is  not 

jprovement  in 
r  tedder,  and 
1  a  great  stim- 
ttde  attention 
I  large  a  part 
I  season  com- 
pere is  a  larije 
year  round, 
|te  and  public 
[icultural  dis- 


tricts are  generally  supplied  by  cartage  from  bams  and  stacks  in  the  adja- 
cent country.  For  the  large  cities  hay  is  j)ressed  into  bales,  ami  it  forms  a 
prominent  article  of 
(lonicstic  commerce. 
It  is  (onsumed,  how- 
ever, almost  exclu- 
sively at  home. 

Our  census-returns 
ini  hided  no  mention 
(if  our  hay-crop  prior 
to  1S40.  in  which  year 
llie  total  product  was  ^ 
rcjiortefl  at  10,248,- 
;oS  tons;  in  1850  it  lJl% 
was    13.8^^8,642  ;    in 

i860    it     was      19,083,-  CLOVER-HULLER. 

896  ;  in  1870  it  was 

27,316,048,  and  in  1875  the  scarcely  larger  sum  of  27,873,600  tons.     Of  this 
amount  New  York  produced  nearly  one-fifth  (namely,  4,900,000  tons),  and 
Pennsylvania    2,400,000,   or   about    half   that    (piantity.      Illinois   statistics  of 
came  sec  ond  in  rank,  with  3.050,000  tons.     Ohio  and  Iowa  each    production. 
raisetl  nearly  2,000,000  tons ;  while  Maine,  Vermont,  Michigan,  Indiana,  and 

Wisconsin  each  raised  over 
1,000,000  tons.  The  rest  was 
distributed  throughout  the  North 
and  West. 

With  the  exception  of  wheat 
and  corn,  there  are  no  crops  in 
this  country  which  equal  hay  in 
value;  although  in  1875  wheat 
threatened  to  step  from  the  third 
to  the  second  rank  as  regards 
value,  where  it  was  already  in 
point  of  acreage,  as  will  be  seen 


HORSE-RAKE. 


by  the  following  comparison 


1 
1874.                         i 

1 

1875. 

ACREAGE. 

1 
VALUE. 

ACREAGE. 

VALUE. 

'urn    .... 

Wheat. 

Hay     .... 

44,841,371 
26,381,512 

23.507.964 

1 

?S5S.44S-930 
294,580,990 
342,203,445    , 

1 

49.033.364         S475.49'.->o 
27,627,021            300,259,300 
25,282,797           300,901,252 

I03 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER    IX. 


MINOR    CROPS. 


BARLEY  grows  wild  in  Sicily,  Asia,  and  tlic  United  States,  but  is  anioim' 
tiie  very  earliest  <:iiltivateil  cereals  of  the  world.     In  this  ( ountry  thiic 
are  two  varieties,  two-roweil  and  four-rowed  ;  hut  in  Iv.irope  a  kind 
among  the       is  grown  which  lias  six  rows  of  kernels  in  a  head,  and   is  without 
oldest  j]^^.  \\\sw,  or  heard,  whit;h  characterizes  other  harlev.     This  is  yen- 

cerealB.  ... 

erally  planted  in  the  tall,  ours  in  the  sprinfj;.  In  remote  times  it 
was  used  largely  for  a  ( oarse  bread,  and  is  now  used  to  some  extent  abroad  fur 
feeding  horses.  Its  principal  use  at  the  i)resent  time  is  for  malt ;  anil,  as  onr 
crops  are  not  sufficient  for  our  needs,  we  are  obliged  to  import  in  addition  to 
our  own  yield. 

Harky  was  sown  by  Cosnold  on  P^lizabeth  Islands,  Mass.,  in  1602,  and  by 
the  Jamestown  settlers  in  Virginia  in  161 1  ;  but  in  the  latter  region  it  soon 
Cultivation  gave  jjlace  to  tobacco-culture,  (iooil  crops  of  it  were  raised  in 
by  colonists.  Massachusetts  in  1630.  Small  samples  were  sent  out  from  the 
Dutch  colony  of  New  Netherlands  in  1626.  In  i  796  it  was  Rhode  Island's 
princi])al  crop.  It  never  gained  a  very  extensive  foothold  in  this  counliy. 
and  its  culture  has  been  chiefly  in  those  States  which  give  the  most  attention 
to  grains.  In  1840  we  raised  4,161,504  bushels  :  in  1850  the  amount  returned 
was  5,167,015.  The  census  of  i860  stated  the  total  yield  at  15,825,898,  and 
that  of  1870  at  29,761,305  bushels.  From  the  table  of  minor  crops  appended 
to  this  chapter,  it  will  be  seen  that  California  is  the  leading  producer  of  this 
grain,  with  New  York  second,  and  the  grain  States  of  the  North-West  followini; 
closely. 

Of  all  the  grains,  the  oat  most  nearly  resembles  grass  in  appearand'. 
There  is  but  one  jjrincMjjal  variety,  —  the  common  oat,  which  is  thought  tci 
have  originated  in  Mesopotamia.  It  grows  in  cold  climates  and  sterile  smls. 
and  is  highly  ])rized  in  Northern  Europe  as  an  article  of  huiu.in 
food,  being  used  in  the  form  of  meal  for  porridge  and  small  cakes. 
and  as  grits,  or  groats,  for  gruel.  In  this  country,  however,  it  is  jirincip  dly 
used  as  horse-feed.  The  straw  is  regarded  as  good  fodder  for  milch-cuus. 
The  crop  is  generally  regarded  as  an  exhausting  one. 


Oats. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


>03 


's,  but  is  amoni; 
lis  country  tluTc 
in  Iv.iropc  a  kiml 
il,  and  is  witliout 
>y.  This  is  gcn- 
i  remote  times  it 
extent  abroad  Inr 
malt  ;  and,  as  our 
rt  in  addition  to 

in   1602,  and  liy 
r  region  it  soon 
it  were  raised  in 
nt  out  from   the 
Rhode  Island's 
in  this  country, 
le  most  attention 
amount  returned 
15,825,898,  and 
crops  appended 
producer  of  tliis 
th-West  follow  in.i; 

i   in    appearance, 
ch  is  thought  to 
and  sterile  soils. 
article  of  human 
and  small  cakes. 
,  it  is  princii'dly 
for  mileh-ei  >\V5. 


A  wild  oat  seems  to  be  indigenous  to  California,  where  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  acres  are  covered  with  it.     The  Indians  gather  it,  and  use  it  as  any 
Dther  seed.     Karlv  travellers  used  to  call  it  pin-grass.     The  culti- 
\ated  variety  was  mtroduced  mto  this  country  by  (losnold  in  1602, 
and  it  attained  a  much  more  extensive  culture  than  either  barley  or  rye.     Of 
Lite  years  the  Hepartment  of  .Agriculture  has  done  much  to  disser.unate  choice 
varieties  of  seed  for  experiment,  as  also  of  barley.      The  census-    statiitic*  of 
n turns  of  1840  put  the  total  jjroduct  of  the  country  at   123,071,-    pfoduction. 
VM  bushels:   in  1850  it  had  increa.sed  to   146,584,179,  in  i860  to  172,643,- 
1.S5,  and  in   1870  to  282,107,157  bushels.     Its  distribution  is  more   largely 
in  the  central  and  Oliio-valley  sections  of  the   Northern  States.     .\s  will  be 
seen  from  the  table  a|>pended  to  this  ( liapter,  the    last  census  showed   Illinois 
to  he  the  leading  prodiu  er,  witli  Pennsylvania  second.  New  York  a  t  lose  third, 
and  the  Western  grain  States  next  in  order.     Our  oat-crop  is  almost  entirely 
consumed  at  home,  and  the  exports  arc  very  light. 


THRKSHEK,   stK^KATOK,   AND  CLEANER. 


Rye. 


Rye  ranks  next  to  wheat,  among  the  grains,  as  an  article  of  human  diet  in 
this  country.  In  ancient  Britain  they  were  planted  together.  It  grows  on 
sterile  so'ls  in  high  latitudes,  and  is  not  only  the  prevailing  grain 
of  Northern  Europe,  but  is  also  prevalent  in  the  colder  jjarts  of 
the  United  States.  In  bread-making,  rye-flour  is  usually  mixed  with  In- 
dian-meal ;  and  the  product  is  still  very  popular,  though  old-fashioned,  with 
the  rural  classes  of  New  P'ngland.  The  gra-n  is  largely  used,  also,  for  the 
(li>tillati()n  of  whiskey  ;  ami  the  straw  is  preferred  above  all  others  for  stuffing 
Itcds.  There  are  several  varieties  of  it  :  and,  like  wheat,  it  is  planted  both  in 
the  fall  and  spring. 

It  was  used  in  this  country  as  early  as    1648,  perhaps   1630;  and  in    1796 
no  less  than  50.614  barrels  of  rye-meal,  representing  five  times  as  many  bush- 


104 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


m 
it  'i;' 


Buckwheat. 


i-ls  of  grain,  were  exportc«l  from  Philadelphia  alone.  In  iSoi  the  total  ex|)ort 
from  the  whole  country  was  but  392,276  hushels.  Its  cultivation  spread  pretty 
Increase  of  generally  over  the  Northern  States.  Heing  well  adapted  to  steriK' 
cultivation.  >,j,ii^^  mi,|  ,n)t  very  exhaustive,  it  has  retained  a  good  foothold  in 
the  Mast.  Wheat  so  largely  supplanted  it,  however,  that  the  increase  in  the 
crop  has  been  very  gradual,  no  real  headway  having  been  maile  at  all  for  nearl\ 
ft)rty  years. 

Thus  tiie  total  jmxluct  in  iS40was  18,645,567  bushels;  in  1.S50  it  had 
Statiiticiof  fallen  to  i4,iSS,,Si3;  in  i860  it  had  risen  to  2i,ioi,3.So;  but  ii. 
production.  \<^-o  it  was  down  to  16,918,793,  at  which  time  Pennsylvania  was 
the  largest  producer,  New  York  second,  and  Illinois  third.  It  still  has  a  good 
show  in  New  England,  but  is  more  largely  cultivateil  in  the  Western  grain 
States.  Our  total  product  is  not  consumed  at  home,  and  there  is  a  slight 
export  of  it  to  I'.urope. 

Buckwheat,  like  rye,  is  generally  a  secondary  crop  in  this  country.  In 
some  places  it  is  grown  simply  for  the  honey  it  gives  the  bees. 
The  grain  is  used  chiefly  in  flour,  for  pancakes. 

It  was  brought  to  this  country  by  the  Dutch  West- India  Company,  and 
sown  on  Manhattan  Island  for  horse-feed.  The  Swedes  also  cultivated  it  in 
Early  hii-  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  It  has  been  grown  chiefly  for 
tory.  home-consumption,  and  the  extension  of  the  volume  of  the  cr<);i 

'as  been  very  slow.  The  (piantity  raised  in  1840  was  returned  at  7,291,74.5 
bushels;  in  1850  it  was  8,956,912;  in  i860  it  was  17,571,818;  but  in  iSjd 
only  9,821,721,  of  which  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  raised  fully  two-thirds, 
the  former  rather  more  than  the  latter.  The  rest  was  pretty  evenly  distributed 
among  the  Northern  States. 

Pease  and  beans  have  been  grown  in  moderate  quantity  in  this  countr\ 
both  for  the  table  and  for  cattle-fodder.  Gosnold  planted  them  in  1602,  and 
Pease  and  the  Dutch  raised  them  in  1644;  but  it  is  known  that  the  natives 
beans.  cultivated  them  before  the  white  setUers  did.     On  the  South-.\tlan- 

tic  coast  they  soon  became  popular,  and  from  those  colonies  were  exported  in 
moderate  (juantities  before  the  Revolution.  Thus  North  Carolina  exportel 
10,000  bushels  in  1753;  South  Carolina,  9,162  in  1754;  and  Savannah,  400 
in  1755.  The  total  exports  of  the  two  for  twenty  years  prior  to  181 7  averaged 
90,000  bushels.  In  1S50  the  total  product  of  the  country  was  9,219.901 
bushels;  in  i860  it  was  15,061,995  ;  but  by  1870,  like  several  of  the  minor 
grain-crops,  it  fell  off  again,  the  census-returns  being  5,746,027. 

The  two  kinds  of  potatoes,  Irish  and  sweet,  are  said  to  have  originated  in 
this  country,  although  the  fact  is  not  established  ;  and  the  two  varieties  nrt.' 
somewhat  confused  in  early  accounts.  It  is  said  that  Raleigh  took 
back  the  potato  to  Kngland  in  1586;  and  the  Spaniards  are  said 
to  have  found  the  people  of  Quito  eating  a  tuber,  which  answers  the  descrij)- 
tion  of  the  sweet-potato,  thirty  or  forty  years  before ;  and  by  these  explorers 


Potatoes. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


»05 


the  plant  was  introduced  to  Kiirope,  becoming  very  jjopular  in  Spain,  France, 
,1111 1  Italy,  and  even  goin^  to  Asia.  The  culture  of  the  sweet-potato  has  been 
(iiiiiincd  prnicipally  to  the  Soiitiiern  States  ot  liiis  ( ountry,  though  it  has  been 
-r.iwn  extensively  in  New  Jersey,  and  even  in  light  loamy  soils  near  Hoston. 
riie  Irish  |x)tato,  however,  which  is  by  far  the  most  abundant,  is  mostly  con- 
lined  to  the  North- 
i  rii  States,  from  New 
i;Mt,'land  westward. 
Neither  kind  attained 
iiiiK  li  prominence 
until  about  the  niid- 
ille  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, when  we  began 
1(1  uiake  some  slight 
lApurts,  and  have 
(Diitinued  to  do  so 
to  tlie  present  day. 
Among  our  exports 


1 


rOTATODICGING  rLOUOM. 


Statlitlci. 


of  \ej,'etable  food-stuffs,  the  potato  ranks  next  to  wheat  and  corn.  Owing 
III  tlie  effects  of  wet  we.ither,  dry-rot,  the  potato-fly,  and  of  late  years  the 
Colorado  beetle,  this  « rop  has  fluctuated  largely.  The  census  of  1840  re- 
turned 108,298,060  bushels  of  both  kinds  of  potatoes  as  the 
American  product;  in  1850  it  had  fidlen  off  to  104,056,044, 
owing  to  disease.  In  i860  we  raised  111,148,867  bushels  of  Irish  potatoes, 
and  42,095,026  of  sweet.  In  1870  we  produced  i43'3.?747.?  of  the  for- 
mer, and  21,709,824  of  the  latter.  In  1874  the  crop  of  Irish  potatoes  was 
166.000,000  bushels;  but  the  consetiuent  low  prices,  and  the  depredations  of 
the  putato-bug,  cut  the  crop  of  1875  down  to  125,000,000.  The  distribution 
of  the  (Top  of  1870  is  shown  in  the  table  apjiended  to  this  chapter. 

Although  hojjs  grow  wild  in  this  i:ountry  in  some  of  the  luistern  States  and 
in  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Valleys,  the  first  ones  <  iiltivated  in  .America 
were  from  imported  roots.  They  were  grown  for  home-use  in 
Massachusetts  in  1628  or  1629,  in  New  York  in  1646,  and  in 
Viri,'inia  in  164S  ;  their  culture  being  encouraged  by  governmental  bounties 
in  tile  last-named  colony  in  1657.  This  branch  of  industry,  however,  grew 
slowly,  as  the  careless  modes  of  picking  and  jjacking  practised  in  America 
spoiled  our  market.  But,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  present  system 
of  baling  was  resorted  to ;  and  subsequendy  something  like  a  careful  inspec- 
tion and  sorting  was  adopted.  In  1806  Massachusetts  created  an  office  called 
Iiisji  or-(leneral  of  Mops.  The  development  of  hop-growing  has  been  con- 
iMKil  chiefly  to  the  last  two  or  three  decades.  In  1S40  we  produceil  1,238,- 
5«2  poimds ;  in  1850,  3,497,029;  in  1S60,  10,991,996,  of  which  New- York 
State  raised  more  than  nine-tenths;  and  in  1870  the  product  had  increased  to 


xo6 


IXDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


25,456,669  pounds.  A  heavy  export-demand  between  1850  and  i860  rather 
stimulated  the  production  ;  though  the  inauguration  of  the  system  of  stretching 
wires  from  pole  to  pole,  instead  of  using  isolated  poles,  by  Thomas  D.  Ayls- 
worth  of  Herkimer  County,  New  York,  and  other  causes,  seemed  to  confine  the 
industry  chiefly  to  that  State.     During  the  latter  part  of  the  next  decade  the 

crop  in  the  ICast  faretl 
poorly  three  or  four 
years  in  succession  ; 
and  this  gave  the 
Wisconsin  farmers  a 
chance,  which  they 
h  a  n  d  s  o  m  e  1  y  i  ni  - 
proved.  In  1870 
New  York  produced 
only  two-tliirds  of  the 
total  yield,  and  Wis- 
consin nearly  one- 
fifth  :  the  rest  was 
distributed  among  the 
Northern  States.  At- 
tempts have  been 
made  recently  to  cul- 
tivate hops  in  the 
Southern  States,  but 
with  little  success.  In  California,  however,  the  hop-crop  is  beginning  to 
assume  prominence,  both  fot  ([uaniity  and  (juality;  the  price  being  the  highest 
of  any  hops  raised  in  America. 

Our  exjiortation  has  been  very  uneven.  American  hops  are  rather  stronger 
and  ranker  than  those  of  luigland  and  Bavaria,  and  are  not  sought  for,  exceiU 
Export  of  when  the  crops  in  Kurope  are  short.  Thus  in  1S55  we  exported 
''°P*-  a  trifle  over  four  million  pounds,  whereas  during  no  previous  year 

had  we  exported  much  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  pounds.  In  1S56 
the  export  was  but  a  trifle  over  a  million,  and  in  1S57  a  trifle  under  a 
million.  During  the  next  twenty  years  the  crop  gradually  reached  and  passed 
the  figures  of  1855.  In  1875  we  exported  5.331,950,  and  in  1876  nearly 
9,000,000  pounds. 

Flax,  the  fibre  from  which  linen  is  made,  grows  wild  in  nearly  all  countries 
of  the  globe,  but  was  probably  cultivated  first  in  Kgypt.     It  is  vers    large!;. 

grown  in  the  north  of  Kurope;  Russia,  Belgium,  and  Irelan! 
Flax.  °     .  '     '  <  p        » 

havuig  a  wide  reputation  for  the  quantity  and  (juality  of  the:: 
product.  The  plant  has  other  uses  too.  Its  seed  yields  a  valuable  oil  for 
painting  and  burning,  —  namely,  the  linseed-oil ;  and  the  refuse  oil-cake,  as 
also  the  ground  meal,  are  highly  prized  as  fodder  for  cattle.     The  seed  is  use! 


FODDER<lTTER. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


107 


id  i860  rather 
m  of  stretching 
lonias  I).  Ayls- 
l  to  confine  the 
ext  decade  the 
1  the  East  fareil 

three  or  four 
in  succession  ; 
his  gave  the 
nsin  iarmers  a 
.*,  which  they 
s  o  m  e  1  y  i  ni  - 
1.  In  1S70 
i'ork  produced 
io-thirds  of  the 
■ield,  and  Wis- 
.     nearly     oiie- 

the  rest  was 
uted  among  the 
ern  States.  At- 
>  ha\e  been 
recently  to  cul- 

hops    in    the 

x\\   States,   but. 
beginning   to 
ting  the  highest 

I  rather  stronger 
,dit  for,  except 
;5  we  exportcil 
previous  yenr 
Inds.  In  1856 
trifle  under  a 
led  and  passed 
|i   1876  neady 

all  countries 
|s  ver)    largely 

and  Ireland 
liality  of  the::- 
lluable  oil  fur 
|se  oil-cake,  as 

seed  is  used 


Hemp. 


medicinally,  and  in  several  other  exceedingly  useful  ways.  It  was  first  grown 
in  the  New  Netherlands,  or  New  York,  in  this  country,  in  1626,  in  Massa- 
chusetts in  1629,  and  in  Virginia  before  1648.  The  British  Parliament  offered 
bounties  for  its  culture  by  the  patentees  of  Georgia  in  1733,  1743,  and  1749. 
Tennsylvania  raised  a  sufficient  crop  to  export  70,000  bushels  of  flaxseetl 
in  1752,  and  by  1771  had  increased  the  amount  to  1 10.41 2.  Prior  to  and 
immediately  after  the  Revolution,  flax  was  prized  more  highly  relatively  than 
now,  because  cotton  had  not  yet  been  utilized ;  and  the  colonists  prepareil, 
sjmn.  and  wove  the  fibre  in  almost  every  household. 

Hemp,  a  different  though  similar  plant,  i)roducing  a  coarser  fibre,  used 
chiefly  for  cordage,  had  a  parallel  history  to  that  of  flax  in  the  early  days  of 
tiiis  country.  Seed  was  brought  to  Plymouth  Colony,  and  planted, 
as  early  as  1629.  Bounties  were  offered  for  its  culture  by  Virginia 
and  Pennsylvania ;  but  in  the  former  tobacco  was  found  to  be  more  profita- 
ble, and  soon  supplanted  hemp  almost  altogether.  New  Jersey  gave  great 
attention  to  hemp  previous  to  the  Revolution.  .Afterwarils  both  flax  and 
hemp  were  prominent  in  the  crops  of  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Missouri, 
which,  between  twenty-five  and  fifty  \ears  ago,  were  the  leading  iirochuers  in 
the  United  States,  although  other  Northern  and  the  Eastern  States  continued 
to  raise  them  both  in  small  (juantities. 

Inasmuch  as  our  product  of  hemp,  flax,  and  jute,  —  a  coarse  India  fibre 
resembling  hem|),  aiid  used  for  cheap  Iiagging,  —  has  fallen  short  of  our  neetls, 
and  our  importation  has  always  been  large,  ann)unting  in  the 
aggregate  at  the  present  time  to  a  value  of  over  thirty  million 
dollars,  the  Department  of  Agricultiue  has  given  great  attention  to  these  plants, 
and  LTeatlv  encouraiied  their  culture.  It  was  found  some  fifteen  vears  atro 
that  the  India  jute  was  being  largely  imported  into  this  country  for  bagging  ; 
and  inasmuch  as  the  West  needed  the  fibre  for  wool  and  grain  shipments,  and 
the  South  for  cotton,  those  sections  were  urged  to  cultivate  the  new  plant. 
This  the  South  has  come  to  do  with  marked  success,  though  not  to  any  very 
great  extent.  In  the  West  it  was  found  that  four-fifths  of  the  tow  fibre  left 
after  removing  the  flax  was  wasted  ;  yet  it  was  iar  stronger  for  bagging  than 
jute.  Accordingly,  the  number  of  mills  for  utilizing  it  increased,  and  the  waste 
was  lessened. 

Since  the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  the  fate  of  the  flax  and  hemp  crops  has 
been  widely  different  :  the  former  has  increased,  while  the  latter  has  sadly 
declined.  In  1850  our  total  hemp-crop  amounted  to  34,871  Flax  and 
tons ;  by  1859  ^  the  yield  had  increased  again  to  74,493,  of  which  hemp. 
Kentucky  produced  39,409,  and  Missouri  19.268:  but  in  1870  it  had  fallen 
to  12.746  tons,  of  which  these  two  States  together  contributed  five-sixths. 
In  1S50  the  total  yield  of  flax  was  7,709,676  pounds,  and  562,312  bushels  of 
seed;  in  1S59'  the.  returns  were  only  4,720,145  pounds  of  flax,  and  566,867 

'  Census  of  i860. 


Jute. 


xo8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Bli'.Y 


Ramie. 


bushels  of  seed;  but  in  1870  the  crop  was  27,133,034  pounds  of  flax,  and 

Distribution    «>730.444  bushels  of  seed. 

of  minor  Qn  the  opposite  page  we  give  a  table  showing  the  distribution 

crops.  ^j-  ^1^^  minor  crops  thus  far  treated  for  1870. 

It  is  not  out  of  place  to  say  something  here  concerning  the  production  of 
ramie,  —  a  grass  which  is  now  being  utilized  in  India.'  More  than  seventy 
years  ago,  attention  was  first  directed  to  the  properties  of  a  fibre 
which  to  many  persons  has  since  been  made  familiar  as  the 
material  out  of  which  the  fabric  known  as  Chinese  or  Indian  grass-clotli  is 
manufoctured.  Experiments  were  soon  after  made,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
British  Admiralty,  to  test  the  strength  of  this  fibre  ;  the  result  of  which  showed, 
that,  in  whatever  way  the  test  is  applied,  the  grass  is  three  times  stronger 
than  the  best  Russian  hemp,  while  it  is  also  much  lighter.  For  all  the 
purposes  for  which  hemp  is  used  it  was  admitted  to  be  very  much  superior. 
In  conse(iuence  of  difficulties  that  arose  in  the  process  of  prejjaration, 
the  matter  remained  a  long  time  in  abeyance.  It  was  not  until  the  last 
Russian  war  that  the  subject  received  fresh  notice.  International  strife  has 
often  been  the  stimulus  to  new  discoveries.  When  French  ports  were 
blockaded,  and  French  commerce  was  destroyed,  in  the  days  of  the  first 
Napoleon,  French  physicians  found  a  good  substitute  for  ipecacuanha  in  the 
root  of  the  violet.  Our  own  civil  war  stimulated  the  production  of  cotton  in 
Egypt,  India,  and  the  Pacific  islands.  The  Russian  war,  cutting  off  the 
supply  of  flax  from  Western  Europe,  led  to  the  increased  cultivation  of  jute 
in  In<lia,  and  to  its  exte.ided  use  and  application  ;  at  the  same  time,  it  turned 
attention  anew  to  the  Indian-grass  as  another  substitute ;  and,  although  it  is 
only  recently  that  any  practical  result  has  seemed  likely,  it  promises  now  to 
develoj)  into  an  important  source  of  industry. 

In  addition  to  the  great  strength  of  the  fibre,  it  has  a  remarkable  power  of 
resistance  to  the  influence  of  moisture.  Compared  with  other  fibres,  it  may 
almost  be  saitl  to  be  indestructible.  It  is  as  fine  as  flax,  and  presents  a  glossy 
lusire  more  nearly  resembling  silk.  Manufacturers  give  it  an  intermediate 
position  between  animal  and  vegetable  fibres ;  and  those  who  have  interested 
themselves  about  it  appear  to  consider  it  as  an  equal  if  not  superior  substitute 
for  flax,  and  very  much  superior  in  every  respect  to  hemp.  The  chief  reason 
why  it  has  not  been  sooner  brought  into  use  lies  in  the  difficulty  that  has 
hitherto  been  encountered  in  the  preparation.  Six  years  ago  the  Indian  Gov- 
ernment offered  a  i)remium  ecjual  to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
best  machine  for  separating  the  fibre  from  the  stems.  This  was,  however,  only 
partially  successfiil.  Only  one  machine  was  sent  in,  and  that  only  partly  nut 
the  recpiirements.  At  that  time  it  was  thought  that  only  the  green  stems  couM 
be  operated  upon  ;  but  it  has  since  been  shown  that  this  is  a  mistake.  TIk' 
dried  stems  alTonl  a  fibre  etiual  in  strength  and  durability,  .and  only  inferior  in 


>  This  account  of  ramie  is  drawn  from  The  New-Yorl<  Times,  Aug.  17,  1875. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


109 


s  of  flax,  and 
le  distribution 

production  of 

than  seventy 
rties  of  a  fibre 
imiliar  as  tlie 

grass-clotli  is 
uspices  of  the 
which  showed, 
times  stronger 
For  all  the 
iiuch  superior, 
f    i)reparation, 

until  the  last 
onal  strife  has 
:h  ports  were 
ys  of  the  first 
icuanha  in  the 
in  of  cotton  in 
|:utting   off  the 

ivation  of  jute 
time,  it  turned 
,  although  it  is 

omises  now  to 


^^ 


■4         t^nH(jj''sjLn         "Q 
*■  *  4-   r.;  -^   w       C 


^  c*  co^  i<ijit>ju*^./i  w^   o^  y^Lfj  "^  ' 


iT^^C  «Oui    0    OUJUiU)    OUiOnOUIUi    0    0    '^    O^N'nJU*    0\m    a'4k  W-^    Nmui    M^    ""^    ^^    O    CO'*4  Ui    C  ^  ^4  i>i 


M 

uy 

u 

Ul 

00  UJ 

■#k 

Ui 

•^ 

■^ 

r* 

OOM 

^  0  ^ 

U) 

a^  Kj 

oo 

en  ■-"   to  W 

U)     w  ^  4-  OJ     0  W 
"  ^    *.    004-  -C    -^  4». 


^0  -^    jy     J-*     «     MO-     J'-*4-'4%C    Q     N*-'^    N    -OjV*WU)    «)C     M     00-    CiOL.-  Ui     O     C^**4   Ji  4-  ♦     IJ    W 
4i>.    a>UJ  ^O^MHUi'^i4k    M    2    Q    ^^1    N'^tOOM'^NMOO  00<>^  <<,.^.n^lM^N4    0000  O^^  ui  i*'    M    < 


*0    M    W  "o  * 


Qoi:  wo;-       4k  w 
M    C  CT*^    O^  00*  ^    M  *  Ui  VI 


CO  K3    O 
-  p  p  4- 

■     '     O  OJ 


ii  *0  "C  *■  »C  "w    C^4h  Cj    0    Oo'c>  N  iik    00*   *M    00  * 


»^  w>    0    O^  N   00  CTi«  u»    ~  '     -    -    — 


'—  *  *C  '-n    C  U.  4fc  <-P 

-.    .     -      MUiOjQ-'^J-'^ 

0    0    O^0U>    OnOOO    0    O'^  •«« 


M    M  (J*  Ui    0 


.  xC  -fr  •*•    - 


Ui    OOvC  Ui    M    0    M    00  P'  00  CO'O  UJ*  0-fOOJ»CUJ-*-WOv"^    O^'C  *    "  •• 

UJ    C  W  -4  Ui    004h  i>-  ^C  W.    -    to    CO-^  W  U>  t/i  vC   sC    -    004«  Oj    OOUi    tO    •-  *^    -■    W  -^  ^ 

J    00  00^1    -  4fc  i  "ro  i)  i  Ui    -  "c  ^  i.  'to  'Q  V'c  O    O  'O  ^  Cn    -  'to  Cj  ^    -    ooi    M  '-  iji  Cn 
--OsDOW-4*    OO-^sJ    O005^C4-    C    Q  <■    CT>OOM^^UJ    0    -    O^N'vJiC4*.    t«<*^    - 


W         -^J    -    C   * 

-    10    OvLn    00  10  4h    to 
C*^fOC'C-'CM 


Cn  -  i-n  "^  00*  C^O-  <jJ  10 
-  to  C  -  W'  W  *  COOJ  fJ) 
■^  «  ^  «C  Ul    00^  M  -4    to 


!0 


»   H    w 
"-  "(0  w 


U) 


to  vC  *    CD        I 
Ni    00  to    00<>    ' 

C   *    >'<     to     CM. 


M    0 

-  --  U*  -vl    - 

OO'-n    to         -    -    0    -    0 
"C  'O^  —    —  ui  O  'rO    00  CTs  * 
^■*fc    00  3n4»  -^  '>J  *C  *  ^ 
—  WUi    to    to    wU>    0    O^' 


;  M  to  -  yi  -^  o   oow.  CTv  «  "■ 


u*  a- 
OJ  «c 


^    00  '     U)    - 


•a^ 


0  U) 

-  \D 
-O  W   . 


^£ 


yi  C  i  >o  C 


i$ 


fO  Ui 

*  to 

00 
00 

,^-s 

nf 


pN 


"to  *  yi  "o^^C  VI  OJ  -^J  ^-  yi    M  ^  *a^ '    Cn  *  vj  Ca 


(0  *  -  v*  5v*  Ox*  u  to  W) 


3\  0  ^ 


0  O  ^c  ' 

<J1  ^fi     0 


to  0  0  (J» 
Cn  *-  »C  vj  i» 
-   0   0 


sC         W    M  yi  *    M 
M    Mm    00  to    -  vj 


vO  OJ    ■-•    OC  0 

vj  ^w  *   w   -   to 


Ut        *C  t*J    O    ' 

VJ      M    Ul    <v4    * 

M    0  Cn  vi  "Os  *     \C 
Ov*    -  V)    Q  00 

00  0    00  -    9^  •     Ui 


S?2  ?>• 


Ol  U1    (0  w  *         ^ 
vj  U)    •"    -*  M    ,      OO 


■a 


H    00 

to    C 
00      '0   Ov 


C2. 


0   0 


X 

o 

■s 


? 

=  ? 
IJ 


cb3 


tlO 


IXDCS TRIAL    IIISTOR  Y 


gloss,  and  for  these  the  existing  machinery  for  flax  and  hemp  is  found  to  be 
well  adapted ;  so  that,  while  the  best  cloth  will  probably  be  made  in  India,  or 
wherever  the  plant  is  grown,  the  manufacture  can  be  made  to  succeed  wher- 
ever the  stems  are  imported.  It  is  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  that  has  given  a 
new  impulse  to  the  discovery.  The  Indian  Government  is  encouraging  the 
cultivation  on  a  large  scale.  Within  the  last  few  months  a  great  deal  of  new 
machinery  for  the  manufacture  has  been  patented.  Practical  men  are  busily 
at  work,  and  in  a  short  time  there  is  little  doubt  but  that  manufactured  articles 
from  this  fibre  will  be  placed  upon  the  market.  It  is  looked  upon  already 
as  one  of  the  most  useful  staples,  and  as  likely  to  take  the  place,  either  as  a 
substitute  for  or  in  combination  with  cotton,  flax,  hemp,  jute,  wool,  or  silk,  and 
to  be  valuable,  also,  in  the  manufacture  of  paper  and  for  other  minor  uses. 

The  discovery  cannot,  however,  be  regarded  as  of  much  value  to  our 
people  unless  the  plant  can  be  produced  here.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  it  will 
be  more  likely  to  benefit  the  British  manufacturer  and  Indian  grower,  at  some 
cost  to  our  own.  This  is,  therefore,  an  important  aspect  of  the  question.  It 
is  not  quite  settled  whether  the  Indian  and  the  Chinese  fibres  are  produced  by 
exactly  the  same  plants.  If  they  are  (which  is  most  probable),  the  Chinese 
product  has  a  little  the  advantage  of  the  other  in  the  market.  This  shows 
that  either  climate  or  cultivation  has,  even  there,  something  to  do  with  the 
quality  of  the  fibre.  The  plant  grows  very  freely,  however,  in  India ;  and 
experiments  on  a  small  scale  indicate  that  it  can  be  made  equally  successful 
in  Australia.  It  also  flourishes  wherever  it  has  been  tried  on  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  some  very  fair  samples  of  the  fibre  have  been  grown  in 
the  south  of  France.  With  care,  it  has  been  grown  in  England ;  but  it  never 
can  be  produced  there  on  any  scale  for  commercial  purposes. 

It  is  reasonable  from  this  to  conclude  that  there  arc  many  parts  of  the 
United  States  where  it  could  be  cultivated  on  a  large  scale  with  advantage. 
Its  production  in  the  South  might  become  a  new  source  of  wealth,  second 
only,  if  not  superior,  to  cotton.  It  would  be  necessary,  in  the  first  instance,  to 
start  upon  practical  information,  obtained  in  India,  in  regard  to  the  best 
methods  of  cultivation.  About  this  there  can  be  no  difficulty;  and,  whether 
or  not  it  be  ultimately  found  that  the  soil  and  climate  of  tliis  country  are 
suitable,  the  subject  is  one  which  eminently  deserves  the  careful  consideration 
of  persons  who  are  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  our  manufacturing  in- 
terests. 

Rice  ranks  next  to  wheat  as  the  grain-foo,d  of  human  beings,  taking  the 
whole  world  into  consideration,  although  it  forms  the  staple  of  the  diet 
of  less  civilized  nations  than  the  wheat-consumers.  It  is  mo'^t 
commonly  raised  in  India  and  China,  although  Ceylon  and  Java 
produce  it  in  large  quantities  also.  It  is  cultivated,  too,  in  France,  Hungary, 
and  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  in  the  United  States  and  South  America.  It 
is  rather  a  tropical  plant,  although  it  grows  as  far  north  as  the  Ohio  River ; 


Rice. 


OF    THE    UN/TED    STATES. 


1 1 1 


and  a  wild  rice  covers  thousands  of  acres  in  the  northern  part  of  Minnesota, 
furnishing  a  very  palatable  food  to  the  Indians.  Though  resembling  wheat 
in  the  height,  form,  and  appearance  of  the  plant,  and  its  har\-esting  and 
threshing,  yet  it  usually  grows  in  marshy  lands.  An  upland  rice  is  found  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  like  that  of  Cochin  ;  but  it  yields  only  fifteen  or  twenty 
busiiels  to  the  acre.  Rice  has  also  been  grown  on  the  sides  of  the  Himalayas, 
between  three  thousand  and  four  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  principal  growth,  however,  is  in  the  swamps,  and,  in  this  country,  near  the 
rivers  and  sea,  where,  by  a  carefully-adjusted  system  of  gateways,  the  land  can 
be  flooded  or  drained  as  occasion  requires,  and  where  from  forty  to  sixty 
bushels  an  acre  are  produced. 

Rice  was  introduced  into  Virginia  by  Sir  William  Berkeley  in  1647,  ^^''''O. 
from  half  a  bushel  of  imported  seed,  raised  sixteen  bushels  of  grain.     South 
Carolina,  the  great  rice    State   of  this  country,  got  its  seed  by  g,^,y  ^^jj,. 
accident  from   a   sailing-vessel    from    Madagascar   in    1694.      In  vation  of 
iyi8   the    Company  of  the  West  introduced    it   into    Louisiana.   """ 
Threshing-machines  to  separate  the  grain  from  the  straw  were  brought  hither 
from  Scotland  in   181 1  :  they  were  operated  by  wind-power,  and  cleaned  five 
hundred  bushels  a  dav.     Later,  Cal- 
vin Emmons  of  New  York  invented 
a    maciiine    with    toothed    beaters, 
wiiicli  cleaned  from  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  to  eight   hundred   bushels 
a  day.    Tiiis  process  leaves  the  grain 
with  a  thin  hull  on ;    and    in    this 
condition   it  is  called  "  paddy,"  or 
"rough  rice."     Our  export  is  chiefly 
in  tliat  form.     To  complete  the  work 
of  cleaning,  the  rice  goes  through 
another   mill,   between   stones    and 
under    pounders    like    those    of    a 
quartz -mill.       Formerly    rice    was 
cleaned     by    hand     in     pitch-pine 
mortars  liolding  a  bushel,  by  means 
of  an  iron-shod  pestle.    Nearly  e\  try 
large  plantation  lias  one  of  the  new 
mills  for  cleaning. 

The  climax  of  our  rice-culture 
was  reached  in  the  year  1850,  when 
we  raised  215,313,497  pounds,  of  which  South  Carolina  is  credited  with   159,- 
930.613  pounds,  Georgia  with  38,950,691,  North   Carolina  with   statisUcs  of 
5465,868,   Louisiana   with   4,425,349,    and    the   other   Southern   production. 
States  together  with  less  than  7,000,000.     The  returns  of  i860,  showing  the 


RICE-Hl'LLEK. 


112 


IND  US  TftlA  L    Ills  TOR  V 


crop  of  the  previous  yenr,  gave  a  total  of  only  187,167,032  pounds,  of  which 
South  Carolina  produced  119,100,528,  Georgia  5?, 507, 652,  North  Carolina 
7,593,976,  Louisiana  6,331,257,  and  the  other  States  together  less  than  2,000,- 
000.  In  South  CaroHiia  all  but  2,765,729  pounds  were  raised  in  Georgetown. 
Colleton,  Charleston,  and  Beaufort  Counties,  the  first-named  yielding  nearly 
half  of  the  whole.  Nine-tenths  of  Georgia's  yield  that  year  was  confined  to 
Chatham,  Camden,  Mcintosh,  and  Glynn  Counties,  tiie  first-named  producing 
full  half  of  the  whole.  In  1870  the  total  crop  of  the  country  was  scarcely  a 
third  of  what  it  was  twenty  years  before.  It  was  returned  at  73.635,001 
pounds,  of  which  quantity  South  Carolina  produced  32,304,825,  —  less  than 
half,  instead  of  three-quarters  of  the  whole,  as  in  1850,  —  Georgia  22,277,380, 
Louisiana  15,854,012,  North  Carolina  but  2,059,281,  and  the  other  States 
less  than  1,000,000  pounds. 

The  effect  of  the  war  was  to  nearly  annihilate  this  industry,  labor  being 
Effect  of  war  demoralized,  the  dams,  gates,  and  mills  getting  sadly  out  of  repair, 
upon  this  and  the  rice-fields  growing  up  with  weeds.  Since  the  war  the 
ndustry.  recuperation  has  been  slow,  but  sure  ;  the  negroes  coming  to  take 
a  proprietary  interest  in  the  culture,  and  Louisiana  doing  much  to  extend  and 
develop  this  branch  of  agriculture. 

Prior  to  the  war  we  exported  from  a  third  to  a  half  of  our  crop,  the  aver- 
age for  1850-60  being  60,000,000  pounds  a  year,  valued  at  nearly  $2,000,000. 
Exports  and  During  and  since  the  war  we  imported  to  nearly  the  same  extent, 
imports.  unu\  about  1870,  when  the  increased  home-production  cut  down 
the  imports  very  perceptibly. 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  a  word  or  two  is  needed  in  respect  to 
the  cultivation  of  that  luscious  fruit,  the  orange.  In  Florida  Nature  pro- 
duces this  fruit  in  greatest  perfection,  and  within  a  few  years  the 
cultivation  of  oranges  there  has  rapidly  developed.  It  is  said 
that  almost  everybody  in  the  St.  John's  River  country  is  engaged  in  trying 
to  raise  the  golden  fruit.  Very  few  groves  are  in  bearing ;  indeed,  it  has 
been  asserted,  upon  good  authority,  that  between  Jacksonville  and  Enterprise, 
a  distance  of  two  hundred  miles,  there  are  only  about  two  hundred  acres  of 
producing  trees :  but  the  large  profits  realized  from  the  old  groves  has  in- 
duced the  settlers  to  stake  every  thing  upon  the  venture  of  rearing  orciianls 
of  their  own.  Nine  men  out  of  ten  are  nursing  young  orchards,  and  waiting 
impatiently  for  them  to  yield  some  return  for  the  money  and  time  expended. 
It  takes  from  six  to  ten  years  to  bring  an  orange-tree  to  bearing.  The 
cost  of  making  a  grove  is  very  heavy.  In  the  first  place,  the  land,  if  on  the 
river,  is  held  at  fancy  prices.  Comparatively  little  of  it  is  adapted  for  orange- 
culture,  and  a  good  site  commands  from  a  hundred  dollars  to  two  hundred 
dollars  an  acre  in  its  wild  state.  To  clear  off  the  heavy  growth  of  timber,  and 
get  the  stumps  out,  costs  from  fifty  dollars  to  a  hundred  dollars  an  acre  more. 
Then  the  young  trees   for  planting  are  worth   from  thirty-five  cents  to  a 


Oranges. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


"3 


dollar  apiece,  and  at  least  fifty  dollars  an  acre  must  be  spent  before  the  grove 
is  planted.  Afterward  it  requires  a  yearly  expenditure  of  about  fifty  cents  a 
tree,  or  fifty  dollars  an  acre,  to  keep  the  growing  orchard  in  good  condition ; 
for  the  orange-tree  is  like  a  tender  child,  and  requires  constant  petting,  nurs- 
ing, and  doctoring  to  make  it  thrive.  By  the  time  the  settler  has  paid  for  his 
land,  started  a  grove  of  five  acres,  and  built  himself  a  house,  he  has  spent  six 
thousand  or  seven  thousand  dollars  at  least.  The  interest  on  his  money,  the 
constant  expense  for  the  care  of  his  trees,  and  the  support  of  his  family,  will 
bring  his  first  investment  up  to  a  large  figure  by  the  time  he  begins  to  sell 
oranges.  Still,  if  he  has  the  '.noney  and  the  patience  to  remain,  and  the  frost 
does  not  kill  his  trees,  he  will,  in  the  end,  realize  a  handsome  competency.  A 
grove  of  trees  in  full  bearing  is  an  independent  fortune.  An  old  tree  produces 
from  a  thousand  to  two  thousand  oranges  a  year,  when  there  is  no  failure  of 
the  crop ;  and  the  fruit  sells  from  a  cent  and  a  half  to  three  cents  apiece  at  the 
grove.  The  prospect  of  getting  twenty  dollars  a  year  from  a  tree  is  very  fasci- 
nating. Counting  a  hundred  trees  to  the  acre,  a  very  small  amount  of  land 
can  at  this  rate  be  made  the  source  of  a  fortune.  There  are  other  sides  to 
this  picture  not  so  pleasant  to  contemplate  ;  yet  let  these  not  be  seen  while 
the  reader  longs  for  the  sweet  groves  and  the  still  more  delicate  and  healthful 
fruit. 


114 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER    X. 


NEAT-CATTLE. 


THE  historj'  of  neat-cattle  raising  in  this  country  naturally  divides  itself 
into  the  two  epochs  when  we  bred  only  native  cattle,  and  when  we 
began  the  improvement  of  our  stock  by  the  importation  of  foreign  breeds. 
In  England,  the  country  which  has  given  more  attention  than  any  other  to 
Native  the  improvement  of  this  class   of  live-stock,  comparatively  little 

cattle.  scientific  breeding  to  develop  special  characteristics  was  practised 

until  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago ;  and  none  worth  mentioning  was  under- 
taken in  the  United  States  until  after  the  Revolution.  The  cattle  which 
are  commonly  termed  "  native  cattle  "  in  this  country  are  the  product  of  an 
indiscriminate  mixture  of  several  varieties  of. foreign  cattle,  —  two  or  three  not 
very  distinct  British  breeds,  Swedish,  Dutch,  French,  and  Spanish  ;  and  so 
thoroughly  have  these  original  importations  been  crossed  and  intermingled,  so 
poorly  pronounced  were  the  characteristics  of  the  parent  stock,  and  so  modi- 
fied were  such  characteristics,  not  only  by  cross-breeding,  but  also  by  the 
hardships  of  the  climate  and  their  owners'  neglect  in  the  early  colonial  days. 
that  our  native  cattle  have  come  to  be  a  distinct  breed  by  themselves. 

The  first  cattle  in  Massachusetts  were  the  heifers  and  a  bull  brought  thither 
in  1624  by  Gov.  Edward  Winslow.  Twelve  more  cows  were  brought  to  Cajjc 
_,   , .  Ann  in  1626,  thirty  more  in  1620,  and  a  hundred  in  16^0.     These 

First  impor-  '  -'  ^'  <> 

tations  to  last  were  kept  at  Salem,  and  were  for  the  "  governor  and  com- 
pany of  Massachusetts  Bay."  The  stock  bred  from  the  impor- 
tation of  1624  was  divided  up  among  the  colonists  three  years 
later.  The  breed  of  these  cattle  is  not  known ;  but  they  are  spoken  of  as 
black,  white,  and  brindle.  Several  importations  of  cattle  were  made  by  Capt. 
John  Mason  into  New  Hampshire  in  1631-33 ;  and,  as  he  carried  on  consid- 
erable trade  with  Denmark,  his  cattle  were  mostly  Danish.  They  were  large. 
well  adapted  for  working  in  the  yoke,  and  of  a  uniformly  yellow  color.  Some 
of  the  breed  were  kept  pure  until  1820  ;  and,  though  they  were  crossed  more 
or  less  with  other  stock,  they  gave  a  prevailing  cast  to  most  early  New- 
England  cattle.  Connecticut  obtained  her  first  cattle  from  Massachusetts, 
though  perhaps  a  few  from  New  York,  and  a  few  by  direct  importation. 


New 

England. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


1 1: 


ivides  itself 

d  when  we 

;ign  breeds. 

iny  other  to 

•atively  little 

■as  practised 

g  was  under- 

catUe  which 

•oduct  of  an 

or  three  not 

ish  ;    and  so 

;rmingled,  so 

id  so  modi- 

also  by  the 

)lonial  days, 

/es. 

jught  thither 
Ight  to  Cape 
I630.     These 
jr  and  com- 
the  impor- 
Ihi-ee  years 
Ipoken  of  as 
]ide  by  Capt. 
on  consid- 
were  large. 
[olor.     Some 
Irossed  more 
early  Kcw- 
lassachusetts, 

Ition. 


The  first  cattle  brought  to  New  York  were  imported  by  Pieter  Evertsen 
Hiilst,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Dutch  West-India  Company,  in  1625. 
These   came   from  the  Island  of  Te.xel,  off  Holland,  and  were    _    ,    , 

is.ariy  im- 

Mack-and-white  Dutch  cattle.     The  Swedes,  settling  in  Delaware,   porutions 
brouKht  cattle  from  their  mother-country:  and  the  Dutch  in  New  !?'^**1'.. 

°  ^  York,  Vir- 

Jersey  got  their  stock  from  New  York,  where,  in   1627,  a  milch   ginia,  and 
( ow  was  worth  thirty  pounds,  and  a  pair  of  working-oxen  forty  °**'"'" 
jioimds.     William  Penn  encouraged  the  importation  and  breeding 
(if  cattle  on  his  purchase  at  an  early  date.     Virginia  had  cattle  of  her  own 
in  1610,  brought  from  the  West  Indies,  where  their  killing  was  legally  prohib- 
ited,  by  Sir  Ralph  Lane.     The   next   year  a  hundred  head  were  imported 
from  Devonshire  and  Hertfordshire,  Eng.     In  1620  there  were  five  hundred 
head   in  Virginia,  and    most   of   them  were    bigger  than   the   parent  stock. 
Maryland  probably  obtained  most  of  her  cattle  from  \'irginia  at  first.     The 
first  importations  into  South  Carolina  were  from  Elngland  in  1670;  but  Geor- 
gia, a  much  younger  colony,  had  none  until  1732. 

Columbus  had  brought  cattle  to  the  West  Indies  in  1493,  which,  with  later 
importations,  were    of  Spanish   breeds.     These  were  largely  introduced  into 
Mexico,  and  form   the  basis  of  our  i)resent  Texan  stock.     From   importa- 
these,  doubtless,  were  derived  the  cattle  which  the  Indians  on  Red   tionsby 
River  are  known  to  have  liad  in  1690.     The  Portuguese  landed     "'"'"''"■■ 
cattle  on  the  Island  of  Newfoundland  in  1553  ;  but  no  trace  exists  of  them 
now.     The  French  brought  Norman 
cattle  into  Acadia  in  1604,  and  into 
Canada  in  1608.     These  were  small, 
{,'entle  stock  ;  and  several  animals  of 
this  l)reod  were  introduced  into  the 
'•  American    bottom "   in   Illinois  in 
16S2.  where  they  increased  rapidly. 

Cattle  at  first  multiplied  very  fast 
ill  tliis  country.  Gov.  Hutchinson  of 
Mn  isachusetts  says,  that,  in  1632,  no 
f:irnier  was  satisfied  to  do  without  a 
cow  ;  and  there  was  in  New  England 
not  only  a  domestic  but  an  export 
demand    for    the   West   ^^  -^ 

Indies,     which      led      to    increase  of 


breeding  for  sale. 


But 


cattle. 


FODDER-CUTTER. 


the  market  was    soon    overstocked, 

and  the  price  of  cattle  went  down 

from  fifteen  and  twenty  pounds  to 

five  pounds  ;  and  milk  was  a  penny  a  quart.     Virginia  is  known  to  have  had  a 

somewhat  similar  experience;  for  in  1639  she  had  30,000  head  of  neat-cattle, 


ii6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


them  in  the 
beginning. 


and  only  20,000  ten  years  later.  Maryland  had  so  many,  notwithstanding  a 
loss  of  25,000  by  pestilence,  in  1694  and  1695,  that  there  was  left  a  great  jilenty. 
Just  before  the  Revolution,  the  cattle  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  rather 
small  anil  neglected,  were  so  plenty,  that  they  were  driven  up  to  Pennsyl- 
vania to  fatten  for  the  butchers,  and  sold  there  for  one  and  two  guineas  apiece. 
During  the  first  twenty-five  or  fifty  years  of  our  colonial  history,  very  little 
shelter  or  care  was  taken  of  the  catde  in  the  winter  time.  The  cows  were 
„  not  milked,  there  being  a  common  belief  that  it  would  kill  them 

Poor  care  '  ° 

taken  of  at  that  season.     No  stables  were  built  for  them,  especially  in  the 

Middle  and  South  Atlantic  States ;  and  they  wandered  at  large. 
No  special  fodder  was  given  them,  either ;  and  they  were  obliged 
to  pick  up  what  they  could  on  the  roadsides  and  in  the  fields.  Many  a  farmer 
lost  twenty  or  thirty  head  from  neglect  every  spring ;  antl  it  is  a  matter  of 
record  that  ten  thousand  head  of  cattle  died  in  South  Carolina,  in  the  year 
1 73 1,  simply  from  hunger  and  cold.  From  this  same  cause,  pestilence,  or 
the  gradual  decline  of  breeding,  a  scarcity  was  again  noticeable  in  New  Jersey 
and  New  England  along  toward  1 700. 

Tlie  ])rincipal  value  attached  to  cattle  for  a  long  period  of  our  colonial 
history  was  for  their  hides.  The  several  assemblies  enacted  laws  to  encourage 
Hid  th  ^'^^  tanning  of  leather,  to  prohibit  its  importation,  and  even  regulate 
principal  the  shoeiiiaking  business.  Farmers  used  to  take  their  hides  to  a 
currier,  have  them  tanned  and  returned,  and  then  let  itinerant 
shoemakers  work  them  up  into  foot-gear  for  the  family.  Besides, 
there  were  tanners  and  shoemakers  who  did  an  independent  business.  Oxen 
were  very  extensively  used,  too,  in  hauling  logs,  ploughing,  carting  stones  and 
farm-produce,  and  in  other  ways.  Cattle  were  used  almost  exclusively  for 
fiirm-labor  in  the  colonial  days,  so  scarce  and  costly  were  horses ;  and  even 
in  the  present  generation,  in  New  England,  working-oxen  are  very  numerous. 
As  the  settlements  grew  in  size,  and  cities  began  to  develop,  there  sprang  up 
Raising  ^  demand   for  cattle  for  beef.      In  1651  the  town   of   Fairfield, 

cattle  for        Conn.,  butchered  100  cattle.     In  New  York,  in  1678,  400  a  year 
"■  was  the  average  number  slaughtered ;  and  in  1694  it  was  4,000. 

In  1680  beef  brought  about  twopence  and  a  half  a  pound.  The  domestic 
dairy,  too,  was  an  important  institution.  The  farmers  all  made  a  litde  butter 
and  cheese  for  home  use,  and  took  a  little  to  the  cities  to  exchange  for  other 
merchandise.  Butter  was  quoted  at  sixpence  a  pound  in  Connecticut  in 
1 680,  Quite  a  little  cheese-business  was  built  up  too.  There  is  a  record 
of  13,000  pounds  of  cheese  having  been  sold  from  one  farm  in  Rhode  Island 
Scientific  '"^  ^  75°  '  ^^^  '^^  another  farm  seventy-three  cows  are  reported  to 
breeding  of  have  yielded  10,000  pounds  of  butter  in  five  months,  or  about 
one  pound  apiece  per  day. 

During  the  last  half  of  the  last  century,  and  early  in  this,  the 
business  of  breeding  cattle  on  scientific  principles  developed  very  rapidlj 


value  of 
early  stock. 


cattle  in 
England. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


"7 


Alderney. 


Jeriey. 


Ayrshire. 


in  England.  Among  the  most  prominent  breeds  that  were  then  and  have 
since  been  known  there  was  the  Durham,  or  short-horn.  As  tlie  name 
imphes,  the  horns  are  short ;    while  the  boilv  looks  very  nearly 

,    .  ,         .  ,        ..  .        ,'  111  'i     Durham. 

s(iiiare-cornore(l  from  the  side,  if  one  omits  legs  and  head ;  and 
a  hide  colored  a  dark-red  piebald.  They  run  heavily  to  beef,  for  which 
tlicy  are  chiefly  prized ;  though  special  families  have  shown  good  dairy 
.lualities.  They  need  pretty  good  pnsf.i'-age,  however.  The  Devons  are 
red.  shapely,  with  medium-sized  horns,  a  soft  mellow  hide,  a  tendency 
tf)  fatten  well,  and  a  marked  adaptation  to  work.  The  (lalloways  are 
( liiefly  known  by  their  lack  of  horns,  and  are  not  so  highly  prized  as  some 
others.  The  .Mderneys  are  light-red  or  yellow  mixed  with  white 
in  color,  very  dainty  and  graceful  in  shape,  lightly  built,  well 
adajjted  to  a  thin  pasturage,  jioor  beef-producers  and  workers,  but  noted  for 
the  richness  of  their  milk.  The  Jerseys,  from  the  island  of  that 
name  in  the  Hritish  Channel,  are  small,  and  of  Norman  extraction 
like  the  .Mderneys.  they  are  greatly  prized  by  dairymen.  The  A)rshires,  roan 
and  piebald,  are  also  highly  esteemed  as  milk  and  butter  produ- 
cers. The  French,  Hungarian,  Swiss,  and  Italian  cattle  have  more 
or  less  of  a  reputation  on  the  Continent,  but,  like  the  Andalusian  fighting-bulls 
of  Spain,  are  not  so  valuable  for  industrial  purposes  as  the  English  stock,  and 
have  not  been  imported  at  all  by  American  stock-raisers. 

Probably  the  short-horns,  or  Dufhams,  have  been  more  extensively  im- 
ported and  bred  with  nati\  e  stock  than  any  other  foreign  breed ;  but,  while 
numerous  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  Atlantic  States,  they  are  far  _    . 

^  Durhams 

mure  common  in  the  Ohio  Valley.     Almost  the  first  i)ure  short-   mostexten- 
horns  imported  were  those  brought  to  Virginia  by  a  Mr.  Miller  in   s'^eiy  »m- 
1 793,  and  to  Maryland  by  Mr.  Cough  the  same  year.     Mr.  Patton 
took  some  of  these  cattle  to  Kentucky  in   1797,  and  they  were  widely  known 
in  tiie  blue-grass  region  as  "Patton  stock."     In   181 7  Col.  Lewis  Sanders  of 
Lexington,   Ky.,  imported  three  bulls  and  three   heifers    of    the    short-horn 
breed  ;  and  Capt.  Smith  soon   had  another  bull  and  heifer  of  tlie  same  sort. 
From  these  pure  stock  was  derived,  and  crosses  made  with  the  Patton  stock  ; 
and  the  two  were  the  parentage  of  the  choicest  Kentucky  breeds.     Very  early 
in  tliis  century  that  section  of  the  country  gave  great  attention  to    . 
stock-raising  for  the  Eastern    market,  and    Ohio  followed    Ken-   paid  to  sub- 
tucky's  exami)le  in  improving  her  stock.     Individuals  made  occa-   '"* '"  •*«"■ 
sional  importations  prior  to   1834,  in  which  year  a  company  was 
formed  in  the  Scioto  Valley  for  this  especial  puqjose.     The  amount  subscribed 
was  ^9,200,  all  of  which  was  invested  abroad  in  pure  short-horns.     The  cattle 
were  brought  to  the  company's  farm,  and  used  at  first  for  breeding,  and  then 
sold.     Prices  ran  everywhere  from  $250  to  ;? 2,500 ;  and  very  often  the  same 
animal  would  be  sold  again  in  a  short  time  at  a  decided  advance.      The 
amount  divided  by  the  company  three  years  after  organization  was  $25,760. 


iiS 


rNDVSTRlAI.    HISTOKY 


This  plan  was  imitated  afterwards  in  Kentucky  and  other  sections  of  the  coun- 
try. Short-horns  were  brought  into  Westchester  County,  New  York,  as  early 
as  1792  and  1796.  The  breed  was  not  kept  pure  long,  thougli  their  clescend- 
ants  are  recognizable  to-day.  Other  importations  were  made  into  New  York 
in  i<Si5,  1.S16,  and  1S22,  and  still  others  more  recently.  In  1.S24  Mr.  Powell 
of  I'hiladelphia  commenced  importing  short-horns,  and  continued  to  breed  and 
sell  them  extensively  for  many  years.  In  181S  a  short-horn  bull,  "  Codebs," 
and  a  heifer,  "  Flora,"  were  intnjduced  into  Massachusetts  by  Mr.  Coolidge, 
and  sold  to  Col.  Siimuel  Jatpies  of  Somerville  in  1820. 

Selecting  particularly  fine  native  ct)ws,  Col.  Jaipies  effected  a  cross  with 
this  bull,  and  developed  a  breed  long  kept  pure,  and  called  "  Cream- Pots." 
Coi.jaques'i  They  gave  extraordinarily  rich  milk.  Col.  Jaques  thus  describes 
experiments.  ^^^  experiment  made  with  the  milk  of  one  of  his  cows  by  the  fore- 
man of  his  stock-farm:  ".\("ter  milking  he  took  two  ([uarts  of  her  milk  out 
of  the  pail,  strained  it  into  a  pan,  and  allowed  it  to  stand  twenty-four  hours. 
Having  then  skimmed  the  cream  into  a  bowl,  he  churned  it  with  a  spoon  ;  ami 
in  one  minute,  by  the  clock,  he  formed  the  butter.  It  was  then  pressed  and 
worked  in  tlie  usual  way,  and  amounted  to  half  a  pound  of  pure  butter.  .After 
this,  the  following  practice  was  i)ursued  for  eight  or  ten  weeks  in  succession: 
At  each  of  four  successive  milkings  two  (juarts  of  the  strippings  were  straine<l 
into  a  pan,  and  then  churned.  The  average  time  of  churning  did  not  exceed 
ten  minutes  :  in  some  instances  the  butter  was  formed  in  five  minutes.  .After 
being  properly  worked  over  it  was  weighetl,  and  it  never  fell  short  of  two 
pounds." 

Stephen  \\'illiams  of  Northborough,   Mass.,   imported    a   fine 
short-horn  bull  in   i(Si8,  which  became  the  sire  of  much  grade 
stock.     Other   short-horns  were    taken    into    that  State  in    1S20. 
The  breetl  like  luxuriant  pasturage,  and  have  never  proved  very 
popular  in  New  England. 

I     ort  ti  n  Since  1840  short-horns  have  been  imported  in   even   greater 

of  short-        numbers  than  ever  before,  and  so  numerously  that  specific  men- 
tion is  unnecessary. 

In  181 7  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky  attempted  to 
introduce  the  Hereford  stock  into  that  State.  They  yield  less  beef,  but  recjuirc 
Henry  ''^^^  pasturage  than  short-horns,  and  are  poorly  adapted  to  the 

Clay's  im-  dairy.  The  enterprise  never  succeeded  very  well,  and  the  stock 
portations.  ^^^^  ^^^  Yf^K.  pure  very  long.  Admiral  Coffin  presented  a  Hero- 
ford  bull  to  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture  in  1824. 
The  animal  was  kept  at  Northampton,  and  left  a  numerous  progeny.  Fi\e 
bulls  and  seventeen  cows  and  heifers  were  imported  by  Messrs.  Corning  iv 
Lotham  of  Albany  in  1840,  Other  importations  were  added  to  this  henl 
later.  Animals  of  this  breed  have  been  introduced  elsewhere  ;  but  they  have 
never  attained  any  marked  prominence  or  popularity. 


Stephen 
WiUiams's 
importa- 
tions. 


horns  since 
1840. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


119 


breeds  of 
cows. 


'ITie  Devons  have  l)een  brought  here  and  l)recl  more  numerously.  The 
impression  that  the  native  New-Kngland  stock  is  of  Devon  extraction  seems  to 
1)0  due  to  llie  fact  that  it  is  mostly  red,  and  not  to  the  possession  importation 
of  real  Devon  traits.  The  Massachusetts  St)ciety  for  Promoting  °'  Devon*. 
Agriculture  has  imjjorted  some  North  Devons  within  the  i)ast  thirty  years  ;  but 
while  handsome  animals,  good  gra/iers,  and  fine  working-cattle,  they  have  not 
■ihown  the  dairy  (lualities  desired  in  New  ICngland.  Mr.  Patterson  of  Malti- 
more,  before  the  mitldle  of  this  century,  had  begun  breeding  Devons  expressly 
lor  milk,  and  greatly  improved  his  stock  in  this  regard.  The  Devons  arc  said 
to  be  the  favorite  imi)roved  stock  in  the  South  :  but  as  the  farmers  of  that 
sec  tion  give  little  attention  to  beef-raising,  the  dairy,  or  even  soiling,  cattle- 
breeding  has  attracted  less  attention  there  than  elsewhere  ;  though  the  exten- 
sive breeding  of  native  cattle  in  Texas  forms  an  important  exception  to  the 
general  rule. 

Alderneys,  Ayrshires,  and  Jerseys  have  long  been  bred  in  the  old  country, 
witii  a  view  to  developing  their  milk-producing  (jualities.  They  excel  rather 
ill  richness  than  in  quantity  of  milk,  for  which  reason  they  are  prized  more  by 
the  Initter-makers  than  by  the  cheese-manufacturers  ;  although  the   _    ,.  , 

•'  '  °  Qualitiei  of 

Ayisiiires  are  good  milkers.  A  letter  from  Richard  Mavis  to  the  several 
sei  retary  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  I'romotion  of  Agri- 
cniture,  dated  January,  1817,  mentions  a  pure  Alderney  recently 
imported  and  owned  by  him,  which  so  excelled  in  the  richness  of  its  milk, 
even  upon  poor  feed,  that  he  deemed  it  worth  being  published.  'I'his  cow 
gave  eight  pounds  of  butter  a  week  for  a  long  period.  .Alderneys  are  great 
favorites  with  small  farmers,  and  gentlemen  living  in  small  cities  and  keeping 
cows.  Ayrshires  have  been  introduced  into  New  England  and  New  York 
since  1830,  and  rather  more  extensively  since  1850.  So,  too,  with  the  Jer- 
seys. Mr.  John  P.  Gushing  of  Massachusetts  imported  an  Ayrshire  which  gave 
3.S64  (piarts  of  milk  in  a  year,  or  an  average  of  nearly  eleven  quarts  a  day  for 
the  whole  twelve  months.  The  .Ayrshire  generally  makes  a  better  return  in 
milk  for  her  feed  than  any  other  breed.  The  first  Ayrshire  imported  by  the 
Massachusetts  Society  lor  Promoting  Agriculture  yielded  sixteen  pounds  of 
butter  a  week,  on  grass-feed,  for  several  successive  weeks.  Grade  .Ayrshires 
are  almost  as  valuable  as  the  pure-blooded  animals,  and  are  consecpiently 
much  sought  after.  Jerseys  have  been  imported  by  the  Massachusetts  Society 
for  Promoting  Agriculture  since  1850,  and  by  individuals  in  New  England, 
New  York,  and  Maryland.  In  1853  there  were  but  seventy-five  pure-bred 
animals  in  Massachusetts ;  but  since  then  they  have  rapidly  multiplied  in  that 
section,  in  the  New- York  dairy-regions,  and  elsewhere. 

There  have  also  been  some  slight  importations  of  Galloways  and  Holsteins. 

There  has  been  rather  more  uniformity  in  the  increase  of  the  number 
of  cattle  in  this  country  during  the  past  century  than  in  some  other  kinds  of 
live-stock.      The  most  marked   development  of  interest  of  vvhich  we   have 


130 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


data  was  between  1850  and  i860.  We  have  no  record  of  the  number  of 
Unif  rmit  cattle  in  1840,  unfortunately;  and  it  was  a  little  prior  to  that 
of  increase  time  that  the  great  impulse  in  the  beef-raising  business  began  to 
in  United  j^g  jg](  'j'j^g  special  Start  taken  by  the  dairy-interest  was  not 
until  later.  In  another  chapter  we  consider  the  history  of  the 
<heese  and  butter  business  by  itself. 


The  beef- producing  industry  is  one  of  the  largest  and  oldest-estal)lishe(l 
branches  of  American  agriculture.     Beef  is  the  great  staple  among  fresh  meats 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


121 


for  the  better  class  of  people.     As  we  have  already  remarked,  the  opening  up 
of  the  extensive  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Valleys  to  emigration  gave    Beef-produ- 
Lrreat  impetus  to  stock-raising  in  those  sections:  so,  too,  did  the   cingindu»- 
improvements  in  our  grasses  and  in  the  breeding  of  cattle  ;  which   *'^*'' 
latter  influence,  together  with  the  growing  custom  of  fattening  cattle  on  corn, 
lias  increased  the  weight  and  value  of  our  beeves  very  decidedly  within  the 
past  few  years. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  estimate  the  value  of  milk  consumed  in  the  fami- 
lies of  owners  of  cattle ;  nor  is  it  necessary  to  describe  the  milk-  consump- 
pc' Idling  business  of  the  smaller  towns,  with  which  everyone  is  t'onofmUk. 
finiiliar.  The  consumption  of  this  fluid  in  the  larger  cities  necessarily  creates 
a  ;4ieat  demand,  which  must  be  supplied  from  the  adjacent  country.  Such 
cities  are  provided  with  stables,  where  the  cattle,  in  immense  numbers,  are 
fed  on  swill  and  distillery  refuse.  Of  late  years  so  great  objection  has  been 
made  to  the  milk  produced,  on  account  of  its  unwholesomeness,  that  greater 
pains  are  taken  to  obtain  milk  from  the  rural  regions.  This  is  now  brought 
into  town  by  railroad  ;  the  large  cans  which  are  ])laced  on  the  morning  milk- 
trains  having  been  picked  up  along  a  route  of  fifty  and  a  hundred  miles,  from 
all  directions,  in  accordance  with  a  preconcerted  plan.  The  city  agents  return 
the  cans  next  day  to  the  owners  ;  and  thus  a  regular  and  extensive  business  is 
carried  on. 

Before  the  great  railroad  era  of  the  West,  the  cattle  were  brought  eastward, 
to  the  more  populous  sections  of  the  country,  in  large  droves,     .\fter  the 
([iiicker  methods  of  transjjortation  for  other  freights  were  provided,   RaHroads 
use  was  made  of  them  for  cattle.     The  railroads  were  put  into   and  driving 
reciuisition  by  the  drovers  all  the  way  from  Texas  and  the  upper  '^''"  *'• 
lakes  to  New  York  and  Boston.     The  immense  increase   in  stock  in  Texas 
was  unattended  with  improvement  in  quality ;  but  the  cattle  of  the 
Ohio  basin  and  other  Western  sections  showed  marked  gain  in 
weight  and  f[uality.     In  view  of  the  vast   pasturage  to  be  found 
west  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Rivers,  in  the  buffalo  ranges, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  our  cattle-interest  is  yet  capable  of 
great  extension  as  the  market  therefor  is  opened. 

Herewith  we  give  a  statement  of  the   number  of  cattle    in   the   United 
States  for  a  few  years  past :  — 


Improve- 
ment of  neat- 
cattle  in 
Texas  and 
other  States. 


1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1876. 

Mikb  cows       .... 
(txen  and  other  cattle 

6,385,094 
".393.289 

8,585,735 
17,034,284 

25,620,019 

8,935.332 
14,885,276 

23,820,608 

11,260,800 
17,956,^00 

Total .... 

'7,778,383 

30,216,900 

Increase  in 
number  in 
recent  years. 


122  INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 

From  this  it  will  be  seen,  that,  between  i860  and  1870,  there  was  a  slight 
falling-off  in  the  total  number,  although  the  dairy-interest  held  its  own.  The 
loss  was  chiefly  in  the  States  where  the  civil  war  raged.  Mean- 
time, in  the  other  sections,  there  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  aver- 
age weight.  Since  1870  there  has  been  a  marked  increase  in 
numbers,  the  proportion  being  rather  higher  in  milch  cows  than  in  other 
cattle.  At  the  present  time,  New  York  has  the  largest  number  of  cows,  — 
1,526,200;'  Pennsylvania  comes  next,  with  845,300;  Illinois,  724,900;  Ohio, 
700,000;  Iowa,  665,300;  and  Texas  just  above,  and  Wisconsin  just  below, 
500,000.  Of  other  cattle,  Texas  has  altogether  the  most,  —  3,390,500  ;  Illinois 
ranks  second,  with  1,287,000  ;  California,  which  has  rather  dropped  the  dairy- 
interest  she  took  up  twenty  years  ago,  and  gone  to  beef-raising,  comes  next, 
with  1,053,500;  Iowa  has  958,800;  Missouri,  846,300;  Ohio,  775.000; 
Indiana,  764,000;  Pennsylvania,  701,000;  and  New  York,  663,200.  Kansas 
is  the  only  other  having  over  500,000. 

As  they  stand,  our  cows  are  worth  $27.32  apiece  on  the  average,  or  $307,- 
Vaiueof  743>2ii  in  all;  the  other  neat-cattle  are  reckoned  at  j;i7.io  each, 

neat-cattle,  q-  $307,105,-86  :  making  a  total  capital,  invested  in  this  class  of 
live-stock,  of  $614,848,597.'' 

As  will  be  seen  from  our  chapter  on  the  dairy-interest,  our  i)roducts  in 
that  department  amount  annually  to  $211,000,000.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
average  number  of  beeves  killed  between  1870  and  1875  '"  *'^'^  country  was 
at  least  5,000,000  annually.  Butchers  estimate  that  beeves  average  1,000 
Value  of  dai-  pounds  live  Weight,  and  that  i\\<i.fivc  ciuarters  (the  hide'  and  tallow 
ry  products,  count  for  a  quarter)  weigh  three-fifths  of  that,  or  600  pounds. 
This,  at  an  average  of  se\en  cents  for  beef,  hide,  and  tallow,  makes  a  yield  of 
$210,000,000.  Mr.  A.  A.  Kennard  of  Baltimore,  of  the  statistical  committee 
of  the  National  Dairy  Association,  estimates  the  fresh-milk  product  of  tlie 
country  to  be  worth  $250,000,000.  If  to  these  we  add,  at  a  venture,  $79- 
000,000  for  the  condensed  milk,  fertilizers,  and  lampblack  made  from  tlie 
blood  and  offal,  the  glue  and  bone  material  derived  from  the  refuse,  we  shall 
have  a  total  income  from  our  neat-cattle  of  $740,000,000. 

A  very  interesting  phase  of  our  cattle-raising  industry  is  the  new  export- 
trade  begun  in  fresh  beef.  Europe,  crowded  with  population  largely  engaged 
Export  of  in  manufacturing,  naturally  calls  on  us  for  agricultural  food- 
•"'*•  products.     We  have  sent  her  cereals,  fruits,  dairy-products,  and 

smoked  and  cured  meats,  for  many  years.     In   1875  the  experiment  of  sliip- 


'  Figures  of  1876. 

'  These  are  the  figures  of  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  in  his  report  for  llie  year  ending  June  30,  i57f. 
Mr.  A.  A.  Kennard  of  Baltimore  estimated  the  milch  cows  of  the  countr>'  to  be  worth  $480,000,000  in  March, 
1878;  and  a  like  increase  in  the  estimates  for  other  cattle  would  make  the  total  value  of  all  neat-caltlo  in  '.  i'-' 
United  States  little  if  any  short  of  $1,000,000,000. 

^  Hie  extent  of  our  trade  in  hides  wc  consider  under  the  head  of  Leather,  in  the  department  of  manufac- 
turers. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


"3 


iras  a  slight 
own.     The 
ed.     Mean- 
in  the  aver- 
increase  in 
m    in    other 
of  cows,  — 
,900 ;  Ohio, 
just  below, 
500 ;  Illinois 
id  the  dairy- 
comes  next, 

o,  775.000  •■ 
oo.     Kansas 

,ge,  or  $307,- 
j;i  7.10  each, 
this  class  of 

r  products  in 
ated  that  the 
country  was 
Iverage    1 ,000 
le  *  and  tallow 
600  pounds, 
cs  a  yield  of 
lal  committee 
ioduct  of  the 
venture,  $79- 
ide  from  the 
use,  we  shall 

new  export- 

Tcly  engaged 

dtural   food- 

Iroducts,  and 

lent  of  ship- 


Jng  June  30,  i?:''- 

i.ooo  ill  Man  h, 

I  iical-calllc  ill    '": 

Imcnt  of  maiuiM^- 


ping  fresh  beef  in  refrigerators  was  tried ;  and  so  marked  was  the  success 
attending  it,  that  a  rapid  building-up  of  this  particular  branch  of  business  has 
ensued. 

The  attempt  was  first  made  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  growers  and  shippers 
for  an  enlarged  market  and  higher  prices  for  fresh  beef.     Yankee   History  of 
ingenuity  and  the  Yankee  spirit  of  adventure  soon  found  a  way  to  *•''  business. 
meet  this  demand. 

On  the  nth  of  P^ebruary,  1875,  John  J.  Bale  of  New  York  shipped  twelve 
quarters  of  beef, 
twelve  sheep,  and  six 
hogs,  to  Liverpool  by 
the  steamer  "Baltic." 
'I'iie  meat  was  kept 
cool  and  fresh  by  fan- 
blowers  operated  by 
hand.  It  arrived  in 
good  condition  ;  and 
the  attempt  was  re- 
neweil  in  June  and 
.August  on  a  larger 
scale,  the  fans  being 
oiierated  by  steam. 
Taking  the  business 
off  Mr.  Bate's  hands, 
Mr.  Timothy  C.  East- 
man undertook  the 
enterprise  systemati- 
cally in  October  of 
that  year,  when  he 
exported  forty  -  five 
cattle  and  fifty  sheep. 
In  I)  ec ember  he 
doul)led  the  number  of  beeves,  and  since  then  has  steadily  increased  the 
quantity,  and  made  weekly  shipments. 

Mr.  Eastman  ships  to  Queenstown,  Glasgow,  and  Liverpool,  where  arrange- 
ments have  been  made  for  sending  it  to  his  markets  in  Dublin,  London,  Man- 
chester, Sheffield,  Birmingham,  Leeds,  Newcastle,  Dundee,  and  Edinburgii. 
He  keeps  the  meat  fresh  by  a  process  invented  and  patented  by  Mode  of  ship- 
Mr.  Bate.  Special  refrigerators  are  constructed  between  the  P>ng  beef- 
decks  of  the  steamships  of  the  Williams  and  (luion,  White-Star,  and  Anchor 
Lines ;  and  a  fan-blower  run  by  steam  keeps  the  inside  air  in  constant 
circulation  around  the  meat.  Tiie  quarters  are  neatly  wrapped  in  can- 
vas, and  kept  in  "  chilling- houses,"  or  large  refrigerators,  before   shipment ; 


CHICAGO  STOCK-VARDS. 


124 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


and,  when  put  aboard  the  vessels,  the  temperature  is  kept  down  to  thirty- 
eight  degrees,  or  six  degrees  above  freezing.  The  cold  to  which  the  meat 
is  subjected  at  first  closes  the  pores,  or  sears  it,  so  that  it  is  not  as  susceptible 
to  heat  and  taint  as  freshly-killed  meat.  Not  a  single  quarter  of  the  many 
Mr.  Eastman  has  shipped  has  arrived  tainted.  It  also  looks  as  fresh  and  bright 
as  newly-killed  beef,  nor  does  it  lose  any  of  its  flavor. 

Gillett  &  Sherman,  another  large  New- York  shipping-firm,  prepare  their 
beef  on  the  New-Jersey  side  of  the  river,  and  use  a  different  process.  They 
send  by  the  Cunard,  Inman,  and  National  Lines.  Samuels  &  Company  and 
Daniel  Toffey  &  Company  are  also  shipping  from  New  York  on  a  smaller 
scale.     Philadelphia  and  Portland  are  following  New  York's  example. 

This  beef  sells  in  foreign  markets  at  sevenpence  and  eightpence  a  pound ; 
which  is  twopence,  threepence,  and  fourpence  below  the  price  of 
ized  in  for-  homc-raised  beef  in  England.  Its  introduction,  therefore,  caused 
eign  mar-  ^  profound  sensation  ;  and  the  British  butchers  combined  to  stop 
the  importation,  but  without  success.  The  Queen,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  the  Lord-Mayor  of  London,  the  Governor  of  the  Bank  of  Flngland, 
and  the  leading  press,  have  tried  the  American  beef,  and  declare  it  fu'ly  ecjual 
to  that  raised  at  home. 

An  idea  of  the  sudden  growth  of  this  business  may  be  derived  from  the 
Amount  and  ^^^^  ^^"^ '"  October,  1875,  the  shipments  of  fresh  beef  amounted 
value  of  to  36,000  pounds ;  the  next  October  they  aggregated  2,719,685 

shipments,  pounds;  while  for  the  month  of  March,  1877,  they  were  6,707,tS55 
pounds.  For  the  year  ending  Dec.  31,  1877,  they  were  55,362,793  pounds, 
valued  at  $5,244,668.' 

Following  up  their  success  in  this  line,  stock-dealers  have  also  undertaken 
the  shipment  of  live  cattle  to  Europe  ;  and  it  is  thought  the  experiment  will 
Export  of  prove  a  success.  Prior  to  the  winter  of  1877  beef-cattle  had  not 
live-stock.  ^Ktiiw  shipped  to  foreign  countries  from  the  United  States  on 
account  of  the  expense,  the  risk  incurred,  and  'the  monopoly  of  the  Eastern 
markets  by  European  stock-raisers.  Canada,  however,  has  been  exporting  li\e- 
stock  to  the  mother-country  for  some  time,  and  with  such  success,  that  New- 
York  and  Philadelphia  merchants  are  now  trying  the  experiment.  The  siiip- 
ment  of  live-stock  across  the  ocean  has  made  necessary  the  construction  of 
apartments  on  vessels  cjuite  different  from  any  thing  heretofore  in  use.  Porta- 
ble stalls,  in  which  the  cattle  are  fostened,  have  been  specially  made,  so 
arranged  as  to  give  room  for  eating  and  drinking,  and  to  be  movable,  with  the 
cattle  in  them,  to  different  parts  of  the  vessel.  The  stock  is  thus  brought 
upon  deck  for  several  hours  each  day,  and  given  the  benefit  of  the  fresh  sea- 
air.     The  new  arrangement  is  strictly  an  American  invention,  and  its  friends 


'  If  to  these  figures  one  adds  $2,847,447,  the  value  of  salted  beef,  $4,527,452  for  butter,  $13,529,978  for 
cheese,  $122,343  for  condensed  milk,  $1,848,555  for  hides,  $6,513,569  for  tallow,  and  $19,356  for  glue,  he  will 
find  that  our  bovine  product  exports  amount  to  about  $35,000,000  annually. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


"5 


are  confident  that  its  introduction  will  open  Europe  and  every  part  of  the 
globe  as  a  market  for  the  stock-raisers  of  America. 

While  science  has  thus  triumphed  in  transporting  fresh  meats  for  a  long 
distance,  it  has  also  won  another  victory  in  preserving  them  for  a  very  long 
period,  and  in  so  compact  a  form  as  to  be  easily  transported  all  over  the  world, 
thus  economizing  vasily  the  sources  of  supply  ;  inasmuch  as  thou-  Compretied 
sands  of  cattle  were  formerly  slaughtered  in  South  America,  Aus-  ">«•*•• 
tralia,  and  Texas,  for  their  horns,  hides,  and  tallow,  while  their  flesh  was  lost, 
because  no  way  was  known  of  preserving  it.  This  problem  of  keeping 
meat  for  a  long  time  is  an  old  one  among  scientists,  and  Professor  Liebig's 
"extract  of  beef"  has  been  followed  by  numerous  imitations.  The  chief 
objection  to  Liebig's  "extract  of  beef "  and  its  imitations  has  been,  that  it 
could  be  used  only  in  liquid  form.  It  is  only  recently  that  the  preservation 
of  solid  meats  has  been  possible.  A  New-York  company  has  a  unique  process 
for  this  purpose.  The  beef,  or  other  meat,  is  first  dried  by  a  patent  blowing 
and  steam-evaporating  process,  after  the  removal  of  all  bone,  and  fatty  or 
gristly  substances.  It  is  then  packed  in  extremely  thin  slices,  which  will  retain 
their  good  qualities  for  an  unlimited  period  in  any  climate.  In  fact,  nothing 
remains  in  the  meats  that  can  decay.  A  quarter  of  a  pound  of  it  is  equal  to 
a  pound  of  solid  meat. 

The  manufacture  of  compressed  cooked  meats  is  a  new  industry  in  this 
country.  It  began  two  years  ago,  and  has  now  assumed  almost  gigantic  pro- 
portions. England  has  received  cooked  meats  from  Australia  for  twenty  years ; 
but  the  process  there  differs  greatly  from  the  American  method.  ^^^^  ^^ 
The  .American  meats,  however,  bring  better  prices  in  England  manufac- 
to-day,  and  bid  fair  to  outstrip  all  foreign  articles.  About  750,000  *"'^*' 
cans  per  month  are  produced  by  the  two  American  houses,  and  from  3,000  to 
4,000  cattle  per  week  are  slaughtered  in  Chicago  for  this  purpose.  For  the 
canning  of  corned-beef  and  beef-tongues  only  the  besi  materials  are  selected, 
tough  and  stringy  parts  being  discarded.  The  Western  States  naturally  lead 
the  way  in  this  industry,  as  they  are  nearer  the  main  sources  of  supply  and  the 
fertile  grazing-lands  of  the  North-West.  The  live  animals  are  brought  to 
Chicago,  and,  after  inspection,  are  slaughtered  in  the  abattoirs  of  the  company. 
The  carcasses  are  cut  into  the  required  weight,  and  the  bone,  sinew,  and 
gristle  eliminated.  After  another  inspection,  the  meats  are  ready  for  the  curing 
process.  The  best  portions  of  the  meat  are  exposed  to  the  action  of  steam 
in  immense  wooden  vats.  Metal  vats  would  be  very  undesirable,  on  account 
of  the  liability  to  mineral  poisoning.  The  beef  is  then  packed  in  strong  tin 
cans  of  various  sizes,  containing  two,  four,  six,  and  fourteen  pounds  each. 
They  are  hermetically  sealed,  and  the  contents  will  keep  pure  and  fresh  in  any 
climate  for  many  years.  They  have  none  of  that  musty  flavor  which  was  for- 
merly inseparable  from  canned  meats,  and  retain  their  flavor  a  long  time  after 
being  removed  from  their  metallic  envelops.    The  Australian  method  of  can- 


194 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ning  differs  from  the  American  in  this,  that  the  former  cooks  the  meat  whole 
in  cans,  while  the  latter  cooks  it  in  small  pieces  in  wooden  vats,  as  already 
described.  The  Australian  cans  often  present  a  peculiar  appearance  after 
the  cooling  process,  as  the  sides  are  sometimes  contracted,  and  look  as  if  they 
had  been  subjected  to  pressure.  The  extent  of  the  American  industry  is  also 
shown  in  the  number  of  employees,  the  salaries,  &c.,  of  a  Chicago  firm.  In 
one  establishment  7,000  men  and  150  girls  are  employed,  and  the  pay-roll  is 
1130,000  a  month.  The  floor  of  the  packing-house  covers  four  acres.  The 
refrigerator  will  accommodate  3,330,000  pounds.  Five  boilers,  with  a  capacity 
of  80,000  pounds,  are  used  for  rendering  tallow  from  marrow,  and  five  for 
furnishing  steam  for  cooking  and  the  elevators. 

Cooked  meats  by  the  Australian  method  have  been  known  in  America  for 
twenty  years ;  but  the  process  is  very  imperfect.  Owing  to  its  inferiority, 
the  sales  of  those  meats  have  been  poor.  The  demand  for  compressed  cooked 
Export  of  meats,  on  the  contrary,  has  been  so  great,  that  there  is  a  prospec- 
compresied  tive  business  with  governments  in  supplying  them  with  this  article. 
meats.  j^  j^  hoped  that  something  may  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of 

supplying  the  European  belligerents.  Large  invoices  are  now  sent  to  London, 
Liverpool,  Glasgow,  Belfast,  &c.  Germany  and  France  do  not  buy  them  as 
readily  yet  as  Great  Britain ;  but  the  promise  is  good  of  a  large  trade  eventu- 
ally in  those  countries.  "The  London  Grocer"  stated  recently,  that,  during 
one  week,  11,270  cases  of  packed  meat  were  received  at  Liverpool  from 
America.  Each  case  contained  twelve  cans,  making  a  total  of  135,240  cans. 
This,  hovve\er,  is  an  average  estimate,  as  one  house  in  this  country  has  fre- 
quently sent  out  20,000  cases  per  week. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


127 


CHAPTER    XI. 


BUTTER   AND   CHEESE. 


THE  history  of  American  dairying  was  a  comparatively  quiet  and  unevent- 
ful one  until  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  and  progress  was  com- 
paratively slow  in  its  development  until  about  that  time.     As  we  have  already 
remarked  in  discussing  neat-cattle,  our  stock  was  of  poor  quality  g,^^  p^^ 
during  the  last  century,  and  its  improvement  not  fairly  inaugurated  resainbe- 
iintil  1825-50.      The  earlier   efforts   at  improvement,  too,  were  <!'"""'• 
directed  rather  to  the  perfection  of  our  beef  than  to  increase  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  the  milk.     The  importations  of  foreign  breeds  were  mostly  of  short- 
horns until   1850.     A  little  before  that  time  the   importation    of  Ayrshires, 
Jerseys,  and  Alderneys,  was  undertaken.     During  the  next  decade  the  dairy- 
interest  was  confined  mostly  to  New  England  and  the  Middle  States,  with  a 
little  activity  in  the  North- West.      Not  until  the  conception  of  the  modern 
cheese-factory  system,  and  the  demonstration  of  its  marked  success,  did  the 
West  give  much  attention  to  the  subject. 

Cheese  is  altogether  the  older  of  the  two  sister  products  of  the  dairy  ;  and 
its  first  manufacture,  more  or  less  crude,  began  away  back  in  the  obscure  past. 
It  was  a  recognized  article  of  food  with  the  Greeks  and  early 
Romans,  to  whom  butter  was  known  only  as  an  ointment  for  the 
toilet,  not  as  an  article  of  diet.  Even  yet,  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  butter  is 
sold  by  apothecaries  as  a  vegetable  oil  for  medicinal  preparations,  though  not 
used  exclusively  for  such  purposes  by  any  means.  Unsalted  butter,  too,  is 
used  to  a  great  extent  by  Europeans.  The  practice  of  salting  it  —  doubtless 
intended  originally  for  preserving  it,  but  afterwards  resorted  to  for  the  taste  — 
seems  to  be  more  of  an  English  and  American  custom.  Partly  from  the 
nature  of  the  two  preparations,  and  partly  because  of  the  greater  attention 
given  to  cheese-making,  this  article  is  found  in  far  greater  variety  in  Europe 
than  is  butter ;  and  many  of  the  delicate  and  peculiar  varieties  of  foreign 
cheese  have  been  unequalled  by  any  American  product  for  flavor,  whereas 
no  butter  in  the  world  surpasses  that  of  our  dairies. 

Until  about  1830  cheese  was  made  in  this  country  by  the  farmers  exclu- 


Cheese. 


>a8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


sively,  and  generally  in  their  own   farmhouses,  in  small   quantities.      The 
Early  hiito-    cheeses  Were  taken  to  the  neighboring  village  or  town,  and  ex- 


ry  of  cheeie 
making. 


cheese  • 
making 


changed  for  groceries  or  dry-goods,  without  any  thought  of  the 
trade  with  large  cities,  or  the  export  business.  If,  in  the  course 
of  the  season,  the  housewife  made  more  than  a  dozen  cheeses  of  thirty  or 
forty  pounds  each,  she  thought  she  was  doing  unusually  well.  However,  the 
Fir»t  expor-  demand  for  this  product  continually  increased  among  the  working- 
tatton.  classes  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  our  export  trade,  chiefly  with 

England,  began  as  early  as  1 790. 

Along  toward  1830  the  profits  to  be  realized  from  cheese-making,  which 
Progreiiin  "^^^"^  more  remunerative  than  any  other  branch  of  agriculture 
in  the  Middle  and  Eastern  States,  began  to  be  realized.  In 
Herkimer  County,  New  York,  a  change  began  to  take  place  in 
the  methods  of  manufacture  which  had  been  formerly  in  use.     The  herds  had 

been  milked  in  the  open 
yards,  the  curds  were  worked 
in  tubs,  the  cheeses  squeezed 
in  rude  log-presses,  and  laid 
away  to  cure  in  a  corner  of 
the  cellar  or  of  some  "  spare 
room."  But  now  more  sys- 
tem was  employed ;  and 
apartments,  and  even  sepa- 
rate buildings,  were  con- 
structed on  the  farm  express- 
ly for  this  work.  A  contribu- 
tor to  "  Harpers'  Magazine  " 
says  of  this  stage  of  the  in- 
dustry's development,  — 

"  The  face  of  the  county 
(Herkimer)  became  dotted 
with  dairy-houses  as  with 
These  were,  for  the  most  part,  simple,  unpretentious  one-story 
structures,  distinguished  from  the  other  out-buildings  by  closely- 
battened  cracks  and  protruding  stovepipe.  The  apparatus  was 
simple  and  rude,  and  the  system  of  manufacture  a  family's  secret,  imparted 
with  wise  looks  and  an  oracular  phrase.  Skill  was  vested  in  intuition  :  it  was 
the  maiden's  dower,  the  matron's  pride.  ...  It  was  during  this  period  of  severe 
application  and  large  rewards  that  Herkimer  County  achieved  that  reputation 
for  fancy  cheese  which  is  still  her  traditional  right." 

Cheese  prod-  ^^  ^^^^  °f  ^^  distribution  of  the  cheese-production  at  the 
uct  prior  to  end  of  twenty  years  of  this  experience  may  be  gathered  from  the 
''**■  following  statement  of  the  cheese  production,  in  pounds,  from 

the  census  of  TS50 ;  — 


CHURN. 


corn-cribs. 

Herkimer 
County. 


OF    THE    LWITED    STATES.  129 

New  York 49,741,413 

Ohio 20,819,542 

Vermont 8,720,834 

Massachusetts 7,088,142 

Connecticut S.3('3.-77 

New  Hainpsliire 3. '96,563 

Pennsylvania 2,505,034 

Maine 2,434.454 

Illinois 1,278,225 

Michigan 1,011,492 

Other  States 3.366,917 

Total J0S-53S.^'^93 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  New  York  made  nearly  half  of  the  country's 
product  ;  and  that,  except  Ohio,  the  New- England  States  were  the  only  others 
that  yielded  any  considerable  ciuantity.  The  only  other  State  besides  the  above- 
named  which  made  over  half  a  niillion  pounds  was  Indiana,  which  is  credited 
with  624,564  pounds. 


fvS    _         -=■-" 


SHORT-HORN  BULL. 


It  was  Just  at  this  time  that  the  factory  system  was  invented,  which, 
being  widely  imitated,  gave  so  great  a  stimulus  to  the  business.  Factory  sys- 
It  may  be  remarked  in  this  connection,  that  not  only  in  this  coun-  *"■"  ^^evised. 
try,  but  also  in  Europe,  was  the  "  American  system  "  adopted.  The  cheese 
factory  is  the  gift  of  the  New- York  dairymen  to  the  world. 


130 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


\\  ; 


There  lived  in  Oneida  County,  New  York,  near  Rome,  a  gentleman  named 
Jesse  Williams,  who  had  achieved  a  great  reputation  for  his  cheeses  ;  and  at  that 
jette  w».  time  reputation  was  money,  for  it  brought  higher  prices  for  dairy 
liami.  products.     In  185 1  one  of  his  sons  was  married,  and  went  to  live  at 

an  adjacent  farm.  For  the  sale  of  his  son's  cheese  product,  Mr.  Williams  con- 
tracted with  the  marketmen  at  the  prices  he  obtained  for  his  own.  Rut  the 
question  arose,  how  he  should  insure  its  quality.  At  first  he  thought  of  going 
to  his  son's  house  every  day  to  superintend  the  "  make ; "  but  this  was  imprac- 
ticable. Accordingly,  he  proposed  that  the  milk  be  brought  to  him.  It  is 
always  the  case,  in  enlarging  a  manufacturing  business,  that  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion is  proportionately  lessened ;  and,  if  the  price  of  the  goods  be  maintained, 
the  profits  are  augmented.  A  few  of  Mr.  Williams's  neighbors  brought  milk  to 
his  establishment  for  three  years,  and  realized  these  advantages ;  and  then  the 
value  of  the  system  began  to  be  appreciated,  and  similar  factories  were  built 
elsewhere.  But  up  to  i860  there  were  not  more  than  twenty  of  them  in 
operation. 

The  influence  of  the  factory  system  was  not  perceptibly  felt  in  i860;  for 
the  total  product  of  that  year  was  a  trifle  less  than  that  of  1850.  Only  a  slight 
Firsteffectof  shifting  in  its  distribution  was  discernible.  New  York  showed  the 
factory  sys-  most  trifling  falling-off"  in  her  production :  so,  too,  did  the  New- 
**"■  England  States.     While  there  was  a  corresponding  increase  in  the 

Ohio  basin  and  the  North-West,  Wisconsin  and  California  showed  a  marked 
development,  but  one  of  promise  rather  than  attainment. 

During  the  next  decade  there  was  a  tremendous  springing-up  of  factories. 
Knowledge  of  the  system  had  then  been  well  disseminated.  Enterprising 
Rapid  In-  farmers  in  every  dairy  district  organized  for  tbe  purpose  of  build- 
ing a  factory.  The  economy  of  the  plan  was  apparent.  They 
would  bring  their  milk  in  large  cans  every  morning,  or  else  put 
them  where  the  factory  team  could  pick  them  up  on  its  rounds.  Contracts 
were  made  for  so  many  pounds  of  cheese  for  so  much  milk,  and  an  allowance 
Mode  of  °^  ^°  many  cents  per  pound  for  the  season's  "  make."  A  strict 
operating  account  of  each  day's  milk-deliveries  was  kept,  and  suitable  tests 
*  ""■  and  regulations  resorted  to  in  order  to  prevent  watering,  or  other- 

wise impairing  the  quality  of  the  milk.  The  prosperity  of  one  factory  being 
noticed,  often  a  rival  establishment  would  be  erected  in  the  same  neighborhood. 
By  1866  New- York  State  had  more  than  500  factories,  and  in  1870  they  num- 
bered 1,313  in  the  whole  country.  While  the  total  product  had  increased,  in 
round  numbers,  from  105,000,000  to  163,000,000  pounds,  all  but  53,000,000 
of  it  was  made  in  factories,  and  the  rest  on  farms  as  of  old.  As  will  be  seen 
•from  a  comparison  of  the  following  table  with  the  last,  the  increase  in  the 
aggregate  was  confined  almost  to  the  increase  in  New- York  State  j  and  the 
slight  gains  in  the  West  were  made  at  the  expense  of  New  England  mostly, 
Vermont  holding  her  own  better  than  her  sister  States. 


crease  of  fac 
tories. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


13' 


NO.    FAC- 

POUNDS  FACTORV- 

FOUNDS   FARM- 

STATES. 

TORIES. 

MAUE. 

MADE. 

TOTAL  PRODUCT. 

New  York        .... 

818 

78,006,048 

22,769,964 

100,776,012 

(ihii) 

'9S 

15.984.390 

8,169,486 

24,153,876 

Vermont  . 

28 

2,984,179 

4,830,700 

7,814,879 

Illinois 

69 

4.07  2.30  ' 

1,661,703 

5,734,004 

Massachusetts  . 

23 

1,885,436 

2.245.873 

4.I3I.3O9 

California 

.. 

3.395.074 

3.395.074 

Wisconsin 

54 

1,696,783 

1,591,798 

3,288,581 

I'cnnsvivania    . 

27 

1,647,467 

1.145.209 

2,792,676 

Michigan  . 

30 

1,650,997 

670,804 

2,321,801 

Connecticut 

7 

27,400 

2,031,194 

2.058,594 

Iowa 

>4 

256,906 

1,087,741 

1.344.647 

Maine 

.. 

I.I  52.590 

1,152,590 

New  Hampshire 

2 

23.250 

849.11" 

.          872,368 

Indiana     . 

17 

107,680 

283,807 

391.487 

Other  States  and  Territoi 

ries 

129 

893,272 

1.557.090 

2,450,362 

Total 

.... 

109.435.229 

53.492.153 

162,927,382 

In  1877  the  total  cheese  product  of  the  country  was  estimated  at  300,000,- 
000  pounds,  or  nearly  twice  that  of  1870.     The  increase  is  largely  due  to  the 
further  extension  of  the  factory  system,  though,  in  a  measure,  to  cheese  prod- 
our  export  demand.     The  total  value  of  our  cheese  product  an-   "=* '"  "*"• 
nually  is  now  about  $36,000,000. 

Although  reliable  data  are  not  accessible,  it  is  probable  that  cheese  was 
exported  from  this  country  previous  to  the  Revolution.  Since  then  there  has 
been  a  constant  though  varying  export  trade  in  this  commodity.  Export  of 
Kurope  continually  seeks  food  supplies  here  ;  and,  with  facilities  for  =heese. 
producing  more  than  we  need  at  home,  we  are  easily  enabled  to  sell  abroad. 
Our  cheese  goes  almost  altogether  to  Great  Britain,  whose  working-men  use  it, 
with  bread  and  beer,  as  one  great  staple  of  their  diet. 

In   1790  we  exported  144,734  pounds  of  cheese.     Five  years  later  the 
amount  was  abnormally  large,  —  2,343,093  ;  for  the  average  froin  1795  to  1805 
was  only  about  1,400,000  ;  and  thereafter  the  figures  did  not  reach  statistics 
1.000,000,  except  in  1819,  1825,  1831,  and  1833,  until  1841,  when  relating  to 
the  export  was  1,748,471  pounds.     This  was  at  the  time  the  Her-   "p°'*"- 
kinier-county  product  was  becoming  so  famous.     During  the  next  eight  years 
the  figures  increased  very  rapidly  ;  and  in  1849  they  were  17,433,682,  —  tenfold 
the  export  of  184 1.     A  slight  subsidence  ensued  in  the  trade,  and  for  eleven 
years  the  average  export  was  about  8,360,000  pounds.     Since  then  they  have 
been  as  follows  :  — 


i 


132  JNDUSTKIAL    ///STOA'Y 

fOl'ND*. 

1861 32,,)Oi,4jS 

1862 34,052,078 

i!^<Jj 42,045,054 

1S64 47i7S«..''  ~ 

1865 53.089,, 

1866 36,411,9 

•867 5-'3S-.'27 

1868 51,097,203 

"869 3';>'J'J0.367 

1870 57,296,327 

1871 63,6<>S,807 

1872 66,204,025 

1873 80,366,540 

1874 90,611,077 

1875 101,010,853 

1S76 97,676,264 

1877 112,430,384 

Our  principal  rivals  in  the  European  market  now  are  Canada  and  Aus- 
tralia. Yet  we  are  able  to  dispose  of  more  tiian  a  third  of  our  tocUk  t 
yearly   at  good   figures,   anil   have   little   occasion    to   worry  abc  mipc- 

tition. 

But  little  attempt  has  been  made  in  this  country  to  manufacture  the  more 
delicate  and  richer  cheeses  for  which  the  Old  World  is  so  f;imous  :  instead, 
Quality  of  there  is  a  great  temptation  to  rob  the  cheese  of  part  of  its  richness 
cheese.  fgj.  [jytter.     Probably  there  is  more  skim-milk  cheese  made  here 

tluii  cheese  from  the  unskimmed.  Within  a  few  years,  attempts  have  been 
made,  though  with  slight  success,  to  introduce  into  the  skim-milk  the  clean  fat 
from  which  an  imitation  of  butter  is  made ;  namely,  oleo-margarine.  'I'he 
object  is  to  restore  an  animal  oil  to  replace  that  of  the  cream.  It  is  found, 
however,  that  the  skim-milk  does  not  take  up  the  oleo-margarine  readily,  ami 
very  little  such  cheese  is  made  or  marketed. 

The  history  of  American  butter-making  is  rather  less  eventful  than  that  of 
cheese-making.  In  quantity,  we  produce,  perhaps,  three  times  as  much  butter 
American  ^^  chccse,  although  provision-dealers  pretend  to  say.  that  the  ccii- 
butter  male-  sus  returns  of  butter  making  fall  short  of  the  true  yield.  Butter  is 
'"*  consumed  in  much  larger  quantities,  but  probably  by  a  smaller 

number  of  people  in  the  country,  than  cheese.  Its  use  is  by  no  means  uni- 
versal. 

Among  the  several  reasons  why  this  particular  dairy-interest  has  had  so 

equable  and  quiet  a  growth  in  this  country,  the  most  conspicuous 

provement      ^re  the  Want  of  any  marked  improvement  in  the  apparatus  for 

In  mode  of      making  butter,  the  less  attention  given  to  the  foreign  market,  and 

the  greater  difficulties  of  insuring  excellence  in  the  quality  than 

in  the  manufacture  of  cheese. 


OF    THE    L' XI TED    STATES. 


m 


From  pre-RevoIutionary  times  until  today  the  churn  principally  used  in  the 

United  States  has  been  the  dash-churn,  originally  small,  and  operated  by  hand. 

afterwards  nm  by  doe-ijower  treadmill,  and,  in  rei'ular  creameries   _  ,. 

of  the  modern  day,  by  steam,  yet  substantially  the  same  in  prin-   ingnota 

( ii)le.     American  butter,  in  lots,  has  proved  as  choice  as  anv  made   "'ence  until 

'  ■  recently. 

in  any  other  (|uarter  ol"  the  globe.     IJut  makers  have  not  studied 

uiiirormity  in  (piality,  so  that  our  exports  could  have  a  fixed  standing.  This 
variability  is  strongly  complained  of  by  foreign  produce-buyers ;  and,  by  not 
remedying  the  evil,  American  dairymen  have  failed  to  make  as  much  as  they 
mij,'ht  of  the  foreign  market.  Finally,  butter-making,  which  involves  a  num- 
ber of  fine  points,  has  never  been  reduced  to  a  science  until  comparatively  a 
few  years  ago. 

In  the  first  jilace,  it  was  not  until  1830  or  1840  that  cattle  were  imported 
or  bred  with  a  special  view  to  dairy-purposes  to  any  great  extent.  Since  then 
there  has  been  much  done  in  this  direction.     Probably  it  has  not   , 

'  Improve- 

lieen   fairly  realized,  until  a  later  date,  that  the  character  of  the   mcnt  in  anU 
fodder  which  cattle  receive  makes  a  difference  with  the  flavor  and   '"■'»'<"' 
ri(  hness  of  their  milk,  as  does  also  their  health.     It  is  a  matter  of  butter,  and 
comparatively  recent  discovery  that   the   milk  of  different    cows  mode  of 
varies  not  only  in  richness,  but  in  ([uickness  with  which  its  butter  them. 
(omes  in  churning,  and  that  great  c  're  should  be  exercised  in 
mixing  milk,  lest  the  fullest  product  be   not  obtained.     The  importance  of 
ventilation  in  apartments  where  milk  is  set,  and  of  keeping  the  contents  of  the 
churn  at  just  the  right  temperature,  have   not  been   understood  until    (juite 
recently.     Still,  now  that  the  flictory  system  —  originally  devised  for  cheese- 
making,  and  employed   to  a  tar  less  extent  for  butter  —  has  become   fairly 
established,  we  may  look  to  see  a  more  wide-spread  application  of  scientific 
principles  to  the  industry. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  the  present  century  butter  and  cheese  making  were 
principally  conducted  in  the  New-Fngland  and  Middle  States,  although  the 
South  and   West  engaged   in  it  a  little.     Ohio  was    among   the 
eadiest  to  attain   prominence  in  the  latter  section.     At  first  the   b^'theEast 
Western  breeders   aimed  solely  at  beef     'ioward  the  middle  of  and  West  in 
this  century  they  gave  mon.  attention  to  dairy  products,  to  the  |j^'*  ""*"'■ 
good  quality  of  which  the  nutritious  antl  delicious  grasses  of  that 
section  were  peculiarly  adapted.     Consetpiently  there   has   been   a   marked 
development  in  the  business  of  making  butter  in  the  West  and  North-West 
for  twenty  or  thirty  years  i)ast ;  while,  with  the  exception  of  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Vermont,  there  has  been  no  particular  gain  in  the  East.     Inileed, 
New  England  has  lost  ground,  on  the  whole,  as  have  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
Tlie  distribution  and  movement  of  the  industry  will  appear  from  the  following 
table :  — 


134 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


STATES. 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

New  York 

79,766.094 

103,097,280 

• 

107,147,526      „ 

Pennsylvania 

39,878,418 

5S.653.S" 

^0,834,644 

Oiiio       . 

34449.379 

48, 543. '62 

50,266,372 

Illinois  . 

12,526,543 

28,052,551 

36,083,405 

Iowa 

2,171,188 

ii,953,<;66 

27,512,179 

Michigan 

7,065378 

15,503,482 

24,400,185 

Indiana  . 

12,881,535 

18,306,651 

22,915,385 

Wisconsin 

3.633.750 

13,611,328 

22,473,036 

Vermont 

12,137,980 

•5.900,359 

17,844,396 

Missouri 

7.S34.3S9 

■   12,704,837 

14,455,825 

The  Virginias 

11,089,359 

13,464,722 

12,023,744 

Kentucky 

9.947.523 

11,716,609 

11,879,978 

Maine 

9,243,811 

11,687,781 

11,636,482 

Tennes^  e 

8.139.585 

10,017,787 

9,571,069 

Minnesota 

1,100 

2.957.673 

9,522,010 

New  Jersey    . 

9,487,210 

10,714,447 

8,266,023 

California 

70s 

3.095.035 

7,969,744 

Connecticut    . 

6,498,119 

7,620,912 

6,716,007 

Massachusetts 

8,071,370 

8,297,936 

6,559,161 

Other  States  . 

38,531,280 

53.761,623 

45.9'3.5'2 

Total 

3 '3.345.306 

459.681,372 

514,092,683 

It  is  believed,  that,  within  the  past  few  years,  our  annual  product  of  butter 
has  been  raised  to  900,000,000  pounds,  but  not  by  any  sudden  leap.  It  is 
Value  of  believed,  rather,  that  the  figures  of  1870  should  be  larger  than  in 
v>roduct.  ^hig  table.  The  estimated  value  of  the  total  product  annually  is 
now  about  J!  175,000,000. 

Butter  varies  greatly  in  quality,  according  to  the  season  and  locality  in 
whirli  it  is  made  ;  and,  as  some  of  the  poor  winter  butter  is  often  adulterated 
Quality  of  with  lard,  the  inferior  grades  generally  called  cooking-butter  are 
butter.  sometimes  little  better  than  soap-grease.     The  choicer  makes  of 

grass-butter,  on  the  other  hand,  are  rather  rare,  and  much  sought  after.  Some 
dairying  States  that  produce  small  quantities  have  excelled  in  quality.  New- 
England  butter  has  always  had  a  high  rank,  especially  that  made  in  Vermont. 
In  New- York  State,  Orange  County  long  held  the  palm ;  but  the  other  large 
producing  counties  —  St.  Lawrence,  Delaware,  Jefferson,  Chatauqua,  Chenango, 
and  Otsego  —  have  also  good  reputations.  Pennsylvania  butter,  especially  that 
made  near  Philadelphia,  has  generally  Mood  high.  Even  after  the  Western 
States  became  large  producers,  their  product  did  not  bring  as  good  a  price ; 
but  of  late  years  the  quality  has  very  decidedly  improved. 

Our  butter  exports  have  not  amounted  to  much  until  within 
a  few  years.     In  1872  they  amounted  to  but  7,746,261  pounds:  in  1877  they 


Export. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


135 


Origin  o(  it. 


aggregated  23,150,614,  and  were  worth  $4,527,452.    This,  added  to  the  value 
of  the  cheese  export,  makes  $18,057,430. 

Within  the  past  five  years  the  manufacture  of  an  imitation  of  butter,  called 
oko-mar^arine,  has  attained  sufficient  prominence  to  deserve  mentijn  in  this 
connection.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  attempts  to  replace  oieo-marKa- 
tiie  natural  oil  of  cream  with  other  animal  fat  in  making  cheese  ''"'• 
from  skim-milk.  That  practice  is  resorted  to  only  to  a  limited  extent,  and 
in  such  cases  the  suet-fat  introduced  constitutes  only  a  small  proportion  of 
the  article  produced.  The  substitution,  however,  is  complete  in  the  manu- 
facture of  artificial  butter,  inasmuch  as  this  substance  is  all  fat,  and  not 
caseine.  Moreover,  the  business  is  carried  on  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
the  production  of  oleo-margarine  cheese.  •         ■      , 

The  idea  seems  to  have  originated  in  England  over  thirty  years  ago.  In 
1846  one  William  Palmer  took  out  a  patent  for  "treating  fat  or  fatty  matters 
from  beef,  mutton,  veal,  and  lamb :  "  but  the  product  obtained 
was  quite  unlike  butter  in  color  and  taste ;  it  looked  more  like 
lard.  The  first  patent  taken  out  in  this  country  was  issued  in  1871  to  H.  W. 
Bradley,  and  the  second  to  one  Peyrouse  in  the  following  November.  These 
both  employed  beef-suet  chiefly,  and  were  intended  rather  for  cooking  than 
for  use  on  the  table.  The  next  improvement  was  that  embraced  by  the  Paraf 
patent,  in  April,  1873.  ■ 

The  product  of  this  process  is  called  oleo-margarine,  from  the  supposition 
that  its  two  elements  are  oleine  and  margarine.  The  so-called  margarine, 
however,  is  resolvable  into  stearine  and  palmitine ;  and,  besides  constituents 
these,  the  new  product  contains  butyrine,  one  of  tlie  oils  of  true  o(  oieo  mar- 
butter,  in  a  small  degree.  The  manufacture  is  conducted  ^a""*. 
secretly,  but  is  said  to  be  exceedingly  cleanly.  Its  prominent  features  are 
the  extraction  of  clear  fat  from  clean  beef-suet,  and  churning  it  with  milk. 
No  coloring-matter  is  used,  inasmuch  as  the  substance  is  already  orange- 
hued.  It  is,  of  course,  salted  like  ordinary  butter.  In  appearance  it  differs 
from  real  butter  only  in  being  less  waxy,  and  in  taste  chiefly  in  the  absence 
of  flavor.  Indeed,  the  resemblance  is  so  strong,  that  only  experts  can  dis- 
tinguisii  between  the  two  compounds. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  oleo-margarine.  The  first  may  be  called  the 
'•  original  and  genuine."  In  inaking  it  the  oil  is  adulterated  with  just  enough 
cream  to  allow  of  its  being  churned,  the  proportion  of  cream  to  oil  being 
about  one  to  twenty.  The  "original  and  genuine  "  is  made  in  Two  kinds  of 
large  factories  ojjerating  under  the  Mege  patent.  Butter-dealers  oieo-marga- 
(iaim  to  be  able  to  distinguish  this  article  from  dairy  butter  quite  ""*' 
reailily,  lacking  as  it  does  the  "  texture  "  of  the  latter.  The  second  kind  is 
that  in  which  the  oil  has  been  largely  adulterated  with  cream,  —  perhaps  with 
fifty  or  sixty  per  cent  of  cream.  This  kind  is  made  by  country  dairymen, 
and.  it  is  believed,  in  considerable  quantities  ;  and  to  detect  its  composition 
baftles  the  skill  of  any  except  the  most  experienced  dealer. 


136 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


in  Philadel 
phia. 


A  Philadelphia  correspondent  of  one  of  the  New- York  newspapers  ' 
describes  seeing  half  a  ton  of  "  ole  "  in  the  Quaker  City,  fresh  from  New  York, 
_,   ,  and  labelled  "  Philad  k  Best  Print."     He  says  it  looked  exactly 

First  appear-  •'  •' 

anceof'oie"   like  the  best  butter  coming  to  that  market;  but  it  was  made  of 
any  thing  except  pure  cream.     It  tasted  a  little  like  butter ;  but 
when  one  thinks  of  fat  and  stearine  and  suet,  and  a  shade  of 
tallow,  what  would  be  his  thoughts  when  spreading  it  on  a  piece  of  bread? 

It  is  prepared  in  long  flat  rolls  of  a  pound  each,  a  shape  so  well  known 
by  the  lovers  of  butter  made  in  the  counties  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Produce 
Exchange  are  frightened  about  this  new-comer,  and  have  taken  up  arms 
against  it.  While  they  fight,  an  agent  has  been  appointed,  and  it  will  be 
sold  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  What  the  proportions  of  grease  exactly  are 
the  correspondent  did  not  know :  but  there  is  at  least  a  candle  of  tallow  in 
every  pound  ;  so  that,  when  one  eats  his  penny-dip,  he  may  expect  a  double 
portion  of  the  Quaker's  "  light  within."  The  New- York  stockholders  in  the 
new  company  say  they  can,  with  their  present  facilities,  turn  out  seventy  thou- 
sand pounds  per  day.  It  is  intended  for  the  European  market ;  but  the 
first  batch  turned  up  there,  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  getting  references.  In 
appearance  it  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  very  highest-priced  butter ; 
and,  though  this  is  sold  for  about  ten  cents  per  pound  less  than  the  best  and 
genuine,  it  certainly  cannot  cost  more  than  twelve  cents  per  pound. 

The  success  of  this  latest  experiment  has  led  to  the  manufacture  of  oleo- 
margarine in  New-York  City  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  institution  of  lesser 
Success  of  factories  under  the  same  patent  in  other  cities.  Inasmuch  as  the 
the  industry,  article  can  be  produced  so  much  more  cheaply  than  butter,  it 
proves  a  formidable  rival  to  the  real  dairy  product ;  and  the  dairymen  have 
secured  the  enactment  of  laws  in  New  York  and  Connecticut,  as  they  doubt- 
less will  in  other  States  before  long,  retiuiring  oleo-margarine  to  be  sold  as 
such,  and  not  as  butter.  Upon  the  first  announcement  of  this  industry,  po[)u- 
lar  prejudice  rose  high  against  it ;  but  the  new  compoimd  is  already  manufac- 
tured and  consumed  to  a  very  great  extent,  —  probably  not  short  of  two  million 
pounds  annually. 

.      .  •  Journal  of  Commerce. 


\K 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES, 


»37 


CHAPTER    XII. 


THE    HORSE. 


NOWF!^.RE  in  the  world  is  the  horse  prized  so  highly  as  in  Arabia,  and 
nc.hing  expresses  an  Arabian's  admiration  for  the  animal  more  clearly 
than  the  story  told  by  an  Arab  concerning  his  origin.     When  Abd-el-Kader 
was  questioned   on    this  point   by  the    French  Government,  he   Horse  of 
replied,  "  When  God  wished  to  create  the  horse,  he  saixl  to  the   Arabian 
south  wind,  '  I  wish  to  form  a  creature  out  of  thee  :  be  thou  con-   °"*''"' 
densed.'    Afterward  came  the  angel  Gabriel,  and  took  a  handful  of  that  matter, 
and  presented  it  to  God,  who  formed  of  it  a  light-brown  or  sorrel  horse,  saying, 
'  I  have  called  thee  Horse.     I  have  created  thee  an  Arab,  and  I  have  given 
thee  the  color  rouenenita  (red  mixed  with  black).     I  have  bound   fortune 
upon  the  mane  which  falls  over  thine  eyes.     Thou  shalt  be  the  lord  of  all 
other  animals.     Men   yhall  follow  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest.     Good  for 
the  pursuit  as  for  flight.     Thou  shalt  fly  without  wings.     Riches  shall  repose 
in  tliy  loins,  and  wealth  shall  be  made  by  thine  intercession.'  " 

Fossil  remains  prove  the  existence  of  the  horse  in  the  New  as  well  as  in 
the  Old  World  before  the  flood.     He  traversed  our  soil  as  the  con-   Geological 
temporary  of   the  mastodon.     While  his  race    here  became  ex-   "^^  °'  horse. 
tinct,  and  he  was  unrepresented  in  the  Western  Continent  at  the  time  of  its  dis- 
covery by  Columbus,  in  the  Old  World  he  was  fortunately  preserved. 

Wlien  Columbus  made  his  second  journey  to  the  New  World,  in  1493,  he 
took  horses  along  with  him ;  but  Cabega  de  Vaca  first  introduced  them  into 
the  United  States  in  1527.  Forty-two  were  imported;  but  all  perished  soon 
after  their  arrival  in  Florida.  The  wild  horses  found  on  the  plains 
of  Texas  and  the  Western  prairies  sprang  from  a  Spanish  ancestry, 
and  probably  descended  from  those  brought  over  by  De  Soto, 
whi(  h  were  abandoned  when  that  ill-starred  expedition  came  to  an  end.  In 
1604  a  French  lawyer,  M.  Lescarbot,  brought  over  horses  to  Acadia;  and 
from  these  the  French,  who  extended  their  settlements  into  Canada  in  1608, 
took  the  horses  which  probably  laid  the  foundation  of  what  are  now  known  as 
Canadian  ponies,  having,  no  doubt,  lost  much  of  their  original  size  in  conse- 


Importation 
of  horses  by 
Columbus. 


I 


8 


138 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


quence  of  ihe  severity  of  the  climate  and  scanty  forage.  Though  degenerated 
in  size,  they  still  show  traces  of  Norman  blood,  from  which  they  probably 
sprang. 

Many  improvements  have  occurred  in  the  horse  since  his  re-appearance  in 
this  country.  The  changes  wrought,  especially  during  the  last  fifty  years,  have 
been  marvellous ;  yet  may  they  not  be  regarded  as  indications  only  of  other 
Improve-  ^"'^  ^^''^  more  important  improvements,  when  a  still  higher  degree 
ments  in  the  of  knowledge  is  accjuired  respecting  the  rearing  and  training  of 
°'^"'  them  ?    It  is  a  striking  proof  of  what  may  happen  to  animals  under 

domestication  ;  and,  however  great  or  small  may  be  the  (juantity  of  truth  con- 
tained in  Darwin's  famous  law  concerning  the  origin  of  animals,  no  one  will 
deny  the  magnitude  of  the  changes  wrought  in  the  horse  in  respect  to  his  size, 
speed,  strength,  and  other  qualities,  since  special  attention  was  paid  to  these 
matters,  nor  (juestion  the  agency  by  which  these  results  have  been  produced. 
Great  attention  has  been  given  to  this  subject  during  the  last  fifty  years,  which 
we  shall  now  proceed  briefly  to  sketch. 

THE    TROTTING-HORSE. 

The  trotting-horse  is  very  largely  the  product  of  American  thought  and 
cultivation.  Trotting,  in  most  cases,  is  an  acquired  gait ;  nor  has  much  atten- 
tion been  paid  to  it  until  within  sixty-five  years.  The  ancestry  of  the  trotting- 
horse,  however,  goes  farther  back.  Messenger,  from  which  many 
of  the  fast  horses  in  this  country  have  descended,  was  imported 
into  Philadelphia  from  England  in  May,  1 788.  Messenger  was  thorough-bred, 
and,  prior  to  his  importation,  ran  races  on  the  English  turf  with  moderate 
success ;  and  without  doubt  it  was  the  intention  of  those  who  lirougiit  hrm  to 
this  country  to  make  him  the  sire  of  horses  that  should  gallop  rather  than 
trot.  His  father,  Mambrino,  evinced  a  natural  disposition  to  trot ;  and  this 
trait  was  inherited  by  many  of  his  progeny.  Messenger  was  trained  for  tlie 
running  turf  in  England  ;  and  in  1 788  the  running  horse  was  popular  in 
certain  sections  of  America,  and  hence  the  inference  is  clear  that  he  was 
imported.  His  color  was  gray,  and  he  was  fifteen  hands  and  three  incbes 
high,  and  the  colts  which  were  sired  by  him  showed  fine  form.  In  Pennsyl- 
vania, however,  —  into  which  State  he  was  first  imported,  —  the  legislature 
passed  a  law  prohibiting  racing ;  and  so  the  progeny  of  this  famous  stallion 
was  trained  for  the  road  instead  of  the  track.  In  the  autumn  of  1 793  Mes- 
senger left  Pennsylvania  for  New  York,  where  he  remained  until  1808,  wlien 
he  died  of  the  colic  at  Oyster  Bay,  L.I.  As  he  had  long  been  famous  and 
popular,  he  was  buried  with  military  honors,  a  volley  of  musketry  being  fired 
over  his  grave. 

As  the  trotting-horse  was  not  fashionable  at  that  period,  the  record  is  not 
very  perfect  concerning  the  descendants  of  this  famous  horse.    '*  Many  of  the 


Messenger. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


139 


degenerated 
[ley  probably 

ppearance  in 
ty  years,  have 
only  of  other 
higher  degree 
d  training  of 
animals  under 
of  truth  con- 
Is,  no  one  will 
»ct  to  his  size, 
paid  to  these 
ien  produced. 
;y  years,  which 


11  thought  and 
IS  much  atten- 
of  the  trotting- 
n  which  many 
was  importotl 
thorough-bred, 
with  moderate 
)rought  htm  to 
op  rather  than 
trot ;    and  this 
trained  for  the 
^vas  popular  in 
ir  that  he  was 
d  three  inches 
In  Pennsyl- 
the  legislature 
famous  stallion 

of  1793  ^^^'^' 
itil  1808,  when 
en  famous  and 

try  being  fired 

e  record  is  not 
"  Many  of  the 


CONESTO(;\  HORSE. 


I40 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


il 


KM 


iii 


earlier  horses  which  won  distinction  on  the  track  —  such  as  Top-Gallant. 
Early  trot-  Paul  Pry,  and  Whalebone  —  are  known  to  have  descended  from  him. 
ting-horses.  Abdallah,  the  son  of  Mambrino,  and  the  grandson  of  Messenger. 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  best  trotting-sires  that  the  country  has.  produced. 
The  horse,  however,  was  not  much  appreciated  in  iiis  time.  His  best  daugli- 
ter,  probably,  was  Lady  Blanche,  a  mare  that  acquired  celebrity  on  the  road 
and  turf,  and  which  lived  to  a  green  old  age,  and  literally  died  in  the  harness. 
It  is  claimed,  that,  with  proper  care,  she  would  have  trotted  very  fast.  Thirty 
and  forty  years  ago  the  art  of  training  and  driving  had  not  been  reduced  to  a 
science  as  now.  Abdallah's  best  son  was  the  horse  now  so  widely  known  as 
Rysdyk's  Hambletonian.  Through  sire  and  dam,  Hambletonian  has  four 
direct  courses  of  Messenger  blood.  As  he  is  a  leading  progenitor,  perhaps 
a  tabulated  pedigree  will  interest  the  reader.  This  one  pedigree  will  illustrate 
the  manner  in  which  the  record  of  equine  genealogy  is  kept." 


Rysdyk's 
Hambletonian 


Mambr 


.      \ 

MIO  I 


(  Messenger. 

(  Sauerkraut. 
Abdallah?  (Dam   ?  (Whirligig. 

(  Amazonia.  (  Dam   | 

(  Miss  Slamerkin. 
i  Mr.  Bell-founder. 
Charles  Kent  Mare  \  i  Hambletonian. 

(  One  Eye  |  i  Messenger. 

(  Dam  by  Messenger  < 

(  Dam  by  Messenger.' 


By  many  it  is  claimed  that  Hambletonian  owes  his  success  as  a  trotting- 
sire  from  his  strong  infusion  of  Messenger  blood.  He  was  ibaled  May  5, 
Hambieto-  1 849,  on  the  farm  of  Jonas  Seeley,  jun.,  near  Chester.  Orange 
nian.  Countv,  N.Y.     When  five  weeks  old,  Mr.  William  Rysdyk  pur- 

chased him  with  his  dam  for  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars.  Mr.  Rysdyk 
was  a  poor  man  then.  The  horse  proved  a  mine  of  wealth.  Of  late  years. 
the  extravagant  price  of  five  hundred  dollars  the  season  has  been  paid  for  his 
services  ;  and  at  this  figure  his  list  has  always  been  more  than  full.  His  colts 
have  usually  commanded  large  prices ;  and  by  him  was  sired  the  celebr.ntid 
Dexter,  whose  record  is  world-wide. 

In  New  England  the  Morgan  horse  has  a  fine  reputation,  and  his  history 
is  worth  giving  to  our  readers.  During  the  last  century  a  good  many  English 
or  thorough-bred  horses  were  brought  from  Virginia  into  Conne(  ti- 
cut,  and  were  kept  in  the  vicinity  of  Hartford  :  among  them  w  ere 
Highlander,  King  William,  and  another,  called  Beautiful  Boy,  or  True  Briton. 
He  was  probably  thorough-bred,  and  was  stolen,  so  it  is  said,  from  (len. 
De  Lancey  at  King's  Bridge.  For  several  years  he  was  kept  at  SiTringlKld. 
Mass.,  and  became  the  sire  of  Justin  Morgan,  which  was  foaled  in  West  Spring- 
field in  1793,  and  which,  as  another  writer  has  truthfully  said,  "  has  hatl  a  post- 


Morgan. 


^  Harpers'  Magazine,  vol.  xlvii.  p.  605. 


OF    THE    LW'ITED    STATES. 


141 


I'll 


141 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Hii  history. 


Description. 


humous  fame  surpassed  by  that  of  no  other  animal  that  ever  stood  in  New 
England." 

When  two  years  old,  he  was  taken  to  Randolph,  Vt.  Like  most  of  the 
stock  horses,  of  his  time,  especially  in  the  more  remote  sections,  he  had  to 
work  hard  in  clearing  up  new  land ;  and  in  this  laborious  kind  of 
work  he  exhiTjrted  the  most  wonderful  strength  and  willingness  at 
a  pull,  and  the  most  remarkable  patience  at  a  dead  lift,  —  a  characteristic,  one 
would  suppose,  strongly  in  contrast  with  his  nervous  playfulness  at  the  end  of 
a  halter  or  under  the  saddle.  He  would  "  out-draw,  out-walk,  out-trot,  and 
out-run  "  any  and  every  horse  that  was  ever  matched  against  him ;  and  that, 
too,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many  of  them  were  much  larger  and  heavier 
animals.  Strength  and  speed,  as  compared  with  the  horses  of  his  time,  and 
endurance,  were  characteristics  in  which  he  especially  excelled.  He  survived 
the  hardships  to  which  he  was  almost  constantly  subjected  for  twenty-nine 
years,  and  then  received  a  kick  from  horses  in  the  same  yard  which  resulted 
in  his  death  in  the  year  1821. 

He  impressed  his  fine  qualities  upon  his  offspring  to  an  unusual  degree,  as 
they  still  appear  unquestionably  in  his  descendants.  He  is  described  as  a 
small  horse,  only  about  fourteen  hands  high,  and  his  weight,  by 
estimation,  about  nine  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  He  was  a  beau- 
tiful dark  bay,  with  scarcely  a  white  hair  on  his  body.  His  legs  were  black. 
His  mane  and  tail  were  black,  coarse,  and  thick,  with  long,  straight  hair  free 
from  curls.  He  is  described  as  having  a  good  head  of  medium  size,  lean  and 
long,  with  a  straight  face,  broad  and  good  forehead,  and  fine,  small  ears  set 
wide  apart.  He  had  a  very  short  back,  and  wide  and  muscular  loins,  l)ut 
rather  a  long  body,  round,  and  close  ribbed  up.  He  was  compact,  or,  as 
many  would  say,  he  was  very  snugly  built ;  with  a  deep,  wide  chest,  and  pro- 
jecting breast-bone ;  short,  close-jointed  legs,  wide  and  thin,  but  remarkably 
muscular,  and  with  some  long  hair  about  and  above  the  fetlocks,  —  a  pecul- 
iarity which  he  imparted  to  many  of  his  offspring. 

The  old  Justin  Morgan  was  said  to  have  been  a  very  fast  walker ;  but  in 
trotting  he  had  a  short,  nervous  step,  a  low  smooth  gait,  square  and  fine.  He 
His  speed,  was  not  remarkably  fast  as  a  trotter,  though  his  speed  was  ne\er 
style,  &c.  developed  as  it  has  been  with  the  greatest  assiduity  in  many  of  his 
descendants.  In  travelling  he  raised  his  feet  but  slightly,  —  only  enough  to 
clear  the  inequalities  of  the  ground ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  he  had  the 
reputation  of  being  very  sure-footed.  His  style  of  movement  was  lofty,  bold. 
and  energetic,  full  of  life  and  spirit ;  but  he  was  managed  with  great  ease,  and 
it  was  said  that  a  lady  could  drive  him  with  perfect  safety.  He  was  much 
admired  as  a  parade  horse. 

Could  run  Though  not  what  would  now  be  called  a  very  fast  trotter,  the 

well.  old  Justin  Morgan  could  run  at  short  distances  with  any  other 

horse  of  his  time  not  thorough-bred ;  and  many  an  eighty  rods  accomplished 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


«43 


stood  in  New 


e  most  of  the 
ns,  he  had  to 
irious  kind  of 
willingness  at 
racteristic,  one 
at  the  end  of 
c,  out-trot,  and 
lim;  and  that, 
;er  and  heavier 
1  his  time,  and 
He  survived 
"or  twenty-nine 
which  resulted 

isual  degree,  as 
described  as  a 
his  weight,  l)y 
He  was  a  beau- 
egs  were  black, 
raight  hair  free 
1  size,  lean  and 
,  small  ears  set 
|cular  loins,  but 
:ompact,  or,  as 
Ichest,  and  pro- 
but  remarkably 
cks,  —  a  pecul- 


144 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Black  Hawk. 


Description. 


by  him  won  his  keeper  the  stakes,  payable  at  the  tavern  where  tiie  scratch  was 
made  in  the  dirt  across  the  road  as  the  point  from  which  to  start.  Eadi 
horse  had  to  "  come  up  to  the  scratch,"  and,  when  the  hat  fell,  to  be  off  as 
fast  as  his  legs  could  carry  him.  In  all  such  trials,  the  "  little  horse  "  was 
always  sure  to  win.  It  is  from  him  that  Bulrush  Morgan  and  the  Morrill 
horses  have  descended. 

Another  family  of  horses,  too  well  known  to  be  wholly  omitted  from  this 
description,  is  the  Black  Hawk.  The  first  one  bearing  that  name  was  foaled 
near  Portsmouth,  N.H.,  1833.  At  the  age  of  four  years  he  was 
sold  as  a  roadster  for  the  sum  of  S150.  In  1842  he  won  a  matrh 
of  a  thousand  dollars,  trotting  five  miles  over  the  Cambridge  track  in  sixtcin 
minutes.  In  the  year  1844  Mr.  Hill  bought  and  kept  him  as  a  stallion  at 
Bridport,  Vt.,  till  the  time  of  his  death  in  1856.  His  skeleton  is  preserved  in 
the  ofiice  of  the  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  at  the  State  House 
in  Boston. 

Black  Hawk  was  not  quite  fifteen  hands  high,  and  weighed  about  a  thou- 
sand pounds.  He  was  remarkably  symmetrical  and  muscular,  graced  witii  a 
beautiful  head,  neck,  and  limbs,  and  when  in  action,  whether  in 
harness  or  out,  of  a  spirited,  nervous,  and  elegant  bearing,  whic  h 
could  not  fail  to  command  universal  admiration  wherever  he  ap]ieared.  He 
could  easily  trot  his  mile  in  two  minutes  and  forty  seconds,  even  without  nnuli 
training ;  and  he  combined  with  great  speed  the  perfection  of  form,  the  intel- 
ligence, courage,  and  endurance  sufficient  to  make  him  a  complete  model  of 
a  roadster.  He  possessed  the  power  of  transmitting  his  characteristics  to  liis 
very  numerous  offspring  in  a  degree  surpassed  by  no  other  horse  in  the  country. 
In  the  carriage  or  under  the  saddle,  in  the  quiet  of  a  country  road  or  on  tlic 
parade-ground,  under  whatever  circumstances  the  descendants  of  Black 
Hawk  appear,  the  eye  accustomed  to  observe  the  characteristics  of  the  horse 
could  hardly  fail  to  detect  the  relationship.  The  Black  Hawks  are  nim  li 
sought  after  as  light  carriage  and  saddle  horses. 

As  an  evidence  of  their  qualities,  as  well  as  the  celebrity  they  ha\e  obtained 
in  other  parts  of  the  country,  it  may  be  stated,  that  during  the  fair  at  St.  Louis. 

Ceiebrit     f     '"^  ^^59'  ^^'^  °"^  °^  ^'^  ^^  ^^  ^^^^  stallious  exhibited  in  the  class 
Black  of  roadsters  were  Black  Hawks ;  and  the  prizes,  of  one  thousand 

Hawk's  de-     Jollars  that  year  and  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  at  the  fair  there 

•cendants.  ' 

m  i860,  were  awarded  for  the  best  stallions  in  this  class  to  sons 
of  old  Black  Hawk.  At  the  various  fairs  held  in  New  England  —  at  Springfickl, 
Boston,  and  elsewhere  —  the  Black  Hawks  have  been  very  largely  represented, 
and  have  generally  carried  off  a  full  proportion  of  the  prizes  offered.  More 
than  one  hundred  horses  of  this  stock  were  entered  at  the  Springfield  Horse 
Show  in  i860,  and  nearly  half  of  all  successful  competitors  were  Black  Hawks. 
Many  sons  of  the  old  horse  are  now  standing  in  various  parts  of  New  Engkmd 
as  stock-getters  ;  and,  judging  from  the  reports  of  State  fairs  in  other  parts  of 


OF    THE    UXITED    STATES. 


»45 


about  a  thou- 
,  graced  with  a 
ion,  whether  in 
bearing,  whicii 
appeared.  He 
n  without  nni(  li 
form,  the  inttl- 
plcte  model  of 
cteristics  to  his 

in  the  country, 
road  or  on  tlic 
ants    of    I'lnck 

s  of  the  horse 
awks  are  ni\ub 

;y  have  obtained 
fair  at  St.  Loiiis. 
ited  in  the  class 
)f  one  thousand 
at  the  fair  there 
lis  class  to  sons 
—  at  Springfukl. 
r^ly  represented. 
'  offered.     More 
pringfield  Horse 
re  Black  Hawks, 
of  New  England 
m  other  parts  of 


the  country,  it  is  safe  to  affirm  that  they  are  exerting  a  widely-extended  influence 
on  the  stock  of  the  United  States. 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  turf.  The  first  public  race  ever 
trotted  in  America  was  in  1818,  —  a  match  against  time,  for  a  thousand  dollars. 
I  )uring  a  jockey-club  dinner  held  m  that  year  in  New  York,  it  was  pint  public 
asserted  that  no  horse  could  be  found  able  to  trot  a  mile  in  three  ■'■'='• 
minutes.  Two  of  the  members,  however,  —  Major  William  Jones  of  Long 
Island,  and  Col.  Bond  of  Maryland,  —  agreed  to  produce  such  a  horse.  They 
were  as  good  as  their  word  ;  and,  when  the  horse  had  accomplished  the  feat, 
his  fame  was  established.     He  went  by  the  name  of  "  15oston  Blue." 

W  ithin  ten  years  after  this  race,  trotting-courses  and  horse-clubs  were  formed 
in  the  principal  cities  of  our  country ;  and  among  the  horses  which  competed 
at  that  early  ilay  were  Top-Gallant,  Screw-Driver,   Betsey   Baker,   p^^^^.j 
W  iialebone,  Paul  Pry,  Lady  Washington,  and  Sally  Miller.     The   trotting 
first  i)f  these  perhaps  the  most  easily  won  distinction  at  the  Hunt-   ""'■sea  and 

'  '  '  clubs. 

ing -park  Course  in  Philadelphia.  While  being  employed  as  a  cart- 
horse his  merits  were  recognized,  and  his  trotting-speed  was  developed.  Screw- 
Driver  won  as  fine  a  reputation  ;  for  when  he  died,  in  October,  182S,  a  Phila- 
delphia newspaper  announced  that  "  the  emperor  of  horses  is  no  more."  At 
tiiat  time,  a  horse  which  could  trot  a  mile  in  two  minutes  and  thirty  seconds 
was  regarded  as  a  marvel.  In  1836  two  remarkable  animals  made  their  appear- 
ance on  the  turf,  —  Dutchman  and  Awful.  The  former  was  a  coarse  brown 
horse  of  great  endurance.  At  one  time  he  was  employetl  in  tram[)ing  clay  in 
a  Pennsylvania  brickyard.  Awful  was  just  the  opposite  of  Dutchman  in 
appearance.  He  was  a  tall,  dashing,  blood-looking  bay,  with  high,  sprawling 
action.  He  was  a  bad-tempered  animal,  and  did  not  live  uj)  to  his  early 
])roniise.  Both  Dutchman  anil  Awful  figure  prominently  in  trotting  history. 
Dutchman's  greatest  performance  was  trotting  three  miles  on  the  Beacon  Course, 
untler  saddle,  in  seven  minutes  thirty-two  seconds  and  a  half.  It  was  a  match 
against  time,  and  the  horse  was  ridden  by  Hiram  Woodruff.  This  was  in 
August,  1839. 

Lady  Suffolk  comes  next  in  the  list  of  famous  horses.  Hamilton  Busby 
thus  describes  her  career :  "She  made  her  first  public  appearance  in  1838, 
trotting  three  heats,  and  winning  eleven  dollars.  Verily,  hard  Lady  Suf- 
work  and  poor  pay  !  Lady  Suffolk  was  a  beautiful  gray,  with  an  '°"*- 
.\ral)  neck,  and  standing  fifteen  hands  and  a  half.  She  remained  on  the  turf 
iicaiiy  sixteen  years,  during  which  time  she  trotted  in  161  races,  winning  83 
and  ^35,01 1,  and  losing  73.  Her  speed  was  shown  and  her  powers  tested  in 
ten  different  States  of  the  Union.  Her  best  mile-heat  race —  2.26^,  2.27,  2.27 
—  was  made  under  saddle,  July  12,  1843,  on  the  Beacon  Course,  New  Jersey. 
Her  tastest  mile  (2.26)  was  done  at  Boston,  under  saddle.  Lady  Suffolk  was 
withdrawn  from  the  turf  in  1853;  and  she  died  at  Bridport,  Vt.,  March  17, 
1S55,  aged  twenty-two  years.     Her  skin  was  i)repared  and  mounted  by  a  taxi- 


«46 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Tacony. 


dermist,  and  it  now  does  duty  as  an  advertisement  in  a  Broadway  harness-store. 
Those  who  knew  the  handsome  gray  mare  in  lier  i)rime  claim  that  her  speed 
was  never  developed.  Among  I.aily  Suffolk's  competitors  on  the  turf  were 
Washington,  Confidence,  Ripton,  Cayuga  ("hief,  Independence,  Heppo,  Oneida 
Chief,  Lady  Moscow,  .Americus,  and  other  horses  dear  to  the  memory  of  the 
sportsman  whose  hair  is  now  silvered,  anil  who  loves  to  dwell  upon  the  scenes 
of  the  "  olden  time." 

In  October,  1848,  occurred  the  famous  twenty-mile  race  by  Trustee,  the 
son  of  a  thorough-bred  imported  horse  bearing  a  simiUrname.  His  driver 
weighed  a  hundreil  and  forty-five  jiounds,  and  his  sulky  a  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds ;  and  the  twenty  miles  were  trotted  in  fifty-nine 
minutes  thirty-five  seconds  and  a  half.  It  was  a  race  which  thoroughly  tested 
the  endurance  of  the  horse,  anil  was  denounced  at  the  time  as  cruel ;  but  it 
is  affirmed  that  Trustee  was  not  injured  in  the  least  by  the  performance. 

In  1851  appeared  a  new  horse  (Tacony,  from  Maine),  which  won  many 
victories,  scoring  twelve  the  second  year  of  his  public  appearance ;  at  wliii  li 
time  Flora  Temple  began  her  wonderful  career ;  also  Ethan  .Allen, 
the  worthy  descendant  of  Morgan.  The  following  season  was 
rendered  exciting  by  a  series  of  races  between  Flora  Temjile  and  Tacony,  in 
Flora  which   the   former  beat   the   latter  seven   times   at  different  dis- 

Tempie.  tances.  Concerning  her  breeding  nothing  is  known.  While  young, 
she  changed  hands  several  times ;  and,  when  first  put  in  the  harness,  she  did 
work  in  a  livery-stable  in  Eaton,  N.Y.  In  June,  1850,  she  was  brought  with 
a  drove  of  cattle  to  Dutchess  County,  where  she  was  purcliased  by  Mr.  Velie 
for  Si  75.  Shortly  after  this  she  was  sold  to  Mr.  George  F2.  Perrin  of  New- 
York  City,  who  used  her  as  a  road-mare.  In  1850  she  trotted  a  match  race  ; 
but  she  did  not  make  her  regular  appearance  on  the  course  until  two  years 
later.  She  made  her  last  turf-performance  Sejit.  5,  1861,  on  the  Fashion 
Course,  Long  Island.  During  the  eleven  years  in  which  she  was  prominently 
before  the  public  she  trotted  a  hundred  and  eleven  races,  ninety-three  of 
which  she  won.  Her  winnings  netted  $113,000.  Prominent  amo'^ 
petitors  were  Princess,  Ethan  Allen,  George  M.  Patchen,  f  if-et 
Highland  Maid.     Her  best  wagon-time,   2.24^,  was  i  50. 

the  Union  Course,  Long  Island.  Her  fastest  mile  in  .less,  ..  i  fo) 
long  while  stood  at  the  head  of  the  record,  was  done  Kalama  ,0,  Mich., 
Oct.  15,  1859.  Flora  Temple's  turf-career  was  mar\'ellous.  Sh(  vas  a  mare 
of  obscure  breeding,  small  in  stature,  being  fourteen  hands  two  i^\^  lies  higli ; 
and  yet  she  rose  to  supremacy,  and  reigned  for  a  number  of  years  queen  of 
the  course. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  us  in  our  short  space  to  recount  the  glories  (if 
all  the  famous  trotters  in  the  United  States,  or  even  to  mention 

Ethan  Allen.  ^^     .  ,  ,  , 

their  names.     Besides,  as  we  approach  nearer  to  the  present  time, 
there  is  less  need  of  presenting  such  a  history,  as  many  are  familiar  with  it. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


«47 


Pocahontas. 


Who  has  not  heard  of  the  exploits  of  Ethan  Allen,  which  trotted  with  a  run- 
niiiL'  mate  against  Dexter,  on  the  Fashion  Course,  three  heats,  of  _ 
one  mile  each,  in  the  astonishing  time  of  2.15,  2.16,  2.19?  We 
must  stop,  however,  to  say  a  word  concerning  one  of  the  most  noted  descend- 
ants of  Ethan  Allen.  This  is  Pocahontas,  whose  mother  also  bore  the  same 
name,  and  whose  career  will  be  given  presently.  Pocahontas  is 
tiie  pot  of  Robert  Bonner's  stable,  and  cost  him  $35,000.  She  is 
said  to  be  "one  of  the  best  road-mares  in  the  wor'd."  Then  there  is  I.idy 
Thome,  bred  in  the  lovely  blue-grass  regions  of  Kentucky,  sired  by  Man>- 
brino  Chief.  Her  winnings,  from  the  beginning  of  her  career  in  1859  to  1870, 
amounted  to  §61,125,  Her  last  race  was  at  Prospect  Park,  L.I.,  July  22,  1S70, 
in  which  she  trotted  three  heats,  of  one  mile  each,  in  the  wonderful  time 
of  2.19^,  2.20^,  2.19I.  Of  Dexter  and  Goldsmith  Maid  their  record  is  too 
familiar  to  re(iuire  repetition. 


THE    PACING-HORSE. 


During  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  a  class  of  horses  became  widely 
known  in  the  more  thickly-settled  portions  of  New  England,  especially  in 
Rhode  Island,  as  the  "  Narragansett  pacers."  They  were  very  popular  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  last  century,  and  continued  to  be  the  favorite  Narragan- 
liurses  for  light  travel  under  the  saddle  for  many  years.  Upon  **"  pacers. 
good  authority  it  may  be  affirmed  that  they  probably  were  the  easiest,  fleetest, 
most  sure-footed,  and  toughest  saddle-horses  ever  known  in  this  country,  if 
not  in  this  world.  They  could  not  trot.  The  pace  was  their  natural  gait,  the 
only  one  in  which  they  excelled  ;  and  for  this  they  were  especially  esteemed. 

The  origin  of  this  famous  breed,  which  was  kept  distinct  for  many  years, 
was  probably  a  stallion  imported  from  Andalusia,  in  Spain ;  though  there  are 
several  theories,  founded  on  tradition,  in  reganl  to  him.  But,  from  origin  of- 
whatever  source  he  came,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  his  laying  the  *'!='"• 
foundation  of  a  class  of  horses  exceedingly  well  adai)ted  to  the  wants  of  the 
times,  —  one  that  served  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  raised  more  completely 
than  any  other  at  that  time,  or  ever  since,  known  in  New  England.  Many  of 
the  Narragansett  pacers  could  go  a  mile  easily  in  less  than  three  minutes,  or 
carry  a  rider  forty  or  fifty  miles  a  day,  and  follow  it  up  for  days  in  succession, 
without  apparent  fatigue.  It  is  said  that  their  gait  was  far  easier  and  more 
reeable  than  that  of  the  rocker  or  pacer  of  the  present  day,  with  whom  the 

c  is  an  accident,  or  the  result  of  training,  rather  than  the  natural  gait. 

The  Narragansett  pacers  became  so  popular,  that  they  were  largely  exported 

the  West  Indies,  and  the  business  of  breeding  them  for  that  market  became 
ly  profitable.     At  length,  however,  the  demand  there  became  so  Their  popu- 
jeat,  that  an  agent  was  sent  to  buy  up  all  the  best  he  could  find  in  '»"ty- 
the  locality  where  they  were  bred  in  the  highest  purity  and  perfection  ;  and  he 


:48 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


was  so  faithful  to  his  trust  as  to  allow  few  very  superior  animals  to  escape  him. 
This  circumstance,  together  with  the  improvement  of  the  roads,  and  the  fact 
that  the  genuine  Narragansett  pacer  was  comparatively  useless  as  a  draught- 
horse,  and  really  good  only  under  the  saddle,  led  to  a  decline  in  the  interest 
in  breeding  this  class  of  horses,  especially  during  and  after  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  when  large  numbers  of  horses  were  wanted  for  teaming  and  trans- 
portation. The  pacer,  as  a  breed,  was  wholly  neglected,  till,  in  the  year  1 800, 
it  was  said  there  was  only  one  animal  of  the  real  Narragansett  stock  to  be 
found  in  Rhode  Island. 

In  1854,  however,  the  pacer  found  a  splendid  representative  in  Pocahontas, 
Pocahontas  the  mother  of  another  mare  bearing  the  same  name,  which  we 
»  pacer.  jj^yg  previously  described.     Notwithstanding  her  dam  was  a  natu- 

ral trotter,  she  performed  very  striking  feats  as  a  pacer,  her  best  time  being 
made  :.i  1855,  when  she  paced  one  mile,  to  wagon,  in  2.17^. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


149 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


SHEEP. 


SHEEP  are  among  the  very  oldest  domestic  animals  known,  though  they 
are  found  wild  in  nearly  every  mountainous  country  of  the  world.  By 
some  authorities  they  are  thought  to  be  related  to  the  goat,  but  Early  history 
are  far  more  timid  than  that  animal,  from  which  they  differ,  also,  in  "'  *''*  ^oat. 
other  respects.  They  are  intimately  associated  with  ancient  religious  rites,  and 
were  the  symbol  of  gentleness  and  innocence.  The  great  wealth  of  the 
Israelites  and  other  pastoral  nations  was  in  sheep,  which  were  originally  raised 
for  their  milk  and  skins,  as  well  as  for  sacrifice  ;  but  they  have  been  prized  in 
modern  times  for  their  wool,  flesh,  and  fat,  in  which  regards  the  improvements 
of  iireeding  have  been  very  marked  for  the  past  century  and  a  half. 

The  best  breed  of  these  animals  for  fine  wool  is  the  merino,  which  origi- 
nated in  Spain,  and  is  supposed  to  have  descended  from  the  stock  of  tiie 
patriarciis.     They  are  devoid  of  wool  on  the  head  and  necks,  and 
are  less  fleshy  and  symmetrical  than  the  choice  English  breeds. 
Fioni  tlie  Spanish  merinoes  are  derived  the  famous  Saxon,  Silesian,  and  Flem- 
ish  breeds.     The  widely-known    establishment   for  raising   sheep,  owned  by 
Louis  XVI.  of  France,  at   Ramhouillet,  was  devoted  to  the  propagation  of 
merinoes  principally.     The  prevailing  breed  in  the  United  States  is  a  inore  or 
less  [Hire  merino.     The  Asiatic  and  .\frican  varieties  of  this  animal  are  of  little 
value.     Probably  Great  Britain  gives  more  attention  to  the  raising 
of  sheep  for  wool  and  mutton  than  any  other  civilized  country,   breeding  in 
Her  breeds  are  mostlv  producers  of  coarse   wools,  notably  the   °'''°* 

-     '  '  -^  Britain. 

Leicester  or  Dishley,  the  Cheviot,  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and   Dorset 

varieties.      The  South- Downs  have   a   shorter,  finer  fleece,  and   yield  good 

mutton. 

Sheep  were  first  introduced  into  this  country  at  Jamestown,   o"*ghee"*nt" 
Va..  in  1609.      In   forty  years   they  had   increased  in  numbers  the  United 
nearly  to   3.000.      The   first   importation   to   Massachusetts  was  s*"'"- 
in  1633;    and  for  a  time  they  were  kept  on  the  islands  in  Boston  Bay,  to 
protect  them  from  wolves  and-  bears.      In  1652  Charlestown  had  as  many 


15© 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


as  400  sheep  ;  and  Lynn  had  several  flocks,  which  were  watched  and  kept  by 
a  common  shepherd.  Sheep  were  introduced  into  the  New  Netherlands  in 
1625,  and  again  in  1630;  but  such  were  the  depredations  of  wild  beasts,  that 
in  1643  there  were  not  more  than  sixteen  in  that  colony.  The  Swedes  of  New 
Jersey  were  encouraged  to  breed  sheep,  and  raise  wool  to  send  home,  but  in 
1663  had  no  more  than  eighty  sheep. 


LEICESTER  RAM. 


Early  meas- 
ures for  en- 
couraging 
the  industry 


The  sheep  in  this  country,  in  those  days,  were  raw-boned,  coarse-woollcd 
animals  :  but  inasmuch  as  the  mother-country  discouraged  the  exportation  of 
them  hither,  and  as  the  colonists  felt  the  need  of  producing  their 
own  woollen  clothing,  the  colonial  governments,  by  addresses  to 
the  people,  liounties  for  killing  wolves,  and  by  other  measures, 
encouraged  the  importation  and  raising  of  sheep.  Massachusetts. 
in  1645,  ordered  the  appointment  of  agents  in  every  town  to  ascertain  who 
would  buy  sheep,  and  to  urge  the  people  to  write  their  friends  across  the  At- 
lantic to  bring  sheep  with  them  on  emigrating.  In  164S  it  was  ordered  tli.it 
sheej)  be  pastured  on  the  common ;  and  later  the  selectmen  of  every  town 
were  authorized  to  superintend  the  putting  of  rams  to  the  flock-j.  In  1654 
the  .Assembly  of  Massachusetts  prohibited  the  exportation  of  sheep,  and  in 
1675  of  wool.     Virginia  enacted  similar  laws. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


151 


Gradually,  but  slowly,  sheep  multiplied  in  numbers.  A  report  on  American 
industries,  made  to  the  British  House  of  Commons  in  1 731-32  by  the  Board  of 
Trade,  shows,  that,  at  that  time,  nearly  all  American  farmers  had   ,    , 

'  '  '  '  '  Jealousy  of 

a  fe.v  slieep,  whose  wool  was  spun  at  home  for  domestic  use.   British farm- 
Tb.ere  was  no  export,  however.     Great  jealousy  was  felt  by  the  '"toward 

111  •  1       1  II-  Americans. 

linlish,  lest  we  siionlu  compete  with  them  in  wool-production ; 
and  obstacles  were  put  in  the  way  of  our  obtaining  sheep.  Jared  Eliot,  writ- 
ing in  1747,  says,  "A  better  breed  of  sheep  is  what  we  want.  The  English 
breed  of  Cotswold  sheep  cannot  be  obtained,  or  at  least  with  great  difficulty  ; 
f.;r  wool  and  live  animals  are  contraband  goods,  which  all  strangers  are  pro- 
liibitcd  from  carrying  out  on  pain  of  having  the  right  hand  cut  off." 


SOUTH-DOWN  KAM. 


r)n  the  breaking-out  of  the  Revolution,  the  colonists  immediately  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  preserving  their  sheep  for  propagation.     The  Colo- 
nial Congress  of  1775  voted  to  discourage  killing,  and  encourage   Measures  to 
the  l)reeding,  of  sheep.     The  Pennsylvania  Assembly  did  likewise,  foster  sheep- 
The  Association  of  Butchers  voted  not  to  kill  sheep,  and  in  1776   ["g  Amer"-' 
it  is  said  twenty  thousand  less   sheep  were   slaughtered  than  in  can  Revoiu- 
1774-     During  the  siege  of  Boston,  however,  in   1775-76,  large  *'""■ 
supplies  of  live-stock,  including  sheep,  were  sent  from  all  parts  of  the  colonies 


i!;2 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


for  the  soldiers'  food.  There  must  have  been  more  than  a  miUion  of  these 
animals  in  the  country  at  that  time. 

Little  was  done  in  the  way  of  importing  choice  breeds  of  sheep  into  this 
country  until  the  close  of  the  last  century  and  the  early  part  of  this.  Men- 
tion is  made  by  ("ustis  of  two  Leicester  ewes  on  the  estate  of  Washington. 
First  impor-  from  which,  by  a  Persian  ram,  were  derived  the  famous  Arlington 
tations.  long-wooUed  sheep.     Kentucky  gave  preference  to  this  and  other 

English  breeds,  which  were  imported  into  and  still  survive  in  small  numbers 
in  the  Middle  States  and  those  of  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  merino  sheep  had  a 
greater  rage,  and  now  constitute  a  larger  proportion  of  our  stock. 


ANGORA  GOAT. 


In  1 793  William  Foster  of  Boston  brought  home  from  Cadiz.  Spain.  w1u:j 
he  had  been  staying  several  years,  three  full-blooded  merino-sheep,  two  cwcs, 
William  ^""^  ^  rixw.  He  was  seventy-five  days  on  the  passage  ;  and  the 
Foster's  animals  were  taken  sick,  and  nearly  perished  ;  but  a  French  slup- 
e  ofts-  \^txA  on  board  the  vessel  cured  them  by  injections.     Mr.  Fostci 

says,  "  Being  about  to  leave  this  country  for  France,  shortly  after  my  arri\al 
in  Boston  I  presented  these  sheep  to  Andrew  Cragie  of  Cambridge,  who,  not 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


^si 


ion  of  these 


South-Caro- 
lina Society. 


knowing  their  value  at  that  time,  '  simply  ate  them,'  as  he  told  me  years  after 
when  I  met  him  at  an  auction  buying  a  merino  ram  for  a  thousand  dollars."  ' 

As  early  as  1 785  the  newly-organized  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agri- 
culture, in  South  Carolina,  offered  a  medal  to  the  first  person  who 
should  keep   a   flock   of  merino-sheep   in  that  State;   but  there  offered  by 
seems  to  be  no  rccjrd  of  the  prize  being  taken. 

Four  young  merino-rams  were  sent  to  this  country  from  Paris 
m  1801  ;  but  not  more  than  one  survived,  and  that  went  to  Rosendale  Farm, 
Kingston,  N.Y.     French  merinoes  were  also  imported  by  William 
'I'aintor   of  Hartford   in    1846.      The  Hon.   David  Humphreys,  l37rom 
American  minister  at  Madrid,  brought  home  to  his  farm  in  Derby,  France  and 
Conn.,  ninety-one  Spanish  merinoes  in    1802.      Seth  Adams   of  °"^"  "^o""- 
Zanesville,  O.,  imported  two  Spanish  ewes  in  1801  ;   and  Chan- 
cellor Livingston  of  New  York  sent  home  two  pairs  from  abroad  the  same 


SOUTH-DOWN   BWBS. 


year.  In  1808.  and  later,  his  sheep  attained  a  wide  reputation.  William 
J.nvis.  our  consul  at  Lisbon.  Portugal,  sent  a  number  of  Spanish  sheep  to  his 
home  in  Wethersfield,  Vt.,  in  1809-11. 

Just  prior  to  the  war  of  181 2-14,  sheep-raising  took  a  great  start  in  this 

'  Choice  animali  have  lold  at  high  as  ten  thouiand  and  fourteen  thousand  dollars  apiece  in  this  country, 


154 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


country,  as  did  also  woollen  manufactures.  After  the  war  there  was  a  brief 
Sheep-  set-back,  in  consequence  of  competition  with  the  Englisli  markets, 

raising  prior  In  1824  a  protective  tariff  was  laid  on  foreign  wools,  and  sheej)- 
*°  '  "■  raising   in   America   quickly   revived.      The    importation   of  the 

Saxon,  the  Merino,  Leicester,  South- Down,  Cheviot,  and  Cotswold  l)ree(ls, 
Effect  of  tar-  soon  followed,  and  the  business  rapidly  developed.  The  Saxuu 
iff  of  1814.  sheep  were  highly  prized  for  their  fine  wool,  but  proved  unhardy, 
and  yielded  light  fleeces ;  and  most  breeders  in  New  England,  after  a  thor- 
ough trial,  voted  them  unremunerative. 

Sheep  are  subject  to  many  maladies,  such  as  foot-rot,  scab,  sore  throat, 
and  grubs  in  tho  head  \  and  thoy  sufTer  to  a  great  extent  from  the  depredations 
Diseases  of  of  dogs.  The  Commissioner  of  agriculture,  in  his  report  fur 
•heep.  1866,  says  that  returns  from  one-fourth   of  the  counties  in    the 

country  for  that  year  showed  that  about  a  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  sheep 
had  succumbed  to  this  single  destroying  influence ;  and  he  estimated  tlie 
number  for  the  whole  country  to  be  half  a  million  annually. 


THABR's  BLBCTORAL-BSCURIAL  RAM  OF  1845. 


Owing  to  these  causes  to  a  slight  extent,  but  more  particularly 


Sheep  rais- 
ing inVho*"     to  the  better  pasturage  afforded  in  the  West,  there  has  been  for 
West.  nearly  forty  years  a  westward  movement  m  the  centre  of  sheep- 

raising.     Prior  to  1840,  when  there  were  about  eighteen  million  sheep  in  this 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


«5S 


country,  the  greater  number  were  owned  in  the  Atlantic  States,  from  Virginia 
uorthuaid,  and  in  the  Ohio  basin.  Since  then  the  business  of  raising  sheep 
tor  any  tiling  more  than  the  butcher's  demand  has  sensibly  declineil  in  the 
Kast ;  and  the  pastures  of  the  Western  States  are  our  great  wool-producing 
ri"'ion.  The  general  tendency  of  the  movement  in  sheep-culture  will  appear 
tiom  the  following  table,  showing  the  distribution  in  the  principal  wool-growing 
States  for  thirty  years  past.  It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  notably  Virginia,  suffered  from  the  war  severely ;  and  that  the 
resources  of  California,  now  the  great  wool  State  of  the  country,  were  not 
developed  until  some  time  after  the  acquisition  of  that  State  from  Mexico. 


STATES. 

1850. 

1S60. 

1870. 

1875. 

California 

17,328 

1,088,003 

2,768.187 

7,290,000 

Ohio       .... 

3.94:1.9-9 

3.S4'J.767 

4.9-«.63S 

3,900,000 

Texas     .... 

100,530 

753.363 

714.351 

2,826,700 

Michij;aii 

746,43s 

i.27'.743 

1,985,906 

2,100,000 

New  Viiik 

3.453.-4' 

2,617,855 

2,181,578 

1,897,700 

rcnnsvlvania  . 

i,S22,3S7 

1,631,540 

1.794.301 

1,607,600 

Iowa       .... 

1 4' 1,900 

259.941 

S55.493 

1,680,500 

Wisconsin 

\2.\.'^()6 

33^.9=4 

1,069,282 

1,151,100 

Iliinnis    .... 

891,643 

769,138 

1,568,286 

1,258,500 

Iiuli.ma  .... 

1,122,493 

999-175 

1,612,680 

1,175,000 

Virginia  .... 

r, 3 1 0,004 

1,043,269 

922,472  1 

1,011,500 

Kcntuckv 

1,102,091 

93^.990 

936.765 

690,400 

Tcnnts^-et: 

811,591 

773.3 '7 

S26.783 

34  5. '00 

Vcriiiont 

1,014,122 

75^.-^01 

5'^o.347 

475,700- 

Xcw  Mexico  . 

377.:!7l 

83-^,116 

619,438 

800,000  '^ 

Other  States  . 

4.733.9-9 
21,723,220 

5,862,903 
22,471,275 

5.  "3.447 

7,594,400 

Total        . 

28,477.951 

35,804,200 

The  average  value  of  American  sheep  in  1S76  was  two  dollars  and  twenty- 
seven  cents,  and  the  aggregate  value  was  estimated  at  380,892,683.  While 
some  few  coarse-woolled  fleeces,  especially  in  Enirland,  have  been 

1  •    ,  1  ,-^  ,         1  -,  .       Statistics. 

known  to  weigli  twelve  or  fifteen  pounds,  the  average  fleece  m 
this  country,  in  1850,  weighed  2.42  pounds.  Improvement  in  stock,  or  else 
giving  greater  attention  to  weight  than  to  fineness  of  wool  in  sheep-raising, 
increased  the  average  in  i860  to  nearly  three  pounds,  and  in  1870  to  nearly 
four.  Besides  the  wool  from  our  36,000,000  live  sheep,  enough  more  from 
the  slaughtered  animals  is  obtained  to  make  our  annual  wool  product  about 
185,000,000  pounds.  This,  at  thirty-five  cents  a  pound,  would  amount  to 
$64,750,000,     Nearly  10,000,000  sheep  are  butchered  annually,  yielding  the 


•  The  two  Virginias. 


>  Ettirr.ated. 


iS6 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


farmers  a  revenue  of  not  far  from  $25,000,000.  Our  wool  product  does  not 
yet  meet  the  demand  of  home  manufactures ;  and  we  are  obliged  to  import 
over  50,000,000  pounds  of  raw  wool  annually,  and,  in  addition  to  our  home 
manufactures,  import  nearly  $50,000,000  worth  of  woollen  goods,  although  the 
average  is  gradually  decreasing. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


m 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


SWINE. 


THE  hog-raising  and  pork- producing  industry  of  the  United  States  is  one 
of  the  most  important  of  our  agricultural  interests.  At  home,  pork 
forms  a  larger  proportion  of  our  food  than  any  other  article  of  provision, 
breadstuffs  excepted  ;  while  it  is  also  the  article  of  most  extensive  importance 
export  in  the  line  of  food,  except  wheat.  This  grows  out  of  two  °'  hog-crop, 
facts,  —  the  hog  is  altogether  the  most  prolific  breeder  of  our  domestic-food 
animals,  matures  soonest,  and  is  the  most  cheaply  fattened ;  and  we  have 
peculiar  facilities  for  raising  the  food  which  produces  altogether  the  best  pork ; 
namely,  Indian-corn. 

Swine  were  introduced  into  Hispaniola  by  Columbus  in  1493,  and  De 
Soto  brought  them  from  the  West  Indies  to  Florida  in  1538.  The  Portuguese 
had  left  swine  ashore  in  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland  as  early  introduction 
as  1553.  At  Jamestown,  Va.,  we  hear  of  them  first  in  1609  ;  but  of  swine, 
they  multiplied  so  fast,  that  the  people  were  obliged  to  build  palisades  to  keep 
them  out  of  the  town.  Plymouth  Colony  imported  swine  in  1624,  and  New 
Nethedands  (now  New  York)  the  following  year.  In  the  eady  days  the  hogs 
were  allowed  to  run  almost  wild  in  the  fields  and  woods,  feeding  upon  beech 
and  hickory  nuts,  acorns,  roots,  and  other  such  vegetation.  The  Indians,  in 
those  days,  fed  extensively  on  hogs  that  had  grown  wild.  This  wandering,  free 
life  tended  to  make  the  early  stock  of  this  country,  especially  in  the  South 
and  West,  lean,  large-boned,  fierce,  and  swift-footed,  —  a  sort  of  degeneration 
t  vard  the  wild-boar  life  from  which  swine  were  taken  for  domestication. 

Among  the  choicer  breeds  that  have  been  known  to  stock-raisers  for  the 
past  century  are  the  Chinese,  which  are  small,  have  slender  bones,  fatten 
easily,  but  are  too  fat  themselves,  and  are  therefore  crossed  with  ciiinese 
other  species ;   the  Neapolitan,  descended  from  the  best  Italian  *"■"<•• 
breeds  of  two  thousand  years ;  the  Berkshire,  which  yield  much  lean  meat, 
are  prized  for  hams  and  bacon,  and,  crossed  with  the  Chinese, 
make  splendid  hogs ;   the  short-bodied  Essex,  which  have  taken 
more  prizes  in  England  at  stock  exhibitions  than  any  other  porcine  breed ; 


Berkshire. 


158 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


m  ■ 


Suffolk. 


Improve' 
ments  in 
swine- 
breeding 


the  Middlesex,  long-bodied,  heavy  growers,  often  reaching  eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred pounds  in  eighteen  months  ;  and  the  Suffolk,  very  symmetri- 
cal in  shape,  small  and  compact,  light  feeders,  and  v  'th  great 
tendency  to  fat.  All  of  these  varieties  have  been  popular  in  this  country  ; 
and  our  best  swine  are  mostly  from  this  parentage,  more  or  less  crossed. 

Little  attention  was  given  to  swine-breeding,  with  a  view  to  improving  our 
stock  in  this  country,  until  after  the  Revolution.  Interest  was  first  excited  in 
the  subject  by  the  presentation  to  Gen.  Washington  of  a  pair  of 
hogs  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  They  were  of  a  new  breed  of  his 
own  raising,  and  called  "Woburns"  after  Woburn  Abbey.  Parkin- 
son, the  Knglishman  to  whom  they  were  intrusted  for  conveyance, 
was  dishonest  enough  to  sell  them  on  his  arrival  in  this  country.  They  appear 
to  have  been  a  cross  between  the  Chinese  and  the  large  English  native  stock. 
and  were  fine  animals.  The  breed  soon  became  common  in  Virginia  and  the 
neighboring  States ;  but  of  late  years  it  has  quite  run  out.  A  breed  known  as 
the  "  liyfield,"  originated  from  Chinese  and  English  stock  by  dorham  Parsons 
of  Byfield,  Mass.,  afterwards  had  a  great  popularity,  and  became  great  favor- 
ites in  Ohio.  Later  the  other  breeds  above  mentioned  were  imported  into 
this  country,  and  widely  disseminated.  Comparatively  little  improvement  was 
effected,  therefore,  in  American  stock,  until  about  fifty  years  ago. 

The  value  of  the  pig  for  utilizing  domestic  table-refuse,  and  the  facility 
with  which  he  fattened  on  such  food,  and  at  almost  no  expense,  led  to  his  very 
Increase  of  general  keeping  by  all  farmers,  and  many  towns-i)eoi)le  and  small 
hog-raising,  tenants.  The  cheapness  of  bacon  created  a  great  demand  for  it 
in  the  old  slave  States  likewise,  and  the  business  of  furnishing  wholesale  sup- 
plies to  that  market  naturally  grew  with  the  development  of  that  section  of  tlie 
country.  Inasmuch  as  the  Southern  planters  gave  themselves  almost  exclu- 
sively to  cotton,  tobacco,  and  sugar  culture,  and  did  not  raise  food  for  their 
families  and  help,  the  labor  and  profit  of  providing  for  them  naturally  fell  to 
another  section  of  the  country ;  and  the  remarkable  facilities  enjoyed  by  the 
West  for  hog-raising  gave  those  States  almost  a  monopoly  of  the  valuable 
Southern  market,  a  conquest  which  they  followed  up  by  extensions  of  tiieir 
trade  in  other  directions. 

The  one  great  cause  to  which  the  development  of  the  pork-industry  in  the 
West  is  due  is  the  remarkable  production  of  corn  in  that  quarter,  and  the  dis- 
„  ,    .      ,      covery  that  corn-fed  pork  is  sweeter  than  mast-fed  or  swill-fed 

Relation  of  ■'  ' 

corn  product  pork.     There  have  been  times  when  corn  was  so  plenty  in  the 
to  hog-rais-     ■^y^gj  ^^^^  jj  ^^^^  ^gg^  f^j.  fygj  ^^^  when,  for  lack  of  transporta- 

ing. 

tion,  it  was  sold  for  six  cents  a  bushel,  and  that  only  twenty-tive 
miles  from  the  Ohio  River  in  Illinois.  The  farmers  soon  found,  that,  with 
such  abundant  food,  it  was  cheaper  to  pen  their  hogs,  instead  of  letting  them 
run  loose,  and  to  fatten  them  quickly  for  market.  Thus  hog-raising  rapidly 
increased  between  fifty  and  twenty-five  years  ago  in  Kentucky  and  the  three 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


»39 


)r  nine  hun- 

•y  symmctri- 

.1  \  'th  great 

his  covmtry ; 

ossed. 

nproving  our 

st  excited  in 
of  a  pair  of 
breed  of  liis 

,bey.    Tarliin- 

r  conveyance, 
They  r'.i)l)ear 

li  native  stoclc. 

irginia  and  the 

■eed  known  as 

arham  Parsons 

nc  great  favor- 
imported  intt) 

provement  was 

and  the  facility 
,  led  to  his  very 
lople  and  small 
demand  for  it 
wholesale  s\ip- 
t  section  of  the 
almost  exclu- 
food  for  their 
naturally  fell  to 
enjoyed  by  ih>-' 
,f  the    valuable 
insions  of  their 

Lindustry  in  the 
br,  and  the  dis- 
led  or  swill-feil 
plenty  in  the 
of  transporta- 
anly  twenty-tive 
land,  that,  with 
|of  letting  them 
-raising  rapidly 
'  and  the  three 


States  next  north  of  the  Ohio  River.  Thence  it  spread  westward  across  the 
Mississippi.  The  rapid  anil  extensive  construction  of  railroads  in  those  States, 
;il)OUt  the  middle  of  the  \  resent  century,  of  course  afforded  an  outlet  for  the 
grain  ;  but  it  ilid  likewise  for  the  pork,  live  and  packed  ;  and  so  the  business 
staid  there.  Of  the  seven  or  eight  million  hogs  killed  every  year  in  this  coun- 
trv,  about  five  or  six  million  are  killed  in  the  West,  and  are  mostly  packed  : 
those  killed  in  the  East  are  mostly  for  immediate  consumption.  The  pork- 
packing  business  of  the  West  is  chiefly  confined  to  six  cities,  which  rank  in  the 
unler  named  ;  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Indianapolis,  Milwaukee,  and 
Louisville.  Inasmuch  as  Chicago's  grain-business  is  her  chief  industry,  and 
pork-packing  is  Cincinnati's  leailing  interest,  the  latter  city  is  generally  reck- 
oned the  great  pork-producing  centre  of  the  United  States  :  indeed,  it  was  so 
fur  a  long  time.  The  great  bulk  of  the  business  is  done  in  the  winter-time  ; 
the  season  opening  about  Nov.  i,  and  closing  early  in  March. 

The  following  interesting  description  of  the  Cincinnati  slaughter-houses, 
from  the  pen  of  Charles  Cist,  first  appeared  in  one  of  the  newspapers  published 
in  that  city  :  — 

"The  slaughter-houses  are  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  fifty  by  a  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  each  in  extent,  the  frames  boarded  up  with   mova-   Description 
hie  lattice-work  at  the  sides,  ordinarily  kept  open   to  admit  the   of  slaughter- 
air.  but  shut  during  intense  cold,  so  that  the  hogs  may  not  be     **""' 
fro/.jn  so  stiff  as  not  to  be  cut  up  to  advantage.     F^ach  establishment  employs 
as  many  as  one  hundred  hands,  selected  for  their  strength  and  activity. 

"  The  hogs,  being  confined  in  adjoining  pens,  are  driven,  about  twenty  at 
a  time,  up  an  inclined  bridge  opening  into  a  square  room  at  the  top,  just 
lar;4e  enough  to  hold  them.     As  soon  as  the  door  is  closed  a  man   p^^ct^s  of 
enters  from  an  inside  door,  and  with  a  hammer  weighing  about   slaughter- 
two  pounds,  fixed  to  a  long  handle,  knocks  each  hog  down  by  a  '"*'' 
single  blow  between  the  eyes.     In  the  mean  time  a  second  apartment  is  being 
filled  with  as  many  more.     A  couple  of  men  seize  the  stunned  hogs,  and  drag 
them  tlirough  the  inside  door  to  the  bleeding-i)latform.     Here  each  gets  a 
cut  in  the  throat  with  a  sharp-pointed  knife,  and  the  blood  falls  through  the 
lattice  floor. 

"  After  bleeding  a  minute  or  two,  they  are  slid  off  this  platform  into  a 
scakling-vat,  —  about  twenty  feet  long,  six  feet  wide,  and  three  feet  deep,  — 
kejjt  full  of  water  heated  by  steam,  the  temperature  being  easily  regulated.  As 
the  lings  are  slid  into  one  end  of  this  vat,  they  are  pushed  along  slowly  by 
men  standing  on  each  side  with  small  poles,  turning  them  over  so  as  to  get  a 
uniform  scalding,  and  moving  them  onward  ;  so  that  each  will  reach  the  other 
end  of  the  vat  in  abo>it  two  minutes  from  the  time  it  entered.  Ten  hogs  are 
usually  passing  through  this  scalding  process  at  the  same  time,  being  con- 
stantly recei\ed  at  one  end,  and  taken  out  at  the  other,  where  there  is  a  con- 
trivance for  lifting  them  out  of  the  water,  two  at  the  same  time,  by  one  man 


i6o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


operating  a  lever,  which  raises  them  to  the  scraping-table,  five  feet  wiile  and 
twenty-five  feet  long,  with  eight  or  nine  men  on  each  side,  and  usually  as 
many  hogs  on  it  at  the  same  time ;  each  pair  of  men  performing  a  separate- 
part  of  the  work  of  removing  the  hair  and  bristles.  The  first  two  take  oi.^ 
only  those  l)ristlcs  which  are  worth  saving  for  the  bnish-makerLi,  taking  only  a 
double  hanilful  from  the  back  of  each  hog,  which  arc  deposito<l  in  a  box  or 
barrel  close  at  hand.  The  hog  slides  on  to  the  next  two,  who,  with  scrapers. 
remove  the  hair  from  one  side,  then  turn  it  over  to  the  next  two,  who  scrajjc 
the  other  side  ;  the  next  scrape  head  and  legs  ;  the  next  shave  one  side  witli 
sharp  knives  ;  the  next  shave  the  other ;  tlie  next  do  the  same  to  head  and 
legs.  To  each  pair  of  men  are  given  twelve  seconds  to  do  their  part  of  the 
work,  or  '^\\\i  hogs  a  minute,  for  three  or  four  hours  at  a  time. 

"  When  the  hog  arrives  at  the  end  of  this  table,  all  shaved  smooth,  another 
pair  of  men  put  in  a  gambrel-stick,  and  swing  the  hog  off  on  a  wheel,  whi(  h 
is  about  ten  feet  in  diameter,  revolving  on  a  perpendicular  shaft  extendinj,' 
from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling,  liie  height  of  the  wheel  being  about  six  feet  from 
the  floor.  Around  its  outer  edge  are  placed  eight  large  hooks,  about  four  feet 
apart,  on  which  the  hogs  are  hung  to  be  dressed. 

"As  soon  as  the  hog  is  swung  from  the  table  to  one  of  these  hooks,  the 
wheel  turns  one-eighth  of  its  circuit,  and  brings  the  next  hook  to  the  table,  and 
carries  the  hog  a  distance  of  four  feet,  where  a  couple  of  men  dash  it  with 
clean  cold  water,  and  scrape  it  down  with  knives,  to  remove  any  loose  hair  or 
dirt  that  it  may  have  brought  along  off  the  table.  Then  it  moves  again,  and 
carries  the  hog  four  feet  farther,  where  another  man  cuts  it  o[)en  in  a  single 
second,  and  removes  the  larger  intestines,  or  such  as  have  no  fat  on  them  worth 
saving,  and  throws  them  out  an  open  doorway  at  his  side.  Another  move  of 
four  feet  carries  it  to  another  man,  who  lifts  out  the  rest  of  the  intestines,  —  the 
heart,  liver,  (S:c.,  —  and  throws  them  on  a  table  behind  him,  where  four  or  five 
men  are  engaged  in  separating  the  fat  and  other  \aluable  parts.  .Another 
move,  and  a  man  dashes  a  bucket  of  clean  water  inside,  and  washes  off  all  the 
filth  and  blood.  This  completes  the  cleaning  ;  and  each  man  has  to  do  his 
part  of  the  work  in  just  twelve  seconds,  as  there  are  only  five  hogs  hanging  on 
the  wheel  at  the  same  time ;  and  this  number  are  removed,  and  as  many  more 
added,  every  minute.  The  number  of  men,  not  counting  the  drivers  out- 
side, is  fifty ;  so  that  each  man,  in  effect,  kills  and  dresses  a  hog  every  ten 
minutes  of  working-time,  or  forty  in  a  day. 

"  At  the  last  move  of  the  wheel  a  strong  fellow  shoulders  the  hog ;  nml 
another  removes  the  gambrel-stick,  and  backs  it  ofT  to  the  other  jjart  of  thj 
house,  where  it  is  hung  up  for  twenty-four  hours  to  cool,  on  hooks,  in  rows  on 
each  side  of  the  beams,  just  over  a  man's  head,  where  there  are  space  and 
hooks  for  two  thousand  hogs,  or  a  full  day's  work  at  killing.  The  next  day 
they  are  taken  off  by  teams  to  the  packing-houses." 

The  products  of  pork  are  the  hams  and  shoulders  ;  sides  for  bacon,  or  jjack- 


OF    THE    UN/ TED    STATES. 


I6l 


vide  and 

sually  as 
separate 
take  i)tT 

[\g  oidy  a 

ii  l)ox  i)r 

\  scrapers, 

ho  scrape- 
side  with 
licad  ami 

|)art  of  tlK 

til,  anotlior 
heel,  wliit  h 
t  extending 
ix  feet  from 
lUt  four  feet 

e  hooks,  tlie 
le  talile,  ami 
dash  it  witli 
loose  liair  or 
IS  again,  ami 
in  a  single 
tiiem  wortli 
her  move  of 
istines,  — lilt 
four  or  five 
Its.     Another 
osoffalltlie 
as  to  do  liis 
s  hanging  on 
I  many  more 
drivers  out- 
)g  every  ten 

he  hog;  ;i"'^ 

Ir  part  of  ih- 

^  in  rows  on 

l-e  space  and 

The  next  liay 

Icon,  or  pack- 


ing in  barrels  ;  rumps  and  jowls,  which  go  to  the  barrel  with  sides  ;  and  lard, 
some  of  which  is  converted  into  oil  for  lubricating  and  illuminating  Productiof 
purposes,  and  for  ailulterating  sperm  and  olive  oils  in  the  market.  P*'"'- 
Stearine,  from  wliich  candles  are  made,  is  a  protluct  of  lard.  Some  of  the 
(oarser  grease  from  the  offld  is  used  for  making  soap.  The  refuse  is  employed  as 
a  fertilizer.  The  bristles  go  to  make  brushes,  the  hoofs  for  glue,  and  the  blood 
is  manufactured  into  the  chemical  called  "  Prussian  blue."  Hesides  these 
iiKlustries  dependent  upon  hog-raising,  tiiere  is  an  innnense  cooperage  business 
nc(  essary  to  supply  the  recpiisitc  kegs  and  barrels. 

The  numl)er  of  hogs  in  the  country  has  not  materially  varied  for  the  past 
few  years.     The  census  of  1850  gave  the  number  as  30,354,213  ;  that  of  i860, 
as    :;,;i2,867:    that  of  1870,  as  25,134,569.     The  Agricultural   _ 
bureau  says,  that  in  January,  1876,  it  was  25,726,800 :  at  the  same 
(late  in  1877  it  was  28,077,100. 

The  report  of  the  New- York  Proiluce  Exchange  gives  a  table   Distribution 
wiiich  shows  the  distribution  of  swine  in  the  country  as  follows  :  —  °'  »wine. 


STATES. 

1875. 

1876. 

\cw  Kngland 

Middle  States 

Western  (cast  of  the  >[ississipi)i) 

Western  (west  of  the  Mississii)pi) 

I'.icilic 

.Southern 

279,700 
1,643,400 
7,372.600 
5,833,000 

544.800 
10,035,300 

306,000 
1,679,300 
7,948,600 
6,649,500 

600,400 
10,845,900 

Total 

25,726,800 

28,035,700 

Cincinnati  was  a  great  pork-packing  centre  as  early  as  1835,  and  long 
held  pre-eminence  in  that  business.  During  the  war  there  was  an  extra 
demand  for  pork  for  army  use ;  and  the  number  of  hogs  slaughtered  tempo- 
rarily increased,  but  fell  off  again.  For  the  twelve  years  immediately  after, 
there  was  a  steady  increase  again  in  the  whole  West,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  statement :  — 

1S65-66 1.7S5.95S 

1S66-67 2,490,791 

1S67-68 2,781,084 

'S68-69 2,499,873 

"869-70 2,635,312 

'870-71 3.695-5' 

'87'-72 1,831,558 

'872-73 5'4 '0,394 

1873-74 5,466,200 

1874-75 5,566,226 

'875-76 4,880,135 

1876-77 5.072.339 


Bl 


i| 


162 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


In  the  season  of  1876-77  there  were  slaughtered  1,6 18,084  hogs  in  Chicago, 
523,576  in  C'.icinnati,  414,747  in  St.  Louis.  294,198  in  Inciianapohs,  225.598 
Number  in  Milwaukee,  214,862   in  Louisville,  1,781,274  at  all  other  less 

slaughtered,  important  pojuts  South  and  West,  and  2,336,835  in  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  States;  in  all,  7,409,174.  These  cost  the  packers,  first-hand,  about 
fifteen  dollars  aj)iece  ;  which  makes  the  total  yiekl  worth  to  the  producers  not 
far  from  Si  10,000,000.  less  tVvjiense  of  transportation.  Killed,  dressed,  smoked, 
tried,  or  packed,  one'  ijuarter  was  added  to  the  market  value  of  the  product. 

The  marked  development  of  the  Western  pork  raising  and  packing  business 
Export-  is  largely  due  to  the  steady  increase  of  our  exporl-trade  in  hog 

trade.  jiroducts  for  the  past  few  years.     During  the  fiscal  year  ending 

June  30,  1876,  we  exported, — 


ii.Tcon  aii(!  luuii^ 
l>an''ll'.'d  pcjik  . 
I. aid. 


Total 


327,730.172     I     $39,664,^56 

54, 1 9  S,  11 S     i         5,744>022 

168,405,839     I       22,4  9,485 


550,331,(29     j     $67,837,963 


This  was  ten  and  a  iialf  per  cent  of  our  total  exi)0'.ts  ;  and  it  ranks  next 
after  cotton,  petroleum,  and  whea'.  The  great  bulk  of  tlie  lard  and  bacon  go 
to  England  arid  Ireland,  which  take  a  small  ]>ropo)uon  of  the  liarrelled  pork, 
(lermany,  1'" ranee,  and  Belgium  are  our  next  best  foreign  customers. 


iirww^iMW* 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


163 


1 64 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  XV. 


HORTICULTURE,    NURSERIES,   AND    FRUIT-RAISING. 


THAT  brancli  of  the  agricultural  industry  which  most  closely  approaches 
to  fine  art  is  horticulture  ;  under  which  term  we  include  ordinary  market- 
Horticulture  gardening,  landscape-gardening,  flower  and  fruit  culture.  Fruits 
p  recent  and  flowets  are  mostly  luxuries,  rather  than  necessities,  and  in  the 

pursuit.  enrly  days  of  our  history  were  scarcely  thought  of  by  the  mass  of 

colonists.  Only  a  few  gentlemen  of  social  position,  culture,  and  wealth,  gave 
attention  tliereto  ;  and  fruits  and  flowers  were  introduced  more  fo'-  the  gratifi- 
cation of  individual  taste  and  pride  than  for  the  general  good.  Like  the 
development  of  the  taste  and  pursuit  of  literature  and  painting,  horticultun.'  is 
one  of  those  civilized  avocations  to  which  the  human  mind  turns  only  after 
tlie  necessities  of  life  are  well  j)rovided  for :  consecjuently  horticulture  is  of 
comparatively  recent  birth  and  development  in  this  country. 

To  market-gardening  it  is  unnecessary  to  give  especial  attention  here.  The 
raising  of  a  few  kitchen  vegetables  for  domestic  use  began  on  a  limited  scale 
Market-  in  early  colonial  day?  ;    and,  with  the  growth  of  our  large  cities 

gardening.  since  the  Revolution,  tiie  business  of  purveying  to  the  needs  of 
the  people  has  gradually  grown  up  to  be  a  respectable-sized  trade  all  over  the 
country,  in  many  cases  the  cultivation  of  plants  for  seed  being  a  branch  of  the 
business. 

Landscape-gardening,  or  the  improvement  of  lands  by  trees,  flowers, 
shrubbery,  paths,  and  architecture,  has  been  prr.ctised  to  a  marked  degree  for 
Landscape-  about  a  century  only  in  England  and  other  foreign  countries, 
gardening.  Little  attention,  therefore,  was  given  to  it  here  until  after  the 
Revolution.  Taste  was  then  manifested  in  the  laying  out  of  the  ..ounds  dt"  i 
few  prominent  gentlemen  in  and  about  our  large  cities.  Downing  speaks 
particularly  of  the  elegant  arrangement  and  excellent  keeping  of  the  celebrateil 
seats  of  the  Hamilton  family,  near  l'hiladeli)hia,  which  was  famed  for  its  benr.ty. 
in  1S05  ;  Judge  Peters,  near  Philailelphia,  a  litMe  later;  Chancellor  Livlnu' 
ston,  at  Clermont,  on  the  Hudson  ;  tlie  Hon.  Theodore  L.  I  ynian.  nine  irli^^ 
out  of  lioston  ;  Beaverwyck,  a  little  north  of  Albany,  the  1  ome  of  Wiliiaui  !'• 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


161 


Van  Rensselaer,  and  the  manor-house  of  the  "  patroon  "  of  that  name  in  the 
suburbs  of  that  city  ;  the  cottage-residences  of  William  H.  Aspinwall  on  Staten 
Island,  Daniel  Wadsworth  of  Hartford,  and  James  Hillhouse  of  New  Haven; 
Col.  S.  G.  Perkins  at  Brookline,  near  lioston  ;  and  J.  P.  Cushing's  place,  in 
the  same  vicinage. 


HEDGE-TRIMMER. 


Downing. 


In  1824  M.  .\ndrd  Parmenticr  of  Knghicn,  Holland,  came  to  this  country, 
and  started  horticultural  nurseries  near  Brooklyn,  \.Y.,  and  laid  out    Honicuitu- 
liis  grounds  with  especial  regard  to  illustrating  the  principles  of  raiiitera- 
landscape-gardening.      About   that   time    Bernard    McMahon    of 
Philadelphia  wrote  a   book    called    "The    .\merican    (lardener's    Calendar." 
.\bout  1840  Andrew  J.  Downing,  a  man  whose  writings  have  given 
a  wonderful  impetus  to  horticulture  in  this  country,  published  a 
work  on  "  Landscape-Gardening,"  which  also  gave  to  the  art  a  great  im])ctus. 

Within  the  next  few  years  much  attention  was  given  to  the  subject  by  all 
persons  Iniilding  large  manor-houses,  and  laying  out  large  estates  all  over  the 
country,  but  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  large  cities.     The   Growth  of 
grounds  adjoining  colleges  and  pub'ic  buildings  began  to  be  laid   interest  in 
out  with  greater  taste,  tiiose  at  the  Smithsonian  Institute  in  Wash-   *  ^  subject, 
ington  having  been  designed  by  Downing.     Agricultural  societies  began  to  give 
a  little  more  encouragement  to  ornamental  tree-planting  and  flower-culture. 
The  nurseries  springing  up  here  and  there  furnished  young  shade-trees  as  well 
as  fruit-trees.     Young  towns  studied  the  art  of  making  their  streets  graceful, 
with  trees  on  either  side,  and  flower-patches  near  tlieir  town-halls  or  county 
court-houses. 

Then  the  idt..  of  adorning  public  cemeteries  by  the  arts  of  tree-planting, 
winding  and  straight  paths,  adaptation  of  shrubbery,  flowers,  and  walks  to  the 


i66 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Public  parks. 


undulations  and  other  characteristics  of  the  ground's  surface,  and  so  on,  took 
Public  possession  of  a  few  cultured  minds,  and  spread  rapidly.     The  fii>;t 

cemeteries,  prominent  city  of  the  dead  so  laid  out  was  Laurel  Hill,  near  Phila- 
delphia, the  enterprise  being  successful  largely  through  the  taste  and  persever- 
ance of  John  Jay  Smith  of  that  city.  Other  burial-places  about  that  time  — 
the  middle  of  the  present  century  —  became  famous  from  an  application  of 
the  same  idea.  Almost  every  one  has  heard  of  Mount  Auburn,  near  Boston  ; 
(ireenwood,  just  out  of  Brooklyn,  N.Y. ;  Spring  Grove,  Cincinnati ;  and  tlie 
beautiful  cemeteries  near  Baltimore  and  New  Ha\en.  Within  the  past  twenty- 
five  years  the  newly-laid-out  cemeteries  of  the  country  have  nearly  all  been 
greatly  beautified. 

Still  another  manifestation  of  the  same  taste  and  culture  is  the  laying  out 
of  parks  in  and  about  our  cities,  which  shall  be  more  than  the  old  "  common  " 
of  a  New-England  town.  Perhaps  the  most  important  work  of  tb.is 
sort  undertaken  in  this  country  is  Central  Park,  in  the  upper  part 
of  New- York  City.  It  is  half  a  mile  wide,  and  two  miles  and  a  hi-.i  long,  and 
includes  what  was  originally  very  wild  and  beautiful  scenery.     The  land  was 

appropriated  to  this  use  by 
the  New-York  legislature  in 
1857,  largely  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Downing's  writings. 
The  next  year,  in  pursuance 
of  plans  submitted  by  Fred- 
crick  Law  Olmstead  and  Cal- 
vert Vaux,  the  improvcniLnt 
of  this  free  park  was  begun, 
and  has  been  continued  at 
enormous  expense  even  until 
the  present  time.  By  a  ju- 
dicious preservation,  altera- 
tion, or  utilization  of  the 
characteristic  features  of  the 
land,  and  by  extensive  and 
costly  work,  an  arrangenicut 
of  lakes,  lawns,  flower-beds, 
groves,  rocks,  glens,  caverns, 
footpaths.  drivewa\'s,  terraces, 
bridges,  chalets,  and  other  ar- 
sNowiiAL!..  chitectural  devices,  has  been 

perfected,  which  makes  the 
place  one  of  the  most  dcligluful  public  resorts  in  the  world.  Llewellyn  Park, 
near  Orange,  N.J.,  laid  out  by  Bauman,  a  famous  Phiiadelj^hia  botanic  i;ar- 
dener,  Fairmount  Park  near  Philadelphia,  and  Prospect  Park  near  Brookl\n, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


167 


SO  on, took 
.  The  first 
near  Phila- 
id  persever- 
that  time  — 
plication  of 
lear  Boston ; 
iti ;  and  the 
past  twenty- 
urly  all  been 

le  laying  out 
"  common  " 
;  work  of  this 
,e  upper  part 
L..i  long,  and 
'he  land  was 
this  use  by 
le.rislature  in 

O 

rough  the  in- 
ing's  writings, 
in  pursuance 
ted  by  Fred- 
ead  and  Cal- 
improvcnunt 
was  begun, 
continued  at 
se  even  until 
By  a  ju- 
tion,    altera- 
tion   of    the 
tures  of  the 
Ixtensive  and 
1  arrangement 
flower-beils, 
lens,  caverns, 
[ays,  terraces, 
md  other  ar- 
[es,  has  been 
makes  the 
[wellyn  Park, 
aotanic  g:ir- 
ar  Brookhn, 


are  among  the  more  recent  and  more  famous  of  such  institutions  in  this 
country. 

Of  all  departments  of  horticulture  or  gardening,  the  propagation  and  cul- 
tivation of  flowers  most  closely  approaches  a  fine  art.  Only  in  a  limited  sense 
is  it  an  industry.  Those  who  engage  in  it  professionally  are  few  Cultivation 
in  num])er :  the  great  mass  of  devotees  to  this  pursuit,  mosdy  °'  Aowert. 
ladies,  are  incited  thereto  by  the  same  aesthetic  instinct  which  leads  them  to 
study  and  practise  music.  That  delightful  writer,  Ruskin,  has  said,  "  Flowers 
seem  intended  for  the  solace  of  ordinary  humanity.  Children  love  them  ; 
(juiet,  tender,  contented,  ordinary  people  love  them  as  they  grow ;  luxurious 
and  disorderly  people  rejoice  in  them  gathered.  They  are  the  cottager's 
treasure,  and  in  the  crowded  town  mark,  3s  with  a  little  broken  fragment  of 
rainbow,  the  windows  of  the  workers  in  >vhose  heart  rests  the  covenant  of 
peace."    Truly  the  production  and  care  of  flowers  is  the  poetry  of  agriculture. 

It  has  been  noticed  in  connection  with  the  development  of  certain  arts 
(architecture,  for  instance)  that  the  tendency  in  their  earlier  stages  is  toward 
massive  proportion  and  general  effect,  and  aftenvards  to  refine-  Architecture 
ment  of  organization,  and  beauty  of  detail.  Something  of  the  and  floricui- 
same  characteristics  is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  floriculture.  '"^*' 
At  first,  flowers  were  thought  of  and  used  chiefly  as  elements  of  landscape- 
gardening  ;  afterwards  prized  for  themselves,  improved  and  cared  for  accord- 
ingly. 

Prior  to  and  during  the  Revolution  it  may  be  said,  that  virtually  no  atten- 
tion was  given  to  flowers  in  this  country.     Now  and  then  persons  had  a 
solitary  rose-bush,  or,  to  gratify  some  odd  fancy,  grew  some  curi- 
ous  plant,  such  as  cotton  was  then,  upon  their  grounds.     Toward  to  subject 
the  close  of  the  last  century  and  the  beginning  of  this,  flowering-   ''«f°''=  t*^* 

1  n        t       ,  ,        .  ,  ,        Revolution. 

plants,  generally  shrubs,  were  grown  as  borders  to  paths  on  the 
beautified  suburban  estates  of  a  few  wealthy  gentlemen ;  then  regular  flower- 
beds, either  made  in  the  turf  or  in  clean  soil,  with  box-tree  borders,  and  sepa- 
rated by  paths,  began  to  appear. 

The  imitation  of  these  means  of  beautifying  a  home  came  to  be  practised 
in  time  by  persons  of  lesser  means,  and  on  a  small  scale ;  and  it  was  not 
until  a  quarter  of  this  century  had  passed  away  that  the  little  domestic  flower- 
bed came  to  be  at  all  common. 

It  was  not  until  about  this  period,  therefore,  that  professional  gardeners 
ga/e  much  attention  to  importing,  propagating,  and  selling  to  the  general 
public,  flowering-plants,  seeds,  and  bulbs.  At  first  this  business  saie  of 
was  conducted  by  persons  engaged  in  growing  vegetables  and  p'""">  *<=. 
fruits  for  the  market  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia ; 
but  in  a  short  time  the  increased  patronage  warranted  the  starting  of  inde- 
pendent nurseries  and  flower-gardens.  The  rapid  development  of  popular 
taste  and  interest  since  about  1825,  and  the  growing  demand  for  flowers  in 


1 68 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  larger  cities  for  festal  occasions,  funerals,  and  sentimental  remembrances, 
led  to  the  extension  of  the  professional  florist's  trade  all  over  the  country ;  so 
that  now  scarcely  a  city  or  town  of  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants  is  without  an 
establishment  of  this  sort. 

When  the  gentlemen  of  the  earlier  days  began  to  introduce  the  choicer 
and  more  tender  plants  to  their  estates,  the  greenhouse,  for  shelter  and  for 
Oreen-  forcing  plants,  was  here  and  there  erected,  the  idea  being  taken 

houses.  from  the  foreign  forcing-houses  for  fruits.     Of  necessity,  the  pro- 

fessional florist  requires  a  greenhouse  at  the  very  outset  of  his  business.  Be- 
tween 1825  and  1850,  when  landscape-gardening  and  domestic  architecture- 
took  such  a  stride  in  this  country,  the  erection  of  conservatories  as  ornaments 
to  a  lawn,  as  well  as  permanent  shelters  for  choice  plants,  came  into  vogue, 
both  as  independent  edifices,  and  as  additions  to  the  proprietor's  mansion. 

It  was  during  this  period,  too,  that  a  literature  devoted  to  flowcr-culturc 
began  to  make  its  appearance.  In  1832  Robert  Buist  of  Philadelphia,  pro- 
Literature  prietor  of  the  Roseland  Nurseries,  published  a  book  on  this  sub- 
on  the  aub-  ject,  which  was  among  the  earliest  and  best  publications  of  the 
'"*■  sort.     It  reached  several  editions.     During  the  next  decade  A.  J. 

Downing  adapted  to  American  use  Mrs.  Loudon's  "  Ladies'  Companion  to  the 

Flower-Garden  ; "  and.  still  later,  Hen- 
ry Carey  Baird  got  out  an  American 
edition  of  "  Fruit,  Flower,  and  Kitchen 
Gardening,"  written  by  Dr.  Nicll,  sec- 
retary of  the  Royal  Caledonian  Horti- 
cultural Society.  These  and  other 
.\merican  works  were  widely  dissemi- 
nated. Agricultural  and  horticultural 
journals  gave  more  attention  to  flow- 
ers, and  the  ordinary  newspapers  re- 
published extracts  bearing  upon  flori- 
culture. Within  a  few  years  leading 
florists  have  got  into  the  way  of  pub- 
lishing descriptive  catalogues  of  their 
seeds,  l)ulbs,  and  plants,  together  with 
valuable  hints  and  suggestions  con- 
cerning their  cuhivation,  for  gratuitous 
distribution,  like  the  almanacs  ot' 
patent-medicine  makers. 

During  all  this  time  there  has  been  a  quiet,  steady  improvement  —  thoiiuh 

not  very  great  or  starthng  in  the  aggregate  —  in  the  methods  of  propagation 

and  care  of  flowers.     There  has  been  a  perceptible  improvement 

rogress.         .^  ^^^  character  of  varieties,  and  a  multiplicadon  of  species  by 

hybridization  and  other  scientific  processes ;  and,  in  addition  to  the  increase 


SPIR,T:A   LANCEnl.ATA. 


OF    THE    UNITFO    STATES. 


169 


Pomology. 


in  numbers  and  beauty  brought  about  by  the  efforts  of  American  florists, 
there  has  l)cen  an  extensive  importation  of  foreign  flower  plants  and  seeds. 
The  tendency  to  greater  discrimination  and  taste  in  the  selection  of  species 
and  varieties  has  l)cen  very  marked  within  the  i)ast  twenty  years. 

Perhaps  the  most  recent  development  in  this  uneventful  though  interest- 
ing Iiistory  is  the  popular  devotion  to  window-gardening  by  people  in 
moderate  and  humble  circumstances,  —  a  natural  outgrowtli  of  a  maturing 
and  refining  taste,  and  an  instinct  to  keep  one's  flowers  thrifty  the  year  round. 
Scarcely  a  home  is  now  to  be  found  in  the  country,  where  some  attempt  is 
nut  made  in  this  direction  ;  if  not  M'ith  bay-windows  filled  with  jars,  flower- 
stands,  and  costly  jardinieres  of  rustic-work,  shells,  or  (juaint  and  lovely  tiles, 
combined,  perhaps,  with  bird-cages  and  aquariums,  at  least  a  simple  hang- 
ing-basket or  undecorated  window-box. 

As  will  appear  presently,  from  our  consideration  of  the  history  of  individual 
fruits,  the  first  of  these  luxuries  we  had  in  this  country  was  the  product  of 
trues  or  seed  or  vines  brought  here  by  individual  enterprise  and 
for  individual  use.  H;ilf  a  century  ago,  organized  mo\'ements 
were  set  afoot  for  fruit-culture.  The  ideas  of  foreign  fruit  raisers  and 
breeders  began  to  attract  attention.  Nurseries  were  started  to  attempt  the 
improvement  of  stock  and  the  dissemination  of  choice  varieties.  Individual 
cultivators  awoke  enough  public  enthusiasm  to  lead  to  the  organization  of 
pomulogical  societies.  The  first  of  these  was  formed  in  1S29,  and  in  184S 
a  national  pomological  societ)'  was  organized.  The  Agricultural  Bureau  at 
^\'ashington  soon  after  began  devoting  attention  to  fruits,  imparting  a  vast 
deal  of  information  with  regard  to  all  kinds  and  varieties,  the  proper  modes 
of  culture,  and  the  soils  and  climates  to  which  each  was  bo>t  atlapled. 
Downing's  book  on  "Fruits  and  Fruit-Trees  of  .Vmcrica,"  and  horticultural 
writings,  did  a  great  deal  to  disseminate  information,  arouse  interest,  antl 
stimulate  culture. 

Among  the  first  nurseries  we  hear  of  in  this  country  was  that  of  Gov. 
Endicott  of  Salem,  Mass.,  who  in  1640  had  quite  a  grove  of  young  seedling 
apple-trees;  but  until  1835  there  were  scarcely  more  than  two  Early nur»e- 
or  three  institutions  for  supplying  the  public  generally.  Among  '^'**- 
the  earliest  mentioned  are  those  of  James  Bloodgood  on  Long  Island,  and 
\\'illiam  Reid  on  Murray  Hill,  a  part  of  New-York  City,  now  eo\ered  with 
residences.  These  were  well  known  between  1830  and  1835.  Since  that 
time  nurseries  have  rapidly  increased  in  numbers  in  the  Central  and  Western 
States,  but  notably  in  Central  and  Western  New  York.  Probably  one-tenth 
of  the  fruit-trees  sold  come  from  Monroe  County  in  that  State,  the  county- 
seat  being  Rochester.  The  environs  of  Geneva  and  Syracuse  and  Long 
Island  are  also  great  producers  of  young  fruit  and  shade  trees,  shrubbery, 
and  berry-plants.  There  are  now  something  over  a  thousand  nurseries  in  this 
country,  from  which  are  sold  five  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  trees 
annually. 


I 


I 

I 

,1 


I'' 
r-j'i 


170 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Grape. 


The  grape  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  fruits  of  the  world,  though  it  has 
had  comparatively  little  prominence  in  this  country  until  within  a  generation. 
There  are  many  varieties  native  that  have  proved  valuable  and 
popular  besides  the  many  choice  imported  varieties.  The  Isabella 
and  Catawba  both  originated  in  North  Carolina ;  the  Muscatel,  long  known 
as  the  "  Cape,"  and  incorrectly  imagined  to  be  an  importation  from  South 
Africa,  was  indigenous  to  Pennsylvania  j  the  Scuppernong,  at  one  time  thought 
to  promise  well  for  wine-making,  is  a  Carolina  grape  ;  the  Sweetwater,  which 
with  the  Catawba  is  widely  cultivated  in  California  for  wine,  and  also  in  the 
Eastern  States,  is  a  native.  Texas  produces  a  grape  widely  known  as  the 
Mustang  ;  and  there  are  other  varieties  almost  too  numerous  to  mention. 

Long  after  the  Revolution,  grapes  were  raised  in  this  country,  principally 
to  be  eaten  fresh,  as  a  dessert  fruit.  Hardy  varieties  were  grown  principally, 
Recent  cui-  though  a  few  choice  foreign  kinds  were  raised  under  glass.  About 
tureofgrape.  jg^g  Or  1850  the  growing  interest  in  fruit-culture  led  to  a  larger 
cultivation  of  hothouse  grapes  by  fanciers  and  wealthy  gendcmen.  Downing 
mentions,  that,  at  about  this  time,  thousands  of  bushels  of  grapes  were  raised 
near  New  York  and  Philadelphia  for  the  market,  and  that  large  quantities  of 
the  fruit  were  packed  in  cotton  for  preservation  during  the  winter. 

But  it  is  for  wine-making  purposes  that  the  grape  is  to  be  principally 
regarded.  The  Gothic  seamen  who  touched  our  shores  before  Columbus's 
Wine-mak-  day  called  America  "  Wineland  the  Good,"  because  of  its  grapes 
'"K-  and  their  dreams  of  its  possibilides.     Very  early  in  our  colonial 

history,  high  expectations  were  entertained  by  emigrants  of  the  wine-making 
possibilities  of  this  country ;  and  numerous  experiments  were  made  in  that 
direction.  Vines  were  imported  to  Virginia  in  1610,  and  wine  thus  produced 
was  sent  to  England  in  161 2.  Gov,  Winthrop  gave  attention  to  the  subject 
in  Massachusetts  before  1630,  at  which  time  he  owned  a  fine  vineyard  ;  and 
in  1634  Governor's  Island,  in  Boston  harbor,  was  rented  on  condition  that  the 
lessee  should  plant  a  vineyard  or  orchard,  and  pay  a  hogshead  of  wine  yearly, 
. —  a  condition  that  probably  was  not  fulfilled.  Attempts  were  made  to  intro- 
duce wine-grapes  into  the  New  Netherlands  in  1642  ;  but  the  frost  killed  them. 
Grape-culture  was  especially  contemplated  by  the  grantees  of  the  Carolinas ; 
but  it  took  a  poor  hold  at  first,  Delaware  gave  some  litde  attention  to  wine- 
making  in  early  days,  and  in  1753  a  wealthy  citizen  offered  a  prize  of  forty 
shillings  for  the  best  article  produced,  Maryland  in  1715  protected  her  home 
industry  by  imposing  a  tax  on  imported  wine.  But  all  these  movements 
proved  virtual  failures,  except  in  North  Carolina,  where,  in  1750,  wine-malcing 
was  quite  a  prosperous  though  small  industry. 

We  hear  little  further  until  1845,  when  Downing  mentions  that  the  attempts 
Swiss  adven-  of  Swiss  adventurers  at  Vevay,  Ind.,  to  raise  grapes  and  make 
turers.  ^yi,^g  q^i  a  large  scale,  had  failed ;  and  that  Mr,  N,  Longwortli  of 

Cincinnati,  after  experimenting  for  thirty  years  with  foreign  vines  from   the 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


171 


cold  Jura-mountain  sides  and  warm  Madeira,  had  decided  that  the  native 
•jrape  was  our  great  American  reliance.  In  1 849  300  acres  of  vineyards  were 
lo  1)0  found  within  twelve  miles  of  Cincinnati,  which  yielded  over  vineyard* 
r,o,ooo  gallons  of  wine  that  year.  We  also  hear  of  some  small  near  cincin- 
vineyards  in  Missouri,  at  this  time,  that  yielded  250  gallons  to  the  ""* " 
acre;  and  in  1858  an  instance  is  mentioned,  as  rare,  of  400  gallons  being 
pioduccd  in  Alabama  from  an  acre. 

Other  instances  are  mentioned,  which  show,  that,  by  about  1850,  grape- 
rulture  for  wine  had  taken  a  new  start  in  this  country,  especially  in  the  Central 
and  Western  States,     The  census  shows  the  total  product  of  wine   wine 
for  the  country  that  year  to  have  been  221,249  gallons,  of  which   v^oAact. 
California   yielded    58,055;    Ohio,   48,207;    Pennsylvania,   25,590;    Indiana, 
14,055  ;  North  Carolina,  11,058;  Missouri,  10,563  ;  and  New  York,  9,172. 

During  the  next  decade  wine-making  rapidly  increased.     The  art  seemed 
to  have  been  mastered  at  last :  American  champagne,  sherry,  claret,  and  port, 
had  achieved  a  new  and  enviable  reputation.     The  Department  of  winemak- 
Agriculture  year  after  year  afforded  valuable  information  concern-  ing  between 
iiig  grape-culture,  avoiding  blights  and  pests,  and  methods  of  wine-   '  ^ 
making ;  and  California,  already  known  to  be  a  perfect  Eden  for  fruits  of  all 
kinds,  multiplied  her  vineyards,  and  yielded  so  abundantly,  that  a  thousand 
gallons  an  acre  was  frequently  obtained.     The  vine  flourished  in  all  parts  of 
that  State :  but  the  principal  vineyards  were  in  three  counties ;  namely,  Los 
.'\ngeles,  San  Bernardino,  and  San  Diego.     In  i860  the  wine-product  of  the 
country  had  increased  eightfold  from  that  of  ten  years  before,  being  returned 
at  1,627,192  gallons,  of  which   Ohio   produced   fully  one-third,  or  568,617 
gallons;   California,   246,518;    Kentucky,    179,948;    Indiana,   102,895;    and 
New  York,  North  Carolina,  Illinois,  and  Connecticut,  not  far  from   50,000 
each. 

In  the  next  decade  California  took  the  lead  again,  her  wines  receiving  high 
commendation  at  the  Paris   Exposition  of  1S67,  her  fame  becoming  world- 
wide, and  the  development  of  her  product  being  nearly  eightfold,   wine-mak- 
Missouri's  progress,  too,  was  startling,  her  yield  in   1870   being  ing since 
twelve  limes  what  it  had  been  in  1860.     The  last  national  census  '*^' 
returned  3,092,330  gallons,  of  which  California  is  credited  with  nearly  two- 
thirds,  or    1,814,656   gallons;    Missouri,  326,173;   Ohio,   212,912;    Illinois, 
111,882;  Pennsylvania,  97,165  ;  and  New  York,  82,607.     North  Carolina  had 
scarcely  advanced,  while  Indiana  had  fallen  off  to  only  a  quarter  of  her  yield 
in  1S60. 

Without  doubt  the  wine-product  of  this  country  now  amounts  to  over  five 
million  gallons  annually;  and  there  is  every  likelihood  that  we  Present  wine 
shall  not  only  fully  supply  our  demands  for  domestic  consumption  product  of 
before  very  long,  but  shall  soon  be  exporting  wine  to  foreign  coun-  **"  country. 
tries.  This  is  now  one  of  the  most  promising  of  American  agricultural 
industries. 


173 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


■lie 
lis' 

Htx 


Passing  now  to  the  fruits  grown  in  our  country,  the  apple  ranks  first  among 
them,  because  it  is  tiie  most  common  of  all  in  this  country,  and  the  most  use- 
Early  hi».  ful.  It  is  not  the  oldest  in  development  and  culture,  however  :  the 
tory  of  apple,  grape,  the  fig,  and  the  pomegranate  flourished  in  Palestine  long 
before  tlie  apple  was  mentioned  in  Scripture.  And  even  then,  as  also  in  the 
(Ireek  fables  which  tell  of  the  goklen  apples  of  the  gardens  of  Ilesperides  and 
of  tlie  apple  of  discord,  it  is  probable  that  the  word  "apple"  was  used  in  a 
generic  sense,  meaning  fruit  rather  than  this  particular  variety.  In  the  early 
days  of  Rome  the  apple  was  well  known  ;  and  Pliny  states,  that,  in  his  ilay,  no 
less  than  twenty-nine  varieties  were  cultisated  in  various  parts  of  Italy.  At 
the  present  time  there  are  about  two  hundred  distinct  varieties  of  this  delicious 
fruit  recognized,  of  which,  however,  about  thirty  constitute  the  staple  product 
c^  the  United  States. 

The  parent  stock  of  all  our  apples  is  the  wild  crab  of  Europe.     Doulitless 

the  first  great  step  taken  in  its  culture  and  its  utilization  was  the  invention  of 

grafting  liy  the  Romans.     It  will  be  remembered,  that,  after  the  establishment 

of  the  Roman  empire  upon  the  wreck  of  the  republic  by  Augustus  C';e>ar, 

the  poet  Virgil  was  employed  by  the  emperor  to  write  a  series  of  poetical 

treatises  on  agriculture,  intended  to  educate  the  nation  in  the  foremost  of  all 

the  arts  of  peace.     In  the  course  of  his  suggestions,  that  never-to-be-foigoltcu 

writer  says,  — 

"  Graft  the  tender  shoot ; 

Thy  chikhen's  children  shall  enjoy  the  fruit." 

In  the  luxurious  days  of  later  Rome,  fruit-culture  was  extensively  indulged 
in  by  wealthy  gentlemen  j  and  nearly  every  person  of  means  had  a  walled  iVuit- 
Progressin  gai"'len  immediately  connected  with  his  dwellingdiouse.  In  the 
culture  of  middle  ages,  too,  the  monks  of  Europe,  from  Southern  Italy  to 
°'''''°'  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  gave  great  attention  to  fruit-culluic ; 

the  practice  of  pruning,  setting  large  flat  stones  underneath  the  young  trees, 
and  some  other  devices,  coming  into  more  or  less  permanent  use.  Yet  the 
flict  that  a  generation  of  time,  or  more,  must  elapse  before  the  setting  out  of  a 
young  orchard  yielded  its  full  reward,  discouraged  even  those  who  grew  ai)ples 
for  luxury,  much  more  the  poor  rustic  who  lived  from  hand  to  motuh.  'I'lie 
modern  inventions  of  budding  and  dwarfing  have  enabled  the  horticulturist  to 
get  a  quicker  return  for  his  labor,  and  the\'  have  therefore  given  a  remarkable 
stimulus  to  apple-culture. 

The  first  record  we  ha\-e  of  the  cultivated  apple  in  England  was  the  announce- 
ment that  pippin-seed,  brought  from  France  in  1524,  was  planted  in  Sussex. 
Earl  cuiti  ^  ^'"^'^  later,  the  golden  pippin  was  developed  from  this  stock,  and 
vation  of  ap-  sooii  became  famous  in  Englanr.  The  early  colonists  found  it 
pie  in  New      almost  imiDracticable  to  bring  voung  trees  or  even  scions  to  America ; 

England.  '  o  .  o 

and,  as  we  had  no  native  apples,  they  were  compelled  to  rely  jiiLtty 
much  on  seeds  for  our  first  stock.     Naturally  enough,  therefore,  the  introdueuoii 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


173 


CUiliK-MU.I.. 


of  tlic  fruit  was  rare  aiui  slow.  Nevertlieless,  it  is  asserted,  that,  so  early  as 
1639,  "ten  fair  pippins  "  were  brought  to  I>(ist(Mi  fiuin  trees  that  had  been 
plained  un  (lovernur's 
Island,  in  the  adjacent 
liarlu)r.  The  fullowing 
vear  (lov.  Kndicott  iiad  a 
nursery  of  young  fruit- 
trees  in  what  is  now  I  )an- 
vcrs,  Mass.,  and  sold  five 
liundred  young  apple- trees 
lor  two  hundred  and  fil"ty 
acres  of  land. 

For  more  than  a  cen- 
turv  and  a  half,  however, 
apples  were  cultivated  al- 
most exclusively  for  cider, 
the  trees  for  fruit  to  be 
eaten  being  as  rare  for  a 
long  time  as  orange  and 
other  tropical  plants  r-o 
now  in  the  North.   Indeev  1, 

not  iiiuil  1030  did  the  United-SLaUs  (Jovernment  begin  to  collect  statistics  of 
our  orciiard  products.  Probably  the  apple-trees  of  this  country,  cultivation 
ill  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  were  mostly  con-  of  apples  for 
fined  to  New  England  and  Long  Island.  New  Jersey  had  a  few, 
and  so  had  Eastern  and  South-eastern  New  York.  Western  New  York,  Ohio, 
and  Michigan  had  not  yet  felt  the  impetus  soon  to  be  given  to  this  branch  of 
horticulture. 

Several  influences,  however,  began  to    stimulate  apple-culture  thirty  and 
forty  years  ago  very  perceptibly.     One  was  the  attention  given  thereto  by  the 
Federal  Government,  which  had  established  a  ikireau  of  Agricul-    Efforts  of 
lure  in  the  Patent  Office.     The  report  of  the  commissioner  for  the   Downing 
year  1S49   indicates   that   a   wide-spread  interest  was  being  felt 
throughout  the  land,  especially  in  New  England.    Horticultural  societies  began 
to  be  formed,  and  the  general  agricultural  societies  offered  more  jiremiums  for 
choice  apples.     'Fhe  first  horticultural  society  in  this  country  was  foundul   in 
1829,  and  die  American  Pomological  Society  was  established  in  1848.     Nurse- 
ries came  to  be  more  numerous  ;    Rochester,  N.Y.,  beginning  to  show  great 
prominence  in  this  sphere,  as  also  Onondaga  County  in  that  State.     Books 
and  periodicals  devoted   more   attention   to   the  subject.      Andrew  Jackson 
Downing,  long  the  editor  of  the   monthly  "  Horticulturist,"  and   author  of 
"  Fruits  and  Fruit-Trees  of  America,"  undoubtedly  did  much    to   stimulate 
enthusiasm  on  the  subject.     Attention  was  given  especially  to  winter  apples 


^    ■ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0 


I.I 


J  ^  IIIM 


1.8 


1-25      1.4      1.6 

^ 

6"     

► 

Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


J 


<F 


\ 


iV 


\\ 


% 


^ 


O^ 


■/ 


I 


<> 


174 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


about  this  time,  and  some  slight  experiments  in  connection  with  trans-Atlantic 
steam  navigation  suggested  to  far-sighted  men  the  possibility  of  our  doing 
quite  an  export  business  in  apples.  liven  then  the  American  api)le  was  begin- 
ning to  assert  its  stiijeriority  over  the  English ;  and  in  the  winter  of  1858-59 
no  less  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  barrels  of  apples,  mostly  IJald- 
wins,  were  exported  from  Boston  alone.  Scientific  discovery,  regarding  the 
culture  of  the  apple  seemed,  moreover,  to  take  a  stride  about  thirty  or  forty 
years  ago.  Growers  began  to  recognize  that  varieties  which  thrived  well  on 
the  granite-bedded  soil  of  New  England  did  not  do  so  well  in  the  soft  loam 
of  New  Jersey  and  the  Western  States,  and  that  the  limestone  ledges  of  Cen- 
tral and  Western  New  York  called  for  still  different  varieties.  Adaptability  to 
place  and  climate  was  more  carefully  studied.  Moreover,  it  began  to  be 
understood  how  to  improve  varieties.  Seeds  from  good  fruit  had  almost  inva- 
riably yielded  poor  fruit  when  the  new  trees  got  to  bearing ;  and  this  poor 
return,  after  many  years'  waiting,  was  eminently  discouraging.  Hut  growers 
not  only  found  that  by  crossing  old  varieties,  as  the  Netherlanders  did,  could 
be  produced  new  ones  even  superior  to  the  parent  stock,  but  also  that  by 
taking  seed  from  young  seedlings,  and  replanting,  permanent  varieties  could 
be  established  in  four  generations.  These  trees  too,  as  also  the  lUvarfed 
trees,  couUl  be  made  to  yield  early  in  life  ;  and  thus  labor  and  money  returned 
interest  upon  investment  /ar  (juicker  than  of  )ore. 

These  various  influences,  with  the  consecptent  pojjularity  of  our  fruit 
abroad  and  the  establishment  of  fruit-stores  and  apple-stands  in  our  cities, 
have  of  late  years  rapidly  developed  our  apple-culture,  and  given  our  country 
pre-eminence  in  the  whole  world  for  the  superiority  of  this  fruit. 

It  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  work  to  give  in  detail  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  varieties  of  apples  in  this  country.  It  may  not  be  out  of 
place,  however,  to  say,  that  the  Rhode- Island  greening,  the  Rox- 
bury  russet,  the  Baldwin,  the  gillyflower,  and  the  Hubbardston 
nonesuch,  are  the  best-known  winter  apples,  and  the  early  harvest,  sweet- 
bough,  the  Porter,  and  the  Coggswell  ijearinain,  among  fall  ajiples,  in  New 
England.  New  Jersey  is  noted  for  its  sound,  tart  Swaar ;  New  York  for  the 
Newtown  pippin,  king,  greening,  russet,  Spitzenberg.  and  seek-no-farther ;  ami 
Michigan  for  her  seek-no-fartliers.  Northern  si)ys,  pippins,  and  pound  sweet- 
ings. It  is  generally  ailmitted,  that,  for  flavor,  the  fruit  of  New  York  is  the 
richest;  but  the  light  soils  of  Michigan  and  Ohio  yield  the  largest  specimens. 
Owing  to  the  backward  state  of  apple-culture,  little  had  been  done  in  the 
South  previous  to  the  war ;  although  it  is  well  established,  that,  were  adaj)tation 
of  varieties  to  soil  and  climate  studied  more,  the  Oulf  States  might  produce 
apples  abundantly.  Since  the  depression  of  the  war,  little  activity  has  been 
manifested  in  that  section.  California  is  almost  the  only  State  west  of  the 
Upper-Mississippi  and  Ixiwer-Missouri  Valleys  that  has  gone  much  into  fruit 
culture  as  yet ;  and,  in  that  unusually  fertile  soil  and  balmy  climate,  the 
apple,  like  all  other  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone,  flourishes  exuberantly. 


Varieties. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


175 


Quince. 


According  to  the  census  of  1870  our  orchard  products  that  year  amounted 
in  value  to  $47,335,189,  or  two  and  a  half  times  what  they  did  in  i860,  and 
six  times  those  of  1850;  and,  inasmuch  as  our  agricultural  and  Quantity 
horticultural  industries  have  developed  more  than  any  other  since  '*''**'  taiied. 
then,  it  would  be  safe  to  reckon  the  same  products  for  1877  —  though  an 
ofT-year  in  some  localities  —  at  not  far  from  $60,000,000.  Now,  as  berries 
and  grapes  are  not  included  in  this  estimate,  and  as  pears,  peaches,  plums, 
cherries,  and  oranges  are  our  only  other  leading  orchard  products,  it  would 
l)t!  reasonable  to  say  that  the  total  annual  apjjle-crop  of  the  country  to-day  is 
worth  ^40,000,000. 

The  name  of  the  quince  clearly  indicates  that  it  grew  naturally  in  the 
Island  of  Crete,  though  it  probably  did  not  originate  there.     It  has  been  found 
growing  wild  along  the  Danube  and  in  France.    It  was  also  known 
at  an  early  day  in  England  and  Portugal.     When  first  known,  it 
was  more  nearly  shai)ed  like  a  pear  than  now :    indeed,  it  is  distantly  related 
to  both  pear  antl  apple.     The 
ancients  were  woi.    1  ■  regard 
it  as  a  symbol  oi    loi  :      "d 
happiness ;   and  in  tht  1    >- 
binical  writings  it  is  referred 
to  as  the  forbidden  fruit.    Thv 
fruit  has  never  hail  a  very  ex- 
tensive culture  in  this  country, 
aliliough  highly  prized  for  jel- 
lies and  preserves  ;  but  the 
stuck  has  been  ijuite  gener- 
ally used    for  grafting   dwarf 
trees,  especially  pears. 

Probably  no  fruit  has  been 
so  greatly  improved  by  the 
liorticulturist,  nor  been  the 
subject  of  so  much  study 
and  experiment,  as  the  pear. 
Though  not  a  native  of  this 
country,    it    was 


HVURANCEA  OTASKA. 


early     cultivateil 

JKre,  not  only  for  the  fresh  fruit,  but  also  for  its  juice,  which  is  called  "  i)erry," 
and  was  often  more  highly  esteemed  than  cider.  There  were  no  less  than  442 
varieties  of  this  fruit,  according  to  the  catalogue  of  the  London  Horticultural 
Sji  iety,  in  1842  ;  but,  during  the  fifty  or  sixty  years  prior  to  that  date,  much 
had  been  done  to  improve  and  develop  the  fruit,  and  form  new  varieties. 
Probably  more  attention  was  given  to  this  matter  by  Van  Mons,  the  Helgian 
fruit-culturist,  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  than  has  been  given  it  by  any 


176 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Seckel. 


Other  one  man ;  and  he  did  much  to  start  new  kinds  of  pears  himself,  and  to 
stimulate  others  to  do  so,  by  hybridizing,  and  experiments  with  seedlings. 

Thus  it  will  be  readily  seen  ^hat  but  few  pears  raised  in  this  country  prior 
to  the  Revolution  were  particularly  choice.  There  was  one  tree,  however, 
stuyvetant  planted  in  New- York  City,  in  the  dooryard  of  Peter  Stuyvesant, 
pear  tree.  when  governor  of  the  old  Dutch  Colony  of  New  Netherlands, 
more  than  two  centuries  ago,  which  remained  growing,  or  at  least  alive,  until 
about  1875  ;  when,  having  died,  and  become  not  only  unsightly,  but  an  ob- 
stacle to  building,  it  was  cut  down,  tlie  wood  being  preserved  as  relics  of  an 
interesting  historic  age.  The  fruit  was  a  bon-chr«^tien,  and  of  good  quality  ; 
and  grafts  were  obtamed  for  much  other  stock. 

Even  more  valuable  than  the  fruit  of  this  tree  was  that  of  the  famous 
Sackel  pear-tree.  The  late  Bishop  White  of  Pennsylvania  narrates,  that,  when 
he  was  a  boy,  —  about  1 760,  —  there  was  a  German  cattle-dealer 
who  used  to  sell  to  Philadelphians  some  small  but  particularly 
delicious  pears ;  but  from  what  source  he  obtained  them  he  would  not  tell. 
Not  long  after,  the  tract  of  land  belonging  to  the  Holland  L:md  Company,  on 
the  Delaware  River,  just  south  of  Philadelphia,  was  sold  in  paicels;  and 
"  Dutch  Jacob,"  as  he  was  called,  bought  a  section  on  which  stood  the  tree 
from  which  he  had  procured  this  fruit.  Soon  after,  the  farm  was  sold  to  a  Mr. 
Seckel ;  and  ultimately  the  property  became  part  of  Stephen  dirard's  estate. 
The  tree  itself  lived  until  quite  recently.  From  that  tree  have  come  the 
Seckel  pears  so  widely  known  and  prized.  Doubtless  the  tree  was  a  seedling 
raised  by  early  German  settlers ;  but,  while  the  Seckel  somewhat  resembles 
certain  known  German  varieties,  it  is  distinct  from  them,  and  is  a  strictly 
American  fruit. 

A  less  generally  known  but  excellent  pear,  the  Petre  so  called,  was  a 
seedling  raised  by  John  Bartram,  a  well-known  Philadelphia  horti- 
culturist, in  1735,  f'"°'^  ^'^  ^^^^  of  ^  butter  pear  obtained  from 
Lord  Petre  of  Kngland. 

Another  tree  famous  for  productiveness,  and  size  of  its  fruit  than  for  the 
quality  of  it,  was  planted  by  Mrs.  Ochiltree,  ten  miles  north  of  Vincennes,  in 
Ochiltree  Illinois,  somewhere  about  1800.  It  bore  no  less  than  184  busli- 
pear-tree.  gjg  Qf  f^yij  jjj  ig^^^  and  140  bushels  in  1840  ;  at  which  latter  time 
its  trunk  was  ten  feet  in  circumference,  —  a  remarkable  growth  for  a  pear- 
tree. 

Among  other  American  seedling  pears,  the  Bloodgood,  an  early,  high- 
flavored  fall  fruit,  raised  by  James  Bloodgood,  on  Long  Island,  about  1820  or 
1830;  the  Dearborn,  originated  by  the  Hon.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn  of  Boston  in 
i8i8  ;  and  the  Buffam  pear  of  Rhode  Island,  — are  the  most  prominent. 

Van  Mons  produced  many  kinds  of  the  beurrd  or  butter  pears.  The 
Beurrd  Anjou  was  introduced  to  this  country  about  1840  by  Mr.  Wilder,  prt-si- 
dent  of  tlie  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society.    The  Bartlett,  identical  with 


Petre. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


177 


Dried  peart. 


the  Williams  bon-chrdtien  of  England,  was  introduced  to  this  country  by  Enoch 
Bartlett  of  Dorchester,  Mass.  This  has  proved  one  of  the  most  Bartiett  and 
popular  of  dessert  pears  in  the  United  States.  The  doyennd  —  other  varie- 
known  as  the  virgaloo  (or  bungalow)  in  New  York,  butter  pear  ***" 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  St.  Michel's  near  Boston  —  is  an  old  French  variety,  and 
was  brought  here  quite  early  in  the  century.  Within  the  past  twenty-five 
years  the  importations  have  been  almost  innumerable,  the  beurrds,  Duchesse 
D'.Xngouleme,  Flemish  beauty,  and  Vicar  of  Winkfield,  being  most  prominent. 

The  culture  of  pears,  to  be  successful,  requires  careful  adaptation  to  soil 
and  climate.  These  points,  as  weir  as  the  improvement  of  varieties,  have 
been  closely  studied  by  the  nurserymen  and  horticultural  societies  ;  culture  of 
and  since  1830  or  1840  the  fruit  has  been  very  widely  grown.  P*"- 
('alifornia  has  been  particularly  productive  of  choice  pears,  and  at  certain 
seasons  the  Kastern  markets  depend  almost  entirely  on  that  section  for  their 
supplies. 

Besides  being  sold  from  the  street-stands  in  cities,  to  be  eaten  out  of  hand 
and  for  dessert,  large  quantities  of  pears  are  dried  or  canned  for  the  market. 
The  business  is  regarded  as  highly  profitable,  many  trees  yielding 
fifty  or  sixty  dollars'  worth  of  fruit  a  year,  and  one  tree  in  New 
V'ork  having  a  record  of  an  aggregate  product  worth  $3,750. 

In  quantity,  and  perhaps  in  value,  the  fruit-crop  which  ranks  next  to  the 
apple  in  tliis  country  is  the  j)each.  It  is  also  one  of  our  oldest  fruits.  Peaches 
originated  in  Persia,  and  grow  wild  in  Asiatic  Turkey.  They  have 
been  long  and  widely  cultivated  in  Europe  in  sheltered  spots,  and 
their  improvement  has  received  considerable  attention  ;  not,  however,  so  much 
as  the  pear,  than  which  the  peach  has  much  fewer  varieties. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  when  the  peach  was  first  brought  to  this  country  ; 
but  it  was  pretty  generally  known  in  all  the  Atlantic  colonies  before  the  Revo- 
lution. Northern  winters,  however,  have  been  rather  too  much  for  Hiitory  of 
it ;  and  the  i)rincipal  peach-orchards  of  the  country  are  now  con-  *•"•  pe«ch. 
fined  to  Now  Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland.  It  is  generally 
conceded  that  American  peaches,  on  the  whole,  are  rather  better  than  English 
ones. 

There  were  several  varieties  known  in  this  country  previous  to  the  Revo- 
lution, and  there  is  a  record  of  the  yellow  clingstone  having  been  taken  to 
'  New  York  from  South  Carolina  before  the  war  for  independence,   y,^,^^,^ 
Most  of  our  best-known  varieties  have  been  developed  since.     The  before  and 
large  white  clingstone,  long  popular  in  New  England,  was  raised  in  !!"",**1? 
1.S05  by  David  Williamson  of  New  York.     The  Morris  red  and 
Morris  white  varieties  were  produced  by  Robert  Morris  of  Philadelphia  nearly 
a  century  ago.     William  Crawford  of  New  Jersey  originated  the  yellow-pulped 
jK'ach  that  bears  his  name,  about  1820.     Two  kinds  of  nectarine,  raised  from 
pt-ach-stones  by  H.  Bloomfield  of  Harvard,  Mass.,  in  18 10,  and  by  T.  Lewis 


Peach. 


198 


IXDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Peach- 
culture  at 
close  of  last 
century. 


of  Boston  about  1815,  were  cultivated  and  disseminated  by  Col.  S.  G.  Perkins 
of  Brookline.  This  gentleman  sent  specimens  of  the  former  to  London  in 
182 1,  which  attracted  great  attention.  The  peach  is  really  the  choicest  dessert 
fruit  known.  In  the  early  part  of  the  century  it  was  very  extensively  dried  for 
pies  and  sauce. 

Downing  says  that  peach-culture  in  this  country  reached  a  climax  about  the 
year  1800.  At  that  period  the  insidious  disease  called  the  "yellows"  began 
to  destroy  the  trees  gradually.  It  first  manifested  itself  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  fruit  was  carried  north,  and  wiilely  scattered.  It  was 
then  customary  for  seedsmen  to  plant  the  stones  of  peaches  indis- 
criminately, and  without  regard  to  the  ((ualily  or  health  of  the  trees 
from  which  they  came.     Thus  by  degrees  the  malady  became  constitutional  in 

the  young  peach-orchards  of  the  North- 
ern and  Kastern  States.  The  difficulty 
and  its  cause  were  not  unilerstood  ;  and 
the  evil  operated  slowly  for  twenty  or 
thirty  years,  all  remedies  having  been 
trieil  in  vain.  This  difficulty,  and  the 
severity  of  the  Northern  winters,  had 
l)retty  much  exterminated  the  New- 
Knglantl  and  many  of  the  New- York 
peach-orchards  by  1850;  since  which 
time  little  effort  has  been  made  to  re- 
store them. 

In  the  region  above  referred  to, 
now  forming  the  chief  centre  of  pro- 
duction, there  has  been  a  marked  de- 
Marked  velopment  of  peach-culture 
development  within  twenty  years,  largely 

"ur'e'wUhin  '^^"^  *°  ^^  development  of 
twenty  the  canning  industry,  and 

yean.  ^j^^   greatly  improved  and 

special  facilities  for  transjjortation  by 
rail  and  steamer  for  this  class  of  freight. 
From  that  comparatively  limited  region 
peaches  are  now  sent  all  over  the 
country  in  immense  quantities  at  a 
trifling  cost,  and  in  a  good  state  uf 
preservation  ;  and  in  the  height  of  the 
season  the  carrying  trade  forms  a  big  item  in  the  business  of  certain  freight- 
lines. 

Plums  are  a  much  less  prominent  crop  in  this  country.    The   fruit   is 
derived  from  the  buUace,  which,  in  turn,  is  the  offspring  of  the  wild  sloe,  and 


ROSK-COLORED  WICEUA, 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


179 


d   to. 
pro- 
lI  (Ic- 
ullurc 
irgely 
:nl  of 
ami 
anil 
m  by 
■eight, 
cgioii 
Ir    the 
at  a 
ite  of 
|of  the 
•eight- 


Hiitory. 


is  said  to  have  originated  in  the  Caucasus,  near  the  Volga  River.  It  has 
spread  all  over  Europe  from  Nonvay  south,  and  extended  even  into  Barbary. 
Knglish  catalogue  J  enumerated  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  seventy-four 
varieties  a  few  ^  cars  since. 

Plums  we'o  known  and  grown  slightly  in  this  country  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, though  not  much  is  heanl  of  them  until  the  dawn  of  the  present  century. 
The  venerable  Chancellor  Livingston  was  the  first  to  bring  to  this 
country  th  *  greengage,  which  was  known  in  France  as  the  Reiue 
Clautle,  having  been  named  after  the  wife  of  Francis  I.  From  that  stock  a 
seedling  was  developed  by  Judge  Buel  of  Albany,  which  was  called  the 
"  JeffersDn."  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  delicious,  and  widely-known 
plums  n  this  country.  Its  birth  was  probably  not  far  from 
contemi  oraneous  with  that  of  the  Washington  plum,  another 
spontaneous  American  product,  derived  from  the  greengage.  Concerning 
the  Washington  plum,  it  is  recorded  that  the  parent-tree  grew  on  Delancey's 
farm,  on  the  east  side  of  what  is  now  the  Bowery,  in  New- York  City.  A  sucker 
from  it  was  bought  from  a  market-woman  by  Mr.  Bolmar,  a  Chatham-street 
merchant,  in  1818;  and  from  this  came  the  new  variety.  The  Washington 
plum  was  soon  introduced  into  Kurope,  where  it  has  never  been  ecjualled. 
The  Lawrence  favorite  ami  Columbia  plums  were  also  seedlings  of  green- 
gage extraction,  raised  by  L.  U,  I^wrence  of  Hudson,  N.Y.  Other  less 
important  varieties  have  Ijeen  developed  in  this  country ;  and  numerous 
foreign  varieties,  including  the  common  blue  plum,  the  damson,  and  the 
apricot,  have  been  imported.  We  have  also,  in  this  country,  several  wild 
native  varieties.  Among  them  are  the  Chickasaw,  peculiar  to  Mississippi,  a 
wild  yellow  and  red  plum  to  be  found  along  river-sides  from  Canada  to 
(leorgia  and  Texas,  and  a  beach-plum  that  grows  on  sandy  coasts  from 
Massachusetts  to  New  Jersey,  and  occasionally  farther  south. 

Plums   have   never  been   cultivated   extensively   for  the   market  in   this 
country,  but  generally  by  farmers  and  city  residents  for  domestic  cultivation 
use,   and   by   fruit-fanciers   as   a   special    luxury.     The   common  •'"'»"<'• 
varieties  are  often  pitted  and  dried,  and  the  choicer  ones  pickled  and  jire- 
servod.    The  fruit  is  also  used  fresh  for  dessert  to  some  extent. 

The  cherry  is  a  fruit  of  .Asiatic  origin,  and  was  introduced  into  Italy  from 
Pontus  during  the  Mithridatic  .var,  70  B.C.     Thence  it  spread  all 
ovLT  Kurope.     Within  the  past  century  or  two  its  varieties  have 
imiltiplied  and  improved  remarkably.    'I'here  are  now  over  three   hundred 
varieties  cultivated. 

The  blackheart  variety  was  early  introduced  to  this  country,  and  seedlings 
were  raised  from  it  without  number.  The  Black  Tartarian,  one  of  its  Russian 
descendants,  was  brought  here  in  1825,  and  has  proved  a  great     .     ^ 

r        •  r,.  .  ,  .       .  /.  T.  Blackheart. 

tavonte.    The   early  whiteheart  was  brought  here  from  France 

by  R.  Arden,  who  lived  on  the  Hudson,  opposite  West  Point.     It  has  been 


i8o 


nWDUSTRlAL    HISTORY 


widely  cultivated.  The  bigarreau  cherry  was  brought  to  the  United  States  by 
Other  varie-  William  I'rince  of  Long  Island  in  1800.  Chancellor  Livingston 
*••"•  introduced  a  white  bigarreau,  and  about  1825  Andrew  Parmentier 

of  Brooklyn  brought  the  Napoleon  bigarreau  from  Holland.  Daniel  Ulood- 
good  of  Flushing,  L.L,  M.  P.  Wilder  ol  Boston,  A.  J.  Downing  of  Newburgh, 
N.Y.,  and  Robert  Manning  of  Salem,  Mass.,  brought  several  new  varieties 
here  between  1830  and  1850.  The  mayduke,  supposed  to  be  the  niedoc  of 
France,  was  among  the  earliest,  most  valuable,  and  most  widely-diffused 
varieties  in  this  country,  and  many  new  varieties  have  been  deduced  from  it. 
The  morello,  or  Kentish  sour  red  cherry,  used  chiefly  for  pies,  was  raised 
chiefly  in  New  York  along  the  Hudson,  and  in  New  Jersey.  The  fruit  has 
never  been  cultivated  largely  for  the  market,  but  chiefly  for  local  and  family 
consumption.  Besides  being  eaten  fresh,  the  cherry  is  canned,  dried,  made 
into  pies,  anil  macerated  with  brandy  or  rum  for  medicinal  purposes.  'l"hc 
wood  is  also  highly  prized  by  cabinet-makers. 

Strawberries  take  their  name  from  the  old  custom  of  putting  straw  under- 
neath the  plants  to  keep  the  fruit  from  touching  the  ground.     The  Romans 
called  them  "  fraifraria,"  on  account  of  their  delicious  fragrance. 

Strawberry.     „„  ,  ,       ,  ,  ,  .  ... 

Ihey  grow  wild  almost  the  world  over.  Little  attention  was 
given  to  their  improvement  in  foreign  countries  until  this  century,  and  not 
much  was  done  by  American  horticultr.rists  until  about  1830.  Hovey's 
seedling,  produced  by  a  famous  Boston  seedsman  in  1834,  was  among  the 
very  first  and  most  popular  of  choice  Amtyican  varieties.  In  1837  Alex- 
ander Ross  of  Hudson,  N.Y.,  developed  an  improved  variety  from  the  Keen 
(English)  strawberry.  Thereafter  varieties  and  plants  rapidly  multiplied,  and 
the  culture  of  this  delicious  fruit  rapidly  increased.  Within  the  past  ten  or 
fifteen  years  strawberries  have  been  grown  in  small  garden-plats  rather  less 
than  formerly,  inasmuch  as  the  immense  quantities  raised  by  market- 
gardeners  in  the  Central  States,  especially  on  Long  Island  and  in  New 
Jersey  and  Delaware,  and  the  improved  facilities  for  transportation,  have 
cheapened  and  made  very  plenty  this  delicious  early  summer  fruit  in  all 
parts  of  the  country. 

Raspberries  (which  are  said  to  have  originated  on  Mount  Ida,  in  the  Island 
of  Crete)  and  blackberries  grow  wild  all  over  the  northern  and  eastern  part 
of  this  country.  Most  of  our  cultivated  berries  were  introduced 
from  Europe.  They  have  not  been  very  extensively  grown  in  tlu- 
United  States,  however,  the  market  being  supplied  (juite  as  much  by  the  wild 
fruit  as  by  the  improved.  Horticulturists  have  given  these  berries  compara- 
tively little  attention. 

Oranges  grow  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  this  country,  and  chiefly  in 
Florida.      The  fruit  is  essentially  a  tropical  one,  and  has  been 
known  there  from  time  immemorial.    The  principal  planting  and 
conduct  of  orange-groves  for  mercantile  purposes  is  of  recent  date,  under 


Raspberry. 


Oranges. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


l8l     ' 


Figs,  Ac. 


the  auspices  of  Northerners  who  went  to  Florida  after  the  war.  I^bor  and 
society  are  as  yet  so  demoralized,  that  tlie  industry  is  still  in  its  infancy, 
Kiorida  oranges  arc  large  and  sweet,  and  are  highly  and  justly  prized ;  and 
there  would  seem  to  be  a  deal  of  wealth  in  store  for  those  who  shall  systemati- 
cally supply  Northern  markets  therewith. 

Some  idea  of  the  growth  of  the  fruit-producing  business  in  this  country 
within  the  past  few  years  may  be  formed  from  the  census  returns  of  orchard 
products,  which  exclude  grapes  and  wine  and  the  various  kinds  of  berries. 
In  1850  the  total  value  was  stated  at  57,773,186  ;  ten  years  later,  $19,991,885  ; 
and  ten  years  still  later,  1^47,335,189.  This  is  a  more  marked  increase  than 
in  our  sugar,  tobacco,  cotton,  or  cereals ;  and  these  simple  figures  contain  a 
significant  summary  of  horticultural  history. 

Besides  the  fruits  named  in  this  chaj)ter,  there  have  been  attempts  to 
domesticate  others,  mostly  belonging  to  warmer  climates,  —  such  as  the  pome- 
granate, date-palm,  fig,  olive,  lemon,  mulberry,  almond,  and  other 
nut-trees.  But  such  attempts  have  met  with  but  little  success. 
The  mulberry,  however, 
he  it  remarked,  was  grown 
chiefly  for  the  silk  indus- 
try, which  proved  so  sig- 
nal a  failure.  Currants 
and  other  small  fruits 
have  too  little  a  history 
to  entitle  them  to  specific 
mention. 

It  may  be  remarked 
in  this  connection,  that, 
besides  fruit-trees,  such 
economic  plants  as  tea 
and  coffee  have  been 
introduced  by  the  horti- 
cuhural  branch  of  the 
Agricultural    Btireau    at 

Washington,    Tea  and  cof- 

but  not  with   *««  ?'•"»•• 
much  success.   The  pres- 
ent commissioner,  Gen. 
Lethic,  is  putting   forth 
more    vigorous     efforts 

than  did  any  of  his  predecessors  to  render  tea- culture  not  only  possible,  but 
also  a  profitable  industry. 


C0FFEE-HUL1.ER, 


BOOK    II. 


MANUFACTURES. 


mat( 

valii; 

of  0 

tains 

geoI( 

treas 

resoii 

(iopo 

quart 

iron, 

future 

count 

The  ( 

iron  c 

limest 

insure; 

the  \vc 

come, 

fortune: 

the  res 

at  pres 

difficul 

of  the 

and  be 

tJermai 

maintai 


CHAPTER  I. 


MANUFACTURE  OF   IRON  AND   STEEL. 


KARLY   HISTORY. 


NATURE  has  fitted  the  United  States  to  become  the  centre  of  a  great 
iron   industry  by  the   lavish   endowment   of  her  territory  with  all  the 
materials  required   in   the  production  and  manufacture    of   that  superiority 
valuable  metal.     Iron,  coal,  and  limestone  are  found  in  every  part  "*'  Unittd 
of  our  domain  ;  and,  in  the  region  lying  east  of  the  Rocky  Moun-  otj,,,  cou„. 
tains,  the  country  is  so  full  of  them  as  to  present  the  appearance  «•■*••  •"  ''«»>• 
geologically  of  a  gigantic   basin  filled  to  the  rim  with  mineral  vari'etyof 
treasures.     It  is  said,  by  those  who  have  examined  the  mineral  iron  orei. 
resources  of  other  countries,  that,  were  the  coal  of  the  rest  of  the  world 
deposited  within  the  iron  rim  of  this  great  basin,  it  would  not  occupy  one- 
<iuarter  of  the  area  of  our  own  coal-fields.     What  is  true  of  coal  is  true  of 
iron,  which,  by  the  help  of  coal,  will  be  utilized  still  more  extensively  in  the 
future  of  the  world  for  the  purposes  of  man.     The  deposits  of  the  ore  in  this 
country  exist  in  such  enormous  quantity  as  fairly  to  stagger  the  imagination. 
The  ores  are  more  accessible  than  in  England,  which  now  supplies  half  the 
iron  consumed  by  the  world  ;  and  they  exist  in  close  proximity  to  the  coal  and 
limestone  used  in  extracting  the  metallic  iron  from  them.    Their  abundance 
insures  to  the  United  States  the  ability  to  supply,  not  only  its  own  people,  but 
the  world  at  large,  with  all  the  iron  ^hat  could  be  consumed  for  centuries  to 
come,  if  it  were  necessary  to  do  so.     There  appears  to  be  no  other  country  so 
fortunately  endowed  with  respect  to  iron  and  coal.     England,  now 
the  resource  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  once  of  America,  supplies 
at  present  half  the  iron  and  coal  of  the  world ;  but  her  mines  are  deep  and 
difficult,  and  costly  to  work,  while  in  the  United  States  they  lie  upon  the  top 
of  the  ground,  or  near  it.    Sweden,  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  the  richest 
and  best  ore,  has  no  coal.     Russia,  Austria,  Italy,  Algiers,  and  some  of  the 
(Jerman  States,  have  ore,  but  no  coal.     France  is  deficient  in  coal,  and  only 
maintains  her  iron  manufacture  by  importing  both  coal  and  iron.     Prussia  has 

i8s 


England. 


i86 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


a  sufficient  supply  of  both  materials  for  her  own  needs,  but  has  little  surplus. 
Brazil  has  iron,  but  very  little  coal,  and  can  only  manufacture  her  ore  by  burning 
her  forests  in  her  furnaces,  and  cannot,  therefore,  long  maintain  a  competition 
with  a  country  whose  very  foundations  are  planted  on  beds  of  coal,  if,  indeed, 
she  can  ever  seriously  enter  into  one.  Spain  has  iron  and  coal ;  but  they  are 
widely  separated,  and  little  has  been  done  to  utilize  either.  The  United  States, 
on  the  other  hand,  not  only  enjoys  incalculable  supplies  of  the  best  ores,  and 
of  coal  and  limestone,  but  in  some  States  —  as  in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Alabama, 
and  Kentucky  —  is  able  to  point  to  all  these  materials  so  close  together,  that 
they  exist  within  a  radius  of  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  furnace,  all  lying  on  or 
near  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  mineral  deposits  of  the  United  States  will 
be  more  fully  described  in  the  book  on  "  Mines  and  Mining  ; "  and  it  need  only 
be  said  here,  that  in  a  country  filled  with  such  exhaustless  stores  of  coal  and  of 
iron  ores  of  every  variety,  so  convenient  of  access,  nothing  except  the  grossest 
apathy  and  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  people  could  possibly  prevent  it,  in 
time,  from  becoming  a  leading  source  of  the  world's  supply  of  iron  and  iron 
manufactures ;  and  that  as  our  people  are  not  ignorant  and  apathetic,  but  are 
eager,  intelligent,  and  enterprising,  the  destiny  of  the  country  as  the  seat  of  a 
great  iron  manufacture  is  assured.  Indeed,  the  industry  has  already  reached 
magnificent  proportions,  and  not  only  has  now  the  capacity  to  produce  enough 
to  supply  the  wants  of  our  own  inhabitants,  but,  within  the  last  two  or  three 
years,  has  begun  to  furnish  a  surplus  for  export.  In  the  world  at 
large  the  United  States  now  stands  second  on  the  list  of  iron- 
producing  countries,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  table  of  the  product  of 
pig-metal,  compiled  by  the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Association  for  1877  from 
the  latest  accessible  statistics  :  — 


Statistics. 


COUNTRIES. 


Great  Britain  . 
United  States. 
Germany 
France 
Belgium  . 
Austria    . 
Russia     . 
Sweden   . 
Luxemburg     . 
Italy 
Spain 
Norway  . 
Mexico    . 
Canada   . 
Japan 


187s 
1876 
1874 
1876 
1875 

1875 
1874 
1875 
1874 
1872 
1872 
1870 
1876 
1876 
1874 


IRON,  TONS. 


6,365.462 
1,868,960 
1,660,208 

1,449.537 
541,805 

455.227 

5 '4,497 

350.525 
246,054 

26,000 
73.000 
3.975 
7.500 
7.500 
5,000 


CF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


187 


of 
rom 


75 
00 


a»N  AND  rruL  MAKurAcrvKB. 


iS8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


coinmnn. 


Switzerland 
Turkey   . 

Australasia     .       . 
All  other  countries . 

Toul 


YBAR. 

IRON,  TONS, 

1872 

7.500 

•  •  •  • 

40,000 

•  •  •  • 

10,000 

•  •  •  • 

50,000 

13,682,750 


production 
of  iron. 


The  first  discovery  of  iron  in  this  country  was  in  the  South.  Ore  was 
found  by  Raleigh  in  Carolina ;  and,  on  his  return  to  England,  that  eminent  man 
Discovery  reported  that  this  metal  formed  one  of  the  resources  of  the  beau- 
■nd  early  tiful  region  referred  to.  .  It  did  not  prove  a  special  attraction  to 
emigration  at  the  time ;  for  iron  was  not  among  the  things  in 
which  the  territory  of  England  was  deficient,  and  the  world  was 
not  then  using  a  hundredth  part  of  the  metal  which  it  consumes  now,  and 
there  was  no  great  demand  for  it.  The  steam-engine  had  not  been  invented, 
and  very  little  machinery  was  in  use.  Even  after  the  practical  settlement  of 
the  country  by  the  English  race  had  begun,  in  1607,  in  Virginia,  it  was  a  great 
many  years  before  iron  was  thought  to  be  of  sufficient  account  to  expend  any 
time  on  its  manufacture.  Tobacco  was  a  much  more  profitable  product,  and 
for  fifteen  years  was  about  the  only  product  of  the  colony ;  the  men  sent  over 
by  the  London  Company  to  introduce  industry  themselves  turning  agriculturists, 
and  raising  that  valuable  plant.  That  minerals  abounded  in  Virginia  was,  how- 
ever, noted  at  a  very  early  day.  In  16 10  "iron  oare  "  was  sent  to  England  by 
the  Jamestown  Colony,  and  found  to  yield  an  excellent  quality  of  metal.  Atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  matter  repeatedly.  Finally  the  London  Company  deter- 
mined to  make  use  of  the  ore  ;  and  about  1620  they  sent  to  Virginia,  as  appears 
from  "A  Declaration  of  the  State  of  Virginia,"  "out  of  Sussex,  about  forty,  all 
famed  to  iron  workes."  These  people  established  in  Virginia  a  forge,  or,  more 
properly,  what  is  now  called  a  "  bloomary."  Reference  is  made  to  it  by  Bev- 
Menufacture  ^""'y'  ''^  '^'s  "  History  of  Virginia,"  as  the  "  iron  work  at  Falling 
of  iron  in  Creek,  in  Jamestov/n  River,  where  they  made  proof  of  good  iron 
Virginia.  ^^^^  ^^^  brought  the  whole  work  so  near  a  perfection,  that  they 
writ  word  to  the  company  in  London  that  they  did  not  doubt  but  to  finish  the 
work,  and  have  plentiful  provision  of  iron  for  them,  by  the  next  Easter  j "  namely, 
in  the  spring  of  1621.  Thus  iron  was  actually  manufactured  from  the  ore  in 
Virginia  as  early  as  1620.  The  fuel  used  was  charcoal.  In  1621,  three  of  the 
master-workmen  having  died,  the  company  sent  over  Mr.  John  Berkeley,  with 
his  son  Maurice  and  twenty  experienced  workmen,  to  carry  on  the  works. 
On  the  aad  of  May,  1622,  the  works  were  destroyed  by  the  Indians,  and 
the  whole  company  massacred,  with  the  exception  of  a  boy  and  a  girl,  who 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


••9 


escaped  by  hiding.  Three  hundred  and  forty-seven  of  the  other  settlers  were 
killed  besides.  This  bloody  event  put  an  end  to  the  making  of  iron  in  Virginia 
for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  The  business  was  not  resumed  until  1 7 1 2,  although 
the  rocks  of  this  ancient  and  well-settled  State  were  known  to  be  full  of  valuable 
deposits,  and  the  attention  of  capitalists  in  London  was  from  time  to  time 
called  to  the  fact. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  coincidences  in  the  history  of  the  iron 
manufacture,  that  a  mob  in  civilized  England  destroyed  a  blast-furnace, 
erected  there  by  Dud  Dudley  for  the  smelting  of  iron  by  means  Dudiey'i 
of  coal  fuel,  almost  at  the  same  time  that  the  savages  of  the  woods  «?«'*««««*•• 
burned  the  little  pioneer  factory  in  Virginia.  Experiments  had  been  making 
in  England  for  many  years  to  utilize  coal  in  producing  iron.  The  forests  of 
the  kingdom  were  being  destroyed  rapidly  by  the  insatiable  demands  of  the 
forges  and  blast-furnaces,  which  then  could  only  be  worked  with  charcoal  fuel. 
In  1619  Dud  Dudley  had  succeeded  in  making  iron  with  coal  by  means  of 
his  skill  in  the  use  of  bellows  and  in  coking  coal.  Iron-masters  tried  to  obtain 
his  secret,  and  working-men  were  incited  to  jealousy  of  him.  He  built  five 
separate  works,  was  tricked  out  of  three,  and  lost  one  by  a  flood ;  and  one 
was  destroyed  by  a  mob.  Dudley  kept  his  secret,  and  it  died  with  him ;  and 
the  manufacture  of  iron  with  the  aid  of  hard  coal  was  postponed  First  uu  of 
for  over  a  hundred  years.  It  was  not  until  about  1 735  that  Darby,  '=*''«• 
having  discovered  the  process,  put  it  into  use,  and  began  making  iron  with 
coke  regularly.  That  process  and  the  new  blowing-engines  then  quadrupled 
the  product  of  iron  in  England  in  fifty  years. 

The  next  attempt  at  making  iron  in  the  colonies  was  in  the  North.     It  was 
part  of  the  object  of  colonizing  Massachusetts  to  produce  iron.    In  the  journal 
of  the  Court  of  Assistants  at  London  for  the  meeting  on  March  2,   „ 
1628,  it  is  recorded  that  "also  for  Mr.  Malbon  it  was  propounded,  of  iron  in 
he  having  skill  in  iron-works,  and  willing  to  put  in  twenty-five  '*''*'  ^''■" 
pounds  in  stock,  it  should  be  accounted  as  fifty  pounds,  and  his 
charges  to  be  borne  out  and  home  fi-om  New  England  ;  and  upon  his  return, 
and  report  what  may  be  done  about  iron-works,  consideration  to  be  had  of 
proceeding  therein  accordingly,  and  further  recompense  if  there  be  cause  to 
entertain  him."     Three  days  after,  the  court  made  arrangements  with  Thomas 
Graves  of  Gravesend,  Kent,  "  a  man  experienced  in  iron-workes,"  to  go  out  to 
New  England  at  the  expense  of  the  company,  and  serve  the  company  for  six 
or  eight  months,  provision  being  made  for  his  staying  three  years  if  desirable. 
The  result  of  the  expedition  of  these  two  men  is  not  known.     It  could  not 
have  Leen  very  satisfactory ;  for  no  furnace-fires  appear  to  have  been  estab- 
lished in  consequence   of  it.     The  Court  of  Assistants  in  London  got  no 
iron  from  this  preliminary  attempt.     Fifteen  years  later  the  subject  of  iron- 
making  was  agitated  again,  and  in  1637  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 


190 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Bof-ironore. 


granted  to  Abraham  Shaw  one -half  the  benefit  of  any  "coles  or  yron 
stone  w*"*  shall  bee  found  in  any  comon  ground  w***  is  in  the  countrye's 
disposing." 

The  first  iron  made  in  the  colony,  however,  was  not  from  stony  ores,  but 
was  taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  peat-bogs  and  ponds  near  the  coast.  These 
bogs  are  found  all  along  the  eastern  coast  of  the  country  as  far 
south  as  Maryland.  Water  filtering  through  the  neighboring  hills 
brings  down  into  the  ponds  lar^^  quantities  of  sesquioxide  of  iron  in  solution,  and 
deposits  the  same  at  the  bottom  of  the  pond,  along  with  vegetable  mould,  in  soft, 
spongy  masses  which  go  by  the  name  of  "  bog-iron  ore."  The  ore,  once  taken 
out,  is  renewed  again  by  gradual  deposit.  After  the  Falling-Creek  experiment, 
the  iron-works  of  the  country  were  supplied  for  a  long  period  principally  with 
bogore.  The  large  furnaces  of  the  present  day  could  not  be  supplied  with  it, 
because  it  does  not  exist  in  sufficient  quantity ;  but,  for  the  uses  of  the  early 
colonists,  it  supplied  pretty  nearly  every  want.  The  iron  cast  from  it  is  brittle, 
but  very  fluid  when  melted,  taking  every  minute  mark  of  the  mould ;  and  is, 
therefore,  still  made  to  the  present  day  in  North-west  New  Jersey  and  in  Mary- 
land for  stove-castings. 

In  1643  specimens  of  the  bog-ores  from  the  ponds  near  Lynn  were  sent 
to  England  for  trial,  and  found  to  be  so  good,  that  a  "  Company  of  Undertak- 
ers for  the  Iron -Works  "  was  immediately  formed,  with  a  thousand 
pounds  capital,  by  John  Winthrop,  jun.,  and  others.  Winthrop 
came  to  New  England  in  1643,  with  a  corps  of  workmen,  to  begin  the  regular 
manufacture  of  iron.  The  company  built  their  furnace  on  the  banks  of  the 
Saugus  River,  within  the  present  limits  of  Lynn,  at  a  spot  which  they  called 
Hammersmith,  after  the  place  in  England  from  which  some  of  the  workmen 
had  come.  The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  greatly  favored  this  work  by 
grants  of  three  square  miles  of  land  wherever  the  company  put  up  works, 
and  by  special  privileges  and  charters.  Subscriptions  toward  the  stock  were 
encouraged  among  the  inhabitants.  The  work  was  very  successful ;  and  on 
Oct.  14,  1645,  the  General  Court  granted  to  the  company  a  charter  "on  the 
condition  that  the  inhabitants  of  this  jurisdiction  be  furnished  with  barr-iron  of 
all  sorts  for  their  use,  not  exceeding  twenty  pounds  per  tunne."  In  1648  the 
Purnace  at  fumace  at  Lynn  was  turning  out  eight  tons  of  iron  a  week,  and 
Lynn-  appears  to  have  been  kept  busy  for  a  long  time  casting  cannon, 

shot,  pots,  and  other  hollow-ware,  for  which  the  bog-iron  is  so  well  adapted. 
The  first  article  cast  was  an  iron  pot ;  and  this  historic  and  intrinsic  treasure 
was  han^'  ■'own  for  generations  in  the  family  of  the  man  who  bought  it, 
who  ha  i  to  be  Thomas  Hudson,  of  the  same  family  as  the  Dutch 

explorer,  I'homas  having  been  the  original  owner  of  the  lands  on  the  Saugus 
upon  which  the  foundery  stood. 

The  company  built  another  forge  about  1648,  in  the  town  of  Braintree; 


Winthrop. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


191 


and  in  165  a  a  forge  was  established  at  Raynham  (now  Taunton)  by  the 
two  Leonard  brothers,  Henry  and  James,  from  whom  have  since  Braintre* 
descended    so    many  of  the   well -known   iron -masters  of  the  andTaua. 
country. 

John  Winthrop,  jun.,  went  to  New  London  in  Connecticut  in  1645,  ^^^ 
in  165 1   obtained  a  grant  of  privileges  from  the  Assembly  to  pi„t  iron- 
enable  him  to  make  iron  there.     He  did  not,  however,  carry  out  work«  in 
his  intention  of  establishing  the  business  then ;  and  the  first  iron-  *^«»'"»««**«»«*- 
works  in  this  colony  were  erected  at  New  Haven,  where  they  were  established 
by  Capt.  Thomas  Clarke  in  1656. 

Rhode  Island  made  iron  at  Pawtucket  and  elsewhere  as  early  as  1675. 
There  were  several  furnaces  and  forges  in  the  State,  all  of  them  Rhode 
running  with  bog-ore  taken  from  the  ponds  on  the  border  of  Bris-  *•••»«•• 
tol  County,  Massachusetts.  The  works  at  Pawtucket  were  started  by  Joseph 
Jenks,  jun.,  from  Lynn.  The  Indians  interfered  with  their  infant  enterprises 
a  great  deal ;  and  the  iron  industry  has  not,  even  to  this  day,  reached  any 
special  development  in  the  State.  The  energies  of  the  people  were  directed 
at  a  very  early  period  to  cotton  spinning  and  weaving,  and  that  has  since 
engrossed  them  almost  entirely.  Yet  Rhode- Island  hills  contain  unlimited 
quantities  of  the  most  important  iron  ores. 

Iron  ore  had  been  discovered  in  New  Jersey  by  the  Dutch  ;  and  a  com- 
pany of  people  from  Connecticut  began  the  production  of  metal 
from  it  as  early  as  1664  in  Shrewsbury,  Monmouth  County. 
Henry  Leonard  went  to  Shrewsbury  about  that  year  from  Lynn,  and  is  said  to 
have  set  up  one  of  the  first  furnaces  of  the  provinces.  Several  bloomary-fires 
were  started  in  Sussex  and  Morris  Counties  in  1685  by  immigrants  from  Eng- 
land and  the  northern  provinces  of  this  country.  The  ore  was  brought  to 
the  forges  many  miles  in  leathern  bags  on  pack-horses. 

There  is  some  dispute  as  to  whether  the  pioneer  works  in  New  England,  at 
Lynn,  were  of  the  character  of  a  blast-furnace  or  a  bloomary-fire  ;  but  there  is 
no  doubt  at  all,  that,  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  practical  iron-   Bia«t-fur. 
making  in  this  country,  the  furnaces  were,  in  general,  what  are  called  naces  and 
"bloomaries."     The  blast-furnaces  were  exceedingly  rare.     They  ••'•""""''•• 
were  in  use  in  England,  but  not  here,  except  at  Lynn  (where  Mr.  Swank  believes 
there  was  one  as  early  as  1644),  and  at  Shrewsbury,  N.J.,  where  one  was  set  up 
about  1680.     These  bloomaries  were  simply  an  improvement  upon  the  primi- 
tive mode  of  making  iron  direct  from  the  ore,  in  use  in  India  from  the  most 
ancient  times,  and   still  employed   by  the  natives  of  Asia  and   ^   . 
Africa.    The  original  bloomary  was  merely  a  hole  in  the  ground,  cett  of  mak- 
in  which  charcoal  was  burned  by  the  aid   of  a  bellows  made 
from  a  goat-skin,  iron  ore  being  added  to  the  fire  in  small  quan- 
tities.   It  is  the  peculiar  property  of  iron,  and  the  ore  quality  above  all  others, 
which  has  made  it  of  such  extraordinary  utility  to  man,  that  its  particles  agglu- 


New  Jeriey. 


ing  iron 
described. 


19^ 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


tinate  at  a  white-heat.  In  those  primitive  fires  it  was  found,  that,  the  stone 
being  burned  out  of  the  ore,  and  the  iron  heated  almost  to  incandescence,  the 
metal  gathered  together,  and  settled  at  the  bottp.n  in  a  glowing  and  more  or 
less  compact  lump,  or  bloom,  and  might  be  got  out  and  worked  by  breaking 
away  the  clay. 

This  method  of  making  iron  served  the  world  for  centuries.  It  was  finally 
improved  in  Catalonia,  in  Spain,  and  made  much  more  effective ;  and  the 
Iron-making  works  there  perfected  took  the  name  of  Catalan  bloomaries,  or 
in  Spain.  forges,  from  the  province  in  which  they  were  first  set  up.  The 
original  form,  used  in  the  Pyrenees  since  1293,  was  a  furnace  two  feet  high, 
with  a  hearth,  or  crucible,  to  receive  the  heated  lump  of  metal,  eleven  inches 
deep.  The  blast  was  fed  to  the  fire  through  two  openings,  called  tuyeres, 
about  eleven  inches  from  the  bottom.  In  five  hours  a  hundred  and  forty  pounds 
of  iron  could  be  made.  In  time  the  furnace  became  enlarged,  and  the  hearth 
was  made  twenty  inches  deep  :  one  tuyere  was  discontinued,  and  the  produc- 
tion was  increased  to  three  hundred  pounds  of  metal  in  five  hours.  The  pro- 
Proceta  cess  was  as  follows  :  In  the  fire-clay  hearth  a  bottom  of  slag  and 

described.  charcoal  was  laid,  and  glazed  over  at  a  higli  heat :  the  heartli  was 
then  half  filled  with  charcoal.  On  the  side  opposite  to  the  tuyhe  coarse  ore 
was  heaped  up  to  the  top  of  the  hearth,  and  the  rest  of  the  space  was  filled 
with  charcoal.  Then  the  blast  was  started  at  a  low  pressure  of  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  pound.  In  six  hours  the  pressure  was  raised  to  a  pound  and  a 
half,  and  the  whole  of  the  fire  heaped  over  with  fine  charcoal  and  ore,  exce])t 
over  the  coarse  ore.  The  gas  and  flame  from  the  fire,  meeting  with  difficulty 
in  escaping  through  the  fine  charcoal,  were  forced  principally  to  find  an  outlet 
through  the  interstices  of  the  coarse  ore,  and  they  gradually  reduced  it.  Tlie 
melted  slag,  settling  down  below  the  tuyere,  was  tapped  off  every  hour.  At  the 
end  of  the  operation,  or  in  about  six  hours,  the  bloom  was  pried  out  of  tlie 
fire,  and  put  under  a  fourteen-hundred-pound  hammer  for  manufacture.  Tlie 
heat  could  be  so  increased  as  to  melt  the  iron,  and  run  it  off  to  make  castings. 
In  the  Catalan  process,  three  tons  of  ore,  ind  two  and  three-quarters  or  three 
tons  of  charcoal,  were  consumed  to  make  a  ton  of  iron ;  the  process  being  very 
wasteful,  but  the  metal  extremely  pure  and  good. 

The  principal  trouble  with  the  Catalan  forge  was,  that  the  fire  had  to  be 
re-made  after  each  heat.  This  objection  led  to  an  improvement  upon  it, 
Defect  of  invented  by  the  Germans  in  Alsace.  These  people  went  back  to 
Catalan  the  old  plan  of  throwing  into  the  fire  alternate  layers  of  fine  ore 

"*'■  and  charcoal,  using  larger  fires,  and  making  the  blast  continuous. 

By  this  means  they  were  able  either  to  run  off  the  melted  metal,  or  pry 
out  the  heated  bloom,  without  re-making  the  fire.  The  principle  and  form 
of  both  bloomaries  were  substantially  the  same,  and  the  product  equally 
good. 

This  was  the  general  style  of  forge  which  found  its  way  into  America  in  the 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


193 


infancy  of  the  iron-manufacture,  and  by  which  the  manufacture  was  estab- 
hshcd.     Professor  T.  Sterry  Hunt  says  of  it  in  a  recent  paper,  —      t.  sterry 

"  This  furnace  had  the  great  advantage,  that  its  construction  """*• 
retiuired  but  Uttle  skill  and  outlay.  A  small  waterfall  for  the  blast  and  ham- 
mer, a  rude  hearth  with  a  chimney,  and  a  supply  of  charcoal  and  ore,  enabled 
the  iron-worker  to  obtain,  as  occasion  recjuired,  a  few  hundred  pounds  of 
iron  in  a  day's  time  in  a  condition  fitted  for  the  use  of  the  blacksmith  ;  after 
which  his  primitive  forge  remained  idle  until  there  was  a  further  demand.  To 
tills  day  such  furnaces  are  found  in  the  mountains  of  Nrrth  Carolina,  and 
tarnish  the  bar-iron  re(juired  for  the  wants  of  the  rural  population.  .  .  .  Still 
more  wortliy  of  note  is  it,  that  this  primitive  bloomary-furnace,  discarded  in 
Europe,  has  been  improved  by  American  ingenuity, — enlarged,  fitted  with  a 
hot  blast,  water,  tuyeres,  and  other  modern  appliances, — so  that,  in  the  hands 
of  skilled  workmen  in  Northern  New  York,  it  affords  for  certain  ores  an  eco- 
nomical mode  of  making  a  superior  malleable  iron.  A  large  part  of  this 
}jrodiict  is  consumed  at  Pittsburgh  for  the  manufacture  of  cutlery-steel  of 
excellent  quality." 

Pennsylvania,  so  marvellously  stored  with  the  materials  for  iron-making,  did 
not  begin  the  manufacture  until  171 7,  —  the  year  before  William  Penn's  death. 
I'enn  came  to  the  province  which  was  named  after  him  in  1682.  pennsyi- 
He  was  familiar  with  the  iron  business,  and  he  accordingly  soon  v""*"- 
liad  furnaces  in  New  Jersey  at  various  places  in  Sussex.  He  discovered  in 
lime  that  his  own  province  was  rich  in  minerals ;  but  it  apjiears  that  the  indus- 
try was  not  developed  there  until  the  year  before  his  death.  The  record  of  the 
event  is  found  in  a  letter  of  Jonathan  Dickinson,  written  in  171 7,  in  which  he 
says,  "  This  last  summer,  one  Thomas  Rutter,  a  smith  who  lived  not  far  from 
Germantown,  hath  removed  farther  up  in  the  country,  and  of  his  own  strength 
has  set  up  on  making  iron.  Such  it  proves  to  be  as  is  highly  set  by  all  the 
smiths  here,  who  say  that  the  best  of  Swede's  iron  doth  not  exceed  it ;  and  we 
have  heard  of  others  that  are  going  on  with  the  iron-works."  A  beginning 
once  made,  the  industry  developed  with  great  rapidity.  In  1728  four  furnaces 
were  in  full  blast ;  one  being  at  Colebrookdale  on  the  Maxatawny  Oeek,  and 
one  being  in  the  present  county  of  Lancaster.  l]y  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
many  others  had  been  built  in  Eastern  and  North-eastern  Pennsylvania. 
These  were  regular  blast-furnaces  nm  with  charcoal  fuel. 

Virginia  resumed  the  manufacture  of  iron  about  1715.  Col.  Alexander 
Spottswood  opened  some  mines  in  Spottsylvania  County,  on  the  Rappahannock, 
and  i)ut  ui)  a  blast-furnace  there  about  that  year.     The  owner  told   „ 

'  '  _  ^  Resumption 

Col.  Byrd  in  i  732  that  he  was  the  first  in  America  who  had  erected   of  iron- 
a  regular  furnace,  and  that  "  they  ran  altogether  upon  bloomaries   piani^fact"" 
in  New  England  and  Pennsylvania  till  his  example  had  made  them 
attempt  greater  workes."     This  is  believed,  by  Mr.  Swank  and  others,  to  be  a 
:nistake,  because  there  was  a  furnace  at  Lynn,  and  another  at  Shrewsbury,  long 


>94 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


New  York. 


before  Col.  Spottswood  developed  his  large  and  flourishing  works.  The  erec- 
tion of  the  Rappahannock  furnace  was,  however,  an  important  event  in  the 
history  of  the  iron-trade.  It  certainly  led  to  the  building  of  larger  works  in 
the  North  than  had  been  put  up  previous  to  that  time.  Col.  Spottswood  had 
four  furnaces  in  1732  ;  the  largest  being  at  Fredericksburg,  thirteen  miles  from 
the  mine.  An  idea  of  the  sort  of  work  the  furnaces  ran  on  at  that  day  may 
be  gathered  from  the  journal  of  Col.  Byrd,  who  says,  that  at  the  furnace  at 
Massapony,  on  the  Rappahannock,  there  were  cast  "  backs  for  chimneys,  and- 
irons, fenders,  plates  for  hearths,  pots,  skillets,  mortars,  rollers  for  gardeners, 
boxes  for  cart-wheels,  &c.,  which,  one  with  another,  could  be  delivered  at 
people's  doors  for  twenty  shillings  a  ton." 

By  1 735  all  the  large  coast  provinces  were  busily  manufacturing  pig  and 
bar  iron  and  castings,  except  New  York.  New  York  came  lagging  in  the  rear 
of  the  train,  and  did  not  make  iron  until  about  1 740.  The  begin- 
ning of  the  industry  appears  to  have  been  due  to  the  development 
of  the  famous  brown  hematite  deposits  in  Salisbury,  Conn.,  in  1732.  No  iron 
of  any  consequence  had  been  found  within  the  limits  of  the  province  itself; 
and  the  city  of  New  York  had  been,  up  to  that  time,  supplied  with  iron  from 
the  adjoining  provinces.  In  1740  Philip  Livingston  built  the  first  iron-works 
of  the  province  on  Ancram  Creek  in  Columbia  County,  obtaining  his  ore  from 
Salisbury  in  Connecticut,  twelve  miles  away.  The  works  consisted  only  of  a 
bloomary-forge.  In  1 75 1  a  blast-furnace  was  built  in  Orange  County  to  work 
up  the  ores  of  Sterling  Mountain.  The  celebrated  mines  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  State  were  not  opened  until  1800.  The  oldest  forge  in  the  Champlain 
region  is  said  to  have  been  built  no  earlier  than  1801. 

The  iron-manufacture  began  in  New  Hampshire  about  1750,  where  several 
bloomaries  were  built  to  make  use  of  the  bog-ores.  A  good  deal  of  iron  was 
made  during  the  Revolution  ;  but,  after  that,  the  business  died  out.  There  is 
to-day  only  one  furnace  in  New  Hamphire ;  namely,  the  one  belonging  to  the 
rolling-mill  at  Nashua. 

Vermont  entered  upon  the  industry  at  the  same  time  as  her 
sister-province,  making  use  of  the  magnetic  and  hematite  ores  in 
the  northern  and  western  parts  of  the  State.  Maine  had  a  few  bloomary-forges 
in  York  County  during  the  Revolution,  the  war  giving  an  energetic 
development  to  this  business  in  every  part  of  the  country.  North 
North  Carolina  exported  a  little  iron  as  early  as  1728,  and  during  the 

Carolina.  Revolution  had  a  great  many  bloomaries  and  forges  in  operation. 
In  South  Carolina  tiie  first  forge  was  erected  in  1773,  in  the  north-western 
South  part  of  the  State :  it  was  burned  by  the  Tories  during  the  war. 

Carolina.  j^  Kentucky  the  first  works  were  built  in  1791  by  government 
troops,  on  Slate  Creek  in  Bath  County.  In  Tennessee  a  blooni- 
ary  was  established  at  Emeryville  as  early  as  1790;  and  in  both 
that  State  and  Kentucky  a  large  number  of  works  sprang  up  immediately  after, 


Vermont. 


Maine. 


Kentucky. 


GF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


»95 


and  were  operated  for  many  years,  until  the  cheaper  iron  of  the  North 
made  the  business  unprofitable.  Georgia  made  no  iron  prior  to  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution. 

FORTY  YEARS  OF  REPRESSION  AND  STRUGGLE. 

Thus,  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  manufacture  of  iron  had 
taken  a  very  favorable  start.  The  furnaces  and  forges  were  small,  and  mainly 
devoted  to  supplying  the  blacksmiths  of  the  vicinity  surrounding  ^,,^1 
tliem  with  bar-iron,  and  to  casting  the  articles  of  hollow-ware,  and  enacted  to 
furniture  for  fireplaces.  They  furnished  a  quantity  of  crude  iron  ['^""  ''**"" 
for  export,  however,  because  the  skill  and  capital  to  manufacture 
tliis  material  into  cutlery,  tools,  machinery,  and  goods  of  the  higher  types,  did 
not  at  first  exist  in  this  country,  and  the  production  was  somewhat  in  excess 
of  the  demands  of  the  blacksmiths.  Along  towards  the  middle  of  the 
eii,Mueenth  century,  steel  furnaces,  rolling  and  slitting  mills,  and  plating  forges, 
began  to  be  erected  in  the  various  colonies,  the  industry  keeping  steady  pace 
with  the  growing  wealth  and  development  of  the  several  sections.  The  fur- 
ther building  of  the  classes  of  factories  just  named  was,  however,  stopped  in 
1 750  by  a  law  which  directly  forbade  it  as  a  common  nuisance.  This  was  one 
of  the  early  steps  of  the  intolerance  of  the  mother-country  which  led  to  the 
ultimate  revolt  and  independence  of  the  colonies.  A  peculiar  feeling  existed  in 
England  toward  the  colonies.  The  people  here  were  Englishmen,  were  proud 
of  the  fact,  and  were  imflaggingly  loyal  to  the  government  under  the  protection 
of  whose  lianners  they  were  trying  to  subdue  the  wilderness,  and  build  up  a 
group  of  flourishing  and  civilized  communities.  As  Elnglishmen  they  were 
protected  by  the  arms  of  England  against  all  foreign  invasions  of  their  rights 
and  territory,  and  their  loyalty  was  rewarded  by  the  recognition  of  their  able 
men  with  commissions  in  the  king's  civil  and  military  service  and  otherwise. 
But  they  had  the  misfortune  to  live  and  be  born  out  of  the  realm  itself,  and 
on  that  account  they  never  enjoyed  the  full  respect  and  sympathy  of  the 
l)eople  of  England  and  of  the  crown.  All  the  legislation  had  in  respect  to 
them  was  inspired,  therefore,  with  something  less  than  a  spirit  of  full  fraternity, 
and  often  with  a  positive  determination  to  make  them  simply  subser\'e  the 
purposes  of  the  people  at  home,  regardless  of  their  own  welfare  and  pros- 
perity. The  legislation  in  respect  to  the  industrial  development  of  the  colo- 
nies was  dictated  by  mercenary  considerations  exclusively.  Growth  here  was 
retarded  in  every  possible  manner.  Bounties  for  the  export  of  agricultural 
products  were  given  to  induce  the  colonists  to  confine  their  attention  exclu- 
sively to  agriculture,  and  to  depend  entirely  upon  the  mother-country  for 
articles  of  manufacture.  Parliament  desired  our  people,  living  as  they  did 
under  the   shadow  of  gigantic  forests,  to  export  even  their  timber  to  Eng- 


196 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


land,  and  obtain  from  that   country,   in  return,  our  wooden-wares,  chairs, 

tables,    carriages,    and    wooden 
'  ijL^Biuin,  bowls.       1  he    development    of 

the    loral    industries    of    Kng- 
land,    and    the    promotion    of 
the  carrying-trade  to  the  colo- 
nies so  as  to  insure  to  Kngland 
a  great  deal   of  shi])i)ing,  were 
aimed  at  stemlily.     The  growth 
of    industry    here    was    looked 
upon     with     impatience ;    and 
when  it  was  seen  that  the  colo- 
nists refused    to   be  dependent 
forever,    and     that    they    were 
7    showing  great  vigor  and  enter- 
l    prise  in  putting   up   their   own 
\     factories     and     forges.     Parlia- 
-     ment   interi)osed   with   a   regu- 
'i     lation   of   the    sort    above    re- 
t     ferred  to. 

1  The  law  of  1750  restricted 
a  the  iron-making  of  the  colonies 
*  to  the  production  of  pig  and 
i     bar  iron  and  to  castings.     Nails 

2  were  made  in  a  small  way  by 
i  the  people,  in  their  chimney- 
;      .  corners,     evenings ; 

i       Law  of  1750.  ,.,11      1  1 

and  the  blacksnuths 
still  worked  away  at  wrought- 
iron  implements  and  utensils : 
but  general  growth  was  stopped. 
A  large  part  of  the  iron  made 
was  exported  to  F2ngland,  tiie 
colonists  getting  it  back  again 
in  the  cutlery,  steel,  and  other 
goods  they  were  not  permitted 
to  make  themselves.  The  fol- 
lowing table,  which  we  cojty 
from  Scrivenor's  "  History  of 
the  Iron  Trade,"  will  show  the 

(juantity   exported   to   England,   down   to   the  lime    of  the   Revolution^   in 

tons : — 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


»97 


Ills 


718     . 

728-29 

730     • 

73«>-3' 

7J'-32 

732-33 

733 

733-34 

734 

734-35 

735 

739 

740 

74' 

742 
743 
744 
745 
7-(6 

747 
748 

75° 
751 
752 
753 
754 
755 
761 
762 

763 
■64 

765 
766 

7('>7 
76S 
769 
770 

771 
772 
773 
774 
775 
776 


riG-moN. 


I.IJ2 

1.725 
2,230 

2.332 
2.404 

2.197 
2,561 

2.417 

2.275 

3.457 

2.07  S 
2.985 

1,861 

2,274 
1,861 
2,156 

2.155 
2.924 
3.210 
2,980 
2.737 
3.244 
3.441 
2.766 
1,766 
2,566 
2.554 
3.264 
2,887 

3.313 
2.953 
3.401 
4.232 
5.303 
3.724 
2.937 

3.451 
2,996 

3>6 


BAH-mON. 


H 


ss 

5 
s 


57 

4 

196 

82 

4 

s 
s 

81 

247 

270 

389 

39 
122 

3>o 
1,059 

1,078 

1.257 

1.325 
1,989 

1.779 
1.716 
2,222 
965 
837 
639 
916 


In  the  same  period,  there  were  some  shght  shipments  to  Scotland  in 
addition  to  these. 


198 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Condition  of 
Iron-manu- 
facturi  at 
outbraak  of 
Ravolution. 


When  the  colonies  began  their  daring  experiment  of  a  fight  for  political 
independence,  they  were  jjoorly  provided  with  the  means  for  carrying  on  a 
war.  Not  to  mention  their  lack  of  factories  for  clothing,  of  ships,  of  public 
funds,  and  private  capital,  and  of  a  dense  population  from  which 
to  recruit  an  army,  the  poverty  of  their  resources  for  making  can- 
non, chains,  rifles,  swords,  and  shot,  was  so  great  as  of  itself  alone 
to  place  them  at  an  enormous  disadvantage  in  the  conflict  with 
England.  They  had  few  or  no  works  for  the  production  of  these 
necessaries  of  war,  and  neither  sufficient  ready  capital  to  build  all  the  country 
needed,  nor  the  skill  to  produce  at  once  an  article  of  good  workmanship. 
The  casting  of  a  ten-pounder  cannon  was  so  serious  a  piece  of  business  with 
them  at  that  day,  that  few  cared  to  undertake  it.  The  absolute  cutting-ofl"  of 
the  supplies  from  England,  upon  which  the  colonies  had  formerly  depended, 
however,  placed  them  under  the  necessity  of  enlarging  their  iron-manufactur- 
ing facilities  at  once.  The  people  not  being  able  to  do  this  to  the  extent 
required  both  by  the  local  wants  and  the  demands  of  the  government,  the 
Policy  of  Continental  Congress  took  part  in  the  work ;  and  the  troops 
Continental  and  the  public  funds  were  employed  to  establish  furnaces  and 
Congreta.  factories  of  iron  and  steel  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Works 
were  established  by  Congress  in  the  Housatonic  Valley  in  Connecticut,  in 
the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  in  Northern  New  Jersey,  Kentucky,  and  wher- 
ever the  ores  were  rich  and  the  forest  dense,  and  charcoal  therefore  abun- 
dant. It  is  said  that  the  fitbt  trials  of  anthracite  for  manufacturing  purposes 
were  made  by  Congress  at  its  armory  at  Carlisle,  Penn.,  in  1775,  established 
in  consequence  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  combined  resources  of  Con- 
gress and  people  were  only  barely  sufficient  at  first  to  supply  the  country  with 
the  iron  it  needed.  It  took  some  time  to  train  workmen,  and  the  Tories 
frequently  interfered  with  proceedings  by  burning  the  iron-works.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  Revolution  the  industry  gained  a  good  start ;  and,  had  the 
treaty  of  peace  in  1783  been  followed  up  by  a  policy  favorable  to  native 
manufactures,  its  rise  would  have  been  thenceforward  rapid. 

But  the  Continental  Congress  had  no  power  to  initiate  a  policy  of  the 
proper  sort ;  and  a  period  of  six  years  followed,  during  which  the  country  was 
flooded  with  cheap  manufactures  from  England ;  and  a  large  number  of  the 
native  American  furnaces  and  factories,  finding  no  demand  for 
their  iron,  ceased  to  exist.  By  the  previous  repression  of  our 
industries,  England  had  been  enabled  to  enlarge  and  develop  her  own ;  and 
the  skill  of  her  workmen,  and  the  large  capital  of  the  masters,  made  it  impos- 
sible for  America  to  compete  with  her,  even  in  supplying  her  own  needs.  The 
few  iron  furnaces  and  founderies  which  managed  to  keep  alive  during  the 
interregnum  from  1783  to  1789  scarcely  did  more  than  provide  for  their 
respective  neighborhoods. 


1783  to  1789. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


199 


THE   EFFECT   OF  TARIFFS. 


In  1 789  the  first  Congress  met  under  the  new  Constitution,  equipped  by 
the  people  with  power  to  legislate  for  the  commonweal  on  a  variety  of  im- 
portant subjects,  which,  before  that,  the  General  Government  had  been  unable 
to  touch.  It  was  a  convention  of  the  best  men  of  the  Revolu-  Early  uritf 
tionary  struggle.  The  first  law  passed  was  one  in  relation  to  offi-  '•**'•• 
cial  oaths ;  the  second,  an  act  for  the  protection  of  American  industries  and 
fov  revenue.  By  this  law  a  duty  was  levied  upon  all  importations  of  iron  ;  a 
moderate  one, — only  five  per  cent  on  the  home  value  of  iron,  and  fifty  cents 
per  liundred-weight  on  steel,  —  but  enough  to  prove  a  temptation  to  many 
furnace-men  to  kindle  anew  the  fires  in  their  deserted  stacks,  and  collect  their 
scattered  workmen,  and  resume  the  industry  (so  valuable  to  the  country) 
which  the  heavy  importations  from  England  had  obliged  them  to  abandon. 
The  duty,  not  proving  large  enough,  was  increased  by  different  Congresses, 
until  in  181  a  it  reached  thirty-two  percent  and  a  half  on  iron  (thirty-seven 
per  cent  if  brought  in  foreign  vessels),  and  two  dollars  per  hundred- weight 
on  steel.  After  the  war  of  i8ia  it  was  reduced  somewhat.  Under  the  pro- 
tection of  this  tariff,  iron-making  was  resumed  in  all  the  States  in  which  it 
had  previously  been  carried  on.  In  States  and  localities  where  increawof 
no  start  had  yet  been  made  it  was  begun.  Pittsburgh,  now  the  manufac 
most  important  iron  centre  of  the  country,  had  yet  had  no  *"'"" 
bloomary  nor  foundery ;  and  Ohio,  with  its  rich  stores  of  coal  and  ore,  and 
busy  farming-population,  had  seen  no  piece  of  iron  laid  on  a  village  anvil 
except  that  which  had  been  toilsomely  brought  by  wagon  from  the  distant 
East.  But  in  1803  the  iron-industry  was  initiated  at  Pittsburgh  by  the 
building  of  a  foundery,  and  in  Ohio  by  the  erection  of  a  small  charcoal- 
furnace  in  Poland  Township,  Mahoning  County.  Bloomaries,  furnaces,  roll- 
ing-mills, a.id  steel-works  sprang  into  being  throughout  the  Union  everywhere. 
The  mines  of  the  West  and  South  were  opened  as  the  wave  of  population 
flowed  into  the  regions  surrounding  them,  and  in  the  older  communities  in 
the  rear  of  them  branches  of  the  manufacture  which  had  never  been  attempted 
on  this  continent  were  successfully  tried  and  established.  Production  began 
to  keep  pace  with  consumption,  and  a  small  quantity  of  crude  iron  was 
even  supplied  for  exportation. 

Were  it  expedient  to  do  so,  the  history  of  iron-making  from  1 789  down  to 
1878  might  be  divided  into  eras  coinciding  with  the  changes  in  the  principle 
on  which  the  tariff  has  been  framed.    There  have  been  several  character  of 
important  changes.    The   tariff  was  protective   until   1816.     In  vaHoua 
1816  the  duties  "rere  lowered  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  the  '•«'•'■*•*• 
free-traders.     In  »'?24  the  protective  tariff  was  again  enacted,  and, 
being  strengthened  in  1828,  lasted  until  1834.     Then  a  compromise  tariff  was 
adopted,  by  which  the  duties  were  gradually  lowered.    In  1843,  again,  there 


200 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


i 


was  a  tariff  for  protection ;  but  in  1846  free- trade  gained  the  ascendency  once 
more,  and  until  1861  there  was  Httle  or  no  protection.  In  1861  the  present 
protective  tariff  was  adopted.  These  changes  brought  about  periods  of  alter- 
nate depression  and  prosperity  in  the  iron-industry.  There  has  been  such 
an  abundance  of  land  in  the  country,  and  the  agricultural  life,  with  its  owner- 
ship of  a  bit  of  land,  has  had  such  fascinations  in  theory,  if  not  in  fact,  to  the 
mass  of  the  people,  that  wages  have  always  been  necessarily  high  here ;  and 
the  iron-masters  have  not  been  able  to  produce  either  crude  or  manufactured 
iron  for  American  consumption  in  competition  with  Englishmen,  without  the 
protection  of  an  efficient  duty.  Whenever  the  tariff  has  been  lowered,  there- 
fore, the  fires  have  gone  out  in  scores  of  furnace-stacks  and  rolling-mills 
throughout  the  country,  and  working-men  have  been  thrown  out  of  employment. 
Several  times,  as  in  1820,  the  business  has  been  in  a  state  of  ruin.  Whenever 
protection  has  been  again  extended,  the  smoke  has  again  floated  from  the 
chimneys  of  the  iron-works,  and  the  business  has  become  prosperous.  The 
influence  of  the  tariff  has  been  so  great,  that  mention  of  it  cannot  be  omitted. 
It  is  preferable,  however,  to  divide  the  history  of  iron-making  into  periods, 
simply  with  reference  to^  the  progress  of  invention,  and  not  with  reference  to 
tariff  changes.  Still  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  the  reader  to  glance  over 
the  following  table  of  the  changes  in  the  duties,  and  compare  it  with  the 
succeeding  table  of  production  of  iron  in  the  United  States  :  — 


RATES    OF   DUTY   FROM    1 789   TO    1 876. 


1789 
1790 
1792 

1794 
1804 
1812 
r8i6 
i8tS 
1824 
182S 
1830 

«S33) 
to 

1842) 

1842  . 

1843  • 


5  per  cent. 

S  per  cent. 

10  per  cent. 

15  per  cent. 

17^  per  cent. 

32^  per  cent. 

20  per  cent. 

50  cents  per  cwt. 

50  cents  per  cwt. 

62^  cents  per  cwt. 

62  J  cents  per  cwt. 

50  cents  per  cwt. 


ri 


i  gradual  fall  to 
I     20  per  cent 

jk)  per  ton. 
$9  per  ton. 


RAILROAD-RARS. 


5  to  7I  per  cent. 

5  to  7^  per  cent. 

10  per  cent. 


I  cent  a  pound. 

2  cents  a  pound. 

45  cts.  to  52.50  per  cwt. 

75  cts.  to  $2.50  per  cwt. 

90  cts.  to  53.36  per  cwt. 

51.12  to  53.92  per  cwt. 

51.12  to  S3.92  per  cwt. 

51.12  to  53-92  per  cwt. 

(  gradual  fall  to  20  per  I 
(     cent.  ' 

517  to  556  per  ton. 
517  to  556  per  ton. 


537  per  ton. 

25  per  cent. 

free. 

free. 

free. 
525  per  ton. 


STEEL. 


50  cents  per  cwt. 

75  cents  per  cwt. 

51  per  cwt. 


5 1  per  cwt. 

52  per  cwt. 
5 1  per  cwt 
5t  per  cwt. 
51  per  cwt. 

51.50  per  cwt. 
51.50  per  cwt. 
51.50  per  cwt, 

51.50  per  cwt. 

($1.50  to  52.50  Pe'' 
(     cwt. 

(51.50  to  52.50  per 
(     cwt. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


20 1 


riC-IRON. 

BAR-IRON. 

RAILROAD-BARS. 

STBBL. 

IS46  . 

30  per  cent. 

30  per  cent. 

30  per  cent. 

30  per  cent. 

1857  . 

24  per  cent. 

24  per  cent. 

24  per  cent. 

24  per  cent. 

I86I  . 

56  per  ton. 

$15  to  $20  per  ton. 

$12  per  ton. 

<  $1.50  to    $2   per 
1  cwt.  and  upw  ards. 
1  under   1 1   cts.    a 
j  lb.,  If  to  2\  cts.  J 
'  over,  25  percent. 

IS62  . 

j$6  per  ton. 

J17  to  525  per  ton. 

$13.50  per  ton. 

under  1 1  cts.  a  lb., 

IS64  . 

J9  per  ton. 

$22.40  to  1(539.20  per  ton. 

$13.44  per  ton. 

2^  to  3  cts. ;  over, 
3^  cts.  and  10  p. 
.  c.  ad  valorem, 
under  1 1  cts.  a  lb., 

iSjj   . 

^  per  ton. 

$22.40  to  539.20  per  ton. 

$15.68  per  ton. 

2|to3Cts. ;  over, 
l\  cts.  and  10  p. 
c.  ad  valorem, 
under  1 1  cts.  a  lb., 

1870  . 

$7  per  ton. 

$22.40  to  $39.20  per  ton. 

$15.68  per  ton. 

2i  to  3  cts.  J  over, 
3^  cts.  and  10  p. 
.  c.  ad  valorem. 

!872    . 

S6.30  per  ton. 

$20.16  to  $35.28  per  ton. 

$14.11  per  ton. 

I  10  p.  c.  less  than 
1      in  1864. 

iS;5  . 

$7  per  ton. 

$22.40  to  $32.20  per  ton. 

$1  j.68perton. 

same  as  in  1864. 

Down  to  1 816  a  discrimination  was  regularly  made  in  favor  of  the 
.\merican  carrying-trade  by  levying  ten  per  cent  more  of  duty  if  the  iron  were 
brought  in  foreign  vessels.  The  figures  above  given  represent  the  duty  on 
imports  in  American  vessels. 

The  best  statistics  as  to  the  production  of  iron  in  the  United  States  are 
those  compiled  by  the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Association,  of  which  Mr, 
J.^uies  M.  Swank  is  the  author.     They  are  as  follows  :  — 


PRODUCTION   OF   PIG-IRON    IN    GROSS   TONS. 

iSio 54,000 

1820  ............  20,000 

1828 130,000 

1829 142,000 

1830 165,000 

1831 191,000 

1832 200,000 

1840 3 1 5,000 

1S42 215,000 

1846 765,000 

1S47 800,000 


20a  INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 

1848 800,000 

1849  •       .        •       •                       650,000 

»8so 564.755 

1853 500,000 

1854 736.218 

1855 784.178 

1856 883,137 

'857 798.157 

1858 705.094 

1859 840,627 

i860 919.770 

x86i 73'.S44 

1862 787,66a 

1863 947.604 

1864 1,135.996 

>86s 93'.S82 

1866 1.350,343 

1867 1,461,626 

1868 1,603,000 

1869 1,916,641 

1870 1,865,000 

1871 1,911,608 

1872 2.854.558 

1873 2,868,278 

1874  ...               2,689,413 

1875 2,266,581 

1876 2,093,236 


THE   ERA   OF  ANTHRACITE   FUEL   AND   THE   HOT   BLAST. 

Down  to  1838  the  only  fuel  used  to  any  extent  in  the  manufacture  of 
iron  from  the  ore  was  charcoal.  There  were  a  few  coke  furnaces  in  the 
Introduction  country ;  but  the  vast  majority  of  the  iron-masters  used  charcoal 
ofanthra-  bloomaries  and  furnaces.  The  furnaces  were  small  (the  stacks 
"**'  seldom  over  twenty  feet  high),  and  producing  from  two  to  four 

tons  of  iron  a  day.  From  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  of  char- 
coal and  two  tons  of  ore  were  consumed  to  the  ton  of  iron  produced,  the 
quantity  of  coal  varying  according  to  the  hardness  of  the  wood  from  which 
the  coal  had  been  made,  and  the  skill  and  experience  of  the  foreman.  The 
profits  of  the  business  depended  largely  on  the  judgnient  and  success  of  the 
Proceis  do-  foreman  in  the  use  of  charcoal.  The  blast  was  of  cold  air,  sup- 
•eribed.  pjjgjj  ^jy  j^q  pj^j^g  of  large  bellows  worked  by  water-power,  and 

blown  into  the  furnace,  sometimes  through  hollow  green  logs  placed  back 
from  the  tuylre  opening,  so  as  to  be  safe  from  burning.  The  quality  of  iron 
made  by  these  old-fashioned  furnaces  was  exceedingly  good.  The  metal 
was  pure,  and  of  great  tenacity  and  durability  of  wearing  surface,  and  was 
of  the  greatest  value  for  the  purposes  of  steel.  Even  at  the  present  time, 
invention  has  been  unable  to  produce  iron  of  superior  quality  to  that  made 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


203 


in  the  charcoal  bloomaries  and  furnaces;  and  the  highest-priced  bars  at 
present  are  still  those  thus  produced.  The  quantity  which  could  be  made 
in  the  old-fashioned  furnace  was,  however,  small ;  and,  as  the  forests  in  the 
mining-regions  were  consumed,  the  cost  of  production  even  of  that  small 
quantity  increased. 

Experiments  were  made  for  the  production  of  iron  with  anthracite  coal. 
The  country  was  richly  stored  with  supplies  of  this  valuable  fuel ;  and  its 
usefulness  for  the  generation  of  steam,  and  for  the  warming  of  E»riy  ex- 
houses,  had  been  demonstrated  at  a  very  early  day.  Could  it  be  perimentt. 
burned  in  the  blast-furnaces,  a  saving  of  labor  and  expense,  and  an  increase 
of  production,  would  certainly  follow.  One  experiment  was  made  as  early  as 
1 8 15  at  Harford  Furnace  in  Maryland,  the  anthracite  being  mixed  with  one- 
half  charcoal.  In  1826  anthracite  was  tried  in  a  furnace  near  Mauch 
Chunk  without  success.  In  1827  similar  experiments,  with  similar  results, 
were  made  at  a  furnace  at  Kingston,  Mass.  The  experiments  were  abandoned 
in  a  good  deal  of  despair. 

In  1828  James  B.  Neilson  of  Scotland  brought  out  an  invention  which 
made  it  possible  to  work  with  anthracite,  and  immediately  revolutionized  the 
iron-making  of  the  world.  This  was  the  use  of  the  hot-air  blast  Neiuon't 
in  smelting  iron.  The  previous  failures  with  anthracite  had  been  'nvention. 
due  to  the  employment  of  the  cold  blast.  Mr.  Neilson  applied  the  hot  blast 
to  coke  and  charcoal  furnaces.  Its  first  utility  was  considered  to  be  the  saving 
of  fuel  effected  by  it.  On  the  Clyde  a  ton  of  iron  had  required  the  combus- 
tion of  eight  tons  and  a  half  of  coal  coked.  With  the  hot  blast  this  was 
reduced  to  two  tons  and  a  half  at  once.  It  was  an  American  who  conceived 
the  idea  of  burning  anthracite  direct  by  means  of  the  hot  blast.  In  1833 
Dr.  Geissenheimer  of  New  York  obtained  a  patent  for  smelting  iron  with 
anthracite  and  the  hot-air  blast.  His  own  experiments  were  unfortunately 
unsuccessful:  but  in  1837  some  gentlemen  from  Readin?  succeeded  with  the 
new  idea  in  an  old  furnace  near  Mauch  Chunk,  using  eighty  per  cent  of 
anthracite ;  doing  so  well,  in  fact,  that  they  at  once  built  a  new  furnace  to 
carry  on  the  business  regularly.  They  had  good  luck  j  and  so  had  the  owner 
of  an  anthracite  furnace  built  in  1837  at  Pottsville,  Penn.,  and  blown  in  in 
1839.  This  furnace  was  blown  by  steam-power,  and  produced  forty  tons  a 
week  of  good  foundery-iron.  A  premium  of  five  thousand  dollars  was  given 
to  Mr.  William  Lyman,  its  owner,  by  Nicholas  Biddle  and  others,  as  the  first 
person  who  had  made  pig-iron  with  anthracite  continuously  for  a  hundred 
days  in  the  United  States. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  anthracite  iron-business  of  the  country. 
Thereafter,  almost  all  the  new  works  put  up  in  the  iron-regions  increase  in 
were  built  expressly  to  burn  anthracite  as  fuel.     The  furnaces  P"duction. 
which  still  continued  to  burn  charcoal  were  principally  in  the  North ;  the 
coal  measures  of  that  region  not  having  been  developed,  and  the  forests  sup- 


204 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


plying,  practically,  inexhaustible  quantities  of  the  old  style  of  fuel.  The  his- 
tory of  the  blast-furnace  since  that  date  has  been  one  principally  of  growth 
in  size  :  year  by  year  the  stacks  grew  larger  and  taller,  until,  from  twenty  feet 
in  height  and  ten  in  diameter,  they  have  now  risen  even  to  ninety  feet  in 
height  and  twenty-five  in  diameter.  In  1855  the  yearly  production  of  anthra- 
cite pig-iron  overtook  that  of  charcoal  iron,  and  the  latter  variety  has  been 
steadily  falling  to  the  rear  ever  since.  In  1869  the  production  of  charcoal 
iron  was  again  passed  by  that  made  with  bituminous  coal  and  coke.  In  1872 
the  product  was  as  follows:  Anthracite  iron,  1,369,812  net  tons;  bituminous 
coal  and  coke-iron,  984,159  tons;  charcoal  made,  500,587  tons.  The  metal 
made  by  the  hard-coal  and  hot-blast  processes  is  inferior  to  that  made  by  the 
old  style  of  furnace ;  but  it  fulfils  the  demand  of  the  times  for  cheap  and 
abundant  iron. 

Blast-furnaces  are  always  located  in  the  vicinity  of  the  supplies  of  fuel, 
either  in  the  coal-mining  regions,  or  along  the  lines  of  coal  transportation. 
It  is  cheaper  to  bring  the  ore  to  the  coal  than  the  fuel  to  the  ore,  —  a  fact 
which  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  experience  of  Michigan,  which,  with 
incalculable  treasures  of  ore  of  the  finest  ciualities,  is  obliged  to  send  away  the 
principal  part  of  her  ore  to  Ohio  and  other  States  having  mineral  coal,  to  be 
made  into  pig-iron  there.  Indiana  and  Illinois,  both  great  iron-making  States, 
are  so  solely  on  account  of  their  coal.  Their  iron  ores  are  scanty,  and  of 
bad  quality.  Blast-furnaces  are  possible  even  in  the  cities  of  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Pittsburgh,  and  in  other  cities  reached  by  the  railroads  of 
a  great  coal  State. 

The  blast-furnaces  of  the  United  States  have  reached  a  size  and  perfection 
excelled  nowhere  in  the  world.  There  have  been  great  intelligence,  and 
Blast-  alacrity  of  invention,  on  the  part  of  those  engaged  in  the  iron- 

furnaces.  trade  in  this  country  ;  and,  in  respect  to  mechanical  appliances, 
the  American  furnaces  have  been  placed  fully  on  a  par  with,  if  not  abo\e, 
the  same  class  of  works  in  other  parts  of  the  earth. 

The  blast-furnace  is  a  structure  of  stone  and  brick  work,  from  forty  to 
seventy-five  and  even  ninety  feet  high,  enclosing  a  chimney-like  cavity,  in 
Description  which  the  ores,  fluxes,  and  fuel  are  placed  to  be  smelted.  Usually 
the  stack  is  composed  of  a  lining  of  fire-brick  of  the  most  refrac- 
tory character,  backed  with  a  less  refractory  quality,  and  that  with 
common  red  brick  and  stone.  Most  Western  furnaces,  and  many  of  the  new 
ones  in  the  East,  are,  however,  substantially  an  iron  cylinder  lined  with  fire- 
brick. The  Philadelphia  Furnace,  —  finished  at  Philadelphia  in  1873,  with  all 
the  latest  improvements,  —  sixty  feet  high,  is  of  sixteen-inch  fire-blocks,  adapted 
in  shape  to  the  contour  of  the  interior,  backed  by  a  nine-inch  course  of 
ordinary  fire-brick.  Then  a  four-inch  air-space,  filled  with  loam,  is  backed  with 
a  nine-inch  course  of  red  brick.  A  three-inch  air-space,  filled  with  sand,  then 
occurs,  and  a  four-inch  course  of  red  brick ;  and  the  whole  is  cased  with 


of  blast- 
furnaces 


OF    THE    UMTED    STATES. 


205 


forty  to 
lavity,  in 
Usually 
It  rCVac- 
IikU  with 
I  the  new 
nlli  tivc- 
wilh  all 
adaptt'il 
3ursL'  of 
Ikod  with 
|in<l.  lilt-'" 
Ised  with 


206 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


boiler-iron  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  extending  to  the  top  of  the  stack.  The 
crucible,  or  hearth,  is  composed  of  sixteen-inch  fire-blocks.  This  is  a  good 
type  of  construction.  Back  of  the  courses  above  described  common  masonry 
of  considerable  thickness  is  generally  built  to  support  the  stack,  if  an  iron 
casing  is  not  used.  The  interior  cavity  of  the  furnace  is  round  horizontally, 
but  perpendicularly  is  very  much  of  the  shape  of  the  chimney  of  an  ordinary 
kerosene  lamp.  At  the  open  top,  in  a  seventy-five  foot  stack,  it  is  ten  feet 
in  diameter.  It  gradually  grows  larger  going  down  for  a  distance  of  about 
forty  feet,  where  it  reaches  a  width  of  about  eighteen  feet :  it  remains  of  this 
diameter  for  ten  feet  more,  and  then  contracts  rapidly  in  the  next  seventeen 
feet  to  eight  feet  diameter.  This  sloping  portion  of  the  furnace  is  called  the 
"  boshes ; "  and  it  is  the  part  of  it  which  supports  the  heavy  weight  of  the  ores 
and  fuel,  filling  the  stack  to  its  mouth  above.  At  the  bottom  of  all  is  the 
hearth,  or  crucible,  where  the  melted  iron  and  slag  collect.  This  is  from 
five  to  eight  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  the  same  in  height.  The  extreme 
width  of  the  foundation  upon  which  this  mass  of  masonry  rests  is  from  thirty 
to  forty-five  feet.  In  the  most  modern  stacks  the  masonry  is  not  solid  down 
to  this  foundation ;  but  that  part  of  it  above  the  hearth  rests  on  an  iron  entab- 
lature, sustained  by  iron  columns  planted  upon  the  foundation  of  the  stack. 
The  tuyhres  for  the  blast  are  from  three  to  seven  in  number,  and  are  cut  into 
the  hearth  about  four  feet  from  the  bottom.  The  air  is  blown  into  the  furnace 
at  a  pressure  of  from  three  to  four  pounds,  and  heated  to  a  temperature  uf 
from  six  hundred  to  nine  hundred  degrees.  In  order  that  the  tuyeres  shall  not 
be  melted,  a  current  of  cold  water  is  kept  playing  upon  them  constantly.  Up 
towards  the  top  of  the  stack  a  number  of  openings  permit  the  refuse  gases 
from  the  burning  coal  below  to  be  drawn  off  by  means  of  the  draught  of  a  tall 
chimney,  instead  of  escaping  through  the  mouth  of  the  stack  itself.  These 
gases  are  made,  by  flues,  to  play  around  the  cold-air  pipes  and  the  boiler 
which  drives  the  blowing-engines ;  and  by  their  combustion  they  heat  the  air 
for  the  blast,  and  maintain  a  high  pressure  of  steam.  The  quantity  of  air 
blown  into  the  furnace  under  pressure  to  produce  the  intense  heat  needed  to 
reduce  the  iron  ore  amounts  to  fifteen  tons  or  more  an  hour,  and  is  always  of 
much  greater  weight  than  the  materials  in  the  stack  itself. 

Formerly  the  furnaces  were  built  against  a  hillside  or  a  high  bank,  like  a 
lime-kiln,  for  convenience  in  dumping  the  ores  and  fuel  into  the  top  of  the 
stack.  The  more  modern  plan  is  to  construct  an  elevator  by  the  side  of 
the  furnace,  with  a  platform  on  top  about  the  throat  of  it,  from  which  the 
materials  are  dumped  into  the  stack  from  a  barrow,  or  thrown  in  by  hand. 

A  furnace  being  ready  for  blowing  in,  the  fire  is  kindled  in  the  hearth  ;  anJ, 
when  well  under  way,  a  quantity  of  ore,  coal,  and  limestone,  to  dissolve  the 
impurities  of  the  ore,  are  thrown  from  ihe  top.  With  good  ores  and  hard  coal 
the  proportion  of  the  different  materials  to  the  ton  of  iron  made  is  about  as 
follows:  iron  ore,  2,100  pounds;  coal,  1,700  pounds;  limestone,  400  pounds. 


OF    THE  UNITED   STATES. 


307 


The  blast  is  now  turned  on  at  two-pounds  pressure.  If  all  goes  on  well,  in 
twenty-four  hours  the  pressure  is  increased  from  four  to  six  pounds.  The 
workmen  keep  sharp  watch  of  the  tuyires  to  see  that  they  are  bright  and  clean, 
and  of  the  gaseous  products  of  combustion  to  see  that  the  furnace  is  working 
freely  and  well.  Every  four  hours,  ordinarily,  the  hearth  is  tapped  near  the  top 
to  draw  off  the  melted  slag.  There  is  a  little  hole  made  for  the  purpose, 
which  is  kept  plugged  with  clay  between  times.  This  process  produces  an 
exceedingly  brilliant  display.  The  slag  spouts  from  the  little  opening  made 
for  it  with  a  glare  which  pains  the  eye  with  its  intensity.  It  runs  down  a  rough 
truugh  scraped  out  of  the  ground,  and  out  through  the  open  door  of  the  shop 
into  tiie  outer  air  to  cool.  As  the  slag  gets  low  in  the  hearth,  the  blast  escapes 
witii  it,  carrying  a  fiery  spray  from  the  opening  like  a  piece  of  fireworks,  within 
the  reach  of  which  no  man  can  stand  and  live.  At  the  proper  moment  the 
blast  is  turned  off.  The  men  run  up  and  plug  the  opening  with  clay,  and 
the  blast  is  turned  on  again  into  the  furnace.  The  melted  iron  in  the  hearth 
is  drawn  off  once  in  eight  hours  from  a  little  hole  at  the  bottom  of  the 
hearth,  which,  as  previously  explained,  is  usually  kept  plugged  with  clay. 
The  metal  remains  liquid  in  the  hearth,  from  the  fact,  that,  unlike  water,  the 
hottest  metal  sinks  to  the  bottom,  and  thus  it  is  possible  to  let  fifteen  or 
twenty  tons  of  it  accumulate  without  any  danger  of  its  chilling.  The  process 
of  drawing  off  the  iron  is  even  more  beautiful  than  that  of  taking  away  the 
slag.  The  metal  flows  out  in  a  bright  stream,  throwing  off  dazzling  scintilla- 
tions, as  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  far  suri)assing  in  vigor 
and  beauty  any  thing  produced  by  the  art  of  man  in  any  other  way.  The 
metal  flows  along  the  floor  of  the  shop  in  channels,  and  runs  into  the  rough 
moulds,  where  it  hardens  into  the  rough  pigs  of  commerce.  These  arc  tested, 
when  cold,  by  breaking  with  a  sledge-hammer,  to  ascertain  their  quality,  and 
are  then  stacked  up  for  transportation  to  market. 

The  introduction  of  the  hot-air  blast  and  the  employment  of  anthracite  as 
fuel,  followed,  five  or  six  years  afterwards,  with  the  application  of  bituminous 
coal  to   smelting-purposes,  was  a   timely  event    for   the    United 
States.    The  country  was  about  entering  upon  an  era  of  railroad   nJ's^°o|"new 
and  steamboat  building  made  necessary  by  the  diffusion  of  our  methods  of 
population  over  the  vast  area  of  virgin  territory  protected  by  our   P''°^"""K 
flag.     An   extraordinary  demand   for  iron  was   developing ;    and 
national  development  would  have  been  seriously  retarded    if  we   had   been 
obliged  to  depend  on  foreign  lands  for  our  supplies  of  the  metal.     The  hot- 
air  blast  and  the  use  of  coal  as  fuel  came  along,  therefore,  all  in  good  time  for 
.•Xmerica.     The  reduction  in  the  expense  of  smelting  which  they  effected,  and 
the  demand  for  metal,  gave  an  extraordinary  impulse  to  the  industry.     In  the 
period  from  1848  to  i860,  furnaces,  rolling-mills,  and  iron  and  steel  works, 
steadily  multiplied  in  all  parts  of  the  country.     It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that,  in 
that  period,  iron-making  was  actively  prosecuted  in  many  States  in  which, 


208 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


since  railroad-building  has  stopped,  it  has  in  part  or  entirely  disappeared.  In 
Tennessee  there  were  in  1855,  during  that  era  of  activity,  seventy-five  blooma- 
ries  and  forges,  seventy-one  furnaces,  and  four  rolling-mills ;  but  at  the  present 
time  there  are  only  eighteen  charcoal  and  four  bituminous  coal  furnaces,  a 
score  of  bloomaries,  and  the  four  rolling-mills  referred  to.  Arkansas  made 
irop  in  1857,  but  makes  none  now.  In  1857  North  Carolina  had  fifty  blooma- 
ries and  forges,  two  rolling-mills,  and  six  furnaces,  in  operation.  There  arc- 
not  now  in  that  ancient  State  a  dozen  active  forges  and  bloomaries.  There 
are  no  rolling-mills  nor  steel-works,  and  only  one  active  furnace.  South  Caro- 
lina matle  iron  extensively  before  the  war ;  but  her  fires  have  all  gone  out,  and 
her  furnace- stacks  were  in  1876  all  deserted. 

A  fresh  development  was  given  to  the  blast-furnace  business  by  the  war  and 
the  tariff  of  1861.  A  new  era  of  railroad-building  set  in;  and  such  was  tlic 
Effect  of  demand  for  iron,  and  so  high  were  the  prices,  and  so  large  the  jMof- 
^■'■-  its,  that  some  of  the  most  l)rilliant  fortunes  of  the  i)resent  age  were 

made  in  the  manufacture  of  the  metal.  In  1874,  735  furnaces  were  in  operation 
in  the  United  States,  besides  a  number  of  bloomaries,  distributed  as  follows  :  — 


i 
I 


ANTHRACITE 

CHARCOAI.          HIT.   AND 

COKE 

hX'KNACIiS. 

FLKNACIiS.               FIKNA 

CES. 

TOTAL. 

Maine 

I 

* 

I 

New  Il.impshire 

1 

I 

1 

Vermont 

. 

s 

5 

Massachusetts 

I 

s 

6 

Connecticut 

9 

9 

New  York  . 

45' 

22 

67 

New  Jersey . 

16 

iC 

Pennsylvania 

152 

44                ; 

73 

269 

Maryland     . 

6 

14 

s 

28 

Virginia 

I 

33 

34 

West  Virginia 

3 

5 

s 

Georgia 

13 

2 

'5 

Alabama 

20 

, 

20 

North  Carolina 

10 

2 

ij 

Tennessee    . 

24 

3 

- 1 

Kentucky     . 

23 

5 

2S 

Ohio    . 

40                    ( 

J2 

lOJ 

Indiana 

7 

J 

Illinois 

4 

5 

9 

Michigan     . 

I 

30 

3 

3t 

Missouri 

12 

9 

21 

Wisconsin   . 

3 

II 

. 

14 

Minnesota   . 

I 

. 

I 

Te.xas  . 

... 

I 

• 

' 

Total 

• 

.        .        . 

229 

322                  If 

54 

735 

OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


209 


In  1877  the  number  reported  was  714,  of  which  236  were  in  blast,  and  478 
out  of  blast.  The  productive  capacity  of  the  714  enumerated  is  about  4,500,000 
tons  a  year,  or  twice  the  present  consumption  of  the  country.  The  statistics  for 
only  new  furnaces  at  present  building  in  the  country  are  in  Ohio  ''77- 
and  some  of  the  Southern  States,  not?bly  Georgia,  where  iron  can  be  made  at 
an  expense  of  thirteen  or  fifteen  dollars  a  ton  against  an  average  of  twenty 
(U)llars  a  ton  in  the  Northern  States,  except  in  Ohio,  where  it  is  fifteen  dollars 
a  ton. 

THi:   GROWTH   OF    ROLLING-MILLS. 

Another  department  of  the  iron-industry  rose  into  great  prominence  with 
tlie  war  and  the  tariff  of  1861,  accompanied  as  those  events  were  by  the  acci- 
dental circumstances  of  a  new  and  unprecedented  mania  for  rail-  R,pj<i  jevei- 
road-building,  for  supplying  cities  and  villages  with  iron,  water,  and  opment  of 
gas  pipes,  and  roads  and  canals  with  iron  bridges,  and  the  use  of  '"  '"*■"" '  *' 
iron  in  architecture.  This  was  the  rolling-mill  business,  which  had  never  lairly 
recovered  from  the  deadly  blows  of  the  policy  of  repression  inaugurated  by 
England  in  1 750. 

Previous  to  i860  rolled  iron  of  all  kinds  had  been  largely  imported  :  railroad 
bars  had  been  almost  exclusively  so.  After  i860  the  mills  and  works  necessary 
for  the  production  of  all  this  material  were  erected  on  American  soil,  the  few 
old  ones  already  in  the  business  being  enlarged  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
times.  Machinery  of  a  magnitude  and  power  hitherto  unknown  in  America 
was  built,  and  put  into  the  mills  for  rolling  and  forging  plates,  shafts,  rails,  &c. ; 
and  magnificent  establishments  grew  up  in  different  States  of  the  North,  like 
the  Cambria  Iron-Works  at  Johnstown,  Penn.,  employing  seven  thousand  of  our 
countrymen,  and  spending  ten  million  dollars  a  year  for  wages  and  materials. 

In  the  perfection  of  the  different  processes  of  the  rolling-mill  a  field  was 
afforded  for  the  free  play  of  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  American  people.  Up 
to  within  a  very  few  years,  the  Americans  have  been  deficient  in  Djgpiay  „( 
the  patient  analysis  of  the  chemical  composition  and  qualities  of  American 
the  ores  and  mineral  treasures  found  embedded  in  their  soil,  com-  *f'"'"'' 
pared  with  the  rest  of  the  world ;  but  they  have  been  untiring  and  exceedingly 
successful  in  mechanical  invention.  In  the  production  of  skilful  machines  to 
pirform  special  tasks,  and  save  a  former  great  expenditure  of  human  toil,  they 
are  jjerfectly  at  home ;  and  this  trait  of  our  countrymen  has  been  illustrated  in 
the  development  of  the  different  rolling-mills  of  the  United  States.  The  pud- 
(.lling-furnaces  for  converting  pig  and  scrap  iron  into  wrought  iron,  by  exposing 
ihcni  in  an  open-hearth  furnace  to  the  action  of  a  current  of  flame  which  burns 
out  its  carbon  ;  the  huge  seventy-five-ton  hammers  and  squeezers  for  forging 
the  lilooms  from  the  furnace  into  bars  for  re-working  and  rolling ;  the  rolls  and 
other  appliances,  many  of  them  invented  abroad,  —  have  all  felt  the  magic  touph 
of  .\nierican  inventive  genius,  and  been  greatly  developed  and  improved ; 


2IO 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


; 


while  many  new  appliances  have  been  introduced  of  purely  American  origin, 
which  have  extraordinarily  simplified  and  cheapened  the  processes  of  manu- 
facture. It  would  require  a  volume  to  describe  all  the  improvements  intro- 
duced into  the  rolling-mills  of  the  United  States ;  but  one  of  them  may  be 
mentioned  as  illustrating  the  general  character  of  a  large  number  of  them.  At 
the  Sable  Iron-Works  at  Pittsburgh,  I'enn.,  Mr.  Zug,  the  senior  partner  of  the 
Zug's  im-  firm,  has  set  up  a  mechanism  of  his  own  invention  to  disj)ose  ot 
provements.  d^^  puddle-bars  as  they  leave  the  rolls.  As  the  red-hot  bar  comes 
from  the  rolls  it  is  discharged  \\\io\\  a  line  of  rollers,  over  which  it  runs  to  a 
scale,  on  which  it  is  detained  long  enough  to  be  weighed.  It  is  then  i)ushed 
along  the  rollers  to  a  great  pair  of  shears,  where  it  is  cut  into  lengths,  the  pieces 
falling  into  an  iron  basket  occupying  a  pit  of  water.  This  basket,  suspended 
from  a  beam  overhead,  is  raised  to  such  a  height,  that  it  runs  1  y  its  own  weight 
to  the  other  end,  where  it  comes  in  contact  with  an  object  which  unlatclies  the 
bottom  of  the  basket ;  and  the  iron  Hdls  to  the  ground,  ready  for  piling  fur 
the  various  furnaces.  The  striking  of  the  ol)ject  which  opens  the  bottom  of  the 
iron  basket  reverses  its  direction,  and  sends  it  back  on  the  now  falling  beam  to 
the  pit,  with  the  bottom  again  secure  for  reloading.  With  this  mechanism  the 
puddle-iron  is  dragged  from  the  rolls,  weighed,  cut,  and  laid  aside  by  one  man. 
who  handles  the  product  of  sixteen  furnaces. 
Statistics  of  In  1873  the  rolling-mills  of  the  United  States  numbered  310, 

numbers.  ^S  follows  :  — 


M.iine 2 

Vermont i 

Massachusetts 21 

Rhode  IsLind 4 

Connecticut 5 

New  York 21 

New  Jersey 12 

Pennsylvania 118 

Delaware 10 

Maryland 8 

Virginia 3 

West  Virginia 7 

Ohio 49 

Kentucky 10 

Tennessee 5 

Indiana 9 

Illinois S 

Michigan 4 

Missouri 6 

Wisconsin i 

Georgia 3 

Alabama 2 

California i 

Total 310 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


31 1 


35 --;:^-i*''U^''-  - ; .  '  '"^  Vi-', 


OI.U    IKON-KI'HNACE   (IN   TIIK   <:()NKMA  l(]ll. 


l4 

16 


CAMIIHIA    IKON-WllKKS,    IDIINSTOWN,    TENN. 


213 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  total  of  rolled  iron  capacity  was  2,833,000  tons.     In  1876  the  num- 
ber of  mills  was  338.     The  capacity  was  something  over  3,000,000  tons  ;  but 
the  actual  production  was  1,921,730  net  tons,  worth  about  5 190,- 

Proouction* 

000,000.     The  product  was    in  sheet-iron,  boiler-iron,  plates  for 

iron  ships,  bars,  rods,  hoops,  rails,  bridge-iron,  <kc. 


(I 


INFLUENCE    OF    PARIS    EXPOSITION    ON    AMERICAN    IRON-MANUFACTL'KK. 

Ilefore  passing  on  to  speak  of  the  steel-works  of  the  United  States,  allusion 
may  be  made  to  an  event  occurring  in  18C7,  which  had  an  imi)ortant  inllueni  c 
Pari!  Expo-  OH  the  whole  iron-industry  of  this  country :  that  was  the  Paris 
■ition.  Exposition.     The  war  was  over  in   America.     The    people  were 

settling  down  to  the  developments  of  the  arts  which  promote  peace,  and  make 
a  nation  united  and  great.  New  life  was  felt  throbbing  in  every  department  of 
industry.  A  keen  interest  was  felt  here  in  the  Kxposilion  of  1867;  and  Mr. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt  was  sent  over  there  in  an  official  capacity  to  study  what 
foreigners  had  to  teach  us  with  reference  to  the  iron-industry,  and  otlicr 
experts  were  sent  to  investigate  and  report  upon  other  things.  What  Mr. 
Hewitt  and  the  iron-manufacturers  who  visited  that  great  fair  learned  about 
the  foreign  iron-business  was  new  and  interesting,  and  it  has  since  proved  of 
incalculable  value  to  America.  It  taught  us  many  important  lessons,  and 
proved  a  fresh  incentive  to  effort. 

The  i)rincipal  fact  whit  h  arrested  attention  was  the  marked  superiority  of 
Europeans  in  producing  difficult  shapes  of  rolled  iron  without  weld  or  joint, 
_  and  their  willingness  to  handle  iron  and  steel  for  all  purposes  in 

of  Europeans  larger  masses  than  in  America.  The  leading  European  nations 
present  at  the  fair  exhibited  a  vast  variety  of  articles  rolled  from  a 
single  piece,  which  could  not  have  been  thus  made  in  America 
then,  —  such  as  deeply-dished  boiler-heads,  steam-domes,  tube-sheets,  and 
culinary  vessels  of  every  form  ;  and  many  other  things  made  purely  as  tours  de 
force,  to  show  what  could  be  done,  —  such  as  cocked  hats,  a  series  of  scjuare 
domes  raised  from  a  flat  plate,  &c.  They  displayed  beams  a  hundred  feet  long, 
weighing  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  and  others  of  the  same  length,  weighing 
two  tons  and  a  quarter.  A  single  plate,  thirty  feet  long,  two  feet  six  inc  hes 
broad,  six  inches  thick,  and  weighing  eleven  tons,  was  shown  from  Eng- 
land. Krupp  showed  a  single  steel  ingot  of  forty  tons;  when  in  1851  an 
English  ingot  weighing  two  tons  and  a  quarter  had  been  deemed  an  astonish- 
ing achievement.  Krupp  also  had  on  exhibition  a  fifty-ton  steel  cannon 
mounted  on  a  fifteen-ton  carriage,  and  a  twenty-five-ton  turn-table  throwing  a 
solid  shot  of  twelve  hundred  and  twelve  pounds  and  a  shell  of  ten  hundred 
and  eighty  pounds.  These  achievements  have  all  been  surpassed  since  then, 
many  of  them  in  America ;  but,  to  the  dazzled  eyes  of  the  American  iron- 
manufacturers,  they  were  in  1867  a  revelation  of  marvels  as  interesting  as  a 
tale  of  Arabian  enchantment. 


in  roUing 
heavy  iron. 


OF    THE    UN/ TED   STATES. 


2<3 


Mr.  Hewitt  and  others  spent  miirh  time  while  in  Europe  during  that  exhi- 
liitioii  ill  studying  these  products  of  European  art,  and  in  visiting   ,„y,,„  ,. 
tlic  steel-works  and  rolling-mills  of  the  great  centres  of  the  trade,   tiomof  a.  s. 
and   then  came  back  to  America  with  a  volume  of  new  ideas,   n«witt«nd 

other*. 

which  they  have  since  utilized  here  to  the  extraordinary  benefit  of 
themselves  and  the  country. 


THE    MANUFACTURE    OF    STEEL. 

The  most  valuable  property  of  iron,  next  to  that  of  agglutination  at  a  whitc- 
hcit,  and  possibly  exceeding  that,  is  the  (juality  of  forming  steel.  Cast-iron  is 
not  pure  metallic  iron  :  it  contains  from  three  to  five  per  cent  of  superiority 
carbon  (often  five  per  cent  and  nine-tenths)  chemically  combined.  "'  •"''• 
liy  ilci)riving  the  metal  of  all  except  about  one-half  per  cent  of  its  carbon,  the 
wruiight  iron  of  commerce  is  obtainctl.  Hy  restoring  to  it  from  three-fourths 
to  one  per  cent  and  a  half  of  the  carbon,  or  by  reducing  the  carbon  of  cast- 
iron  to  that  minimum,  a  new  (juality  of  iron  is  obtained,  which  we  call  steel, — 
a  product  of  tiie  higliest  value,  exceeding  all  others  in  elasticity,  tenacity,  and 
hanhiess,  acquiring  a  special  temper  by  rapid  cooling,  white,  fine-grained,  and 
capable  of  taking  a  high  polish.     It  is  the  true  metal  for  arms. 

Anciently  the    Iliniloos  made   steel   in   small  quantities   by  taking  their 
charcoal-made  wrought  iron,  cut  into  small  pieces,  and  putting  about  a  pound 
of  it  a  time  into  a  crucible,  with  ten  times  the  quantity  of  wood   steei-mak- 
chopped  fine.     They  put  the  crucible  tightly  plugged  into  a  fur-    ingbj-the 
nace,  and  heated  it  intensely  for  two  or  three  hours.     At  the  end      '"''°°*' 
of  tiie  operation  the  steel  was  found  fused  into  a  cake  in  the  bottom  of  tlie 
cnuiliie.     From  the  steel  thus  made  were  fashioned  the  famous  cimeters  and 
lilailes  of  the  East,  of  such  excpiisite  edge  and  temper  as  to  cut  a  gauze  veil 
rtoating  in  the  air  without  disturl)ing  its  movement. 

It  was  many  ages  before  steel  was  made  in  Western  Europe.  When  the 
manufacture  of  it  began  there,  a  new  process  was  invented.  Steel  was  matle 
by  conientation.  The  process,  in  use  to  the  present  day,  consisted  Blistered 
of  packing  wrought-iron  bars  in  charcoal  in  crucil)les,  and  heating  "=='■ 
them  from  six  to  ten  days,  according  to  the  hardness  of  the  product  required. 
The  product  thus  formed  was  called  "  blistered  steel,"  because  the  bars,  when 
withdrawn,  were  found  covered  with  blisters.  Cast-steel  was  formed  by  break- 
ing these  bars,  and  fiising  them  ;  and  shear-steel  by  temjiering  the  cast-steel, 
breaking  the  pieces,  welding  them  at  a  good  heat,  and  then  hammering  them 
until  a  more  uniform  and  tenacious  texture  was  produced. 

The  business  of  steel-making  was  established  in  America  as   ^■'■'y  *<««•- 
early  as  the  Revolution ;  but  it  did  not  thrive  until  within  the  last   united*  " 
thirty  years.      There  was  every  temptation  to  make  the  metal,   states. 
becauijc  it  was  worth  in  bars  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundretl 


! 


214 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


dollars  a  ton  as  against  an  average  of  from  twenty  to  fort}'  dollars  a  ton  for 
pig-iron,  and  from  eighty  to  a  hundred  dollars  for  good  bar-iron.  American 
iron,  too,  was  exceedingly  pure  and  tenacious,  and  well  fitted  for  steel- 
making.  But  the  business  had  been  from  antiquity  shrouded  in  the  deep- 
est mystery  by  makers,  and  it  was  long  before  the  .American  Congress  gave 
sufficient  protection  to  those  who  wished  to  venture  in  the  business  here 
to  encourage  them  to  embark  their  capital  in  it.  When  the  business  was 
undertaken,  a  great  deal  of  money  was  lost  in  it,  and  many  attempts  were 
cliandoned  in  despair.  To  the  energy  of  a  few  men,  principally  at  Pittsburgii. 
Penn.,  and  the  skill  of  a  few  native  chemists,  is  due  the  fact  that  the  business 
was  finally  mastered  and  established.  American  steel,  and  the  saws,  cutlery, 
tools,  and  machines  made  from  it,  have  since  become  famous  the  world  over. 

As  the  art  is  practised  in  the  United  States,  steel  is  made  by  three  general 
processes ;  and  the  product  is  called  respectively  pot  or  crucible  steel,  Sie- 
mens-Martin steel,  and  Bessemer  steel :  in  the  first  class,  cementation  is 
Three  modes  '''^''g^^y  em])loyed.  There  are  also  two  American  methods  used, 
of  making  the  invention  of  Professor  A.  K.  Eaton  of  New  York.  One.  dis- 
""  ■  covered  in   185 1,  consists  in  melting  malleable  iron   in  crucil)les 

with  a  carbonaceous  salt,  such  as  ferro-cyanide  of  potassium,  using  it  alone  or 
with  a  little  charcoal.  The  carbonization  is  rapidly  effected  ;  and  the  steel, 
when  fused,  is  cast  into  moulds.  The  other  process,  discovered  in  1856,  con- 
sists in  decarbonizing  cast-iron  by  heating  it  intensely  in  thin  plates  in  a  batii 
of  melted  carbonate  of  soda.  The  plates  are  then  melted  and  cast.  'I'lio 
principal  drawback  to  the  former  of  these  two  processes  is,  that  the  crucibles 
cannot  long  withstand  the  intense  heat  to  which  they  are  subjected  ;  and  the 
principal  objection  to  all  crucible  processes  is,  that  the  capacity  of  production 
is  limited  l)y  the  necessarily  small  size  of  the  pots.  A  good  article  is  jiro- 
duced,  however ;  and  the  business  is  actively  prosecuted  at  thirty  cast-steel 
establishments  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and  Connecticut, 
nine  of  them  being  at  Pittsburgh.  The  product  of  the  works  is  in  tool, 
spring,  machine,  hammered,  and  ingot  steel :  it  now  amounts  to  39.000  tons 
a  year,  worth  $12,000,000.  There  are  a  large  number  of  works  in  difkicnt 
parts  of  the  country  for  making  bars  by  cementation,  their  product  in  iS;6 
being  10,306  tons. 

When  Mr.  Hewitt  was  at  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1867,  two  methods  tor 
making  steel  on  a  large  scale  were  beginning  to  attract  great  attention.  Tb.o 
M  th  d  Bessemer  process  was  then  the  sensation  of  the  hour,  and  eiior- 

considered  mous  provision  was  being  made  in  Europe  for  manufortiiro  lu 
menns  of  it.  He  studied  the  process  carefully,  ami  rcporteil 
upon  it.  The  other  method  was  that  which  is  called  the  Siemens- 
Martin.  Mr.  Hewitt  himself  introduced  that  system  to  America,  upon  liis 
return,  at  his  works  at  Trenton,  N.J. 

An  Englishmen  has  the  reputai.on  of  inventing  the  Bessemer  process :  bt'-- 


at  Paris  Ex 
position. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


215 


an  for 

lerican 
steel- 
deep- 

is  gave 
5S  here 
;ss  was 
ts  were 
sburgh, 
jusiness 
cutlery, 
I  over, 
general 
:eel,  Sie- 
ation   is 
ds  used, 
Dne.  dis- 
crucibles 
alone  or 
die  steel, 
856,  con- 
n  a  baiii 
ist.    Tlie 
crucibles 
auil  the 
Iroduclion 
|e  is  pro- 
cast-steel 
lUectieut, 
in   tool, 
1.000  tons 
diflevent 

in   i!^7^' 

nhods  for 
Ion.  '1"1'»-' 
lind  enor- 
ticture  I'V 
reiioiieil 
Sieincns- 

upou  1"^ 


Icess 


bu: 


the  first  person  to  suggest  it,  and  make  an  experiment  with  it,  was,  according 
to  Mr.  Swank,  an  American.  As  early  as  1851,  William  Kelly,  an  B'ltemer 
iron-master  at  Eddyville,  Ky.,  suggested  the  possibility  of  making  ?■'<'<:«»•• 
steel  on  a  large  scale  by  blowing  air  into  and  through  melted  cast-iron,  thus 
burning  out  its  carbon  until  it  was  converted  into  steel.  He  made  a  few  trials, 
and  obtained  a  patent  in  185 1.  Henry  Bessemer  secured  his  first  patent  for 
the  process  in  England  in  1855.  Neither  of  the  two  men  was  able  to  attain 
success,  however,  by  the  methods  he  originally  adopted ;  and  it  was  not  until 
some  changes  and  improvements  had  been  effected  that  either  accomplished 
any  thing.  The  process,  as  employed  in  this  country,  is  carried  on  under  a 
combination  of  the  Bessemer  and  Kelly  patents. 

The  plant  required  for  the  conversion  of  pig-metal  into  Bessemer  steel  is 
expensive  ;  and  there  are  now  only  eleven  establishments  for  it  in  the  United 
States,  —  five  in  Pennsylvania,  three  in  Illinois,  and  one  each  in  vaiue  of 
New  York,  Ohio,  and  Missouri.     One  of  these,  in  Illinois,  is  the   product. 
largest  in  the  world.     The  product,  however,  is  large,  amounting  now  to  540,- 
000  tons  a  year,  worth  $65,000,000. 

The  cast-iron  is  melted,  and  then  drawn  out,  in  five-ton  charges,  into  great 
pear-shaped  converters  made  of  iron  lined  with  refractory  fire-clay.    The  con- 
verters are  hung  on  trunnions,  ar  ""  are  tipped  down  to  receive  the   process 
charge.    The  melted  iron  lies  in  t  a  belly  of  the  swelling  side  of  described, 
the  converter  until  the  requisite  amount  is  obtained ;   then  the  converter  is 
swung  into  an  upright  position,  and  at  the  same  moment  a  blast  of  air  is 
turned  on,  the  air  finding  its  way  into  the  converter  through  a  number  of  small 
holes  at  the  bottom,  underneath  the  melted  iron.     The  process  now  becomes 
one  of  the  most  spectacular  in  the  iron-industry.     The  air,  rushing  through 
the  liquid  iron,  pours  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  converter  in  a  tremendous  flame. 
.\t  first  the  silicon  is  seized  upon  by  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  the  result  being 
slag ;  and,  while  it  is  burning,  the  flame  is  comparatively  dull.     But  immedi- 
ately the  carbon  begins  to  burn,  and  the  flame  then  increases  in  volume  and 
brilliancy.    The  surging,  splashing  mass  grows  hotter  and  whiter,  and  appears 
to  expand  and  boil.     A  thick,  white,  roaring  blaze  pours  from  the  mouth  of 
the  converter,  and  its  iron  foundations  tremble  under  the  violent  ebullition. 
There  are  few  such  exhibitions  of  chemical  power  to  be  seen  in  the  industrial 
arts.    As  the  decarbonization  goes  on,  the  flame  grows  thinner  and  smaller ; 
and,  when  it  is  complete,  the  light  dies  out  of  it.    Bessemer  originally  intended 
to  s'op  the  process  at  the  point  where  just  enough  carbon  had  been  left  in  the 
metal  to  make  steel,  using  the  spectroscope  for  the  purpose.     This  was  found 
impracticable ;  and  the  plan  now  is,  to  continue  the  blast  until  all  the  carbon 
is  burned  out :  the  right  moment  :s  indicated  to  the  eye  by  the  flame.     The 
converter  is  then  tipped  over,  and  a  small  charge  of  melted  spiegeleisen,  rich 
in  carbon,  is  poured  in.     It  diffuses  itself  instantly  through  the  melted  mass 
in  the  converter.    A  flaming  re-action  takes  place  j  and  then  the  converter  is 


2l6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


emptied  with  a  ladle,  which  is,  in  turn,  swung  over  the  ingot  moulds.  A  fire- 
clay plug  is  removed  by  a  lever,  and  the  steel  runs  out  pure,  white,  and  shin- 
ing. The  whole  operation  is  brief,  and  the  men  remain  silent  and  attentive 
until  it  is  completed. 

The  use  of  ferro-manganese  for  conversion  in  this  process  has  latterly  been 
introduced,  and  is  increasing.  Four-fifths  of  the  Bessemer  steel  now  made 
Use  of  ferro-  in  this  country  is  rolled  into  railroad  iron  :  it  is  a  leading  indus- 
manganese.  fry,  and  has  placed  the  steel-rail  business  here  ahead  of  the  iron- 
rail  manufacture.  The  other  fifth  of  the  product  is  devoted  chiefly  to  the 
purposes  of  machinery. 

The  Siemens-Martin  process  is  not  yet  extensively  used.  It  affords  a 
valuable  product ;  but  the  system  last  described  is  at  present  the  favorite.  'I'hc 
Siement-  Siemens-Martin  plan  is  simply  that  of  the  carbonization  of  wrought 
Martin  iron  in  an  open  hearth  or  reverberatory  furnace,  by  mixing  it  with 

proceti.  cast-iron  and  iron  ore.     The  flame  from  the  furnace  is  made  to 

pass  over  a  hearth  on  which  the  metal  is  placed,  and  effects  the  required 
chemical  transformation.  The  metal  is  sometiines  supplied  with  ferro-man- 
ganese in  the  process  of  conversion  into  steel.  The  product  of  open-hearth 
steel,  which  was  only  3,000  tons  in  1872,  amounted  in  1876  to  21,490  tons. 

Since  the  first  cnidc  experiment  at  iron-making  in  the  forests  of  Virginia, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  have  flown  by  on  the  wings  of  time ;  yet  it  has 
not  been  until  within  the  past  five  years  that  the  United  States 
have  been  able  to  produce  iron  and  steel  enough  to  supply  lior 
own  wants,  either  in  war  or  peace.  The  railroads  of  the  counti} 
have  been  principally  built  with  rails  imported  from  the  continent 
Our  factories  and  shops  have  been  equipped  with  foreign-made 
Tools,  telegraph-wire,  chains,  and  manufactured  articles  in 
general,  as  well  as  metal  in  pigs  and  ingots,  have  been  brought  here  from 
abroad  in  enormous  quantities  from  the  earliest  day.  In  1873  the  amount 
imported  was  valued  at  fifty-eight  million  dollars.  Thanks  to  the  natural 
resources  of  our  country  and  the  enterprise  of  our  countrymen,  and  the 
influences  which  have  aided  them,  the  United  States  have  now  an  iron  and 
steel  producing  capacity  fiiUy  equal  to  her  wants,  and  indeed  in  excess  of  it. 
The  importation  has  been  cut  down  to  the  insignificant  sum  of  about  seven 
million  dollars  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1877  ;  and  an  exportation  has 
begun  not  only  to  the  less  ailvanced  nations  of  the  world,  but  also  to  ci\ili/cd 
Europe.  The  United  States  are  at  last  truly  independent  of  the  world  for  lier 
iron  and  steel. 


Wonderful 
extension  of 
steel-indus- 
try. 

of  Europe, 
machinery. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


217 


CHAPTER   II. 


IRON   AND   STEEL   MANUFACTURES. 


IT  was  one  peculiarity  of  the  times  in  that  age  of  the  world  when  America 
was  first  settled,  that  gold  and  silver  were  the  most  highly  prized  of  metals ; 
and  the  abundance  of  them  in  any  country  was  regarded  as  the  utility  of 
test,  not  only  of  its  wealth,  but  of  its  civilization.  Times  have  *'*•"• 
changed  since  then ;  and  a  celebrated  writer  has  pointed  out,  that,  in  this 
latter  age  of  the  world,  the  civilization  of  a  race  of  men  is  more  clearly 
indicated  by  the  iron  it  employs  and  consumes  than  by  any  other  power  it 
possesses.  Iron  has  always  brought  superiority  to  the  race  using  it  in  the 
largest  degree  for  weapons  and  implements ;  but  in  modern  times  the  fact 
has  become  more  conspicuous.  It  is  marvellous  to  look  back  along  the 
history  of  the  conquests  and  wars  of  the  past,  and  to  compare  the  condition 
of  mankind  at  the  present  day  with  what  it  was  two  hundred  years  ago,  and 
ftiuly  the  important  part  played  by  iron.  Eminence  and  progress  appear  to 
have  been  immediately  due  for  more  to  the  generous  use  of  this  valuable 
metal  tiian  to  the  intelligence  of  the  human  race  and  the  power  of  numbers. 
Steam  could  never  have  been  made  the  obedient  vassal  of  man,  except  for 
this  tenacious  metal  to  confine  and  direct  its  forces.  Famines  were  never 
obviated  until  husbandry  was  made  successful  by  iron  implements,  and  iron 
railways  were  laid  to  insure  the  free  distribution  of  crops ;  and  the  famines 
of  the  present  age  occur  only  in  those  regions  into  which  the  railway  and  the 
liberal  use  of  this  noble  metal  have  not  penetrated.  The  people  would  still 
l)e  living  in  hovels,  except  for  iron  to  fashion  the  wood  of  the  forests,  and 
binil  the  framework  of  our  homes.  With  a  metal  no  more  serviceable  than 
cojiper.  the  world  would  never  have  risen  to  the  heights  of  comfort,  intelligence, 
and  civilization,  it  has  now  attained ;  the  brilliant  conquests  of  the  material 
universe  which  have  characterized  the  present  century  could  never  have  taken 
place. 

The  variety  of  uses  to  which  iron  is  now  put  is  remarkable,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  limit  yet  to  its  employment.  Machinery  has  been  invented  which 
will  fashion  it  for  any  end,  in  masses  of  any  size,  from  the  hair-spring  of  a 


2l8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


watch  to  those  magnificent  products  of  constructive  art,  the  locomotive  and 
the  iron  steamship.  Its  use  is  now  as  boundless  as  man's  desires,  and  almost 
Variety  of  as  wide  as  its  own  diffusion  throughout  nature.  Iron  is  found  in 
use*.  every  rock  :  it  blooms  in  the  rose  and  in  the  maiden's  cheek,  and 

the  spectroscope  detects  it  in  the  light  of  the  sun  and  stars.  It  may  be  said 
fairly  to  pervade  nature,  and  now  also  to  pervade  every  department  of  human 
activity.  It  plays  some  part  in  the  simplest  occupations  of  every-day  life  :  it 
mints  the  coin  of  the  people  j  it  steers  our  ships ;  drawn  out  into  a  wire,  it 
sounds  the  deepest  oceans,  and  carries  our  messages  from  continent  to  conti- 
nent ;  it  fights  our  battles,  and  wins  our  daily  bread,  and  carves  our  gravestones 
when  we  are  gone  ;  it  made  England  mistress  of  the  seas  and  of  commerce  ; 
and  it  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  causes  of  the  remarkable  advance  of  the 
United  States  during  the  present  century,  which  is  the  comment  of  the  scholars 
and  public  men  of  the  world. 

In  the  application  of  iron  to  the  uses  of  humanity,  no  people  have  excelled 
our  own  countrymen  in  ingenuity  and  enterprise.  The  purpose  of  this  chapter 
is  to  describe  the  growth  of  some  of  the  principal  iron  and  steel  industries 
which  they  have  established. 


NAILS. 

Nail-making  is  purely  an  American  art ;  for,  allhough  nails  were  invented 
before  the  white  man  first  cast  anclior  off  these  shores,  the  process  of  making 
Nail-making  them  which  has  superseded  all  others  was  the  product  of  the  Yan- 
an  American  kee's  brain,  and  the  modern  system  was  employed  here  long  before 
"'^*"  it  found  its  way  into  Europe. 

Iron  nails  were  sparingly  used  in  antiquity,  but  they  were  to  some  extent  in 
the  middle  ages ;  and  their  use  became  general  three  or  four  hundred  years 
Ea.iy  manu-  ^So>  when  Pjigland  devloped  her  iron-industries.  England  was  the 
facture  of  great  nail-making  country  of  Europe.  So  large  a  part  of  her  popu- 
lation was  employed  in  the  art,  that,  in  later  times,  sixty  thousand 
persons  were  employed  in  nail-making  at  Birmingham  alone.  All  the  nails  were 
made  by  hand.  The  iron  was  drawn  out  into  rods,  the  end  was  heated  and 
formed  by  hammer  on  an  anvil  into  a  nail,  when  the  rod  was  re-heated  and  again 
hammered.  The  business,  not  being  so  laborious  as  the  majority  of  those  in 
ivhich  men  were  engaged,  was  turned  over  largely  to  women  and  children  ;  and. 
not  being  very  remunerative  to  the  workers  themselves,  the  social  condition  uf 
the  nail-makers  of  England  was  one  of  the  dark  pictures  of  her  industries.  In 
the  last  century,  several  attempts  were  made  to  save  a  part  of  the  labor  expended 
in  nail-making  by  the  use  of  machinery.  William  Finch  of  Wimboorne,  Staf- 
fordshire, brought  out  one  patent  for  the  use  of  tilt-hammers,  which,  by  rapid 
striking,  enabled  several  nails  to  be  made  from  the  rod  in  one  heat.  Thomas 
Clifford  invented  another  plan  in  1 790,  which  aimed  at  squeezing  a  bar  of  iron 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


at9 


into  nails  by  feeding  it  in  between  two  heavy  rollers  with  proper  moulds  on 
their  faces.  The  greater  part  of  the  nails  used  continued  to  be  made  by  hand, 
however,  until  American  genius  released  the  women  and  children  from  such 
laborious  work. 

The  first  record  we  have  of  nail-making  in  this  country  is  found  in  a  debate 
in  Congress  in  1 7S9,  when  the  first  tariff  bill  was  under  discussion.     Mr.  Madi- 
son had  inserted  a  duty  of  one  cent  a  pound  on  nails  and  spikes  ^„^^  ng,,. 
in  the  bill.     Mr.  Lee  thought  this  was  olijectionable,  as  it  might  be  making  in 
a  tax  on  the  improvement  of  estates.     Mr.  Goodhue  assured  him     """=■• 
that  great  (juantities  of  nails  were  being  manufactured  in  Massachusetts  and 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  a  little  time  enough  would  be  made  to  supply  all  North 
.Vmerica.     Fisher  Ames  said  this  on  the  subject :  "  It  is  a  useful   Fisher 
and  accommodating  manufacture,  which  yields  a  clear  gain  of  all  Ames. 
it  sells  for,  except  the  cost  of  the  material.     The  labor  employed  on  it  is  such 
as,  if  not  thus  eini)loyed,  would,  in  many  instances,  be  thrown  away.     It  has 
become  usual  for  the  country- 
pcoijle  to  erect  small  forges 
ill  their  chimney-corners  ;  and 
in  the  winter  evenings,  when 
litde  other  work  can  be  done, 
great   quantities  of  nails    are 
made,     even      by     children. 
These   people  take   the    rod- 
injn    of    the    merchant,    and 
return  iiim  nails  ;  and,  in  con- 
setiuence  of  this    easy  mode 
of  barter,  the  manufacture  is 
proiligiously  great.     But  these 
advantages  are  not  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  the  people  of 
Massachusetts.     The  business 
can  be  prosecuted  in  a  similar 
manner  by  every  State  exerting  similar  industry." 

The   duty  was   allowed   to   remaii.    in   tiie  bill,  and  afterwards   was 
creased, 

But,  even  at  the  time  that  Fisher  .\mes  described  the  chimney-corner  forges, 
the  minds  of  our  countrymen  were  busy  with  tiie  idea  of  perfecting  a  machine 
to  make  nails,  and  save  all  this  labor  by  hand.     Of  the  three  hun-    patents  for 
died  patents  which  have  up  to  1878  been  granted  for  machines  for  naii- 
nail-making,  twenty-three  were  issued  befor-^  the  present  century.   '"■'=*''""■ 
hi  iSio  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  reported  :  — 

"  Twenty  years  ago,  some  men  now  unknown,  then  in  obscurity,  began  by 
cutting  slices  out  of  old  hoops,  and,  by  a  common  vice  griping  these  pieces, 


FAIRVIEW    NAIL-W0KK3. 


m- 


220 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


Cut  nailt. 


headed  them  with  several  strokes  of  the  hammer.  By  progressive  improve- 
ments slitting-mills  were  built,  and  the  shears  and  heading-tools  were  perfected  ; 
yet  much  labor  and  expense  were  requisite  to  make  nails.  In  a  little  time, 
Jacob  Perkins,  Jonathan  Ellis,  and  a  few  others,  put  into  execution  the  thought 
of  cutting  and  of  heading  nails  by  water ;  but,  being  more  intent  upon  their 
machinery  than  upon  their  pecuniary  affairs,  they  were  unable  to  prosecute  the 
business.  At  different  times  other  men  have  spent  fortunes  in  improvements ; 
and  it  may  be  said  with  truth,  that  more  than  a  million  of  dollars  have  been 
expended.  But  at  length  these  joint  efforts  are  crowned  with  complete  suc- 
cess ;  and  we  are  now  able  to  manufacture,  at  about  one-third  of  the  expense 
that  wrought  nails  can  be  manufactured  for,  nails  which  are  superior  to  them 
for  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  purposes  to  which  nails  are  applied,  and  for  most 
of  those  purposes  they  are  full  as  good." 

Jeremiah  Jeremiah  Wilkinson  of  Rhode  Island  is  said  to  have  been  the 

Wilkinson,     j^^j^  ^yj-jQ  headed  nails  in  a  vice. 

When  the  manufacture  of  cut  nails  was  first  undertaken,  wrought  nails  cost 
twenty-five  cents  a  pound,  and  were  largely  imported.  This  made  their  use 
for  fences  and  houses  expensive ;  and  their  cost,  the  abundance 
of  timber  in  this  country,  and  the  desire  of  every  man  to  have  his 
own  house  and  barn,  proved  powerful  incentives  to  inventors  to  undertake  the 
manufacture  of  them  by  machinery.  The  new  machines  did  so  well,  that  in 
1810  one  was  perfected  which  was  able  to  make  a  hundred  nails  a  minute  ;  and 
in  1828  the  production  w;  s  so  brisk,  that  the  price  was  reduced  to  eight  cents 
a  pound.  It  is  now  about  two  cents  and  a  half  a  pound.  In  1833  the  duty  on 
nails  was  five  cents  a  pound  :  but  the  rapidity  of  manufacture  here  had  brought 
prices  down  to  five  cents  a  pound,  which  was  the  same  as  the  duty ;  and  in 
1842  the  price  was  two  cents  below  the  duty. 

The  American  nail  machine  is  a  somewhat  complicated  afiair  in  detail, 
but  simple  in  theory.  The  iron  is  rolled  out  into  bars  wide  enough  to  make 
Description  three  or  four  strips,  each  one  of  which  is  as  wide  as  tlie  length  of 
of  machine,  jj-jg  j^ail  it  is  intended  to  make.  The  cutting  of  the  bar  into  strips 
is  done  by  the  slitting-mill,  and  is  done  while  the  bar  is  hot,  anil  thus  more 
easily  cut.  The  strips  arc  then  taken  to  the  nail-machines,  of  which  there  are 
from  forty  to  a  hundred  in  a  factory ;  in  the  Wheeling  Nail-Works  there  being 
one  hundred  and  six,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  in  the  Belmont  Works,  also  at 
Wheeling.  Each  machine  works  upon  one  strip  or  nail-rod  at  a  time,  clipping 
off  a  piece  from  the  end  presented  to  it,  and  then  another,  as  the  strip  is 
turned  over  and  the  end  again  presented.  The  strip  must  be  turned  over  eacli 
time  a  nail  is  clipped  off,  because  the  nail  is  cut  tapering.  Each  bit  as  it  is 
cut  off  is  grasped  by  a  powerful  vice,  which  holds  it,  while  an  object  called  the 
"  header  "  presses  up  the  large  end  into  a  head  :  the  nail  then  drops  anions,' 
its  companions  below.  The  process  is  a  rapid  one,  and  a  good  machine  will 
make  from  half  a  ton  to  a  ton  and  a  half  a  day. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


ftl 


The  variety  of  styles  of  nail  made  by  machinery  now  is  very  large,  and 
it  may  almost  be  said  that  wrought  nails  are  so  made   now :    for  manufac- 
tiirer-s  have  within  twenty  years  begun  to  anneal  cut  nails,  giving  various 
them  a  malleable  quality  ;  and  these  have  driven  the  old  style  of  kinds  of 
wrought  nail  out  of  use.     The  styles  now  made  are  cut,  wrought,   "■**""  *• 
horseshoe,   barbed,   composition,   button,   railroad,  carpet,  coffin,  sheathing, 
galvanized,  harness,  leather-work,  picture,  siding,  slating,  trunk,  upholstery, 
weather-tiling,  and  screw  nails,  spikes,  brads,  and  tacks  being  included  in 
the  above.     The  machine  for  making  railroad-spikes  was  the  invention  of  Mr. 
Henry  Burden  of  Troy  (who  also  invented  the  horseshoe-machine),  and  has 
proved  both  profitable  to  the  inventor  and  his  sons,  and  useful  to  the  country. 

The  yearly  product  of  nails  and  spikes  in  the  United  States  now  amounts 
to  over  4,900,000  kegs  of  one  hundred  pounds  each.  The  magnificent 
factories  employed  in  their  manufacture  —  equipped  with  blast- 

;  ,  ,,.  ...  \        r  1    Production. 

furnaces   and   puddling-ovens,  and   givmg  work  often  to  several 

hundred  men  —  excite  the  liveliest  feelings  of  admiration  when  a  comparison 

is  made  between  them  and  the  little  chimney-corner  forge  of  the  olden  times. 


CUTLERY. 

Edge-tools  were  made  in  the  United  States  as  early  as  the  Revolutionary 
war ;  it  being  at  that  time  an  absolute  necessity  for  the  people  to  provide 
themselves  with  such  implements  by  their  own  efforts.  They  £^^,y  manu- 
were  of  a  very  clumsy  character,  however,  and  not  very  durable,  facture  of 
How  slow  the  progress  was  may  be  seen  from  the  absurd  daggers  "  b=-'°°  '• 
and  swords  which  arc  preserved  to  us  from  the  war  of  181 2,  which  were  almost 
as  heavy  as  axes,  and  which  often  resembled  iron  clubs  with  edges  more 
than  specimens  of  cutlery.  The  swords  too,  while  frequently  possessing  the 
jjower  of  being  bent  double  like  Damascus  blades,  seldom  possessed  that  of 
resuming  their  original  shape  upon  the  pressure  being  removed.  For  two 
hundred  years  after  the  first  settlement  of  the  country  the  inhabitants  were 
really  dependent  upon  F2urope  for  their  cutlery.  Our  forests  were  felled  prin- 
cipally with  English  axes,  the  crops  cut  with  English  scythes  and  sickles, 
the  building-arts  carried  on  with  chisels  and  tools  from  Sheffield,  and  even 
the  loaf  of  bread  upon  the  table  sliced  with  an  English  knife.  Tiie  (juantity 
ami  variety  of  edge-tools  maile  in  the  New  World  were  extremely  small. 

About   forty-five    years   ago   the   attention    of   New-  Englanders   was    di- 
rected to  the  manufacture,  both  by  the  great  success  of  luigland,  —  which 
had  made  herself  the  chief  source  of  supply  of  cutlery  for  the   „    . 
world,  —  and   by  the   growing   demand    in  .America.      Steel  was   against 
imported  from  Sheffield,  and  various  mechanics  becran  to  fashion   American 

....  °  tools. 

It  into  the  articles  re([uired  by  the  wants  of  our  population.     The 

greatest  obstacle  to  the  success  of  these  pioneers  of  the  art  was  the  prejudice 


223 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


in  America  against  the  protiucts  of  American  shops.  Our  working-men  were 
intelligent,  and  knew  the  value  of  a  good  tool,  and  preferred  to  get  a  goo<l 
tool,  even  if  the  cost  of  it  was  high.  It  took  many  years  to  convince  them 
that  tlie  Americans  could  make  an  article  as  true  and  serviceable  as  that  which 
was  produced  at  Sheffield.  It  was  really  not  until  the  generation  of  men  then 
living  had  passed  off  the  stage  that  this  prejudice  was  conquered.  The  feelint,' 
of  that  day  is  well  illustrated  by  an  incident  which  Mr.  (ireeley  once  related 
in  regard  to  some  Connecticut  fish-hooks.  A  manufacturer  of  that  State  tried 
to  introduce  some  hooks  of  iiis  own  make  to  the  New-York  market,  and  sent 
samples  of  them  to  the  dealers  there  for  trial.     They  were  returned  with  the 


KNIFE  AND  FORK. 


discouraging  statement  that  they  were  far  inferior  to  British  hooks.  The 
manufacturer  tried  several  times  to  get  his  hooks  accepted ;  and  finally  he 
took  some  E)nglish  cards,  removed  the  hooks,  put  American  hooks  on  tiie 
cards,  and  sent  them  to  a  merchant  for  comparison  along  with  another  lot  of 
the  same  hooks  mounted  on  American  cards.  Again  word  came  back  that 
the  hooks  on  the  British  cards  were  in  every  way  superior  to  those  on  tlie 
American  cards.  And  the  worst  of  it  was,  that,  when  the  little  device  of  the 
manufacturer  was  explained  to  the  merchant,  the  latter  was  still  unconvinced 
that  the  Connecticut  article  could  at  all  compare  with  the  imported.  This 
was  exactly  the  case  with  early  American  etige-tools.  The  public  knew  tiie 
merit  of  the  imported  ware,  and  distrustetl  the  home-made. 

American  cutlery  obtained  a  place  at  length,  however ;  and  of  late  the 
industry  has  had  a  rapid  growth.  The  early  prejudice,  doubtless,  was  tlie 
Rapid  cause  of  this,  in  part ;  for  it  led  to  the  use  of  none  except  the  best 

growth  of  metal,  and  made  manufacturers  pay  the  utmost  attention  to  the 
"'■  excellence  of  the  form  and  finish  of  their  goods.     American  cut- 

lery is  now  finding  its  way  all  over  the  world  ;  and  Sheffield  is  fairly  staggercil 
at  the  appearance  of  American  knives,  shears,  scythes,  and  planes,  in  the  waix - 
houses  of  every  large  English  city.  Sheffield  is  losing  its  trade  in  consequence. 
Canadian  cutlery  shares  the  same  reputation  as  American. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


223 


'rhe 
lUy  he 
In  tlie 
lot  of 
that 
In  the 

:)f  the 

incod 
This 

|\v  the 

le  the 

IIS  tlie 
|e  best 
to  the 
h  cui- 

wavc- 
lienee. 


Steel  is  the  material  used  for  all  cutting-edges.      The  property  of  steel 
wliicli  gives  it  value  for  this  purpose  is  that  of  being  hardened  and  tempered. 
It  is  heated  to  redness,  and  then  suddenly  cooled.     If  the  heat   Edge-tool* 
is  iiigh,  the  steel  is  soft,  but  tenacious.     If  the  heat  is  low,  tiie  steel   made  of 
is  hard,  but  brittle.     This  is  taken  advantage  of  in  the  making  of  **" ' 
different  classes  of  tools.     Thus  430  degrees  give  a  pale  yellow-color,  suit- 
able for  lancets,  which  recjuire  a  fine  edge,  and  need  little  strength ;  at  450 
degrees  the  color  is  a  pale  straw-color,  good  for  razors,  pocket-   coior  or  steel 
knives,  and  chisels ;    at  490    degrees  a   brown-yellow  temper  is   according  to 
reached,  suitable  for  cold-chisels;   at  510  degrees  a  brown  with   """P"''- 
purple  spots,  fitted  for  axes  and  planes ;  at  550  degrees  a  bright  blue,  indicat- 
ing a  temper  for  swords  and  watch-springs;  at  560  degrees  a  fidl  blue,  suit- 
able for  fine  saws;  at  590  degrees  a  dark  blue,  the  temper  for  large  saws;  at 
630  degrees  the  color  is  dark,  with  a  tinge  of  green,  and  the  metal  is  too  soft 
for  instruments. 

A  weapon  may  be  made  with  more  than  one  temper  in  it.     A    . 

'  ^  'A  tool  may 

sword,  for  instance,  is  best  with  a  blue  temper  at  the  i)oint  (giving   have  more 
it  the  [greatest  elasticity),  a  violet  in  the  middle,  a  yellow  along  the   t*'""""^ 

,  ,       ,  ,1  temper  in  it. 

edge  (for  keenness),  and  a  green  near  the  handle  (for  toughness). 

It  is  not  usual,  nor  is  it  necessary,  to  (iishion  cutlery  entirely  of  steel. 
Simple  articles,  like  table-knives,  chisels,  planes,  scythes,  spades,  (S:c.,  have 
been  made  by  wekling  a  thin  strip  of  steel  for  the  edge  upon  a  ^^^1^  -3^^ 
back  piece  of  iron.  Blistered  steel  is  melted  into  cast  steel  for  steel,  and 
the  purpose,  and  hammered  into  bars.  In  shears,  only  the  edge  P""'^  "■°"- 
was  formerly  of  steel :  now  the  blades  are  of  steel,  and  the  handles  of  iron. 
In  table-knives  the  blade  is  of  steel,  and  the  shank  of  iron.  Formerly  this 
class  of  articles  was  made  entirely  by  hand  ;  but  American  ingenuity  has  per- 
fected a  machine  to  do  a  great  part  of  the  work,  and  the  best  blades  are 
formed  by  it  entirely.  The  machine  has  been  adopted  in  Europe.  The 
blades  of  pen-knives  are  hammered  out  from  the  best  cast  steel,  the  smithing 
being  well  done,  for  the  sake  of  condensing  the  metal.  A  temporary  shank 
is  ilrawn  out  to  hold  the  blade  while  it  is  being  ground  and  sharpened.  A 
number  of  blades  are  tempered  at  once  by  being  placed  over  a  fire  on  a  flat 
l)late  together,  with  their  backs  downward.  When  they  have  acquired  a  brown 
or  purijle  color,  they  are  suddenly  plunged  into  cold  water.  Scythes  are  drawn 
out  under  a  trip-hammer  from  a  bit  of  iron  of  the  requisite  size,  upon  which  a 
piere  of  steel  has  been  welded  for  the  edge.     The  workman  sits 

Scythes. 

<m  a  Stool  by  the  side  of  his  hammer,  with  the  fire  in  which  the 
metal  is  heating  within  easy  reach.  He  takes  the  piece  from  the  fire  with  a 
pair  of  tongs,  lays  it  on  the  anvil  under  the  liammer,  and  draws  it  out  into 
a  rough  ])lade  with  marvellous  speed  and  dexterity.  It  is  given  the  right  curva- 
tion  wliile  hot,  and  the  back  is  folded  in  other  machines  made  for  the  purpose, 
it  is  then  tempered,  and  taken  to  the  grinding-room  to  be  finished,  first  on 


aa4 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


heavy  wet  grindstones,  and  then  on  emery-wheels.  The  American  scythe  has 
become  celebrated  for  its  superior  strength  and  lightness.  Compared  with 
the  heavy  implements  of  native  make  found  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  it  is 
the  aristocrat  of  the  harvest-field.  It  outlasts  the  European,  and  requires  only 
half  the  strength  to  use  it.  Razors,  bowie-knives,  and  hunting-knives  are  made 
from  the  best  cast  steel  by  hammering  and  careful  grinding  and  polishing. 

Edge  and  finish  are  given  to  cutlery  in  the  grinding-rooms.  In  scythe- 
factories  the  operation  is  extraordinarily  noisy,  the  din  of  a  dozen  blades 
Edge  and  Strongly  pressed  upon  the  heavy  grindstones  being  almost  intolera- 
finish  given  ble.  The  finer  work  is  generally  done  on  emery-stones.  The 
y  er  n  ng-  operation  is  an  unhealthy  one  for  the  workmen,  on  account  of  the 
fine  dust  which  floats  in  the  air,  and  reaches  the  lungs  of  the  grinders.  Tlie 
evil  is  mitigated  to  some  extent  by  a  flue,  suitably  placed  to  remove  the  metallic 
dust  from  the  revolving  stones,  into  which  there  is  a  powerful  suction  of  air : 
but  it  does  not  entirely  obviate  it. 

The  various  world's  fairs  have  given  the  cutlery  of  the  United  States 
importance,  and  have,  among  other  things,  performed  the  great  service  of 
Effect  of  teaching  our  own  countrymen  its  value.  The  manufacturers  do  not 
world's  fairs.  f,Q^y  hesitate  to  use  American  steel  for  all  their  work.  Some  of 
them  make  the  steel  themselves,  and  so  are  sure  of  its  quality ;  as  in  the  case 
of  Mr.  Disston  of  Philadelphia,  —  a  man  who  began  business  as  a  mechanic 
Henry  by  wheeling  his  first  load  of  materials  himself,  and  who  now  has  a 

Disston.  trade  amounting  to  $1,500,000  yearly.     Cutlery  has  hitherto  been 

imported  to  the  extent  of  several  millions  a  year.  In  1872  the  importation  was 
$10,500,000.  So  rapid  has  been  the  progress  of  American  workshops  durin<( 
the  last  few  years,  that  the  importation  has  been  cut  down  to  $900,000  a  year ; 
and  a  promising  export  has  begun,  now  amounting  to  $700,006  a  year.  Pairo- 
pean  manufacturers  visiting  this  country  candidly  confess  that  they  are  amazed 
at  what  they  see  in  this  industry. 

CLOCKS    AND    WATCHES. 


The  word  "  clock  "  brings  up  a  medley  of  recollections  as  diverse  and  as 
interesting  as  the  contents  of  a  bazaar,  —  the  belfries  of  France,  les  cloches,  fVoni 
Early  clock-  which  the  word  itself  is  derived  ;  the  little  old  mathematician  in  a 
making.  black  gown  in  the  little  old  shop  in  London,  lost  in  abstruse  caK  il- 

lations as  to  the  speed  of  a  pendulum,  while  his  apprentices  at  the  door  of  the 
shop  are  calling  to  the  passers-by,  "What  d'ye  lack,  sirs?  what  d'ye  lack?  "  the 
stately  old  Dutch  time-piece,  ticking  solemnly  in  its  place  in  the  quiet  old 
colonial  farm-house  ;  the  bustling  Yankee,  driving  from  village  to  village  \\  ith 
a  wagon-load  of  wooden-wheeled  time-keepers,  and  peddling  them  awa\  for 
provisions  and  calicoes,  and  whatever  other  articles  of  value  our  great-grand- 
fathers had  a  surplus  of,  and  were  willing  to  part  with  in  trade  j   and  tiie 


OF    THE    UXITED    STATES. 


225 


ancient   State   of  Connecticut,  the   birthplace  of  the  wooden   clock,  where 

nearly    all    in    use    in    the    United 

States  have  l)een  made,  —  the  land 

of    Yankee    notions,    and    of    the 

original  Hrother  Jonathan  and  liar- 

nuni. 

The  sun  was  the  time-piece  of 
(I'll-  forefathers,  just  as  the  sky  was 
to  them  the  signal-station  Necessity  of 
(if  the  Weather  Ihireau  ;  time-pieces. 
and  they  were  remarkably  knowing 
in  regard  to  what  could  be  read  in 
the  sky  as  to  the  time  of  day  and 
(oniing  changes  of  the  air.  As 
long  as  the  population  of  the  world 
roved  in  the  forests,  and  labored 
( liielly  in  the  fieltls,  lime-keepers 
were  uimecessnry  ;  and  it  was  only 
when  people  gathered  in  c:ities, 
and  found  that  in  the  engrossing 
jiuisiiits  of  the  shop,  the  laboratory, 
ami  the  studio,  they  could  not  keep 
tia(  k  of  the  flight  of  time,  that  in- 
struuieuts  to  record  the  passing 
hours  became  useful.  The  ancients 
used  the  sun-dial,  the  clepsydra,  or 
water-glass,  and  the  hour-glass  ;  and 
Alfred  the  (Ireat  em])loyed  candles 
which  would  burn  an  hour  apiece. 
Finally  a  machine  run  by  Different 
weights  was  em[)loyed  ;  kinds  of 
and  Italy  invented,  and  '"°"**- 
Northern  Europe  perfected,  the  tall 
and  solemn  style  of  clock  which 
they  put  on  the  landings  of  the 
stain  uses  and  in  the  towers  of  the 
cathedrals,  ''"he  pendulum  was  first 
lliuiight  of  for  the  purposes  of  time- 
keeping at  Paris  in  1639,  and  utilized 
;u  Loudon  in  1641.  These  old 
elcK  ks  were  clumsy  and  ill-regulated 
^flairs.  Each  was  made  by  itself, 
and  based  upon  a  fresh  set  of  abstruse  and  interminable  calculations  as  to  the 


KEGII.ATI  R. 


236 


IND  US  TRIAL    HIS  TOK  Y 


length  of  pendulum  and  speed  of  wheels,  and  required  almost  as  many  special 
obserwitions  of  its  motion  by  the  maker,  before  it  would  go  right,  as  is  ex- 
|)ended  at  the  Naval  Observatory  at  Washington  upon  a  special  star  before 

its  position  in  the 
heavens  is  fmally  and 
authoritatively  put 
down  u])on  the  chart ; 
and  some  of  these  stars 
are  observed  several 
hundred  times.  The 
early  clocks  in  America 
were  all  imported  from 
luiglaiul  and  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  were  cost- 
ly pieces  of  furniture. 

Shortly  after  tlic 
Revolution,  clock- 
making  was  begun  in 
this  country  at  Plym- 
outh, Conn.,  by  \-X\ 
Terry,  one  of  the  old 
type  of  Yankees,  who 
fashioned  the  wooden 
ciock-mak-      ^vheels    of 

ing  began  in      his     clo(  ks 

Connecticut.         •  .  i      ,  i 

w  1  t  h    t  ii  e 

aid  of  a  jack-knife,  and 
started  out  with  a  horse 
twice  a  year  to  [)e(ldle 
them.  The  wheels  were 
marked  out  on  thin  pieces  of  wood  with  scjuare  and  compass,  anil  shaped 
and  toothed  with  saw  and  knife.  Mr.  Terry  began  in  1793,  and  prospernl 
so,  that  in  1800  he  was  able  to  em])loy  two  young  men  to  assist  him. 
Twice  a  year  he  started  out  towards  the  Hudson  River  and  the  north  country, 
whither  population  was  tending  at  that  period,  to  sell  his  clocks  ;  antl  he 
disposed  of  them  readily  at  twenty-five  dollars  ai)iece.  In  1807  a  stock 
company  was  formed  at  Waterbury  to  aid  Mr.  Terry  ;  and  he  then  went  into 
business  on  a  large  scale,  buying  an  okl  mill,  introducing  machinery,  anil  hiv- 
ing out  the  works  for  five  hundred  clocks  at  once,  —  something  which  it  is  said 
had  never  before  been  done.  In  18 10  Mr.  Terry  sold  out  to  Thomas  tS: 
Hoodley ;  but  he  himself  continued  to  make  clocks.  Others  had  by  this  tiuic 
become  established  in  clock-making ;  and  competition  was  so  sharj),  that  the 
price  of  clocks  dropped  from  twenty-five  dollars  to  ten  dollars,  and  finally  to 


ALVAN  CLARK,   MAKER  OF  ASTRONOMICAL  INSTRUMENTS. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


"7 


five  dollars.  The  public  was  greatly  benefited  by  this  ;  but  the  manufacturers 
cune  to  grief,  and  many  of  them  failed.  In  1814  Mr.  Terry  inwiiird  the 
pillar  scroll  top  case  (lock,  which,  l)ciiig  of  a  little  different  and  mure  tasty 
-tylc  than  its  predecessors,  was  popular  for  a  while.  It  sold  for  fifteen  dollars, 
mill  netted  Mr.  Terry  a  fortune. 

The  next  step  in  advan(  c  was  taken  by  Channcey  Jerome,  an  apprentice 
ol'  Mr.  Terry,  and  a  very  ini,'cnious  fellow,  who,  with  the  passion   for  whittling 
rh.iracteristic  of  the  Vankec.  had  begun  to  make  wooden  clucks  before  he  lel't 
s(  liool.     Mr.  Jerome,  when  fairly  established  in  business,  employed   chauncey 
,i  ( inular-saw  in  getting  out  his  wood,  and  was  able  to  produce   J«'°"ie- 
tlu(  ks  rapidly  anil  cheaply,     lie  had  a  great  sale  all  over  the  fnited  Slates. 


SHILTZS  WATCHMAN  S  CLOCK. 


The  (locks  ran  for  one  day.  and  are  said  to  liave  been  good  time-keepers. 
Ill  1S37  Mr.  Jerome  proved  'lis  ingenuity  by  bringing  out  the  one-day 
I  lock  with  metal  wheels,  —  an  event  which  comi)letely  revolutionized  the 
«iiole  business.  He  employed  brass  at  first,  because  it  could  be  easily 
workul.  Steel  has  been  introduced  only  recently.  The  brass  w.is  obtained 
HI  sheets,  and  machines  were  invented  to  stamp  from  the  sheets  the  eight  or 
ti^'ii  wheels  recjuired  by  each  clock  in  a  single  ojieration.  Three  men  could 
^I't  out  the  works  for  five  himdred  clocks  in  a  single  day  with  these  machines, 
Hid  the  cost  of  the  movements  was  soon  reduced  to  about  fifty  cents  ajiiece. 
As  the  wheels  of  each  clock  were  exactly  those  of  any  other  clock,  the  parts 
of  one  could  be  interchanged  at  will  with  another,  or  taken  from  store ;  which 


228 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


was  found  of  vast  utility.  Wooden  clocks  were  now  promptly  thrown  over- 
board by  all  makers.  They  had  been  subject  to  disarrangement  by  moist 
weather,  and  could  not  be  sent  beyond  seas  to  foreign  countries  with  which 
the  United  States  were  engaged  in  commerce.  The  metal  clocks  defied 
moisture,  and  could  bj  sent  anywhere  ;  and  the  manufacture  of  them  received 
an  enormous  expansion.     They  were  sent  all  over  the  world,  and  were  found 

by  travellers  ticking  away  on  every  coast  and 
continent,  and  in  nearly  every  language  under 
the  sun.  Machinery  was  also  invented  to 
make  the  frames  of  the  clocks,  and  stamp  out 
the  dials  and  hands.  Mr.  Jerome's  business 
increased  from  the  few  hundred  a  year  of  his 
early  days  to  four  hundred  and  forty-four 
thousand  a  year  in  1853,  and  the  original 
cost  of  clocks  was  brought  down  to  a  dollar 
and  twenty-five  cents  apiece. 

.\  good  story  is  told  of  a  shipment  of 
wooden  clocks  to  England  in  1841  by  Mr. 
Jerome,  which  may  be  i)laced  with  the  other 
Shipment  of  ^tory  of  the  shipment  of  a  cargo 
clocks  to  of  warming-pans  to  the  West 
"3  an  •  Indies  by  an  enterprising  Yankee, 
and  their  sale  tliere  as  sugar-scoops.  The 
law  of  ICngland  permitted  the  customs-offiieis 
to  seize  upon  goods  imported  to  the  kingdom 
if  tliey  consitlered  them  to  be  undervalued, 
paying  the  importer  the  amount  of  his  valuation,  with  ten  per  cent  added. 
Mr.  Jerome's  first  cargo  was  entered  in  England  at  regular  prices;  but  the 
officer  tliought  tl;0  valuation  so  low,  that  he  seized  the  clocks,  and  paid  Mr. 
Jerome  his  price  and  ten  per  cent  advance.  Not  particularly  afflicted  tlicreby, 
M:.  Jerome  sent  over  another  cargo,  which  he  sold  to  the  customs- otficer  in 
tliv?  same  way.  He  dien  sent  a  third  cargo  ;  but  the  second  one  iMd  been  an 
eye-opener,  and  Mr.  Jerome  was  permitted  to  imi)ort  his  goods  himself 

The  brass  clocks  had  a  great  sale,  and  there  were  in   1854  thirty  establish- 
ments in  Connecticut  making  thetn.     Barnum  owned  one  of  them,  and  used 

History  of  ^'^  ^^''^  '^  ''^'"S^'  P'"^*"^  "^^  ^^'^  clocks  in  the  old-fashioned  way.  In 
reverai  clock  1S55  lie  Sold  his  factory  to  the  Jerome  Company;  and.  owini:  to 
companies,      ^j^^.  y^^^^^  ^|^,j^^^  ^j-  ^j^^^  former,  the  Jerome  Company  broke  down. 

The  New-Haven  Clock  Company  was  formed  to    succeed    it.     The  largest 

concerns    in   Connecticut   are    now  the    New-Haven,   the    .'\nsonia,  and  the 

Waterbury  Companies,  and  Seth  Thomas  &  Company. 
S-eel  clocks.  „,,..,,  ,      ^  .  ^      r    r  1 

riij  use  of  steel  works  and  of  spnngs,  and  of  fourteen  ami 

thirty  day  clocks,  is  now  increasing,  and  the   style   of  time-keeper  is  con- 


LOllSVILLE   CLOCK. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


229 


n  over- 
y  moist 
h  which 
j  defietl 
received 
re  found 
oast  and 
ge  under 
ented   to 
itamp  out 
\  business 
ear  of  his 
forty-four 
le  original 
to  a  dollar 

lipment  ot 
41  \)y  Mr. 
\  the  other 
of  a  cargo 
the  ^^'^^^^t 
ing  Yankee. 

oops,     'lli^' 
oms-oftieers 

he  kingdom 
ndervahied. 
;ent  ad<hnl. 
les;  but  the 
jnd  p^'vid  Mr- 
ted  thereby. 
Inis-offiie'r  in 
Ihad  been  an 
Lelf. 

Vty  establisli- 
\\\,  and  use'd 
ed  way.    ^'^ 
Ld.  owing  to 
liroke  down. 
The  largest 
nia,  and  the 

Ifourtecn  an<i 
bet  is  con- 


stantly changing  and  improving.     Calendar  clocks,  to  indicate  the  day  and 
the  month ;   astronomical  clocks,  electric,  burglar-alarms,  peep-of-day,  watch- 
man's  detector,  and  tower  clocks ;    clocks  to  run  a  hundret'  years  without 
winding ;  illuminated  clocks  with  phantasmagoria ;  clocks  wnich   calendar 
consist  only  of  a  plate-glass  dial  and  a  pair  of  hands,  the  works  ciocits- 
being  concealed  in  the  hands,  and  working  them  simply  by  shifting  a  weight ; 
and  other  styles,  —  are  now  made  in  great  numbers.     The  latest  is  a  nutmeg 
clock,  which  will   run   in   any  position,  —  standing  up,  or  lying  Nutmeg 
down,  —  winding  up  without  a  key,  and  good  to  travel  with  on  ^'ocits- 
the  cars,  which  will  keep  good  time  under  the  most  discouraging  circumstances. 
In  watch-making  America  made  no  venture  until   1850.     Labor  was  too 
high  and  too  impatient  here  to  attempt  this  art  in  competition  with  the  Swiss 
and  French.     Mechanical  talent  in  this  field  was  exclusively  em-   ^     . 
ployed  in  repairing  and  regulating  watches  which  were  imported,   making  not 
In  184S,  .Aaron  L.  Dennison,  a  watch-repairer,  and  Edward  How-    |>eB""  ""«" 
ard.  a  clock-maker,  both  of  Boston,  consulted  about  the  idea  of 
making  watches  by  machinery.     They  studied  the  matter  for  two  years  ;  ami 
Mr.  Dennison,  the  author  of  the  project,  travelled  through  Switzerland,  care- 
fully informing   himself  in   regard  to  the  methods  and  weak  points  of  the 
industry  as  practised  there.     E.xperiments  were  made  at  Roxbury,  and  in  1S50 
the  two  men  went  regularly  into  the  business.     After  the  first  thousand  watches 
were  made,  the  Boston  Watch  Company  was  formed,  with  its  factory  at  Rox- 
b'lry.     In  the  beginning  the  company  made  only  the  rough  skele-   Boston 
ton  movements,  cutting  them  out  by  machinery,  and  finishing  them   Watch  Com- 
largely  by  hand,  and  importing  the  jewels,  trains,  &:c.,  from  Swit-    ''""^" 
zerland.      A  larger  factory  was  built  at  Waltham,  Mass.,  in   1854;    but  the 
outlay  for  machinery  and  experiments  proved  too  heavy  for  the  company,  and 
it  failed.     Mr.  Robbins  bought  the  factory  for  seventy-five  thousand  dollars, 
and  started  the  American  Watch  Company,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  which   has  since  made  the  Waltham  watches   so  famous. 
Mr.  Howard  went  back  to  Roxbury,  and  resumed  the  manufac-    Mr.  How- 
tiire  of  watches  there.     Little  by  little  the  manufacturers  improved   "'''*• 
their  machinery,  until  at  length  they  have  ceased  to  import  any  of  the  parts 
of  the  watch,  and  they  make  every  thing  under  their  own  roof,    progress  in 
The  minute  rubies,  sapphires,  and  chrysolites,  as  small  as  grains   watch- 
of  sand,  are  drilled  with  microscopic  exactness  by  the  diamontl's   '""'""c- 
point,  and  opened  out  with  diamond-dust  on  a  hair-like  iron  wire,  the  sizes  of 
the  jewels  being  graduated  by  a  scale  which  indicates  differences  of  a  ten- 
thousaiulth  part  of  an  inch.     Screws  so   minute   that  it  takes  two  hundred 
thousand  to  weigh  a  pound  are  cut  from  a  steel  wire,  threaded,  and  headed 
with  surprising  speed  and  accuracy.    The  wheels  and  pinions  are  cut  and 
liored  with  the  most  minute  exactness,  and  so  completely  alike,  that  the  watch 
may  he  assembled  from  wheels  and  parts  taken  at  random  from  the  respective 
heaps. 


230 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  late  war  gave  a  great  impetus  to  watch-making.  The  United  States 
put  a  million  of  men  under  arms,  and  every  one  wanted  a  watch.  The  Ameri- 
Effectofwar  Can  Company  at  Waltham  increased  its  plant  in  1865,  its  capital 
uponthii  being  $750,000;  and  new  companies  were  formed  in  various  parts 
US  ry-  Qf  j]^g  country.  The  American  Company  has  since  then  doubled 
its  capital.  To-day  there  are  eleven  factories  making  watches,  the  principal 
ones  being  the  American  Company  at  Waltham,  which  produces  ybout  four 
History  of      hundred  and  twenty-five  movements  a  day,  and  the  Elgin  National 

Watch  Company  at  Elgin,  111.,  which  makes  three  hundred  a  daj'. 

The  Empire  City  Watch  Company  at  Jersey  City,  N.J.,  and  Rob- 
bins,  Clark,  &  Biddle  of  Philadelphia,  are  also  prominent  makers. 


other  com 
panies. 


ELGIN  WATCH   COMI'ANV. 


American  watches,  though  discredited  at  first,  have,  of  late  years,  produced 
a  decided  sensation  in  the  world  of  industry.  From  the  time  when  all  the 
parts  of  the  watch  began  to  be  made  by  the  factories  here,  the  companies 
have  been  turning  out  a  better  ordinary  time-keeper  than  the  Swiss  watch. 
Swiss  watches  held  their  own  for  a  while,  on  account  of  their  clieapness.  In 
1872  three  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  of  them  were  sent  to  the  United 
States.  In  1876  the  Elgin  Company  announced  a  reduction  of  the  prices  of 
their  watches  from  forty  to  fifty  per  cent.  Seven  movements  with  visible 
pallets  were  sold  at  four  dollars.  That  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the  imported 
time-piece  ;  but  a  still  more  staggering  one  was  inflicted  by  the  Waltham  ron- 
Swiss  cern,  which  immediately  announced  a  large  reduction  of  prices 

watch.  below  those  of  their  rivals.     The  Swiss  watch  could  not  stand  that, 

and  the  importation  of  them  in  1876  was  only  seventy-five  thousand.  The 
Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  arc  now  beginning  to  export ;  and  they  send 
from  twenty  thousand  to  thirty  thousand  to  England  alone,  and  are  menacing 
the  Swiss  make  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


231 


IRON    PIPES   AND   TUBES. 

This  important  industry  took  its  rise  in  the  United  States  about  1835, 
and  was  essentially  the  outgrowth  of  the  business  of  supplying  cities   and 
villages  with  water  and  gas.     Many  of  the  companies  which  now  manufacture 
pipes  were  founded  long  before  1835,  —  as,  for  instance,  the  Bridgewater  Iron 
Company  in  Massachusetts,  which  was  started  in  1810  by  Lazell   Rise  of  pipe. 
&  Perkins  ;  the  great  Pascal  Iron-Works  in  Philadelphia,  founded   '"duitry. 
in  182 1  by  Stephen  P.  Morris  ;  and  the  Camden  Iron- Works,  in  the  city  of  that 
name  in  New  Jersey,  which  began  in  1824:  but  these  works  were  originally 
devoted  to  the  product  of  other  varieties  of  iron-ware,  stoves,  &c.,  and  took 
up  pipe-making  because  of  the  new  demand  which  sprang  up  about  1835. 
The  number  of  pipe  and  tube  establishments,  which  is  seventy-seven,  does  not 
represent  the  magnifjae  of  the  industry,  for  some  of  the  largest  Magnitude 
works  in  the  Unitec'  States  are  devoted  to  this  specialty,  and  three  of  the  busi- 
of  them  claim   to   be   the  largest  of  their  class  in  the  world :   "***" 
namely,  the   Posciil   Iron-Works   at   Philadelphia,  covering   twelve   acres   of 
ground,  and  employing  two  thousand  hands ;   the  National  Pipe  and  Tube 
Works  at  Pittsburgh,  with  a  production  of  sixty  thousand  tons   principal 
of  gas  and  water  pipe  annually ;    and  the  Reading  Tube-Works  works. 
at  Reading,  Penn.,  employing  twenty-five  hundred  men.      The  factories  are 
distributed  as  follows  :  — 

Massachusetts,  eight ;  New  Hampshire,  two ;  Rhode  Island,  two ;  Con- 
necticut, one ;  New  York,  twenty-one ;  New  Jersey,  five ;  Pennsylvania, 
twenty-six  ;  Ohio,  seven  ;  Kentucky,  two  ;  Michigan,  one  ;  Missouri,  one  ; 
Wisconsin,  one. 

The  following  is  the  character  of  the  product  of  these  works :  cast-iron 
gas  and  water  mains,  wrought-iron  steam,  gas,  and  water  pipes  and  fittings, 
lap  and  butt  welded  boiler-tubes,  artesian-well  pipe,  oil-well  tubing,  product  ov 
coil-pipe,  galvanized  pipe,  tuyfere  coils,  lamp-posts,  vulcanized  works, 
rubber-coated  tube,  greenhouse-pipe,  drain-pipe,  railway  water  columns, 
fittings,  and  tools.  At  the  factory  of  Dennis  Long  &  Company  in  Louisville  — 
one  of  the  largest  for  cast-iron  pipe  in  the  country,  which  is  equipped  with 
three  founderies  —  a  largt  number  of  old  cannon  have  been  converted  since 
the  war  into  the  innocent  uses  cf  gas  and  water  supply. 

The  making  of  cast-iron  pipe  :s  so  simple  as  to  need  no  description. 

Wrought-iron   pipe-making  is  quite  a   different   affair.     In   practice  the 
operation  is  rapid  and  simple.    The  iron-plate  heated  to  redness,  and  partly 
bent  by  apparatus  made  for  the  purpose,  is   dragged  from   the 
furnace,  and  the  end  presented  to  a  ponderous  machine.     It  goes  making 
th"'^ugh  the  machine  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  emitting  a  series  of  wrought- 
sharp  reports  like  a  volley  of  musketiy  j   and  as  it  is  projected 
straight  and  glowing  from  the  jaws  that  held  it,  the  edges  perfectly  welded,  it 


as* 


INDl'STRIAL    HISTORY 


Strongly  resembles  a  thunderbolt  forged  by  Vulcan  himself.  The  workmen 
have  little  to  do  except  to  take  the  plates  from  the  furnace  at  the  right 
moment,  ^ind  feed  them  to  the  welding-machine.  But  the  machine  itself  is 
not  so  simple,  and  is  the  product  of  a  great  deal  of  study  and  experiment. 
Two  forms  of  weld  are  given,  —  the  butt-weld,  in  which  the  edges  of  the  heated 
plate  are  forced  into  contact  under  great  pressure,  and  tluis  united ;  and  the 
lap-weld,  in  which  the  edges  of  the  plate  are  made  to  lap,  and  are  then  per- 
fectly united  by  pressure.  The  former  weld  is  suitable  for  gas  and  other  pijies 
which  are  subjected  to  no  special  strain  :  the  latter  is  essential  for  boiler  and 
steam  tubes,  &c.  The  butt-weld  is  produced  by  first  bending  the  plates  inilil 
their  edges  nearly  touch,  and  then,  after  heating,  running  them  through  a  set 
of  iron  jaws  by  means  of  apparatus  suited  to  the  purpose.  The  opening  in 
the  jaws  gradually  contracts  from  a  size  adapted  to  the  partially-bent  plate,  or 
"  skelp,"  to  a  perfect  circle  the  size  of  the  finished  tube  ;  and  as  the  plate  goes 
through  this  smaller  aperture,  a  great  pressure  being  exerted  on  all  sides  of  the 
tube  at  once,  the  edges  come  into  forcible  contact,  and  unite  perfectly.  The 
lap-welding  process  is  similar  in  principle,  but  varies  in  detail.  The  edges  of 
the  plate  are  first  shaved  or  "  scarfed  "  by  machinery,  so  that,  when  they  lap, 
they  will  not  form  a  double  thickness  of  metal.  It  is  recjuisite  now  in  welding 
to  apply  pressure  to  the  inside  as  well  as  the  outside  of  the  tube,  in  order  that 
the  edges  shall  not  curl  under :  this  is  accomplished  by  means  of  a  mandrel 
of  slightly  conical  form,  which  is  carried  at  the  end  of  an  iron  rod  somewhat 
smaller  than  the  diameter  of  the  tube  to  be  welded.  As  the  heated  plate  is 
forced  into  the  jaws  of  the  machine,  the  mandrel  enters  the  tube ;  and  thus  a 
powerful  pressure  is  exerted  both  within  and  without,  and  the  weld  becomes 
perfectly  homogeneous.  The  mandrel  is  destroyed  by  the  tremendous  opera- 
tion to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  and  a  new  one  is  put  on  for  the  next  tube. 
It  is  this  process  which  creates  the  soimd  of  musket-firing.  The  reader  cnii 
imagine  the  interesting  nature  of  it  in  a  factory  where  eighteen  or  twenty 
furnaces  are  going  at  once. 

The  panic  of  1873  put  an  end  temporarily  to  the  improvement  of  real  estate 
and  the  enlargement  of  cities.  Most  of  the  pipe  and  tube  companies  have 
Effect  of  accordingly  shortened  their  production.  Some  of  them  stopiied 
panic  of  1873.  ^york.  In  an  ordinary  year  the  beventy-seven  factories  will  con- 
sume about  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons  of  pig-iron,  and  manufac- 
ture a  product  worth  over  twelve  million  dollars.  The  Pascal  A\'orks.  wliii  Ii 
adds  the  manufacture  of  gas-generating  machinery  and  boilers  for  ran;;cs  to  its 
other  business,  has  a  yearly  product  of  nearly  five  million  dollars. 

LOCOMOTIVES. 

It  is  a  trait  of  our  countrj'men  that  they  have  never  been  able  to  c.vpnrt  in 
large  quantities  their  raw  materials  and  crude  fabrications  (cotton  alone  ex- 


CF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


833 


cepted),  for  the  reason  that  the  smaller  wages  and  cheaper  capital  of  Europe 
liave  prevented  Americans  from  entering  into  competition.      But,   American 
wlien  it  comes  to  the   exportation  of  objects  requiring  for  their  locomotive, 
jjroduction  a  constructive  ability  and  a  mechanical  skill  of  the  very  highest 
oriler,  our  countrymen  have  shown  themselves  able  to  compete   its  »uperior- 
with  and  surpass  the  world.     The  fact  is  exhibited  in  the  history  of  '^y- 
tlie  locomotive  in  America.     Pig  and  bar  iron  and  steel  have  been  among  the 
most  insignificant  of  our  exports.     Manufacturers  abroad  have  heard  that  the 
iron  of  the  Continent  rivals  in  quality  the  famous  ores  of  Sweden.     Yet  what 
they  know  about  it  is  from  books  and  travellers :  they  have  scarce  ever  seen 


MODERN   LOCOMOTIVE. 


any  of  it ;  for  it  does  not  enter  into  foreign  commerce.  But  that  splendid 
civaiion.  the  .American  locomotive,  into  which  this  same  iron  is  fashioned,  is 
now  known  all  over  the  globe,  and  is  freely  employed  in  most  of  the  civilized 
coiuuries,  as  being  the  strongest,  swiftest,  and  most  enduring  of  these  willing 
servants  of  man.  In  the  calendar  year  of  1S76  less  than  a  tliousand  tons  of 
raw  iron  and  steel  were  exported  from  the  United  States.  Rut  we  have 
recently  seen  a  single  steamship  loading  at  Philadelphia  with  thirty  loco- 
motives,—  containing  nearly  a  thousand  tons  of  finished  iron,  and  Export  of 
worth  six  iuindred  thousand  dollars,  —  for  transportation  to  Russia  ^'i^m. 
alone,  on  an  order  from  the  Imperial  Government.  The  American  locomotive 
is  used  and  admired  in  .Austria.  Italy,  Greece,  Russia,  Egypt,  South  America, 
and  Australia,  and  even  in  Germany,  the  land  where  a  single  great  master- 
workman —  Krupp,  the  captain  of  modern  industry,  as  Mr.  Hewitt  calls  him 
—  employs  ten  thousand  men  largely  in  the  production  of  this  class  of  works. 
The  orders  sent  to  America  increase  as  time  goes  on  ;  and  the  new  railways  of 
the  lurure,  especially  on  the  southern  half  of  this  continent,  will  be  largely 
operated  by  the  engines  made  by  the  workmen  of  the  United  States,  —  the 
smartest,  liveliest,  most  intelligent  mechanics  under  the  sun. 


234 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


As  will  be  related  in  the  chapter  on  Railroads  in  another  part  of  this 
book,  the  locomotive  is  an  afterthought  of  the  men  who  attempted  to  build 
carriages  to  run  on  the  ordinary  wagon-roads  by  steam-power.  The  first  sug- 
Dr.  Row-  gestion  was  made  by  Dr.  Robison,  then  a  student  in  the  Univer- 
■•*"•  sity  at  Glasgow,  in  1759.     Watt  afterwards  took  up  the  idea,  but 

accomplished  nothing  with  it,  because  he  was  an  opponent  of  the  high-pressure 
system,  and  the  low-pressure  engines  were  too  heavy  to  be  successful  in  loco- 
Richard  Ire-  motion.  Richard  Irevittrick  saw  the  trouble,  and  in  1802  took  out 
vittrick.  a  patent  for  a  steam  road-carriage  on  the  high-pressure  principle, 
which  attracted  some  attention.  In  1 804  he  built  the  first  railway  locomotive, 
which  he  worked  at  Merthyr-Tydvil,  in  South  Wales,  on  a  tram-road.  In  the 
next  twenty-five  years  a  number  of  patents  for  locomotives  were  taken  out  in 
England.  Capitalists  were  slow  to  place  confidence  in  the  new  idea,  however ; 
for  they  feared,  that,  with  a  heavy  train  of  cars,  the  wheels  of  the  engine  would 
Early  diffi.  slip  rouud  Oil  the  rails,  and  the  train  would  not  start.  Adhesion  to 
cuities.  ^)^g  ^aiij  ijy  j.Qgg  Qf  otherwise  was  thought  necessary.     This  was 

shown  to  be  unnecessary  in  1S29  by  experiments  made  upon  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  Railway,  —  the  pioneer  line  in  England,  which  was  opened  for 
travel  that  year.  The  directors  had  offered  a  premium  of  five  hundred  pounds 
for  the  best  locomotive-engine,  not  to  exceed  six  tons  in  weight,  which  should 
draw  three  times  its  own  weight  at  a  speed  of  ten  miles  an  hour,  and  cost  not 
over  five  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  Five  engines  were  entered  for  the  com- 
petition,—  "The  Rocket,"  "Novelty,"  "Perseverance,"  "Sans  Pareil,"  and 
"Cyclopfede  ;  "  and  "The  Rocket  "  demonstrated  its  capacity  to  make  twenty- 
four  miles  an  hour,  drawing  a  train  three  times  its  own  weight.  A  itw 
attempts  to  introduce  the  cogged  wheel  and  rail  were  made  even  after  that ; 
but  they  attracted  little  attention,  and  amounted  to  nothing.  An  era  of 
locomotive-building  now  began. 

The  first  engines  used  in  the  United  States  were  imported  from  England 
for  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  Rail- 
First  engines  ^^'^V'  ^'^^  ^'^  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway.  The  pioneer  was  an 
usedin  Unit-  absurd  little  affair  called  "The  Lion,"  which  in  1828  was  placed  on 
ed  States.  ^^^  Delaware  and  Hudson  Company's  road,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Lackawaxen,  and  started  on  it's  first  trip  by  Mr.  Horatio  Allen.  Compared 
with  the  engines  of  to-day,  it  might  better  have  been  called  "  The  Chipmuk : " 
still  it  was  rather  an  impressive  affair  then.  There  was  some  apprehension  as 
to  how  the  little  monster  would  perform,  and  many  thought  that  the  trestle- 
work  bridge  across  the  creek  would  not  sustain  its  weight.  Mr.  Allen  found 
no  one  willing  to  make  the  first  trip  across  the  bridge  :  so  .he  went  out  alone 
with  the  engine  himself,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  crowd  of  spectators,  his 
own  hair  standing  on  end,  however,  as  he  rounded  some  of  the  curves,  and 
flew  over  the  bridge.  The  results  of  the  trial  were  satisfactory.  "The  Lion" 
neither  blew  up,  nor  ran  away,  nor  leaped  into  the  creek,  nor  broke  down 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


235 


E.  L.  Miller. 


the  bridge.     It  clung  to  the  track,  made  very  fair  time,  and  was  entirely 

tractable. 

Several  other  engines  were  bought  abroad  about  this  time  for  the  purposes 
of  experiment  and  study ;  but  the  purchases  continued  for  only  a  few  years, 
and  were  very  limited  in  extent.     The  inventive   genius  of  the   numerout 
United  States  was  aroused,  and  a  number  of  mechanics  in  different  American 
parts  of  the  country  determined  to  attempt  the  building  of  engines    "^'""°"•• 
here.    The  Patent  Office  was  overwhelmed  with  applications  for  a  patent  for 
this  and  that  device,  and  form  of  construction ;  and  in  a  very  few  years  the 
demands  of  the  railroads  of  the  I'nited  States  were  fully  met  by  the  American 
shops. 

The  first  locomotive  made  in  the  United  States  was  the  idea  of  Mr.  E.  L. 
Miller  of  Charleston,  S. C,  who  came  North  in  1830  to  arrange  for  the 
building  of  the  machine  for  a  railroad  in  which  he  was  interested, 
running  out  of  Charleston  across  the  country,  toward  the  city  of 
Hamburg.  Mr.  Samuel  Hall  of  the  West- Point  Foundery,  New  York,  under- 
took to  make  the  engine  under  his  direction.  It  was  completed  in  1S30,  sent 
South,  and  operated  the  same  year  on  the  railroad  out  of  Charles-  ^^  j^^^_ 
ton,  of  which  eight  miles  had  been  built.  Mr.  H.  Allen  had  been  motive  made 
secured  as  chief  engineer,  and  the  locomotive  was  first  exhibited  to  '"  United 

°  Statei. 

the  people  of  the  South  by  him.  It  was  appropriately  called  "The 
Best  Friend."  That  particular  engine  did  what  a  man's  best  friend  never  does, 
—  promised  much  and  performed  little,  and  finally  left  the  railroad  entirely  in 
the  lurch  by  blowing  up  in  a  very  short  time  after  it  was  put  into  the  service. 
Vet  no  better  title  was  ever  given  to  a  locomotive  in  America ;  for  this  princely 
invention  has  been  indeed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  since  that  early 
day  their  "  best  friend." 

A  stimulus  was  given  to  the  mechanical  and  inventive  genius  of  the  coun- 
try in  1 83 1  by  an  advertisement  issued  by  the  BaUiniore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company,  which  iiad,  since   May,    1S30,  been   operating  twelve   stimulus 
miles  of  road  west  from  Baltimore  by  horse-power.     The  com-   B>ven  by 
pany  offered   rewards   of  four  thousand  jind  thirty-five   hundred  ^^^  j^"* 
dollars  respectively  for  the  locomotives,  which,  upon  trial,  should   Railroad 
prove   to  be    the  first  and  second   best  in    complying  with  the  ^°™P"">'' 
published  requirements   of  the   company.     Three  locomotives   were  built  in 
answer  to  this  liberal  offer ;  and  the  prize  was  awarded  to  "  The  York,  '  an 
engine  built  at  the  city  of  that  name  in  Pennsylvania  by  Davis  & 
Gartner,  which  was  found  to  be  able  to  draw  fifteen  tons  at  the 
rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour.     Being  employed  on  the  road  to  Ellicott  Mills, 
a  distance  of  twelve  miles,  it  generally  made  the  trip  with  four  cars  in  an 
hour.    On  a  straight  track  it  attained  a  velocity  equal  to  thirty  miles  an  hour. 
The  success  of  "The  York"  was   a  great  encouragement    to    American 
builders ;    and  rhapsodies  of  the  most  inflated  description  over  the  "  march 


'The  York." 


236 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  V 


of  steam  "  filled  the  newspapers  of  that  day,  elicited  by  the  performances  of 
"The  York."  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Company  liL-ld  out  every  intliicement 
to  mechanics  from  that  time  forward  to  improve  upon  "'I'he  York,"  anil  build 
a  class  of  engines  of  great  adhesion  to  the  track,  and  of  better  working- power. 

In  1831  "The  De  Witt  Clinton"  was  built  at  the  West-Point  Foundery  for 
"Dewitt  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  Road.  It  weighed  four  tons,  ran  on 
Clinton."        fg^j.  wheels,  and  made  forty  miles  an  hour  without  a  load. 

In  1832  a  locomotive  was  made  by  Matthias  W.  Baldwin  of  Philadelphia 
for  the  little  six- mile  railroad  running  out  from  that  city  to  Germantown,  the 
Matthias  w.  cais  of  which  Were  at  that  time  being  drawn  by  horses.  Like  all 
Baldwin.  ^f  Q^,f  successful  engine-builders,  Mr.  Baldwin  rose  from  the 
shop.  He  began  life  as  a  jeweller,  learning  his  trade  in  the  store  of  Fletcher 
&  Gardiner,  and  afterwards  having  a  little  shop  of  his  own.  The  demand  for 
his  jewelry  not  being  very  satisfactory,  he  went  into  a  machine-shop  in  partner- 
ship with  David  Mason.  A  stationary  steam-engine 'specially  adapted  to  ib.f 
needs  of  the  shop  having  become  desirable,  Mr.  Baldwin  designed  one  himself. 
He  was  thus  interested  in  steam-engineering  ;  and  he  found  it  easy  to  go  one 
step  farther,  and  attempt  a  locomotive,  when  the  era  of  railway-l)uiiding  began 
in  the  United  States.  His  primitive  locomotive,  built  for  the  Germantown 
"Old  Iron-  Road,  was  named  "  Old  Ironsides,"  and  was  tried  on  the  line  in 
sides."  November,  1832.     It  weighed  five  tons,  and  ran  on  four  wheels, 

the  forward  pair  being  forty-five  inches  in  diameter  and  the  driving-wheels 
fifty-four  inches,  and  the  whole  four  having  wooden  spokes.  The  ( ylindcis 
were  nine  inches  and  a  half  in  diameter,  with  eighteen  inches  stroke.  The 
boiler  had  seventy- two  copper  flues.  The  smoke-stack  was  an  absurdly  tail 
afiiair,  rising  a  great  distance  above  the  machine,  —  a  fact,  however,  which  did 
not  prevent  the  sparks  from  burning  the  clothes  of  the  engineer  and  the  pas- 
sengers. There  was  no  cabin  for  the  engineer  ;  and,  it  being  inconvenient  for 
that  functionary  to  carry  an  umbrella  when  it  rained,  the  engine  was  housed  in 
wet  weather,  and  the  cars  drawn  by  horses.  It  cost  thirty-five  hundred  dollars. 
Mr.  Baldwin  got  five  hundred  dollars  less  for  it  thap  he  expected  ;  and,  havinij 
many  other  discouragements  with  it,  he  vowed  that  he  would  ne\cr  build 
another  locomotive.  But  he  did,  for  all  tnat ;  and,  his  later  attempts  l)<.iii;,' 
extremely  successful,  the  works  founded  by  him  are  the  foremost  in  the  country 
"E.  L.  Mil-  to-day.  In  1834  he  built  a  six-wheeled  engine  for  ^[l•.  Miller,  for 
'"•"  the  South-Carolina  Road,  called  "  The  E.  L.  Miller,"  with  wheels 

of  solid  bell-metal,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  gain  a  better  adhesion  to  the 
rails.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  experiment  with  that  metal  was  noi 
repeated.  The  wheels  wore  out  very  quickly,  and  had  to  be  thrown  aside.  In 
June,  1834,  Mr.  Baldwin  completed  a  successful  locomotive,  called  "The  ],:ui- 
caster,"  for  the  States  Road,  which  ran  out  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia,  and 
connected  there  with  the  canal  to  the  western  part  of  the  State.  The  euLrine 
weighed  eight  tons  and  a  half,  and  was  found  to  be  able  to  haul  nineteen 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


=37 


Iclpliia 
vn,  the 
Jke  all 
)m   ihe 
Ictchei- 
land  fur 
partnci- 
[  to  iV.e 
himself, 
go  one 
ig  began 
iiantown 
.■  line  in 
r  wheels. 
lg-\vheel^ 
cvlinders 
<e.     'Hie 
lurdly  tall 
[hich  did 
the  pas- 
inient  for 
l-i()\ised  in 
d  dollars. 
Id.  having 
■cr  Imikl 
,)ts  beins 
country 
liller,  for 
|h  wheels 
Lin  to  the 
,1  was  noi 
Iside.     Ill 
The  1..U1- 
Inbia,  aiul 

[le  engine 
nineteen 


loaded  cars  at  twice 
die     speed     attained 
witli     horses.       Tlie 
Slate  authorities  were 
greatly  pleased    with 
us  pcrfornmnces,  and 
decided    to    convert 
their  railroad  at  once 
ironi  a  horse  line  to  a 
steam  line.    Mr.  Bald- 
win   gained    a    great 
deal   of   credit    from 
••The     Lancaster;" 
and.  receiving  several 
orders,  he  thencefor- 
ward devoted  himself 
to  the  industry,  and 
founded     the    works 
which  have  since  at- 
tained to  such  magni- 
tude of  operation  anel 
wodd-wide    reputa- 
tion.      Mr.    Baldwin 
eonihined     the     best 
(jualities  of  the  Ameri- 


can   me- 


Baldwin's 


chanii',—    improve- 
ments. 

inventive 

geniiis  of  a  high  order 
and  unllagging  perse- 
verance, (jualities  not 
al\va\s  united  in  the 
same  man.  He  was 
always  improving  his 
locomotives,  and 
many  of  the  most  im- 
jjurtant  inventions  of 
tile  art  were  his  own. 
In  1835  he  bought 
one  device  from  10.  L. 
Miller,  which  after- 
wards he  threw  over- 
board.     This  was  a 


ajS 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Mi>>i 


ii 


plan  for  bringing  part  of  the  weight  of  the  tender  upon  the  rear  of  the 
engine,  thus  increasing  the  pressure  upon  the  driving-wheels,  and  conse- 
quently the  adhesion  of  the  engine.  Mr.  Baldwin  adopted  this  device,  and 
paid  a  hundred  dollars  per  engine  for  it,  and  in  1839  bought  the  patent  for 
nine  thousand  dollars.  He  afterwards  perfected  plans  of  his  own  for  accom- 
plishing the  same  object  of  greater  adhesion  in  a  better  way.  The  Baldwin 
engines  gradually  improved  in  size  and  style  from  year  to  year.  Cabins  were 
built  upon  them  for  the  engineers  and  firemen.  The  old  style  of  a  single  pair 
of  drivers  was  changed  to  two  pairs,  and  in  1855  to  three  pairs;  ten-wheeled 
engines  weighing  twenty-seven  tons  being  built  in  that  year  for  several  of  the 
leading  roads.  In  1S66  "The  Consolidation,'.'  weighing  forty-five  tons,  with 
twelve  wheels,  and  carrying  all  except  five  tons  of  its  weight  upon  the  drivers, 
was  built,  bt.'ing  the  parent  of  a  class  of  engines  of  enormous  power  of  that 
name.  Head-lights,  variable  cut-offs,  and  other  features  of  the  modern  lo- 
comotive, were  successively  introduced  by  Mr.  Baldwin ;  and  the  works  called 
by  his  name  are  now  producing  types  of  engines  which*  are  not  surpassetl  at 
the  present  day. 

.-Vfter  the  original  experiments,  shops  for  engine-building  were  ojieneil  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  In  1833  Long  &  Norris  of  Piiihulelphia  built 
Recent  rapid  '^'^  engine  of  such  uuusual  tractive  power,  that  it  comniaiided 
growth  of  attention  in  England,  and  led  to  the  first  exportation  of  Ainfricau 
n  ustry.  locomotives.  Several  were  ordered  from  the  maker  for  employ- 
ment on  the  line  between  Birmingham  and  Cdoucester.  In  1835  cni^iiios 
were  built  at  Lowell,  Mass.  In  1837  a  firm  at  Paterson,  N.J.,  —  Rogers,  Kcti  h- 
um,  &  Cirosvenor,  —  began  the  business,  and  foimded  the  works  which  are  now 
known  as  the  Rogers  Locomotive  Works.  Mr.  Rogers  was  (in  1849)  I'l*-'  fi''^' 
to  employ  the  link  motion  in  locomotive  practice  in  this  country ;  and  he  had 
to  encounter  the  hearty  opposition  of  Mr.  Baldwin  and  others  for  sestral 
years  before  the  utility  of  the  idea  was  conceded.  Mr.  Baldwin,  after  a  long 
fight  against  the  innovation,  yielded  to  it  in  1854,  and  put  it  upon  his  engines. 
The  Rogers  Works  are  also  to  be  credited  with  the  full-stroke  pump,  and  the 
effectual  jacketing  of  the  boiler  to  prevent  radiation.  In  1847  the  Taunton 
Locomotive  Factory  was  established  by  W.  W.  Fairbanks,  a  boiler-maker  of 
Providence,  R.I.  Shops  were  also  started  about  that  time  at  Boston,  Law- 
rence, Manchester,  and  elsewhere  ;  but  most  of  these  soon  ceased  to  do  busi- 
ness, the  shops  in  the  Middle  States  possessing  superior  advantages  for  the 
manufacture.  The  Messrs.  Winans  at  Baltimore  perfected  many  valual>Ie 
ideas  in  locomotive-building,  and  were  the  inventors  of  the  camel-back 
engine,  which  has  obtained  some  celebrity. 

Of  late  years,  the  larger  railroads  of  the  country  have  begun  to  construct 
Locomotives  locomotives  in  their  own  shops.  One  effect  of  this  has  been  to 
built  in  rail-  concentrate  the  production  by  private  companies  into  fewer  ham  Is. 
road  shops.  ^^^  ^^  manufacture  is  now  principally  confined  to  Paterson  and 
Philadelphia. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


»39 


The  principal  improvements  of  the  last  twenty  years  have  been  due  to  the 
necessity  of  fitting  smoke-stacks  with  an  apparatus  to  catch  the   ,„  ^^y^. 
sparks;  to  the  substitution  of  coal  for  fuel  in  place  of  wood,  cans-    menu  o(  last 
inj,'  many  changes  in  construction,  and  the  building  of  a  larger  *w"*y 
and  more  powerful  type  of  engine  ;  and  the  larger  use  of  steel  for 
tires,  boilers,  and  working-parts  of  the  machinery. 

The  weight  of  the  locomotive  now  in  use  on  American  roads  varies  from 
thirty  to  tbrty-five  tons,  two-thirds  of  the  weight  being  on  the  drivers.  Few 
of  the  latter  class  are  used  ;  but  the  Danforth  Works  at  I'aterson  weight, 
have  made  a  few  of  that  weight  since  1873  for  the  Haltimore  and  speed,  econ- 
Ohio  Road.  The  average  cost  of  locomotives  is  twelve  thousand  °"'*^' 
dollars :  those  of  the  largest  type  cost  twenty  thousand.  On  the  New- York 
Central,  the  Union  Pacific,  and  other  roads  where  the  grades  arc  not  severe, 
a  speed  of  sixty  miles  is  frequently  attained  in  travel ;  but  the  great  additional 
consumption  required  by  that  rate  of  speed,  and  tiic  greater  liability  to  acci- 
dent, makes  it  undesii'al)le  for  the  orilinary  traffic  of  the  roails.  'I'he  usual 
si)ec(l  of  American  railway-express  travel  is  thirty  miles  an  hour.  The  average 
cost  per  mile  run  is  nineteen  cents :  viz.,  for  repairs,  three  cents  and  seven- 
tenihs ;  fuel,  five  cents  and  six-tenths  ;  stores,  five-tenths  of  a  cent  ;  miscella- 
neous, two  cents  and  five-tenths  ;  attenilance,  six  cents  and  five-tenths.  If 
the  engine  is  driven  at  greater  than  average  speed,  the  cost  may  be  nearly 
doubled,  as  the  fuel  consumed  will  vary  from  sixteen  to  sixty  pountls  per 
mile  with  the  speed.  More  oil  will  be  recpiired,  and  the  machines  will  wear 
faster.  The  maximum  load  of  a  ten-wheeled  consolidation  engine  on  a  level 
division  with  which  the  men  may  expect  to  make  time  is  ninety  cars,  although 
the  engines  of  the  Pennsylvania  Road  have  frc(iuently  hauled  over  one 
iiundred.     An  ordinary  freigiu-train  would  consist  of  about  forty  cars. 

k  special  class  of  locomotives  has  come  into  existence  of  late,  growing  out 
of  the  needs  of  the  population  of  large  cities  for  rapid  transit  between  their 
homes  and  the  scenes  of  their  daily  occupations.  In  New- York  Dummy-  " 
City,  the  bulk  of  the  business  of  that  great  commercial  emi)orium,  engines, 
and  of  the  manufacturing  which  is  done  there,  is  transacted  within  a  space  of 
three  miles  from  the  lower  end  of  the  island  upon  which  the  city  stands.  The 
population,  on  the  other  hand,  is  scattered  along  for  a  distance  of  six  miles 
beyond  the  business-part  of  the  island,  and  indeed  much  farther :  and  a  large 
share  of  the  men  who  find  employment  in  its  stores,  banks,  and  factories, 
rather  than  live  so  far  away  from  their  work,  now  reside  across  the  several 
rivers,  in  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut,  and  on  Long  and  Staten  Islands  ; 
because,  though  sometimes  a  greater  number  of  miles  away,  they  are  nearer  in 
point  of  time,  because  they  have  access  to  the  city  by  steam-cars  and  steam- 
ferries.  The  inhabitants  of  the  island  have  hitherto  depended  principally  on 
horse-cars  and  stages  ;  and  it  frequently  takes  an  hour  to  go  from  one's  home 
to  his  office,  and  vice  versa.    The  same  thing  is  true  in  principle  of  all  the 


340 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


II 


1 


ii 


II 


ill   I 


city  rail 
ways 


Other  large  cities  of  the  country.  By  the  natural  expansion  of  the  town,  the 
l)opulation  are  compelled  to  reside  at  great  distances  from  their  places  of 
employment.  , 

The  horse-car  running  on  a  railway  laitl  through  the  centre  of  the  street 
subserves  the  purpose  of  expeditious  transportation  in  cities  of  moderate  size; 
Application  '*"'  '"  ^  ''^'^i''"'  Ir'^t^le-centre  of,  say,  five  hundred  thousand  souls,  it 
of  steam  to  does  uot :  and  the  people  of  such  a  town  will,  in  the  course  of  the 
year,  lose  in  the  aggregate  from  five  thousand  to  eight  thousand 
years  of  tim(;  simply  in  getting  about  from  home  to  business,  and 
vice  j'frsi'i,  by  this  slow  mode  of  loc  omutiun  ;  which  might  be  saved  and  util- 
ized, were  travel  on  the  street-railways  effected  by  steam.  In  a  larger  ( ily 
more  time  is  lost.  The  growth  of  cities,  therefore,  has  made  necessary  the 
application  of  steam  to  the  purposes  of  local  travel. 

Special  difficulties  are  encountered,  however,  in  using  steam  on  city  mil- 
roads.  Sparks  from  the  engine  are  likely  to  endanger  the  safety  of  projierty. 
The  jjuffing  and  the  steam  frighten  the  carriage  and  (lr;>y  horses  of  the  street. 
The  liability  of  collisions  and  accidents  is  increased  by  the  more  rajiid  style 
Difficulties  *^^  travelling.  The  prol)lem  is  one  which  has  taxed  the  inventive 
to  be  over-  genius  of  the  country;  but  it  is  one  which  inventors  have  not 
"'""'  hesitated  to  try  to  solve.     Newton  used  to  say  that  he  delighted 

to  encounter  an  obstacle,  as  it  was  always  a  i)roof  to  him  that  he  was  on  the 
brink  of  an  important  discovery.  It  has  been  so  with  reference  to  steam  on 
American  street-railways.  'i"he  special  ditticulties  of  the  cise  only  rendered 
the  inventors  doubly  zealous,  and  have  only  led  to  a  greater  triumph.  Tiit' 
prol)lem  has  at  length  been  successfiilly  solved,  and  nothing  now  prevents  the 
population  of  every  large  city  from  travelling  frotn  home  to  business  by  steam 
but  the  lack  of  enterprise  and  public  spirit  among  them. 

The  street-railway  locomotives  are  of  two  sorts.  'i"he  first  is  the  duniiiiv- 
engine  :  it  can  be  fitted  to  the  ordinary  street-car,  and  is  so  employed  wiili 
„.  great  success  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  which  is  the  pioneer  in 

street-rail-      its   practical   usc.      The   engine    is   a  small  one  of  the  \ertical 
type,  and   occui)ies   a   cabin  at   the    front-end   of  the   <  ■ 
burns  coal,  and  consumes  its  own  smoke,  and  runs  as 
the   ordinary  liorse-car.     Very  little    steam    escapes  from   it,  and  utile 

creates  no  alarm  among  the  carriage  and  dray  horses,  which  the  car  p.i  >es  at 
a  speed  of  ten  miles  an  hour  on  the  street.  There  is  no  doubt  but  this 
style  of  street-motor  will  eventually  supersede  horse-power.  The  existin;.' 
horse-railway  companies  resist  its  introduction  only  because  they  would  lose 
so  much  capital  by  a  change. 

Elevated  ^^^^  Other  sort  of  street-engine  is  applied   to  travel  on  th. 

iron  railway-   elevated  iron  railways  which  have  been  building  in  the  ( ity  oi 
engines.  ^^^^  york  during  the  last  five  years.      These  are  genuine  loco- 

motives, drawing  a  car  or  train  of  cars  after  them  as  on  the  great  railw?;; 


^vay-locomo 
tives. 


OF    THE    UN/ TED   STATES, 


241 


rn,  the 

ces  of 

;  Street 
le  size ; 
souls,  it 
:  of  ilie 
lovisand 
ess,  and 
;\n(i  mil- 
rger  ciiy 
isary  liie 

city  rail- 
pro\)t-'rty. 
he  street. 
ai)id  style 

inventive 

have   not 

delinhled 

^■as  on  the 

,  steam  on 

rendered 

n\)h.    dlAC 

rcvents  llie 

s  by  steam 

dmnniy- 

ployed  with 
pioneer  in 
he  vertical 
car.      ' 

llllic 

ar  1  -  '" 
,bt  but  '1''^ 
•he  e\i>drc: 
wotild  lojc 

avel  on  the 
the  ( iiy  ^'' 
bnuine  loc"- 
[eat  rai'Avr;^ 


running  through  the  open  country  from  city  to  city.  They  are  small,  weighing 
(roni  five  to  ten  tons  only,  consiuiiing  their  own  smoke,  and  making  little  noise 
besides  tiiat  produced  by  rattling  over  the  rails.  They  travel  at  great  speed, 
aiul  reduce  the  hour's  travel  on  the  plodding  horse-car  to  fifteen  minutes  and 
less.  Their  special  peculiarity  is,  that  the  boiler  and  machinery  hang  low 
between  the  wheels,  so  as  to  render  them  steadier  upon  the  rails,  and  effectu- 
allv  to  obviate  the  danger  of  being  upset.  Travel  behind  one  of  these  beauti- 
ful engines  on  the  elevated  railways,  in  a  car  fitted  up  as  luxuriously  as  those 
on  the  great  railways  of  out-of-town  travel,  is  as  far  in  advance  of  transporta- 
tion in  the  noisy,  lumbering  arks  which  the  tired  horses  of  the  roadway  lines 
still  drag  after  theirj,  as  the  .Vmerican  mechanic  is  in  the  scale  of  civilization 
beyond  the  Patagonian  savage. 

.Vt  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  allusion  was  made  to  the  brilliant  general- 
ization of  a  recent  writer,  that  the  consumption  of  iron  by  a  race  of  men  now 
measures  their  position  in  the  scale  of  civilization.     The  facts  in   _ 

^  consump- 

roo'ard  to  the  locomotive  throw  a  ray  of  light  on  the  reason  why.   tion  of  iron  • 
The  re.ison  is  this,  —  that  the  use  of  iron  shows  the  extent  to  which  K""«f  °'  *='*'• 

'  illzatlon. 

a  country  employs  time  and  labor  saving  inventions.  Machinery 
and  ingenious  tools  relieve  mankind  from  drudgery,  and  give  the  mind  a 
chance  to  play ;  and  every  new  invention  which  throws  a  fresh  burden  upon 
the  muscles  of  steel  and  the  moving-power  of  steam,  and  takes  it  off  fron)  the 
human  race,  gives  a  fresh  impetus  to  the  intelligence,  the  spirit,  and  the  refine- 
ment of  the  people.  Ought  not  the  marvellous  progress  of  the  United  States 
in  every  thing  which  distinguishes  the  age  from  the  gloom  and  ignorance  and 
poverty  of  the  middle  ages  to  be  attributed  in  large  part  to  the  time  and  labor 
saved  by  the  locomotive  ?  and  ought  we  not  to  regard  the  ingenious  men  by 
whose  toil  and  energy  this  wonderful  device  has  been  perfected  as  benefactors 
of  the  race,  —  not  second  even  to  those  who,  at  the  cost  of  life  and  treasure, 
won  for  us  the  inestimable  blessings  of  liberty  and  free  government? 

''       ■  are  now  eighteen  locomotive-works  in  the  United  States,  which  have 
i)acity  to  produce  twenty-six  hundred  locomotives  a  year;   Number  of 
h  the  quantity  annually  made  is  less  than  half  this  number,  establish- 
dly  this  has  been  a  very  prosperous  business  ;  and  it  is  to  be   '"'""• 
,  that,  ere  long,  these  various  establishments  will  be  reaping  the  reward 


ho! 


to  which  they  are  entitled  because  of  their  industry  and  genius. 


SEWING-MACHINES. 


In  ancient 
weaving  cloth 
of  material  in 


^  there  was  great  simplicity  of  dress,  because  the  process  of 
>low  and  difficult,  and  there  was  great  economy  simplicity  of 
;ple's  attire.     The  wealthy  in  that  age  were  dis-  ancient 
tinguished  from  ..thers  more  by  the  magnificence  of  the  cloth  they  **'"*■ 
wore  than  by  any  special  elaboration  in  the  fashion  with  which  their  garments 


242 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Greater  elab 
oration  of 
dre  9  re- 
quires more 
sewing. 


were  made.  There  was  little  sewing  then,  and  the  avocation  had  not  yet 
called  into  being  that  special  class  of  sewing-women  which  came  upon  the 
scene  in  a  later  age.  Along  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  com- 
merce brought  great  wealth  to  Italy,  and  with  it  a  new  luxury  of  attire.  The 
dress  of  both  sexes  not  only  became  richer,  but  more  elaborate.  The  Ital- 
ians became  the  most  handsomely-dressed  people  in  the  world  ;  and  the  city  of 
Milan  came  in  time  to  dictate  the  fashions,  not  only  to  Italy,  but  to 
the  north  and  east  of  Europe,  and  even  to  give  its  name  to  tlic 
new  art  of  millinery,  which  thereupon  took  its  rise,  and  dealt  with 
the  decoration  of  dress.  With  the  new  luxury  of  attire  came  a 
great  increase  in  the  amount  of  sewing ;  and  when,  two  or  three 
centuries  later,  the  steam-engine  was  set  to  worlc  in  Europe  to  drive  the 
loom,  and  the  manufacture  of  cloth  began  to  be  carried  on  at  an  enormously 
increased  scale  and  diminished  cost,  and  people  began  to  wear  twice  and 
three  times  as  many  yards  of  cloth  as  before,  sewing  was  again  doubled  and 
tripled,  and  then  gave  employment  to  a  special  class  of  thousands  of  women 
Increase  of  ^""^  S'^'ls  in  all  large  cities.  As  sewing  was  easier  work  than  nail- 
sewin^-  making,   and  was  held  to  be    (whether  rightfully  or  not)    more 

women.  respectable  work  than  household  service,  the  ranks  of  the  sewing- 

women  soon  became  overcrowded,  the  pay  became  scanty,  ai:d  the  workers 
encountered  great  poverty  and  suffering  in  trying  to  earn  their  living.     The 

lines  — 

"  O  Industry,  how  rich  thy  gifts  I 
Health,  plenty,  and  content 

Are  blesings  all  by  thee  bestowed  "  — 

! 

became  a  bitter  mockery  to  these  struggling  women  ;  and  Tom  Hood  \vrote 
one  of  the  most  touching  poems  of  tnodern  times  to  commemorate  tlieir 
privations. 

The  sewing-machine,  by  which  the  condition  of  those  who  live  by  the 
needle  has  been  materially  improved,  and  sewing  made  an  agreeable  task,  is 
Sewin  often  claimed  to  be  a  purely  American  invention.     The  United 

machine  an  States  has  won  laurels  enough,  however,  in  promoting  the  welfare 
of  mankind,  to  be  generous  in  its  claims  about  the  sewing-macliine. 
This  invention  is  not  American  in  the  sense  that  the  nail-macliinc, 
the  electric-telegraph,  the  iron-clad  gunboat,  and  many  kindred  discoveries. 
are.  The  idea  was  originally  the  thought  of  an  Englishman,  Charles  F.  W'ei- 
senthal,  who  in  1755  obtained  a  patent  for  a  crude  device  to  facilitate  the 
process  of  embroidering ;  and  a  great  many  experiments  were  made  in  the 
kingdom  of  England  toward  perfecting  the  contrivance  before  Americans 
directed  their  attention  to  the  subject.  To  America  belongs  simply  the  honor 
of  producing  the  first  machines  which  were  ever  used  practically  in  the  sewing 
of  cloth  and  leather. 

Weisenthal's  invention,  which  proposed  to  use  a  needle  pointed  at  both 


American 
invention. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


243 


Duncan. 


ends,  with  an  eye  in  the  middle,  to  go  backward  and  forward  through  the 
cloth,  was  never  utilized.  In  1 790  Thomas  Saint  obtained  a  sainf«  in- 
patent  for  a  machine  "  for  quilting,  stitching,  and  sewing,  making  vention. 
shoes  and  other  articles,  by  means  of  tools  and  machines."  His  machine  was 
mostly  of  wood,  with  an  overhanging  arm,  or  carrier,  into  which  was  inserted 
a  vertical  reciprocating  needle,  and  an  awl  to  go  before  it  and  punch  the  holes. 
On  the  top  of  the  arm  was  a  spool  for  giving  out  the  thread  continuously. 
The  stitch  was  the  same  as  Weisenthal's,  and  was  called  the  tambour  or  chain 
stitch.  A  loop  was  formed  by  thrusting  the  needle  through  the  cloth  or 
leather.  A  second  thrust  carried  the  bight  of  thread  through  this  loop,  making 
a  second  loop,  through  which,  in  turn,  the  needle  was  thrust  to  form  a  third,  the 
first  loop  being  drawn  up  taut  during  the  third  thrust.  This  variety  of  stitch 
is  still  in  use  to-day.  Saint's  idea  appears  to  have  been  to  lighten  the  labor  of 
heavy  sewing :  he  does  not  seem  to  have  thought  of  the  plan  of  superseding 
the  hand  needle  for  general  work.  In  1804  John  Duncan  in- 
vented a  machine  to  make  the  tambour  stitch,  hooked  needles 
lx:ing  used  below  the  cloth  to  catch  the  loop.  In  1807  James  Winter  patented 
a  device  for  sewing  leather  gloves  ;  the  leather  being  held  fast  by  iron  jaws,  so 
that  the  hands  of  the  operator  were  free.  About  the  same  time  a  contrivance 
was  brought  out  for  sewing  with  needlefuls  of  thread,  the  cloth  being  crimped 
for  the  operation,  and  the  needle  thrust  through  the  crimps  h(  rizontally. 

These  machines  met  with  little  attention,  and  less  favor.     Working-men  in 
that  age  stood,  in  dread  of  labor-saving  inventions,  and  strenuously 
fought  against  their  introduction  with  all  the  resources  at  their  ^^"^  '*'  *° 
command. 

The  first  American  machine  was  the  invention  of  the  Rev.  John  Adams 
Dodge  of  Monkton,  Vt.,  who  took  an  ingenious  mechanic  by  the  name  of 
John  Knowles  into  his  confidence,  and  with  his  help  built  a  invention 
practical  and  efficient  machine  for  sewing  the  back-stitch.  The  °'  Dodge. 
needle  was  the  same  as  Weisentiial's,  being  pointed  at  both  ends,  having  the 
eye  in  the  middle,  and  going  entirely  through  the  cloth  in  both  directions.  It 
sewed  a  perfect  seam  straight  forward  ;  but  would  not  allow  the  cloth  to  be 
turned,  on  account  of  the  peci-'iarities  of  the  feeding-mechanism.  The 
machine  did  good  work,  and  might  have  been  perfected,  had  it  not  been  that 
Mr.  Knowles  was  overwhelmed  with  ministerial  work  (having  three  churches  on 
his  hands  at  times),  and  had  not  the  journeymen  tailors  opposed  it  bitterly  as  a 
violation  of  their  rights.  It  was  never  patented,  and  was  soon  abandoned.  A 
machine  was  patented  in  the  United  States  in  1826  by  Mr.  Lye ;  Lye. 
hut  its  character  is  not  now  known,  the  records  of  the  Patent  Office  Thimonnier. 
bearing  on  the  subject  having  been  burnt.  The  next  machine  was  a  French- 
man's. It  was  brought  out  in  France  in  1830  by  Barth^lemy  Thimonnier,  and 
was  used  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  manufacture  of  army  clothing.  Its  peculi- 
arities were   the   overhanging   arm,  continuous   thread,  flat  cloth-plate,  and 


i 


111. 

if: 


344 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Hunt. 


treadle  and  cord.  The  inventor  had  hard  luck.  He  made  eighty  machines 
for  sale ;  but,  even  in  enlightened  France,  working-men  were  hostile  to  the  new 
idea,  and  the  stock  of  machines  was  destroyed  by  a  mob.  Nothing  daunted, 
Thimonnier  made  another  lot,  this  time  chiefly  of  metal ;  but  again  they  were 
destroyed  by  a  mob.  The  inventor  patented  his  machine  in  the  United  States 
in  1850,  but  could  not  recover  from  his  reverses,  and  died  in  poverty. 

The  wits  of  American  inventors  were  now  fairly  at  work,  and  fresh  attempts 
were  made  to  solve  the  delicate  antl  intricate  problem  of  a  machine  which 
would  relieve  woman  of  the  fatigue  and  wear  of  all  general  and 
continuous  sewing.  In  1832  Walter  Hunt  of  New  York,  a  skilful 
mechanic,  made  a  machine  which  did  so  well,  that,  in  the  following  year  or 
two,  he  sold  a  number  of  them  to  different  people.  He  was  the  first  who  used 
two  threads.  The  upper  one  was  carried  by  a  curved  needle,  with  the  eye  in 
the  point ;  and  the  lower  one  by  a  shuttle.  'I'he  machine  made  the  lock-stitch, 
in  which  the  threads  are  made  to  interlock  as  nearly  as  may  be  in  the  centre 
of  the  stuff.  He  lost  an  opportunity  to  make  a  fortune  by  neglecting  to  take 
out  a  patent.  In  1834  G.  A.  Arrowsmith  bought  two  or  three  of  the  machines, 
and  the  right  to  patent,  but  did  not  perfect  his  patent ;  and  in  1852,  when  Hunt 
bought  back  the  right,  the  Department  at  Washington  told  him  that  his  neglect 
had  made  the  invention  public  property,  and  they  could  do  nothing  for  him. 
A  patent  had  previously  been  given  to  J.  J.  Greenough,  who  in  1842  had 
perfected  a  machine  for  doing  leather  and  other  heavy  work.  It  was  like  W'ci- 
senthal's  anrl  Dodge's  in  having  a  needle  pointed  at  both  ends  to  go  throiigii 
and  through  the  fabric.  Like  Dodge,  he  never  made  more  than  one  machine. 
In  1S43  patents  were  issued  to  B.  W.  Bean  of  New- York  City  for  a  running 
stitch,  and  to  (leorge  R.  Corlies  for  a  machine  similar  to  Greenough's,  with  two 
reciprocating  needles,  —  one  to  punch  the  holes,  and  the  other  to  sew. 

While  these  experiments  were  making,  Elicis  Howe,  jun.,  of  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  was  at  work  independently  upon  the  problem.  After  two  or  three  years 
of  study,  he  believed  that  he  had  mastered  it;  and  in  1846  he  got 
a  patent  for  a  machine,  which,  while  covering  very  much  the  same 
ground  that  other  men  had  taken  possession  of  before  him,  was  still  so  novel 
in  its  combinations  and  forms  as  to  be  treated  at  Washington  as  a  new  inven- 
tion. He  used  a  curved,  eye-pointed  needle ;  a  shuttle  below  the  cloth. 
driven  by  two  vibrating  mallets ;  a  peculiar  baster-plate  to  hold  the  cloth,  ami 
feed  it  forward,  tiie  plate  being  pushed  back  when  it  had  reached  its  forw.ird 
limit,  the  cloth  again  fiistened  to  points  upon  it,  and  the  plate  again  fetl  tor 
ward  ;  and  a  device  to  give  tension  to  the  upper  thread.  It  was  the  parent  01 
our  modern  machines,  but  was  not  itself  a  great  success.  Howe  made  a  ll  \v 
specimen  machines :  but  they  would  not  sell  at  first ;  and,  when  they  did.  the 
people  who  bought  them  could  not  make  them  work.  The  tension  was  not 
right ;  and  the  thread  formed  large  loops  in  one  part  of  the  seam,  and  was  too 
tight  in  another.     The  vertical  suspension  of  the  cloth  from  the  baster-i'l.ue 


Howe. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


245 


|ibridge, 
■c  years 
he  got 
ke  same 
novL'l 
iiivcn- 
cluth, 
l)lh,  and 
Itbrw.H'd 
[fed  for 
Irenl  oi 
a  tcw 
llid.  the 
Jvas  not 
|\vas  u)0 
.-r-i'lue 


Bachelder. 


was  inconvenient,  and  the  stoppages  for  re-adjustment  of  the  cloth  tiresome. 
Howe  was  a  mechanic  of  small  means,  and  could  not  himself  raise  the  capital 
to  manufacture.  He  tried,  therefore,  to  interest  capitalists  in  the  invention. 
lUit  capital  is  timid  while  inventions  are  still  in  the  preliminary  stage  of  experi- 
ment ;  and,  though  Howe  even  went  to  England  to  look  for  the  money  which 
he  could  not  raise  here,  he  did  not  succeed  in  inspiring  confidence  in  his 
machine.  It  is  said,  that,  in  order  to  get  back  to  America,  he  was  forced  to 
l)a\\n  his  baggage  to  pay  for  his  wife's  passage,  and  to  work  on  the  ship  for 
his  own.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  perseverance,  however,  and  did  not 
abandon  his  pet  idea  of  supplying  the  United  States  with  sewing-machines. 

Howe  did  not  have  the  inventive  genius  to  remedy  the  defects  of  his 
maciiincs  liimself.     The  theory  of  it  was  right ;  but  he  could  not   Defects  of 
emixxly  it  in  the  proper  mechanical  forms  to  insure  its  prosperous   Howe's      -> 
working.     He  was  indebted  to  other  men  for  the  devices  which   "'"'''""•      , 
made  it  a  blessing  to  the  country. 

The  tension  of  the  thread  was  regulated  by  a  patent  brought  out  by  John 
Bradshaw  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  in  1848.  J.  B.  Joiinson  and  Charles  Morey 
attempted  to  improve  the  feeding-device  by  the  invention  of  a 
circular  baster-plate  in  1849;  but  John  Bachelder  of  Boston  did 
i)etter  than  that  the  same  year  with  an  automatic  arrangement;  and  ].  S. 
Conant  of  Dracut,  Mass.,  invented  still  another  feeding-device.  Blodgett  and 
Lerow  of  Boston,  also  in  1849,  obtained  a  patent  to  make  the  lock-stitch  by  a 
method  dilTeront  from  Howe's,  but  the  same  in  principle,  using  a  shuttle  which 
described  a  circle,  insteatl  of  moving  back  and  forth.  That  was  a  prolific  year 
in  sewing-machine  inventions.  .Applications  for  patents  for  improvements  and 
new  devices  began  to  pour  into  the  Department  at  Washington  from  all  parts 
of  New  Kngland  and  the  East.  Some  of  the  devices  were  never  used  ;  but 
nuw  .nul  then  one  woidd  be  brought  out  which  was  of  material  service.  In 
1850  Allen  B.  Wilson  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  received  a  patent  for  a 
"two-motion  feed,"  which  was  afterwanls  converted  into  a  "four- 
motion  feed  ;  "  and  also  for  a  vibrating  sliuttle  which  was  better  than  Howe's, 
because  it  made  a  stitch  at  every  movement,  which  Howe's  did  not.  This 
device  was  abandoned  in  1S51  for  a  rotating  hook,  which  completely  super- 
seded the  shuttle  in  his  machine. 

Mr.  Isaac  M.  Singer  of  New  York  came  into  the  field  in  1850.  He  had 
\'iw\\  interested  in  Blodgett  and  Lerow's  machine  ;  and  he  now  offered  to  build 
OIK  tor  tbrty  dollars  .vhich  would  work  perfectly,  and  sew  a  good 
seam.  His  offer  was  accepted,  and  he  made  the  machine  in 
twelve  days.  It  had  a  rigid  o\erhanging  arm.  vertical  needle,  shuttle,  and 
(loMl)le-acting  treadle,  and  is  said  to  have  l)een  tlie  first  machine  satisfactory  to 
m.mtitatturers.  The  manufacture  of  this  machine  immediately  began.  It 
Ifore  a  close  resemblance  to  the  Howe  machine,  but  did  what  Howe's  had 
never  done,  —  it  worked  well.  Being  the  first  in  the  market,  and  very  popular, 
it  took  the  lead  in  sales,  and  kept  it  until  1854. 


Wilson. 


Singer. 


346 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


i 


\w 


li 


I 


Orover. 


Utility  of 

•ewing- 

machine. 


Infringement 
of  Howe's 
patent. 


A  new  Style  of  machine  was  patented  in  1851  by  William  O.  Grover  of 
Boston,  in  company  with  Mr.  Baker,  for  making  a  double  loop  by 
means  of  the  use  of  a  circular  rotary  needle.  It  used  no  shuttle, 
worked  well,  and  became  very  popular  from  1854  to  1858,  taking  the  lead  in 
the  market  during  that  period. 

There  were  now  three  companies  busily  engaged  in  manufacturing  sewing- 
machines  for  the  general  market,  —  Singer  &  Company,  Grover  &  Baker,  and 
Wheeler  &  Wilson.  The  utility  of  the  new  invention  had  been 
recognized  even  by  journeymen  tailors,  and  the  machine  was  the 
sensation  of  the  day.  Weary  women  hailed  its  advent  as  a  bless- 
ing, and  the  sewing-machine  became  the  most  charming  of  gifts.  The  three 
companies  above  named  pressed  their  sales  with  great  energy,  and  became 
extremely  prosperous.  But  these  companies  were  all  infringing  upon  the  jiatcnt 
of  Mr.  Howe.  It  is  true  that  they  had  first  made  his  idea  useful  to 
mankind ;  but  the  patent  laws  of  the  United  States  have  been 
wisely  framed  to  protect  intellectual  property,  and  prevent  wealthy 
men  and  corporations  from  taking  advantage  of  the  poverty  of  the  inventive 
geniuses  who  fill  our  workshops,  but  who  do  not  always  possess  the  means  to 
secure  to  themselves  immediately  the  profits  of  their  own  talents.  Mr.  Howe 
sued  the  several  companies,  and  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  in  enforcing  his 
claims  against  them.  Having  won  a  test  suit  in  the  courts,  the  companies 
compromised  with  him,  and  entered  into  a  compact,  Oct.  10,  1856,  which  is 
known  as  the  "  Albany  agreement."  By  the  terms  of  this  compact,  it  was 
stipulated  that  each  of  the  three  companies  should  ])ay  Mr.  Howe  five  uollars 
for  each  machine  made  (he  had  previously  claimed  twenty-five  dollars),  and 
that  licensees  might  be  permitted  to  manufacture  the  several  machines  in  order 
to  assist  in  supplying  the  country  with  them  speedily,  and  that  fifteen  dollars 
should  be  exacted  from  the  licensees  for  each  machine.  From  this  latter  roy- 
alty a  ten-thousand-dollar  fund  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the  patents  in  the 
courts  should  be  accumulated,  and  the  surplus  receipts  be  divided  among  the 
four  contracting  parties,  Mr.  Howe  getting  the  largest  share.  Under  this  agree- 
Wheeier  and  ment  Operations  were  resumed,  the  Wheeler  and  Wilson  machine 
Wilson.  taking  the  lead  in  the  sales  from   1858  to  1868,  and  the  Singer 

machine  thereafter.  The  first  agreement  )  ed  until  i860,  up  to  which  time 
over  130,000  machines  had  been  sold  under  it,  —  55,000  by  Wheeler  &  Wilson, 
40,000  by  Singer  &  Company,  and  35,000  by  Grover  ^:  Baker.  The  agreement 
was  honorably  executed  :  so  Howe  had  no  more  reason  for  complaining  of 
these  companies.  Mr.  Howe  securing  an  extension  of  his  patent  in  i860  for 
seven  years,  the  Albany  agreement  was  renewed  for  seven  years ;  but  it  was 
stipulated  that  Mr.  Howe  should  receive  only  one  dollar  for  every  machine, 
and  that  licensees  should  pay  seven  dollars.  Mr.  Howe's  income  under  thi> 
arrangement  was  very  large,  amounting  in  one  year  (1866)  to  $155,000  ;  but 
the  expenses  of  his  lawsuits  consumed  his  estate,  and  he  died  in  comparative 
poverty. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


247 


sewing- 
.er,  and 
d  been 
was  the 
a  bless- 
le  three 
became 
»e  patent 
useful  to 
ive   been 
t  wealthy 
inventive 
means  to 
Ax.  Howe 
Drcing  his 
;ompanies 
,  which  is 
ct,  it  was 
•e  uollars 
ars),  and 
IS  in  order 
en  dollars 
latter  roy- 
nts  in  the 
miong  the 
this  agree- 
niachine 
the  Singer 
hich  time 
&  Wilson, 
agreement 
ilaining  of 
in  i860  for 
|but  it  was 
■  machine, 
imder  this 
,000;  hut 
[omparative 


The  number  of  applications  for  patents  only  seemed  to  increase  as  time 
rolled  on,  and  up  to  the  present  time  more  than  twelve  hundred   Number  of 
have  been  filed  in  the  Patent  Office  at  Washington.    They  have   ?■»«»•• 
averaged  about  fifty  a  year  since  1857. 

In  1857  the  Weed  machine  was  invented. 

The  same  year  James  E.  A.  Gibbs  of  Millpoint,  Va.,  devised  an  entirely 
new  machine,  whose  objeci  was  to  reduce  the  cost  of  these  inventions  by 
simplifying  the  mechanism.  Mr. 
Gibbs  had  never  seen  a  sewing- 
machine,  but  had  heard  of  them 
through  the  newspapers.  On  read- 
ing; about  the  use  of  two  threads,  it 
occurred  to  him,  that,  if  sewing 
could  be  effected  by  a  single 
thread,  much  of  the  iron-work  of 
the  machine  could  be  dispensed 
witli.  He  set  his  wits  to  work, 
and  in  the  year  named  brought 
out  his  patent  for  a  twisted  loop- 
stitch,  made  with  a  single  thread 
by  means  of  a  rotating  hook  un- 
derneath the  cloth.  It  was  a  step 
in  advance,  and  its  value  was 
promptly    recognized.      In    1859 

James  and  Charles  H.  Willcox  of  Philadelphia  obtained  control  of  the  patent, 
and  began  the  manufacture  of  the  Willcox  and  Gibbs  machine,  other 
This  is  one  of  the  most  silent,  swift,  and  easily  run  of  machines,  inventors. 
and  has  had  a  large  and  general  sale. 

Since  the  date  of  that  patent  there  have  appeared  —  in  1858  the  Empire, 
since  joined  with  the  Remington  ;  the  Slote,  or  Elliptic,  since  bought  by 
Wheeler  &  Wilson;  two  Howe  machines  (F^lias  and  Aniasa  R.)  ;  between 
i860  and  1864  the  American  Button-Hole,  the  .^^tna,  and  the  Domestic; 
the  Beckwith  in  1S65  ;  and  the  Victor  and  the  Remington,  both  recent  ma- 
chines. 

A  notable  event  occurred  on  the  8th  of  May,  1877,  in  the  history  of  the 
sewing-machine  manufacture.  At  noon  of  that  day  the  last  important  patents 
held  l)y  the  manufacturer  of  sewing-machines  expired,  leaving  the  Expiration 
market  open  for  all  who  wish  to  compete.  The  leading  makers  *»'  patents. 
immediately  put  down  their  prices  from  forty  to  fifty  per  cent,  while  others  ex- 
pressed the  intention  of  speedily  following  suit ;  sixty-dollar  machines  being 
fixed  at  thirty  dollars,  and  seventy-dollar  machines  at  forty  dollars.  .'\.  B. 
Wilson's  invention,  used  in  the  four-action,  rough-surface  feeder,  was  tlie 
most  important  of  the  expiring  patents ;   the  others  being  the  vibratory  needle 


SINGER   SEWING-MACHINE. 


I   I 


348 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


*|l^ 


!  Pi 


and  reciprocating  shuttle,  and  the  rotating  hook.  There  are,  perhaps,  a 
thousand  patents  in  force,  and  now  held  by  the  various  manufacturers ;  but 
the  above  were  the  last  of  the  "foundation  patents,"  —  the  patents  needful  in 
making  a  first-class  machine.  The  Singer,  Wheeler  &  Wilson,  Grover  & 
Baker,  and  Howe  companies,  are  said  to  have  held  the  monopoly  of  the 
Wilson  invention  ever  since  1850,  pooling  the  enormous  profits  of  its  manu- 
facture. 

America,  if  not  the  birthplace  of  the  sewing-machine,  is,  at  any  rate,  now 
the  workshop  of  its  largest  manufacture.  No  other  country  in  the  world  has 
Magnitude  SO  many  and  such  large  establishments  devoted  to  this  special  in- 
of  industry,  dugtry.  There  are  now  twenty-five  factories  engaged  in  making 
sewing-machines,  two  of  them  having  branches  in  Europe ;  namely,  the 
Singer  and  the  Howe.  The  Singer  factory  at  Elizabethport,  N.  J.,  is  probably 
the  largest  of  its  class  in  the  world.  The  immense  sales  of  the  Singer 
machine  caused  the  company  to  outgrow  its  very  spacious  (juarters  in  New- 
York  City ;  and  it  accordingly  took  its  flight  beyond  the  borders  of  the  city, 


SINGER  sewing-machine:  company. 


and  erected  the  magnificent  row  of  brick  buildings  by  the  side  of  the  railroad- 
track  running  out  of  New  York  to  Philadelphia,  which  are  the  wonilcr  ot 
every  traveller  who  sees  them.  The  Wheeler  &  Wilson  and  the  Howe  cstah- 
lishments  at  Driilgeport,  Conn,,  are  now  both  great  concerns  also,  'i'hc  vi,i;or 
which  has  been  manifested  upon  this  continent  in  the  develoijpy  it  of  this 
important  industry  is  not  confined  to  the  United  States  alone,  Canada,  too, 
has  shown  tnie  Northern  fire  and  intelligence  in  taking  up  this  business.  At 
the  Centennial  Exhil)ition  at  Philadelphia,  in  1876,  Canada  was  represented 
there  by  eleven  different  manufacturers  and  some  valuable  machines,  making; 
a  better  display  than  any  nation  except  the  United  States,  The  concerns 
exhibiting  were  Thomas  Piper  of  Hamilton,  Mr,  Raymond  of  Guelph,  the 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


249 


Gardner  Sewine;  -  Machine  Company  of  Hamilton,  Wilkie  &  Osborne  of 
Oiielijh,  W'anzer  &  (  onipany  and  the  Canada  Sewing-Machine  Company  of 
Hamilton,  James  Aiirthors  of  Toronto,  O.  St.  Amand  of  Quebec,  J.  I).  Law- 
lor  of  Montreal,  ().  Morrill  &  Company  of  Rock  Island,  and  the  \Villiams 
Manufacturing  Company  of  Montreal. 

There  is  no  record  of  the  number  of  sewing-machines  made  anil  sold 
prior  to  the  Albany  agreement  of  1856.     Since  that  date  the  record  has  been 
preserved.     The  sales  under  the  compact  at  Albany,  from  1856   j^^^ber  of 
to  1S69,  amounted  to  1,500,000  machines,  divided  about  as  fol-   machines 
lows :   Wheeler  &  Wilson,  450,000 ;    Singer,  350,000 ;    Grover  &  ■"»""'"<=■ 
liakcr,   235,000;    Howe,    140,000;    Willcox   &  Gibbs,  105,000; 
Weed,  70,000;  Florence,  60,000;  all  others,  100,000.     From   1869  to  1878 
the  sales  have  amounted  to  4,800,000,  making  6,300,000  machines  sold  by 
the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States,  —  a  product  worth  51360,000,000  at  a 
reasonable  estimate.     Since   1869  the  manufacture,  year  by  year,  has  been  as 
follows :  — 

1S69 222,-jCx) 

1^70 464-254 

1S71 606,094 

1S72 ^51,236 

1S73 667,506 

1S74 S-'^i-Q'S 

•«7S 5-S.75S 

1S76 . 525,000 

1877 400,000  (estimated.) 


The  success  which  has  attended  the  introduction  of  the  sewing-machine 
has  been  due  to  the  thorough,  rapid,  and  easy  manner  in  which  it 
has  been  made  to  perform  its  work.     The  machine  has  been  im- 
proseil  in  a  thousand  ways  itself;  and  various  attachments  have  been  invented 
to  be  operated  with  it,  by  means  of  wiiich  a  variety  of  special   Variety  of 
things,  such  as  basting,   folding  the    cloth    for  hemming,  button-    work  done. 
holing,  &c.,   are   now  performed  in   addition  to  the  regular  work  of  sewing 
seams  of  every  character,  and  degree  of  strength.     Sewing  is  per-    Economy  in 
formed  five  times  as   fast  as  by  hand,  and  the   labor  materially   t^ieiruse. 
lightened.     Nothing  except  the  best  metal  is  put  into  the  working  parts  of  the 
m:u  liines,  so  that  they  have  great  endurance  and  longevity ;    and  the  best 
talents  of  the  cabinet-maker  have  been  employed  in  fitting  the  machines  with 
a  casing  of  handsome  woods,   for  the    purpose  of  making   them   beautiful 
oliie(  ts  of  furniture,  as  well  as  blessings  to  the  household.     Competition  be- 
tween the  different  companies  has  also  promoted  the  sale  of  the  machines 
greatly.      It   has   both    reduced    the   cost   of  the    completed   machine,  and 
ameliorated  the  terms  upon  which  the  companies  have  been  willing  to  deal 


25° 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


Advertising. 


with  their  customers.  The  largest  number  of  those  who  buy  these  machines 
are  people  without  capital,  who  are  not  always  able  to  pay  cash  for  their  pur- 
chases. In  order  to  effect  sales,  and  to  accommodate  their  customers,  the 
Modes  of  companies  have  adopted  what  is  called  "  the  instalment  plan,"  by 
selling  them,  means  of  which  the  customer  takes  a  machine,  and  pays  for  it  in 
instalments  from  week  to  week,  or  month  to  month,  often  earning  with  the 
machine  itself  the  money  to  defray  the  cost  of  its  purchase. 

In  addition  to  all  this  has 
been  the  fact  of  persistent  ad- 
vertising of  the  different  ma- 
ciiines.  The  sewing-machine 
comjjanies  have  been  the  best 
advertisers  in  tiie 
country,  excelling 
even  the  piano  and  stove 
makers  in  the  unflagging  zeal 
with  which  their  inventions 
have  been  brought  before  the 
public  eye.  The  newspapers, 
the  old  board  fences,  the  direc- 
tories, the  flagstaffs,  the  rocks 
of  the  field,  the  trees,  and 
every  other  contrivance  upon 
which  a  description  of  the 
merits  of  a  sewing-machine  can 
be  printed,  pasted,  or  hung, 
have  been  pressed  into  the 
service,  and  emblazoned  by  the  manufacturers.  The  county,  state,  and 
mechanical  fairs  in  all  ]xirts  of  the  country,  and  the  World's  Expositions 
here  and  in  Europe,  have  been  steadily  frequented  by  the  companies ;  and 
their  strifes  and  competitive  displays  have  now,  for  twenty  years,  formed  the 
steady  reliance  of  manngers  for  one  of  the  attractions  of  these  bazaars  of 
agriculture  and  industry.  Some  of  the  companies  are  able  to  show  almost  a 
basketful  of  bronze,  silver,  and  gold  medals  won  at  the  different  fairs  of  this 
and  other  countries. 

The  world's  fairs  have  been  an  important  means  of  bringing  the  machines 
to  the  attention  of  people  abroad.  The  fruit  of  the  displays  at  those  i'airs  is 
World's  seen  in  the  large  export  trade  enjoyed  by  the  companies.  The 
fairs.  number  of  machines   sent   out   annually  now   amounts   to  fii)ni 

40,000  to  55,000,  the  custom-house  valuation  ranging  from  5 1,600,000  to 
$2,400,000  annually.  They  go  to  England,  France,  and  Germany  principally. 
England  distributes  them  to  all  the  world.  Many  machines  now  go  direct  to 
South  America  and  Australia. 


WARDWELL  SEWING-MACHINE. 


OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


a5» 


FIRE-ARMS. 


It  is  one  of  the  peculiar  phenomena  of  American  life  that  the  manufacture 
of  weapons  should  reach  such  a  remarkable  proficiency  in  a  country  which 
abhors  war  and  armies  ;  which  is  impatient  if  the  government  keeps   Progress  in 
more  than  twenty  thousand  men  under  arms  in  times  of  peace ;   fife-"rn»»- 
which  once  let  the  standing  army  run  down  to  eighty-six  men  ;   which  never 
believes  there  is  going  to  be  a  war,  and  never  prepares  for  one  until  it  comes  ; 
and  whose  ordinary  current  expenditures  for  all  military  purposes  do   not 
exceed  thirty-five  million  dollars  in  any  one  year.     It  would  be  natural  to  look 
for  the  highest  development  in  this  line  in  Europe.     Several  countries  there 
spend  a  hundred  million  dollars  annually  for  army  purposes.    The  best  mechani- 
cal talent  in  the  army  and  in  the  private  workshops  is  kept  constantly  employed 
devising  new  and  destructive  weapons.     The  rewards  to  the  successful  private 
inventor  are  great ;  for  he  is  certain  of  recognition  from  the  government,  and  a 
large  order  for  arms.     In  America,  however,  the  whole  business  of  war  is  so 
foreign  to  the  purposes  of  our  people  and  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  that 
little  national  encouragement  is  given  to  inventors.     Congress  begrudges  the 
smallest  appropriation  for  military  experiments ;    and  inventors  must  look  to 
Europe  and  Asia,  and  the  world  at  large  generally,  for  the  markets  for  the  sales 
of  the  arms  they  make,  if  they  bring  out  any  worthy  of  particular  notice. 
In  spite  of  this  lack  of  home-encouragement  to  the  manufacturers  of  fire-arms, 
American  weapons  for  the  infantry  service  are  the  best  that  are  made  to-day. 
The  needle-gun  of  Prussia  won  a  world-wide  fame  at  Sadowa ;  but  the  Ameri- 
can Remington  is  as  much  its  superior  as  a  Colt's  revolver  to  a  muzzle-loading 
horse-pistol.     The  chassepot  of  France   has  proved  a  weapon  of  deadly  effi- 
ciency in  recent  European  wars ;    but  the  American  Spencer  rifle,  with  its 
magazine  of  cartridges  in  the  stock,  firing  fifty  balls  a  minute,  would  enable  two 
companies  of  American  marksmen  to  annihilate  a  regiment  armed  with  the 
chassepot  in  less  than  three  minutes'  fire  at  easy  range.     American  small-arms 
have  long  been  celebrated ;    and    there  has  not    been  an   ini])ortant  war  in 
Europe,  from  the  Crimea  to  the   last  bloody  struggle   between  Russia  and 
Turkey,  in  which  they  have  not  played   a  considerable  part.     And  then,  in  the 
line  of  heavy  ordnance,  the  Americans  have  not  been  a  whit  behind  the  rest 
of  the  world  i     a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  principles  which  should 
govern   the  manufacture  and  use  of  ordnance.     We  have  not  needed,  and 
consequently  have  not  made,  such  tremendous  guns  as  Germany  and  England 
iiave  produced  ;    but  American  inventors  and  artillerists  have  given  to  the 
woril  some  of  the  most  valuable  ideas  in  ordnance,  which  have  been  utilized 
by  military  nations. 

The  first  use  of  fire-arms  was  at  the  battle  of  Cr^cy  in  1346,   Pirstuseof 
where  the  French  were  routed  in  tremendous  confusion  by  means  fi«-arms. 
of  tho  astonishment  created  by  the  English  cannon.     The  cannon  did  little 


•ft 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


of  any  consequence,  except  to  roar ;  but  it  brought  a  new  element  into  the 
din  of  battle,  and  struck  consternation  into  the  ranl<s  of  the  gallant  knights 
of  France.  These  early  guns  were  made  of  wooden  staves,  bound  with  wire 
and  iron  hoops,  and  using  a  stone  or  a  leaden  bullet.  Pici.ires  of  them  may 
be  seen  in  Froissart's  "  Chronicles  of  the  Middle  .\ges,"  in  which  are  pre- 
served some  rare  old  woodcuts  of  the  olden  time,  representing  battles  in  which 
wooden  cannon  bore  a  part.  It  is  one  of  the  thousanil  illustrations  which 
every  art  supplies  of  the  fact  that  progress  moves  in  every  age  with  slow  and 
measured  pace  from  the  old  to  the  new,  passing  only  from  the  crude  to  the 
better  by  fine  shades  of  variation,  that  the  first  iron  cannon  was  made  upon 
identically  the  same  principles  as  the  wooden  ones.  They  were  composed  (ji' 
iron  bars  laid  together  like  the  staves  of  a  barrel,  and  bound  about  with  iron 
wire  and  hoops.  They  were  afterwards  welded  together ;  and  then,  the  gun 
being  composed  of  a  solid  piece  of  iron,  the  idea  seems  to  have  occurred  to 
military  men  for  the  first  time  to  cast  their  cannon  complete  in  one  ojjeration. 


CANNON.      1390. 


It  was  the  explosion  of  one  of  these  early  wrought-iron  cannon  which  caused 
the  death  of  James  II.  of  Scotland  in  1460.  The  fact  is  interesting,  because  it 
has  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  United  States.  The  idea  of  making  wroiiyht- 
iron  gims  was  never  abandoned;  and  in  1845  Commodore  Stockton  of  ilio 
United-States  navy  caused  a  gim  of  that  material  to  be  made  imder  his 
supervision,  hoping  to  produce  one  which  would  excel  any  cannon  which  had 
yet  been  made.  The  piece  weighetl  seven  tons,  and  carried  a  ball  \veii;hing 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  It  was  a  great  gun  for  those  days.  It  was 
called  "The  Peacemaker."  After  it  had  been  fired  three  times,  a  brilliant 
company  of  people  in  official  life  at  Washington  were  invited  down  to  the  war- 
ship "  Princeton,"  lying  in  the  Potomac  River,  to  witness  the  firing  of  the  uun. 
Secretary  Upshur,  who  feared  the  effects  of  the  discharge  of  such  a  trememhjus 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


353 


piece,  got  behind  the  mast  for  safety.  The  gun  blew  up  at  the  first  discharge, 
killing  Mr.  Upshur,  Secretary  Gihner,  Commodore  Kennaii,  Mr.  Maxey,  and 
Mr.  Ciardner,  and  injuring  Col.  Benton  and  several  ollicrs.  In  spile  of  this 
uiUuward  event,  military  men  are  still  experimenting  with  wrought-iron  guns  ; 
and  the  comparative  merits  of  cast  and  wrought  iron  may  still  be  said  to  be 
an  unsettled  question. 

The  first  use  of  small-arms  was  at  Arras  in  1414,  when  the  Hurgundians 
defended  their  town,  in  part,  with  the  aid  of  heavy  guns,  which  they  pointed 
uvcr  the  walls.  The  guns  were  provided  with  hooks  near  the  Fint  uie  of 
mu/zlLS,  to  catch  on  the  wall,  and  prevent  recoil ;  and  were  there-  •maUarmt. 
lore  called  arquebuses,  or  hook-guns.  These  weapons  were  used  in  the  field 
somewhat  after  that,  but  not  with  great  success  at  first,  because  they  were  too 
heavy.  It  took  three  men  to  serve  them,  and  they  could  only  be  fireil  by 
resting  them  on  tripods.  Furthermore,  they  could  not  be  fired  rapitlly,  and 
were  at  the  mercy  of  the  archers,  kvi  English  archer  of  that  day  would 
discharge  twelve  arrows  a  minute,  piercing  two  inches  of  oak  at  a  distance 
of  two  hundred  and  forty  yards,  and  allowing  only  one  arrow  to  miss  the 
mark.  It  has  taken  four  hundred  years  for  mankind  to  perfect  a  fire-arm 
which  would  allow  of  etjual  practical  rapidity  and  accuracy  of  fire  with  that, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  Unitetl  Slates  produced  the  Spencer  rifle  that  a  more 
rapid  effective  discharge  of  missiles  on  the  field  of  battle  was  attained.  Fire- 
arms did  not  come  into  general  use  in  war  until  after  the  battle  of  Pavia,  in 
1525.  On  that  occasion  Charles  V.  employed  a  large  number  of  muskets 
(so  called  from  the  name  of  the  person  who  first  attached  the  ramrod  and 
b.irrel  to  the  wooden  stock).  His  bullets  pierced  the  best  armor  of  the 
knights  of  France,  which  the  arquebuse  had  not  done ;  and  Francis  I.  sent 
off  his  famous  message,  "  .-\11  lost,  save  honor."  That  battle  revolutionized 
the  art  of  war.  The  use  of  the  lance,  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  of  heavy 
armor,  was  discontinued  after  that  in  Europe  by  successive  decrees  ;  and  in 
a  hundred  years  the  ancient  trappings  of  chivalry  had  passed  off  the  stage 
forever. 

The  flint-lock  musket  was  invented  in  France  in  1671  :   it  was  called  the 
fusil,  from  the  steel  which  struck  down  sparks  into  the  iiriming-pan.     The 
English  adopted  this  weapon  in  1686.     It  weighed  nine  pounds   FHnt-iock 
and  a  half,  and  was  fired  from  the  shoulder.     The  bullet,  which   musket. 
weighed  three  ounces  in  the  arquebuse,  was  diminished  now  to  an  ounce. 

In  the  days  of  the  early  settlement  of  the  United  States  the  weapon  in 
use  in  this  country  was  the  rifle.  It  had  been  invented  for  a  long  period, 
having  made  its  appearance  in  the  target-matches  at  Leipsic  as 
early  as  1498  ;  but  it  had  never  be.  u  used  in  the  armies,  owing  to 
the  length  of  time  it  took  to  load  it.  The  rifle  was  the  sportsmen's  arm,  and 
was  their  familiar  weapon  for  three  hundred  years.  America  first  brought 
the  nfle  into  military  use.     The  early  colonists  were  all  armed  with  the  rifle. 


Rifle. 


<S4 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Colonliti. 


They  were  dependent,  to  a  certain  extent,  upon  their  firo-arms  for  their  sub- 
sistence. Before  tiie  land  was  brought  under  cuUivation,  their  tables  were 
sup[)lied  chicrty  from  the  woods,  which  swarmed  with  game  of  all  descriptions ; 
and,  after  the  soil  had  been  subdued  and  tilled,  they  still  continued  to  hunt 
both  for  pleasure  and  the  benefit  of  their  tables,  and  also  from  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  diminishing  the  number  of  squirrels,  deer,  raccoons,  and  bears,  which 
depredated  upon  their  corn  and  wheat  and  other  crops.  Organized  hunting- 
expeditions,  called  "  drives,"  to  kill  off  all  the  game  in  some  special  tract  of 
country,  and  to  meet  the  armies  of  squirrels  which  migrated  from  place  to 
place,  were  of  constant  occurrence.  Now,  powder  and  shot  were  costly 
articles  in  those  days,  and  the  colonists  could  not  afford  to  throw  them  away  : 
they  consequently  jireferred  the  best  and  most  accurate  weapon,  on  lliis 
account  alone,  if  on  no  other ;  and  the  rifle,  accordingly,  was  their  familiar 
and  favorite  fire-arm.  They  became  as  accustomed  to  it  as  to  the  axe.  When 
independence  was  declared,  the  colonists  were  illy  provided  with 
military  weapons ;  but  they  had  their  rifles,  and  they  used  them 
in  the  battles  of  the  Revolution  with  a  deadly  effect  which  has  become 
historic.  Some  of  the  fields  of  that  war  were  won  by  the  use  of  the  ride 
alone.  The  slaughter  inflicted  upon  the  soldiers  of  King  George  in  the 
Revolution  was  doubtless  principally  due  to  the  marksmanship  of  the  American 
pioneers,  and  not  so  much  to  the  weapon ;  but  the  weapon  got  the  credit 
of  it  chiefly ;  and  England,  in  1 794,  adopted  it  as  a  part  of  her  national 
armament. 

In  that  respect  England  went  a  step  farther  than  the  United  States.  Tiie 
rifle  was  not  the  official  arm  here  :  the  government  preferred  the  smooth  bore 
Napcieon  ^°'"  ^'^^  army.  Napoleon  scouted  the  rifle,  because  he  could  not 
obtain  a  rapid  fire  with  it.  The  same  idea  prevailed  here ,  and, 
while  the  rifle  remained  the  weapon  of  the  people,  it  was  not  at 
once  adopted  by  the  government.  The  objection  was  this,  —  that,  in  order  to 
make  the  bullet  fit  the  rifling  of  the  gun,  it  had  to  be  forced  into  the  gun  under 
pressure,  and  time  and  labor  were  consumed  in  ramming  the  ball  home.  In 
Hau'sinven-  1813  Hall  proposed  a  new  idea.  He  suggested  that  the  rifle  be 
tion.  loaded  at  the  breech  ;  so  that  the  ball  and  powder,  united  in  one 

cartridge,  might  be  inserted  without  delay  and  trouble,  and  the  piece  loaded 
and  fired  as  rapidly  as  the  muzzle-loading  smooth  bore,  and  all  the  advantages 
of  the  two  styles  of  weapons  be  thus  secured.  Hall  also  proposed  to  maniitac- 
ture  the  locks  and  other  pieces  of  the  guns  by  machinery,  so  as  to  make  the 
parts  of  the  different  guns  interchangeable.  He  was  employed  at  the  govern- 
ment armory  at  Harper's  Ferry  to  introduce  the  latter  idea,  and  experiment 
with  the  former.  The  "  interchangeable  "  system  of  manufacture  promised  a 
reduction  of  expenses,  and  that  was  accordingly  pressed  first ;  and  it  was 
soon  introduced  to  all  the  armories  of  the  United  States.  In  1827  a  hundred 
of  Hall's  guns,  which  had  been  sent  to  Springfield  in  1824,  were  brought  back 


■couted  the 
rifle. 


OF    THE    U.\/TED    STATES. 


'55 


to  Harper's  Ferry,  and  placed  with  a  hundred  gtms  of  current  make.  The 
whole  two  hundred  were  taken  apart,  the  pieces  thoroughly  mingled,  and  the 
guns  tiien  remounted  from  pieces  picked  up  at  random.  The  whole  two 
hiuKlred  fitted  perfectly.  This  method  of  manufacture  reduced  the  cost  one- 
half  It  attracted  attention  abroail,  and  Kngland  afterward  obtained  machine- 
ry in  tiic  United  States  to  introduce  the  system  to  her  factory  at  Enfield. 
I'lior  to  1853,  every  gun  made  in  England  was  manufactured  l^y  «  .  . 
hand.  America  had  thus  already  given  two  ideas  to  the  world,  — 
the  value  of  the  rifle,  and  a  new  system  of  manufacture.  The  latter  was  of 
iiiinicdiate  benefit.  If  war  and  armies  were  inevitable,  and  the  people  had  to 
pay  for  them,  the  cost  of  weapons  might  at  any  rate  be  reduced  ;  and  Vankee 
invention  showed  one  important  way  to  do  it. 

The  percussion-cap  was  proposed  by  Shaw  of  Bordentown  in  181 7. 

Hall's  idea  of  a  breech-loading  rifle  did  not  attract  much  attention  first 
in  the  United  States.     Ploughshares  and  railroads  were  of  more  importance 
here  than  machines  to  kill  off  regiments  of  men  in  the  shortest   Experimenu 
possible  space  of  time.      France  and  Germany  began  to  experi-  «»'  France 
nient   with    breech-loaders ;    but    this    insouciant,   good-natured   m,ny  with 
republic  at  that  time  had  other  things  to  attend  to,  and  paid  so  breech.io«d- 
little  attention  to  arms,  that,  when  it  went  to  war  with  Mexico  in  *"" 
1847,  it  absolutely  had  to  send  out  troops  armed  chiefly  with  ancient  flint- 
lock smooth  bores.      A  few  rifles,  and  a  few  of  Hall's  breech-loading  car- 
bines, were  put  into  the  hands  of  the  mounted  men ;   but  the  army  carried 
flint-locks,  with  a  few  percussion  smooth  bores  of  recent  make  only. 

The  principal  weapon  of  a  new  type  brought  out  in  the  Mexican  war  was 
a  purely  American  invention,  which  has  not  yet  been  mentioned  ;  namely,  the 
repeater.     Samuel  Colt,  a  seaman,  while  on  a  voyage  to  Calcutta 


1S29,  devised  a  six-barrelled  revolver  to  be  used  with  percus- 


Colt. 


m 

sion-caps.  In  1835  he  improved  upon  this,  and  ])erfected  a  six-barrelled 
rotating  breech,  the  bullets  all  making  their  exit  therefrom  through  a  single 
Ion;,'  l)arrcl,  as  in  the  modern  revolver.  There  is  proof  that  the  idea  of  a  gun 
which  should  have  a  chambered  breech,  so  as  to  admit  of  discharge  several 
times  without  reloading,  was  thought  of  in  antiquity  ;  but  such  a  piece  was 
impossible  until  after  the  invention  of  the  .American  percussion-cap.  and  the 
idea  was  never  utilized  until  Samuel  Colt  made  his  model  on  board  ship  on 
the  long  voyage  to  Calcutta.  Patents  were  issued  in  England,  France,  and  the 
United  States ;  and  the  manufacture  of  revolvers  was  carried  on  a  short  time 
after  1S35  at  Paterson,  N.J.  The  first  use  of  the  new  weapon  was  in  1837, 
when  Lieut. -Col.  Harney  employed  a  number  of  Colt's  carbines  in  fighting 
Indians,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  latter,  who  did  not  understand  how 
a  soldier  could  fire  six  times  without  reloading.  A  thousand  of  them  were 
used  in  the  Mexican  war.  Colt's  idea  was  a  valuable  one  ;  but  he  secured  no 
important  sale  of  his  weapons  in  this  country  until  the  discovery  of  gold  in 


2s6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


California  and  Australia.  The  rush  to  those  regions,  and  the  necessity  of 
Oretttuc-  go'"o  '"t'^  ^^c  new  country  armed,  created  an  extraordinary 
cesco  co'.t't  demand  for  Colt's  revolv'ers.  Colt  was  overwhelmed  with  orders, 
revolver*.  ^^^  ^^^^^  decided  to  build  an  immense  factory  at  Hartford,  Conn., 
to  supply  the  demand  for  his  weapons.     He  put  up  buildings  which  cost  a 

million  dollars,  and  in  1858 
was  turning  out  sixty  thou- 
sand weapons  a  year.  I'he 
World's  Fair  at  London,  in 
1 85 1,  first  introduced  the  re- 
\olvmg  fire-arm  to  the  special 
noiice  of  Europe.  Colt  made 
a  large  c'isplay  of  weapons 
there,  anci  no  feature  of  tlie 
fair  excited  such  lively  interest 
among  military  men.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  was 
const;'.ndy  in  the  American 
_.  deprirtment,  examining  the 
c  weapons ;  and  Colt  was  in- 
a     vited  to  read  a  paper  before 

1  the  Institute  of  Civil  Engi- 

2  neers  on  the  suliject  of  his 
>  arms.  Tiie  revolvers  and 
»  carbines  were  subjected  to 
_ui  all  sorts  of  tests,  and  endured 
t     thcni  all  succ  .'ssfully.      The 

result  was,  tiif  c  they  secured 
a  large  sale  in  Europe.  They 
were  used  in  the  Crimea,  and 
by  Garibaldi  in  Italy  ;  and,  in 
fact,  the  pistols  found  their 
way  into  every  army  m  that 
part  of  the  world.  Colt  used 
the  interchangeable  system  of 
manufacture,  and  never  put 
;ny  thing  exce])t  the  l)est 
oast  -jteel  into  the  barrels  and 
working-parts  of  his  arms. 
His  success  was  enormo'is. 
The  unusual  demand  for 
portable  fire-arms  caused  by  the  suttlement  of  the  Territories  was  supple- 
mented by  large  orders  from  the  Southern  States,  where  the  revolver  beianr^ 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


257 


of  his 
:rs  and 
cted  to 
endured 

rhe 

secured 
Ihey 

lea,  and 
and,  in 

id  tlicii 
in  that 

olt  used 

•stem  of 
vor  '.iiit 
le  ht-"^t 
rels  and 
amis. 

Inous. 

land  for 

Isriliple^- 
|bec:anv^ 


a  popular  weapon.     The  large  sales  brought  other  manufacturers  upon  the 
scene ;   and  the  Allen,  Derringer,  Volcano,    Pettinger,  Whitney,  ^^^  ^^  ^^_ 
Smith  and  Wesson,  Lovell,  Rupertus,  and  other  revolvers,  were  voiverain 
introduced  to  the  public,  one  after  the  other,  and  have  all  had  a  Southern 

'  '  '  States. 

large  distribution.  Tliey  are  made  of  a  wide  variety  of  patterns, 
from  the  heavy  navy  revolver,  firing  a  half-ounce  bullet,  to  the  diminutive 
vest-pocket  piece,  with  scarce 
power  enough  to  penetrate  a 
man's  clothing.  Suited  to  all 
tastes,  and  a  convenient 
means  of  protection  to  trav- 
ellers or  to  residents  in  large 
cities  from  the  lawless  classes, 
they  are  purchased  in  large 
numbers  annual))'  by  people 
in  all  ranks  of  life.  Of  late 
a  passion  has  been  manifest- 
ed among  young  len  and 
boys  lo  own  one  of  these 
\veapo;is,  which,  though  ab- 
surd in  ihc  extreme,  has  ex- 
erted a  material  effect  upon 
the  sales  of  the  manufactur- 
ers of  arms. 

Hall's  breech  -  loading 
weapons  never  came  into 
general  use.  His  idea  was 
valuable ;  but  he  could  not 
give  it  practical  form.  Prus- 
sia   i)receded    the    United 

States,  therefore,  in  getting  a  breech-loader  into  the  hands 
of  its  army.  Dreyse  had  perfected  a  breech-  Prussian  in- 
loading  gun  in  1836,  in  which  a  long  slug-like  ventions  and 
bullet  was  discharged  through  a  rilled  barrel  "P"''"^-''^'^- 
by  means  of  a  cartridge  done  up  in  paper,  and  containing 
a  tulmiiiale  at  its  base  ;  the  fulminate  being  exploded  by 
the  shock  of  a  blunt  needle  entering  through  a  small  liule 
in  the  breech-plate.  In  1841  Prussia  i)ut  sixty  thousand 
of  these  rifies  with  cast-steel  barrels  into  the  hands  of  her  army,  one  hun- 
dred men  in  each  battalion  being  equipped  with  them.  In  1848  they 
were  distributed  to  the  whole  army.  The  king  calle<l  them  in  his  decree 
"a  special  dispensation  of  Providence  for  the  strengthening  of  our  national 
resources."  and  expressed  the  hope  "  th.it  the  system  may  be  kept  secret  imtil 


I 


258 


INDUSTRIAL    IjJSTONY 


Needle-gun. 


the  great  part  which  it  is  destined  to  play  in  history  may  couple  it  with  the 
glory  of  Prussian  arms  and  the  extension  of  empire."  The  defeat  of  the 
Austrians  at  Sadowa  in  1866  gave  the  needle-gun  a  great  celebrity, 
and  induced  all  the  governments  of  the  world  to  change  their 
muzzle-loaders  and  smooth  bores  for  a  more  modern  style  of  weapon.  A 
better  gun  than  the  Zundnadelgewehr  of  Prussia  had,  however,  been  invented 
in  the  United  States  in  1852  by  Sharp  of  Philadelphia.  The  breech-pin  in 
Sharp's  this  weapon  was  pulled  down  below  the  barrel  by  using  the  trigger- 

weapon,  guard  as  a  lever,  leaving  the  barrel  open  at  the  breech.  The  ball- 
cartridge  being  inserted,  the  breech-pin  was  thrown  back  to  its  i)lace  by  closing 
the  trigger-guard  to  its  place.  The  sharp  upper  edge  of  the  breech-pin  cut 
off  the  paper  end  of  the  cartridge,  thus  leaving  the  powder  in  the  now  closed 
barrel  exposed  to  the  fire  from  the  percussion-cap.     The  cap  used  was  not  the 


,  ',  SHARI' S    UIFI.E  COMPANY,    BRlDGEI'OliT,   CONN. 

ordinary  thimble  cap,  but  was  the  Maynard  primer,  in  which  twenty  of  thirty 
caps  were  arranged  along  a  small  strip  of  paper  or  leather.  The  strip  was 
coiled  up  like  a  watch-spring  in  the  lock  ;  and,  each  time  the  piece  was  cociced, 
a  cap  came  for\vard  and  rested  upon  the  nipple,  thus  simplifying  and  sliortcn- 
ing  the  whole  operation.  The  Sharp's  rifle  was  an  exceedingly  powerful  and 
efficient  weapon :  it  speedily  became  a  favorite  with  sportsmen,  esjun  ially 
upon  the  plains,  where  it  frequently  brought  down  an  antelope  at  the  distance 
of  a  mile.  Mr.  Sharp  lias  had  great  success  vith  his  rifle.  The  United-b"  ites 
and  Fjiglish  Governr.ients  onlercd  a  large  number  for  the  use  oi  their  armies, 
and  the  weapon  received  the  approval  of  military  men  in  si-cnii 
of  the  leading  nations.  \  large  establishment  for  the  manufacture 
was  erected  at  Rridge])orl.  Conn.,  and  is  still  one  of  the  'ending  Amtrican  tac- 
tories  in  this  department  of  industry.     Its  rifles  and  pistols  appear  r.gulaiiy  at 


Success  of  it. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES.  259 

all  the  world's  fairs,  and  occupy  an  important  place  in  all  competitions.  The 
rifle  has  been  improved  of  late  by  the  use  of  the  metallic  rim  fire  cartridge, 
thus  dispensing  with  the  use  of  percussion-caps,  and  still  further  simplifying 
the  weapon.     The  rifle  is  good  for  twelve  effective  shots  in  fifty  seconds. 

The  muzzle-loading  rifle  was  adopted  by  the  United  States  in  1855.  It 
was  called  the  "  Springfield  musket,"  from  the  armory  at  which  it  was  brought 
out.  It  was  ten  pounds  in  weight,  had  a  caliber  of  .5"  of  an  inch,  Springfield 
and  carried  a  ball  weighing  five  hundred  grains.  It  was  almost  -as  ">"8'«<:t- 
efficient  a  piece  as  the  Prussian  needle-gun,  from  the  fact  that  the  ball  used  was 
the  hollow-base  Minie'  bullet,  which  could  be  loaded  at  the  muzzle  almost  as 
rapidly  as  the  needle-gun  at  the  breech  ;  and  it  had  a  range  of  two  thousand 
yards,  the  smooth  bores  doing  execution  at  no  greater  distance  than  twelve 
hundred.  This  was  the  musket  with  which  the  Northern  army  were  chiefly 
supijlied  during  the  war  of  1S61.  That  war,  however,  gave  an  immense 
impetus  to  the  invention  and  improvement  of  fire-arms  in  America.  A  great 
many  new  ideas  were  brought  forward  in  breech-loaders  and  repeatinr^-rifles. 
The  government  encouraged  invention  by  large  orders  to  private  factories,  and 
supi)lied  its  troops  as  fast  as  it  could  with  such  of  the  more  modern  styles  of 
guns  as  were  approved  by  proper  military  authority.  The  end  of  the  war  found 
the  muzzle-loatler  virtually  superseded  forcer.  Since  then,  nothing  Muzzle  load- 
except  breech-loaders  have  been  issued  either  to  the  army  or  the  *''^  ^one  by. 
militia.  The  part  borne  by  different  styles  of  weapons  in  the  war  may  be 
seen  from  the  following  statement,  prepared  by  the  ordnance  department  of 
the  army :  — 

Smooth  bores 463,381 

Muz/le-loav.ing  rifles,  Urited-Statcs  pattern       ....  1,615,346 

Muzzle-loading  rifles,  foreign 1,055,862 

Rifles,  breech-leading  and  repeating 3-1O48 

Breech-loading  carbines 398,251 

Revolvers 376.75' 

Pistols,  .nuzzle-loading 24,951 

The  total  was  3,966,590,  of  which  1,158,907  were  lost  and  used  up  in  the  war. 

So    much   was    invention    stimulated    by   the    war,    that,    at  the    com- 
petition of  1869,  a  board  of  army-officers  examined  thirty-four  invention 
different  varieties  of  breech-loading  muskets,   eight  of  carbines,  stimulated 
and  eight  of  pistols.  ''*'  '^''• 

The  new  inventir  n?  were  all  the  product  of  private  factories.     These  estab- 
lishments, scattered  about  the  country,  but  principally  located  in 

N'tw  ^:^^dand    and    New  York,  where  mechanical  ingenuity  had  [^oj^t"^""' 

received   its  highest  development,  were  many  of  them  of  prior  product  of 

origin,  and  had  l)een  enKaged  in  niakincr  sijortinir-rifles,  shot-cruns,  P"^"'" 

,      .  °   °  *     '  '^  b         >    factories. 

'Tin  pistols.     \\  hen  the  w.-jr  broke  out,  they  simply  turned  their 

attention  to  military  weapons.      Others  of  the  number  came  into  being  with 


a6o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  war.  They  have  all  continued  to  manufacture  both  military  and  sporting 
arms  since  the  restoration  of  peace,  and  find  a  large  sale  in  supplying  the 
new  armament  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States  and  the  armies  of  other 
parts  of  the  world.  They  take  part  in  all  the  rifle-competitions  in  Europe, 
and  crowd  every  world's  fair.  Prior  to  1861  the  reputation  of  the  United 
States  for  small-arms  was  sustained  principally  by  Colt,  Sharp,  and  Eli 
Whitney.  At  the  World's  Fair  of  1873,  where  the  leading  American  fac- 
tories were  all  represented,  nineteen  concerns  were  represented,  all  of  them 
furnishing  highly  creditable  productions. 

The  first  of  the  new  class  of  rifles  to  come  into  notice  was  the  Spencer. 
This  remarkable  weapon  is  a  strong  and  serviceable  piece,  loading  at  the 
Spencer  breech,  and  holding  a  magazine  of  seven  cartridges  in  the  stock, 
rifle.  which  are   thrown   forward,  one   at   a  time,  by  a  coiled   spring, 

when  the  breech  is  opened  to  receive  a  new  charge.  The  breech-pin  is 
moved  do\vn  below  the  barrel  by  the  guard-lever,  the  empty  copper  shell  of 
the  cartridge  last  fired  being  thrown  out  by  a  little  catch  in  the  operatic'' 
and  a  new  cartridge  then  thrown  forward  into  place  from  the  magazine.  A 
fair  marksman  can  discharge  the  seven  shots  with  accuracy  in  twelve  seconds, 
and  then  refill  the  magazine  from  his  cartridge-box  in  about  half  the  time  it 
would  take  to  ram  and  cap  a  muzzle-loading  musket.  The  gun  can  be  used 
as  a  single-loader  by  a  very  simple  arrangement,  which  prevents  a  cartridge 
from  coming  up  from  the  magazine.  The  soldier  thus  can  load  from  his 
cartridge-box,  and  keep  the  magazine  in  reserve  for  a  critical  moment.  The 
Spencer  is  a  needle-gun,  the  firing-pin .  being  in  the  breech-block,  and  being 
struck  by  a  hammer,  as  in  the  ordinary  rifle.  Its  performances  at  Vienna,  at 
the  competition  of  1866,  excited  wonder  The  magazine  principle  has  been 
applied  to  other  American  guns,  prominently  to  the  Winchester, 
in  which  the  magazine  occupies  the  place  of  the  ramrod,  below 
the  barrel,  and,  being  a  very  long  one,  enables  the  marksman  to  fire  twenty 
shots  without  reloading.  The  Winchester  rifle  is  admired  in  Europe,  and  has 
been  sold  in  immense  quantity  to  the  Turkish  Governmen^.  It  was  largely 
used  in  the  late  war  with  Russia, 

The  Snider  rifle  is  better  known  abroad  than  in  America ;  but  it  is  one  of 
the  recent  American  inventions,  and  loads  at  the  breech  upon  an  entirely 
novel  principle.  The  breech-plate  is  fixed  in  the  gun  solidly ;  but  between  it 
and  the  chamber  there  is  a  spice  the  length  of  the  cartridge,  into  which  a 
solid  bolt  is  fitted  to  close  the  chamber,  and  transmit  the  recoil  to  the  Lreech- 
plate.  This  bolt  swings  upward,  and  over  to  the  right,  upon  a  hinge,  nhen 
the  gun  is  being  loat'.ed,  so  as  to  leave  an  open  space  in  rear  of  the  chamber 
for  taking  out  the  old  cartridge,  and  putting  in  the  new.  This  style  of  breech- 
loader has  been  very  well  liked  in  P^urope.  Dahlgren  gave  it  great  praise. 
England  applied  it  to  her  Enfield,  Whitworth,  Lancaster,  and  other  rifles; 
and  the  Dutch  and  other  governments  have  used  large  quantities  of  arms 


Winchester. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


261 


with  the  Snider  breech.  The  Snider-Enfield  has  had  astonishing  success  at 
the  Wimbledon  matches  in  England.  England  converted  several  hundred 
thousand  of  her  Enfields  to  the  Snider  system.  The  peculiar  snider- 
principle  on  which  this  gun  is  made  is  now  a  favorite  with  Ameri-  infields. 
can  makers  of  breech-loading  shot-guns.  It  is  one  of  the  two  leading  meth- 
ods in  use  for  that  class  of  fire-arms ;  the  other  being  the  system  of  unhook- 
ing the  rear  of  the  barrel,  and  letting  the  barrel  swing  vertically  on  a  pivot, 
so  as  to  bring  the  chambers  up  to  view  above  the  breech-plate,  and  then,  after 
loading,  bringing  the  barrels  to  their  place  again,  and  locking  them  with  a 
spring  catch. 

Various  other  American  rifles  have  at  different  times  o?cupied  attention 
at  the  competitive  trials  in  Europe,  including  the  Berdan,  Peabody,  Ham- 
mond, Maynard,  Joslyn,  Sharp,  and  Remington,  bat  none,  per- 
liaps,  to  so  great  an  extent  as  the  Remington.     This  gun  is  the 
product  of  a  factory  at  Ilion,  N.Y.,  which  was  founded  in  1825  by  Eliphalet 
Remington,  a  young  mechanic  who  had  been  making  gun-barrels  in  Herki- 
mer County,  New  York,  with  some  success  for  several  years,  and  who,  in 
1825,  moved  to  Ilion,  and  started  a  gun-factory.     This  establishment  grew  by 
successive  enlargements  until  it  represents  to-day  an  investment  of  at  least 
three  million  dollars  in  machinery,  buildings,  and  stock.     Mr.  Remington  took 
his  two  sons  into  partnership,  and  has  devoted  his  factory  to  the  manufacture 
both  of  arms  and  various  other  inventions,  a  sewing-machine  and  a  mowing- 
machine  being  among  them.     The  breech-loading  rifle  invented  at  this  factory 
has  the  simplest,  strongest,  and  best  mechanism  at  the  breech  ever  yet  dis- 
covered.   When  the  hammer  is  cocked,  the  breech-pin  swings  upon  a  heavy 
pivot  down  into  the  lock,  opening  the  breech  for  the  cartridge,  and  pulling 
out  the  old  shell.     The  breech-plate  is  then  swung  up  by  the  thumb  to  its 
place,  and  die  trigger  pulled.     Though  the  breech-plate  is  entirely  unsupported 
when  the  hammer  is  set  free,  yet  the  heavy  shank  of  the  hammer  presents  a 
solid  shoulder  to  the  plate  in  its  descent ;   and,  before  the  hammer  reaches  the 
firing-pin,  the  plate  is  locked  firmly  in  its  place.     The  shock  of  the  recoil  is 
transmitted  to  the  shoulder  presented  by  the  hammer,  and  is  sustained  by  the 
heavy  pivot  on  which  the  hammer  works  back  and  forth.     Nothing  so  simple 
and  scientific  has  ever  been  invented.     This  gun  is  in  every  way  the  sui)erior 
of  the   Prussian  needle-gun.     The  latter  is  easily  disabled  by  moisture  and 
durt ;  whereas  the  Remington  will  work  perfectly  While  entirely  coated  with 
rust  (hreech-plate  and  all),  and  covered  with  dust.     One  of  the  guns  at  Vienna 
in  1866,  chosen  at  random,  was  tested  by  firing  two  thousand  rounds.     It  was 
left  out  on  the  ground  over  night ;   water  was  poured  into  it,  and  it  was  left 
wei ;  the  whole  breech  was  covered  with  road-dust,  and  then  roughly  shaken 
out ;  and  the  gun  was  fired  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  trial  without  clean- 
ing.   It  went   through   the  whole   test  perfectly,  the  only  trouble  occurring 
at  any  time  being  caused  by  sand  which  had  got  between  the  spring  and  the 


a6a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


hammer,  making  it  difficult  to  get  the  hammer  at  full  cock.  Those  few  grains 
of  sand  were  taken  out,  and  the  gun  WaS  put  to  work  again  without  further 
cleaning  of  the  breech.  The  average  speed  of  the  gun  was  thirteen  rounds 
a  minute.  The  gun  has  excited  the  greatest  admiration  throughout  the  world 
since  that  time.  It  has  been  adopted  by  the  United  States,  England,  Spain, 
Denmark,  Sweden,  and  other  governments,  and  is  probably  the  most  effec- 
tive single-loading  arm  of  the  present  day.  It  is  the  principal  style  of  rifle 
which  is  being  put  into  the  hands  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States  of  this 
republic.  Its  accuracy  is  so  great,  that  it  has  enabled  American  riflemen  to 
Great  Buc-  ^'"  ^^  great  matches  of  Dollymount  in  1876,  and  Creedmoor 
cessof  thj»  in  1877,  against  the  best  shots  of  Great  Britain.  Fulton  prefers 
weapon.  ^j^^  muzzle-loading  Remington,  and  with  it  made  a  score  of  171 
out  of  a  possible  180  at  the  800,  900,  and  1,000  yard  ranges  at  Creedmoor 
ill  1874  ;  which  is  the  highest  ever  known. 

The  Peabody  rifle,  with  a  breech-plate  dropping  below  the  barrel,  operated 
by  the  guard-lever,  is  also  a  good  gun.  A  part  of  the  Turkish  troops  were 
armed  with  it  in  the  late  war. 

The  barrels  of  American  small-arms  are  generally  made  of  Nvrought  iron, 
chosen  with  reference  to  its  toughness  and  tenacity ;  though  of  late  years 
makers  have  begun  to  use  steel  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  combination  with 
iron.  At  one  time  bars  made  from  old  horseshoe  nails  were  largely  used,  and 
the  "stub  and  twist"  barrels  were  considered  the  toughest  and  best  in  the 
market ;  but  they  have  been  superseded  by  later  ideas  in  laminated  iron  and 
steel.  For  revolvers,  cast-steel  alone  is  used  for  the  chambers  and  barrels.  In 
gun-making,  the  bars  which  are  to  compose  the  barrels  are  heated  to  a  white- 
heat,  their  edges  first  having  been  bevelled,  and  are  then  bent  by  machinery 
into  a  barrel,  the  edges  being  carefully  welded  either  by  machinery  or  by 
hand.  The  barrels  are  then  straightened  by  machinery.  Sometimes  the  bar 
is  the  length  of  the  barrel  which  it  is  to  make  ;  but  often  it  is  only  one-third 
the  length,  and  is  drawn  out  in  welding.  The  locks,  springs,  sights,  and  other 
small  metal  parts  of  the  gun,  are  stamped,  bored,  and  shaped  by  machinery. 
There  are  often  eighty  different  pieces  in  the  construction  of  the  piece,  besides 
the  stock  and  barrel.  The  production  of  all  of  these  by  machines  specially 
adapted  to  the  purpose  has  brought  about  an  immense  reduction  in  the  cost 
of  manufacture,  and  has  added  materially  to  tlie  resources  of  the  republic 
by  insuring  a  speedy  supply  of  weapons  whenever  wanted.  This  system  of 
forging  small-arms  with  swages  and  dies,  and  of  finishing  them  with  mill- 
ing machines,  was  first  brought  to  success  in  the  government  armories  of 
the  United  States ;  but  it  has  since  found  its  way  into  all  the  private 
factories. 

In  the  manufacture  of  cannon  the  United  States  has  not  occu- 
pied so  distinguished  a  position  as  in  reference  to  small-arms ;  but 
its  artillery  has  always  been  of  a  good  quality.     The  cannon  made  during  the 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


263 


Revolution  were  all  of  a  small  size,  adapted  for  field-service  and  for  use  on 
ships.  A  number  of  founderies  were  employed  in  casting  them  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  but  principally  in  New  England,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mary- 
land, whence  the  guns  were  distributed  to  the  different  parts  of  cannon  of 
the  country.  They  ranged  in  size  from  four  to  thirty-two  pounders,  Revolution. 
but  were  mostly  of  the  smaller  sizes.  A  few  of  them  were  cast  hollow ;  but  the 
majority  of  factories  cast  them  solid,  and  bored  out  the  caliber  by  machinery. 
The  tactories  were  prolific ;  and  Washington  had  all  the  artillery  he  wanted 
(luring  the  Revolution,  —  more,  at  times,  than  he  could  profitably  use,  in  fact, 
considering  the  scarcity  of  powder.  The  guns  were  of  very  simple  construc- 
tion, plain  and  unornamented,  and  in  this  respect  bore  a  marked  contrast  to 
tlie  splendidly-decorated  pieces  employed  by  our  French  allies  in  that  war. 
The  gun  presented  by  Lafayette,  and  long  owned  by  a  well-known  family  of 
Virginia,  and  now  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  at  New  York,  inscribed  humor- 
ously, "Ultima  Ratio  Regum,"  and  otherwise,  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
perfection  of  the  arts  in  France  at  that  day,  and  the  manner  in  which  refine- 
ment touched  and  glorified  every  thing  used  by  the  French  people  in  war  as 
well  as  in  peace.  One  gun  used  in  the  Revolution  was  of  wrought-iron  staves 
bound  with  hoops  ;  but  it  attracted  little  attendon. 

In  the  war  of  181 2  the  United,  States  began  to  use  a  better  style  of  cannon 
of  native  manufacture.  The  government  permitted  its  private  citizens  to  fit 
out  ships  to  cruise  against  England's  commerce,  and  there  was  a  great  demand 
for  long  and  efficient  guns  of  all  calibers  for  use  on  shipboard.  Some  large 
founderies  were  started  during  this  war.  At  Richmond  three  were  established, 
capable  of  boring  the  heaviest  ordnance,  and  of  making  three  hundred  pieces 
a  year.  One  at  Pittsburgh,  Joseph  McClurg's,  made  the  cannon  for  the  battles 
of  Lake  Erie  and  New  Orleans. 

No  long  guns  for  shells  had  been  used  until  the  war  of  181 2  in  any 
country :  tlie  shell  had  only  been  discharged  from  the  mortar  and  the  how- 
itzer.   In  1 8 14  Col.  Bomford  of  the  Ordnance  Department  invent-   „,   , 
ed  a  long  gun  for  shells,  which  he  called  "  the  Columbiad."     It  facture  of 
became  a  favorite  gun  with  military  men  at  once.     It  was  intro-  ^""" '°'' 
duced  to  the  fortifications  and  ships  of  the  United  States  as  an 
important  resource  for  attack  and  defence  ;  and  Gen.  Paixhans  carried  the  idea 
to  France,  and  brought  out  the  gun  there  under  his  own  name. 
The  principle  of  a  long  gun  for  shells  was  adopted  by  all  military 
nations. 

.Mthough  the  United  States  were  at  peace,  and  cared  nothing  for  fortifica- 
tions or  a  navy  except  to  insure  protection  to  commerce,  and  consequently 
gave  slight  encouragement  to  the  invention  of  new  implements  of  war,  two  guns 
had  been  brought  out  by  federal  officers,  previous  to  the  war  of 

,0/:         1  •   1  lit.  ,.    ,  ,  .       Dahlgren. 

loot, which  were  decided  improvements  on  all  the  cannon  then  in 

use.     One  was  the  gun,  invented  by  Capt.  Dahlgren  of  the  navy,  for  nine  and 


Paixhana. 


264 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Rodman. 


eleven  inch  shells.  It  was  cast  solid,  and  bored  out  by  machinery,  and  in 
shape  was  v£ry  much  like  a  champagne-bottle,  having  a  great  weight  and 
thickness  of  metal  around  the  chamber  of  the  gun,  antl  then  rapidly  tapering 
away  for\vard  of  the  trunnions,  exactly  after  the  fashion  of  a  champagne-ljoitie. 
The  eleven-inch  guns  of  this  pattern  are  a  hundred  and  seven  inches  long  in 
the  bore.  They  were  great  favorites  during  the  late  war,  and  were  extensively 
employed  in  the  operations  along  the  coast  and  on  the  Western  rivers.  Fifteen 
and  twenty  inch  guns  have  latterly  been  made  of  Dahlgren's  pattern,  but  are 
cast  hollow,  and  cooled  from  the  interior.  The  idea  of  casting  a  gun  hollow. 
and  cooling  it  by  a  current  of  water  made  to  flow  into  and  out  of  the  bore,  so 
as  to  gain  density  of  metal  on  the  interior,  is  the  invention  of  Capt.  Rodman 
of  the  Ordnance  Department.  The  pieces  of  heavy  American  onl- 
nance  made  in  this  manner  are  called  "  Rodman  guns."  Tiie  gun 
differs  litde  from  Dahlgren's  in  shape  ;  but  it  is  generally  considered  more  beau- 
tiful on  account  of  its  more  flowing  lines.  For  the  same  size  of  bore  it  is  of 
smaller  size  and  weight,  owing  to  the  strength  gained  by  the  peculiar  method 
of  cooling.  The  largest  cannon  ever  made  in  any  country,  prior  to  1861,  was 
a  Rodman  gun  cast  at  the  Fort-Pitt  Foundery  in  Pittsburgh,  and  placed  in  the 
works  at  Fortress  Monroe.  It  was  a  sixteen-inch  gun,  with  a  bore  fifteen  feet 
deep,  and  weighed  49,099  pounds.  This  style  of  gun  has  been  greatly  admired 
in  Europe.  A  twenty-ton  Rodman,  fifteen-inch  bore,  with  a  shot  of  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds,  was  tried  in  England  shortly  after  our  late  war,  and 
produced  an  unwonted  sensation  there.  England  had  long  been  experiment- 
ing in  the  direction  of  seven  and  nine  inch  rifled  cannon ;  but  the  American 
fifteen-inch  smooth  bore  did  what  the  best  English  guns  did  not,  and  it  pro- 
duced such  a  terrible  effect  on  the  eight-inch  Wamis  target,  that  English 
military  men  candidly  confessed  that  the  American  gun  could  certainly  iiull 
their  best  ships.  The  twenty-ton  Rodman  was  compared  at  the  exhibition  of 
1867  at  Paris  with  the  forty-ton  French  smooth  bore.  That  was  the  largest 
gun  France  had  ever  made :  its  bore  was  sixteen  inches  and  a  half,  and  it 
carried  a  shot  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  The  comparison  made  was 
favorable  to  the  Rodman  gun.  Making  all  allowances  for  differences  in  bore, 
&c.,  it  was  held  that  the  Rodman  gun  would  do  the  same  work,  with  twenty 
thousand  pounds  less  of  metal  consumed  in  the  construction  of  the  giui. 
Rodmans  have  been  made  since  the  war  for  sea-coast  defence,  and  for  iron- 
clads of  twenty-inch  caliber.  They  weigh  fifty-eight  tons,  and  throw  a  hhut 
weighing  1,060  pounds.     The  first  twenty-inch  gun  was  made  in  1863. 

The  war  gave  an  impetus  to  invention  in  the  way  of  cannon  as 
it  did  to  the  manufacture  of  small-arms.  A  vast  number  of  guns 
were  required  for  the  different  purposes  of  the  war.  The  most 
extensive  set  of  fortifications  known  in  history  was  thrown  up 
around  the  city  of  Washington,  and  eight  hundred  and  seven  .[,'uns 
and  ninety-eight  mortars  were  required  for  its  defence.    There  were  emplo\i;cl 


War  gave 
impetus  to 
improve- 
ment of 
cannon. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


265 


Parrott. 


in  the  war,  on  the  part  of  the  North,  fifteei  hundred  field-guns  anu  twelve  hun- 
dred siege-guns.  The  government,  being  without  the  means  to  produce  these 
readily,  depended  largely  upon  private  makers ;  and  iron  founders  and  in- 
ventors, in  turn,  stood  ready  to  supply  the  government  with  a  large  number  of 
new  guns,  which  were  conceived  by  them  with  the  first  alarm  of  war.  Three 
of  these  new  guns  proved  of  service,  and  became  prominent.  One  was  the 
Parrott,  a  cast-iron  rifled  gun,  long,  and  almost  straight,  but 
re-enforced  at  the  breech  by  heavy  coils  of  wrought  iron  wound 
around  the  piece.  The  first  one  was  cast  in  1861  at  the  West-Point  Foundery. 
During  the  war  they  were  made  of  all  sizes,  from  the  three-inch  teii  pounder  for 
field-service  to  a  ten-inch  gun  with  a  three-hundred-pound  shot  for  ship-siege 
and  coast-service.  Another  of  the  new  guns  was  the  Wiard,  made 
at  Trenton,  N  }.,  of  cast-steel.  This  metal,  as  is  well  known,  is  the 
favorite  with  the  Germans,  who  employ  it  in  small-arms  as  well  as  in  artillery. 
Mr.  Wiard  made  guns  of  this  material  for  the  first  time  in  this  country,  and 
secured  large  orders  from  the  government.  He  fitted  out  the  Burnside  expe- 
dition with  very  nearly  its  entire  armament.  The  third  gun  referred  to  above 
was  the  Gatling  Battery,  an  automatic  machine-gun,  with  six  steel  barrels. 
Cartridges  are  fed  to  the  battery  from  a  hopper,  and  are  discharged  by  turning 
a  crank.  An  incessant  and  steady  fire  can  be  kept  up  with  this  battery,  and 
about  a  hundred  cartridges,  containing  a  thousand  missiles,  discharged  per 
minute.  Its  performance  is  equal  to  that  of  fifty  good  riflemen  armed  with 
breech-loaders.  A  hundred  batteries  of  this  gun  were  ordered  by  the  govern- 
ment from  the  Colt's  Fire-Arms  Company.  One  of  them,  sent  to  Paris  in  1867, 
was  the  sensation  at  the  World's  Fair.  It  has  a  large  sale  abroad  since  that 
time. 

The  best  material  for  large  guns  is  iron ;  though  whether  in  the  form  of 
cast-steel,  cast-iron,  or  wrought-iron,  or  a  combination  of  these  several  varieties, 
is  not  yet  decided.  Germany  prefers  cast-steel  for  breech-loaders  :  Best  material 
all  her  guns  are  made  on  that  metal.  Krupp,  the  principal  maker,  '"^  '""*■ 
has  turned  out  several  thousand  such  field-guns,  and  two  thousand  of  the  six, 
seven,  eight,  nine,  eleven,  twelve,  and  fourteen  inch  guns.  The  latter  are  fifty- 
ton  guns,  costing  a  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars  each.  Two  only  have 
been  made.  England  employs  cast-steel  with  WTOught-iron  re-enforcement  at 
the  breech,  wrought-iron  tubes  with  wrought-iron  coils,  and  cast-iron ;  and  is 
going  back  to  muzzle-loaders.  France  uses  iron  tubes,  with  steel  rings  at  the 
breech.  The  whole  question  of  material  may  be  said  to  be  open  at  present, 
and  can  only  be  solved  by  years  of  further  experiment.  Possibly  it  may  never 
be  solved :  that  depends  largely  on  the  amount  of  war  in  the  future  of  the 
world.  For  field-guns  the  best  material  is  bronze  :  it  is  expensive  ;  but  it  is 
a  beautiful  metal,  and  very  tenacious. 


266 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


IRON-WORKING   MACHINERY. 


Golden  age. 


There  are  those  who  consider  the  golden  age  of  the  world  to  lie  in  the 
future.  They  do  not  look  for  it  in  the  simple  times  of  the  past,  in  the  days 
of  the  shepherd's  pipe,  the  stage-coach,  the  sun-dial,  and  tiic 
hand-loom  ;  for,  with  all  their  romance,  those  were  ill-regulated 
times  in  many  respects,  tyrannical,  disobedient  to  law,  and  ignorant,  wiiii 

*  poverty  and  deprivation  among  the  peo 

pie.  They  believe  that  the  better  times 
lie  in  the  future,  —  in  an  age  when  man 
shall  have  been  released  from  the  greater 
part  of  the  depressing  muscular  toil  now 
imposed  upon  him  ;  when  there  is  a  more 
general  diffusion  of  education,  comfort, 
and  content  among  the  people ;  when  the 
higher  faculties  and  qualities  come  more 
generally  into  play  in  even  the  humblest 

nH  occupations,   and   toil   itself  becomes  a 

H  pleasure. 

lE'l^PfliSRi  ^^  ^^^'^  there  dawns  for  man  a  golden 

UiV^BI^BJ^    age   of  this   description,  (and  who  will 
-  ■■■  ™  deny  its    probability  ?)   the   change  will 

come  about,  in  part,  through  the  larger 
employment  of  machinery,  whereby  man, 
Employ.  instead  of  struggling  with  the 
mentof        forces  of   Nature  as   of  old, 

machinery,    ^j^^jj    ^^^^    ^^^^    ^^    j^j^    ^^^^^ 

use,  and  compel  them  to  labor  for  iiim, 
and  shall  thus  throw  off  a  part  of  his 
burden  of  physical  toil,  and  gain  oppor- 
tunity for  cherishing  and  employing  the 
mind.  The  present  century  is  already 
distinguished  by  the  extent  to  whicli  it 
has  utilized  machinery  in  all  the  iiulus- 
trial  arts.  It  is  already  called  the  age 
of  machinery ;  and  orators  and  writers  have  more  than  once  called  atten- 
tion to  the  additional  comfort,  luxury,  and  content  it  has  brought  to  tlie 
people.  There  seems  no  limit,  however,  to  the  extent  to  which  machinery  can 
be  employed.  A  thousand  new  uses  are  found  for  it  every  year,  and  its 
ameliorating  influences  are  capable  of  being  extended  dmost  indefinitely  in 
all  departments  of  labor. 

Development  has  been  the  most  remarkable  in  the  field  of  machinery  for 
the  working  of  iron,  and  especially  in  the  United  States,  where  the  progress 


BRBAST  DRILL. 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


267 


has  been  the  most  sweeping  and  electrifying.    The  high  cost  of  labor  here, 
ami  the  desirability  of  rendering  this  country  independent  of  the  Old  World 
for  its  supplies  of  iron-manufactures,  gave  a  powerful  stimulus  to 
American  invention  in  this  field  of  effort  j   and,  from  the  days  of  ^*^'  '^^'mt. 
ihe  nail-nuking  machine  to  the  present,  it  has  been  busily  em-  chinery  for 
ployed  in  devising  means  for  the  fashioning  of  iron-manufactures  J*'°^'''"K 
by  machinery,  and  dispensing  with   the  old   processes  of  doing 
the  work  by  hand.    The  success  has  been  wonderful.     Our  factories  and  shops 
are  filled  now  with  machinery,  rather  than  with  toiling  human  beings  ;  and  nine- 
tenths  of  all  the  old  operations  which  required  any  particular  expenditure  of 
human  toil  are  now  performed  by  machinery,  and  better  and  faster  performed 
also.     The   difference   between   an  American  and  a  foreign  factory  in  this 
respect  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  with  its 
three  thousand  men  and  the  great  locomotive  works  at  Berlin  with  its  ten 
thousand  men,  the  latter  turning  out  less  work  in  the  year  than  the  former. 
The  difference  is  caused  by  the  machinery  of  the  Baldwin  Works.     The  same 
comparison  could  be  made  between  an  American  antl  a  British  iron  ship-yard. 
The  general  application  of  machinery  to  the  working  of  iron  has  called 
into  existence  a  special  class  of  establishments  devoted  to  the 
making  of  iron-working  tools  and  machinery,  adding  a  re- 
enforcement  of  about  fifteen  hundred  shops  to  pactorietfor 
the  thousands  of  those  devoted  to  the  manu-   making  iron- 
facture  of  iron  and  steel  for  the  ordinary  pur-   ^"l"*'"* 
poses  of  life.     These  fifteen  hundred  shops  em- 
ploy about  a  hundred  thousand  men.     Many  of  them  are, 
in  part,  founderies,  and  carry  on  the  manufacture  of  general 
machinery ;  but  they  all  make  iron-working  tools  and  ma- 
chines as  a  regular  feature  of  their  business. 

In  general,  iron-working  machinery  may  be  classified 
under  the  following  heads,  —  turning-lathes,  borers,  drills, 
planes,  shears,  rolls,  hammers,  dies,  punches  for  .making 
holes,  screw  and  bolt  cutters,  riveting  and  welding  machines, 
cranes,  grooving,  slotting,  and  milling  machines,  and  polish- 
ers. The  variety  of  forms  under  each  of  the  above  heads 
is  infinite.  Obviously,  the  metal  parts  which  go  to  make  up 
a  walch,  and  those  which  enter  into  a  locomotive,  a  steam- 
engine,  or  an  iron  ship,  must  differ  in  extraordinary  re- 
spects; and  these  differences  in  the  size,  purpose,  and  strength  of  the  thou- 
sand objects  into  which  iron  and  steel  are  fashioned,  and  the  complexity 
of  the  parts  which  sometimes  go  to  make  up  single  inventions,  give  rise  to  an 
extraordinary  variety  of  iron-working  machines.  Some  of  these  machines 
attract  attention  from  their  size  and  power ;  as,  for  instance,  the  planers,  which 
have  been  made  large  enough  to  plane  a  horizontal  iron  plate  forty-two  feet 


HAND  DRILL, 


8MAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


V 


A 


/- 


« 


y. 


;:! 


1.0 


u 


»«  ill 

:.  li^  12.0 


25 


1-25  II  1.4 


1.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


« 


iV 


qv 


:\ 


\ 


^« 


c,^ 


-<*./^ 


'L''    .«.    '*b 


■^ 


0 


^ 


368 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTOKY 


Planar*. 


long  by  twenty-five  wide,  the  plate  beihg  carried  slowly  backward  and  forward 
under  a  sharp  chisel  which  cuts  only  one  narrow  paring  at  a  time  from  its 
rough  surface.  Planers  have  been  made  to  smooth  vertical  sur- 
faces twelve  feet  long  and  eight  feet  high.  Lathes  are  made  to 
turn  a  piece  of  work  eight  feet  and  a  half  in  diameter,  and  boring-machines 
to  smooth  the  interiors  of  steam  cylinders  of  the  same  size.  Drills  are  made 
to  bore  a  hole  twenty-two  inches  in  diameter  through  solid  iron.  At  the  iron 
ship-yards,  shears  are  used  to  cut  up  solid  iron  plates  two  inches  thick. 
Steam  hammers  are  used  which  strike  a  fifty-ton  blow,  which  could  easily  be 
increased  to  seventy-five  tons ;  while  the  hammers  are  so  tractable,  that  they 
can  be  used  to  crack  walnuts.  Cranes  easily  handle  whole  boilers  and  pieces 
of  machinery  weighing  twenty-five  tons.  Rolling-mills  are  made  of  such 
power,  that  at  Chester,  Penn.,  iron  plates  are  made  six  inches  thick  for  tlie 
armor  of  men-of-war.  Squeezers  are  often  employed  in  our  rolling-mills 
capable  of  taking  a  thousand-pound  bloom  from  the  puddling-fumace,  and 
squeezing  it  into  a  compact  pig  of  wrought  iron  in  less  than  a  minute.  The 
power  and  size  of  this  variety  of  machinery  appear  to  be  limited  only  by  the 
demands  of  the  country  for  its  employment. 

Other  machines  are  noteworthy  for  their  special  adaptation  to  the  perform- 
ance of  some  process  and  for  their  labor-saving  qualities.  Such  are  the  small 
trip-hammers,  striking  from  forty  to  a  hundred  blows  a  minute,  for 
drawing  out  the  tines  of  a  pitchfork  from  the  little  chunk  of 
metal  two  inches  long  from  which  the  fork  is  made.  Such  are  also  the 
countless  inventions  for  stamping,  twisting,  boring,  and  shaping  of 
the  wheels,  springs,  and  pieces  of  metal  which  enter  into  watches, 
fire-arms,  tools,  and  small  machines  of  all  kinds.  Others  are  the 
grooving  and  mortising  machines,  thoFC  for  turning  the  rims  of  pulleys,  for 
cutting  the  teeth  of  wheels,  for  paring  and  bevelling  the  edges  of  boiler-plates, 

for  planing  the   edges   of  locomotive 
frames,  for  bending  carriage-springs,  for 
cutting  the  threads  of  screws  and  l)olts, 
&c.     The  system  prevalent  in  the  best 
American  shops  leads  to  the  multiplica- 
tion of  this  class  of  machines  year  by 
year.      Invention  is  encouraged  ;  and  the  workman  is  given  a  part  of  tlio 
benefit  of  his  invention,  if  he  will  suggest  a  machine  which  will  save  manual 
labor,  and  facilitate  the  operations  of  the  shop. 

Still  another  class  of  machines  is  remarkable  chiefly  for  accuracy  of 
Ma  hi  V  operation :  these  are  the  ones  used  in  all  fine  machine-work. 
(ormakinf  Before  the  general  application  of  machinery  to  iron-working, 
inaccuracies  of  a  hundredth  part  of  an  inch  might  be  deter  ted 
by  a  very  experienced  workman,  but  no  smaller  defects  than  tliat. 
Fine  machine-work  was  almost  impossible,  because   mechanism  which  was 


TrJp- 
hammart^ 


InvenUona 
for  boring, 
twitting,  ftc 


WRBNCH. 


tnlnuta 
things. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


369 


below  a  certain  size  was  sure  to  be  full  of  inaccuracies,  and  work  badly.  All 
machinery  was  clumsy.  American  ingenuity  first  insured  absolute  accuracy  by 
the  general  use  of  machinery  in  the  making  of  the  small  parts  of  complicated 
mechinism,  and  thus  made  fine  and  delicate  mechanism  possible  by  supplying 
tlie  means  to  detect  and  measure  differences  of  a  ten-thousandth  of  an  inch. 

The  steam-riveting  machine 
is  one  of  the  new  inventions. 
It  weighs  eighteen  tons,  and  con- 
tains one  forging  of  steam  rivet- 
fne  tons.  It  rivets  »ng-«n»ch:ne. 
the  l)olt  with  a  single  blow,  and 
does  its  work  so  silently  and  rap- 
idly as  to  obviate  the  fearful  din 
of  boiler-shops  in  general,  and 
greatly  reduce  the  cost  of  opera- 
tion. 

Another  late  invention,   a.id 
one  which  carriage-sprii.     ''■>akers 
have   been    studying  m,^,  ,.^, 
for  twenty  years  how  bending  ,. 
to  construct,  is  a  ma-  ^•"'P'""* 

•pringa. 

chine  for  bending  and 
tempering  springs  at  one  opera- 
tion. It  weighs  less  than  a  ton, 
and  is  a  simple,  straightforward 
device  for  performing  a  process 
until  jiow  always  done  by  hand. 

Special  machines  are  now  made  for  most  of  the  operations  of  locomotive 
and  iron  ship  and  engine  building,  for  car-shops,  rolling-mills,  cloth  and  gun 
shops,   the   sewing-machine,   tool,  and   other  factories,   in   large 
numbers.     A  great  many  of  these  machines  are   sent   abroad,  m'kingpVrtt 
where  they  give  emphatic  pleasure,  and  receive  a  great  deal  of  ofiocomo- 
praise  on  account  of  the  originality  of  idea,  and  high  constructive  *'J^"' '"" 
ability  displayed  in  their  manufacture. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  constniction  of  iron-working  machinery 
and  of  machinists'  tools  underlies  all  other  branches  of  manufac-   utility  of 
ture.    Take  any  finished  product,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  trace   "uch  inttru- 
liackward  the  means  by  which  it  has  been  produced.     We  shall   "'"'■• 
inevitably  reach  at   length   the   hammer  and  the  cutting-tool  of  the  lathe, 
plane,  or  borer.     Upon  the  efficiency  and  accuracy  of  iron-working  tools  and 
mai  liines,  therefore,  depends  a  great  deal  more  of  human  progress  and  comfort 
than  one  would  imagine  upon  a  superficial  examination  of  what  it  is  that  pro- 
motes these  things. 


MILLBR  S-FALLS  VICB. 


»JO 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


AXES   AND   SAWS. 


•nd  cross 
cut  saw. 


The  broad-axe  and  the  cross-cut  saw  are  the  typical  agencies  for  the 
w«od  ase  working  of  wood.  The  'ormer  lays  low  the  great  tree  in  the 
backwoods :  the  latter  cuts  it  up  into  logs  which  can  be  rafted 
down  stream  to  market.  All  the  tools  which  touch  it  after  that, 
from  the  saw-mill  to  the  last  operation  in  the  shop  of  the  carpenter  and  joiner, 
are  only  modifications  of  the  parent  cutting  and  sawing  edges. 

No  implement  has  had  such  universal  use  as  the  axe :  it  was  foremost  in 
war  ;ind  in  peace  from  the  beginning  of  history  until  gunpowder  was  invented. 
Univeriai  Gunpowder  swept  the  blood-stained  battle-axe  from  the  stage  of 
use  of  Bxt.  civilized  warfare,  and  the  implement  became  then  devoted  only 
to  the  purposes  of  peace  ;  but  its  use  has  only  increased  as  time  has  rolled  on. 
The  axe  is  the  indispensable  adjunct  of  pioneer  life  in  the  woods :  it  cleared 
the  fields  and  built  the  houses  of  our  forefathers.  Wherever  population 
crowds  the  plains,  and  the  waste  timber-lands  must  be  reclaimed  to  make 
room  for  man,  the  broad-axe  is  found  swinging  in  thousands  of  hands  for  the 
conversion  of  the  wilderness  to  a  place  fit  for  the  abode  of  humanity,  l-'ven 
in  the  United  States,  where  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  the  open  country  and 
to  spare,  the  axe  is  still  vigorously  wielded  by  thirty  thousand  lumbermen, 
who  are  sent  into  the  wootls  every  year  to  get  out  the  timber  for  which  ship- 
ping, building,  and  manufacture  has  created  such  an  extraordinary  demand. 
The  axe  plays  a  part  on  every  farm.  It  lays  low  an  oak  or  a  big  maple  wiien- 
ever  the  farmer  wants  money,  and  it  gathers  the  winter's  stock  of  fire-wood 
when  the  labors  of  the  har\'est  are  over.  It  enters  into  the  economy  of  the 
household  under  every  roof  in  the  whole  wide  land. 

Until  within  fifty  years,  the  axes  used  in  America  were  imported.  A  few 
Ax  im  ™*^'^  blades  were  forged  at  the  blacksmith-shops  by  village  greens ; 
ported  until  but  the  business  was  of  so  little  account,  that  it  was  not  thought 
worthy  of  protection  by  Congress.  During  the  Revolution  and 
the  war  of  1812,  when  the  United  States  were  cut  off  from  their 
principal  source  of  supply  for  manufactures  of  iron  and  steel,  axes  were  largely 
made  by  the  American  blacksmiths ;  but  the  return  of  peace  brought  fresh 
importations,  which  checked  the  industry  again.  No  tax  was  levied  by  Con- 
gress on  an  article  of  such  extended  use  in  the  United  States,  and  so  indis- 
pensable to  the  development  of  the  country.  The  first  axe-sho|>  in 
the  country  was  started  by  Samuel  W.  and  D.  C.  Collins  of  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  in  1826.  They  thought  that  there  was  a  field  for  the  manufacture 
of  axes  here  ;  and  they  put  up  a  little  stone  trip-hammer  shop,  with  a  capa(  ity 
of  eight  axes  a  day,  and  began  drawing  patterns,  and  forging  and  tempering 
blades.  In  1828  Congress  levied  a  duty  of  thirty-five  per  cent  on  axes  to 
assist  the  dawning  industry.  The  Collinses  moved  to  Collinsville,  Conn.,  and 
opened  a  large  factory,  which  after  some  years  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  com- 


within  fifty 
yeart< 


Collini. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


371 


WOKKS  OF  DOUGLASS  AXB  COMI'ANY,  EAST   IXH'GLASS,  MASS. 


pany,  called  Collins  &  Company.  The  business  has  since  grown  to  gigantic 
proportions  and  world-wide  celebrity.  After  the  Collinses'  shops  were  opened 
others  were  started,  the  principal  ones  of  which   are   now   the  _ 

DouglaM. 

Douglass  Axe  Company  of  East  Douglass,  Mass.,  and  the  con- 
cern at  Cohoes,  N.Y.  A  numl)er  of  small  factories  are  scattered  through  the 
country  :  two  of  them  are  in  New- 
ark, N.J.  The  Collins  Factory  is 
tlie  largest  in  the  world :  it  em- 
ploys from  four  hundred  and  fifty 
to  five  Iiundred  and  fifty  men,  pro- 
duces two  thousand  axes,  sledge- 
hammers, and  cast-steel  tools  a 
day,  and  consumes  in  the  course 
of  the  year  eighteen  hundretl 
tons  of  iron,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  of  cast-steel,  and  seven  thou- 
sand of  coal. 

The  process  of  axe-making  is 
full  of  interest ;  indeed,  is  excitin;,' 
during  some  stages  of  the  manu- 
fai:ture.  The  first  operation  con- 
sists in  clipping  from  long,  flat 
bars  a  half-foot  of  American  iron,  which  is  quickly  transformed  into  the  poll 
of  an  axe,  wiiich  is  merely  the  head  and  eye,  and  al>out  half  the  process  of 
blade  ;  the  balance,  or  cutting  i)art  of  the  blade,  being  composed  •xe-m»kinB- 
of  nearly  a  jjound  of  the  best  Jessop  steel,  so  inlaid  with  the  iron  that  the 
tool  may  endure  years  of  grinding,  and  still  retain  its  fine  steel  edge.  Other 
kintls  in  the  market  can  boast  of  a  greater  spread  of  steel  surface ;  but  they 
are  entirely  innocent  of  that  sort  of  "  northern  iron,"  as  the  Prophet  Jeremiah 
temis  it,  in  the  centre  of  the  tool,  which  will  enable  it  to  stand  the  hard  usage 
in  store  for  it.  The  real  difference  between  the  two  metals  is  finely  brought 
out  in  the  polishing  jirocess,  in  which  no  amount  of  furbishing  can  leave  that 
fine  surfice  on  the  iron  which  the  steel  readily  takes,  and  which  forms  a  per- 
fect mirror  in  the  finished  im])lement. 

Passing  over  a  variety  of  intermediate  handlings,  in  which  the  essential 
olijects  obtained  are  complete  welding  of  the  two  metals  and  i)erfect  symmetry 
in  the  several  patterns  made  (all  of  which  are  accomplished  amid  the  distrac- 
tions of  an  army  of  large  and  small  tri|)-hammers,  whose  din  at  times  is  well- 
nigli  deafening  to  an  outsider),  we  reach  the  tempering-room,  where  a  score  or 
so  of  men  are  occupied  in  bringing  the  steel  to  the  projjer  degree  of  hardness, 
—  a  point  requiring  the  utmost  nicety  of  attention.  Small  furnaces  are  kept 
burnini,'  on  the  iron  tables  of  the  workmen  (or  watchmen,  rather  ;  for  about  all 
they  ilu  is  to  keep  a  keen  eye  on  the  color  assumed  by  the  iron)  ;  and,  the 


■7» 


mDVSTRtAL   HISTORY 


instant  the  right  hue  is  developed,  the  axe  goes  into  a  salt-water  bath,  which 
fixes  the  carbonized  state  of  the  iron  forever,  unless  again  put  through  the 
fiery  torture. 

I'he  next  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  axe  toward  completion  brings  us  to 
the  f^rinding  and  polishing  departments.  Some  idea  of  the  relative  importance 
of  this  branch  of  the  manufacture  may  be  had  from  the  fact  that  it  costs  one 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  grindstones  daily  to  bring  the  axe  to  the  marketable 
stage,  to  say  nothing  of  the  immense  expenditure  of  emery  in  polishing  after- 
ward. Huge  stones  from  Nova  Scotia  and  the  West  lie  about  the  shop-yards, 
full  seven  feet  in  diameter  many  of  them  ;  and  in  no  longer  than  three  weeks' 
time  they  ?re  used  up.  Many  of  the  men  ride  on  "  horses  "  while  grinding, 
thus  enabling  them  to  bring  their  whole  lx)dily  avoirdupois  to  aid  the  j)ro- 
cess  of  abrasion  ;  while  the  fine  dust  flies  in  clouds  from  the  stones  in  every 
direction,  notwithstanding  the  stones  are  all  the  time  completely  deluged  with 
water. 

The  men  in  this  section  are,  from  their  peculiarly  hazardous  work,  ruled  out 
of  all  the  life-insurance  companies ;  sinoe  the  constant  inhalation  of  the  grit 
and  bits  of  steel  thrown  off  in  the  process  induces  the  "  grinders'  consump- 
tion," as  it  is  rightly  termed,  fhim  which  a  premature  death  is  rarely  averted. 
It  is  said  that  Americans  will  not  work  in  these  rooms,  which  are  filled  by 
French  Canadians,  who  stop  a  few  years,  and  then  go  home  to  linger  a  while 
and  die. 

But  sometimes  the  peril  to  life  is  of  another  kind  altogether,  arising  from 
the  rapiility  with  which  the  stones  must  be  made  to  revolve.  A  flaw  in  the 
stone,  or  possibly  a  loosening  in  the  clamp  holding  it  upon  the  shaft,  sends  the 
flying  fragments  furiously  hither  and  thither,  —  perhaps  through  the  grinder's 
body,  or  throws  him  through  the  roof.  It  is  but  justice  to  add,  however,  that 
such  casualties  happen  only  at  rare  intervals. 

There  yet  remains  the  bevelling  of  the  poll  of  the  axe  near  the  eye,  which 
the  trade  insist  upon  in  their  orders,  and  which  was  formerly  done  by  the  slow- 
process  of  grinding  out  on  the  stones.  This  is  done  by  an  iron  wheel  thirty 
inches  in  diameter,  its  periphery  being  an  inch  tire  of  softest  iron.  Revohing 
with  great  velocity,  it  does  the  bevelling  almost  instantly,  literally  melting  that 
portion  of  the  axe  away. 

The  AiTierican  broad-axe  is  a  handsome  blade.  It  has  a  thick,  flat,  broad 
iron  head,  with  a  cast-steel  blade  slightly  flaring  as  it  approaches  the  edge,  and 
American  a  crescent-shaped  edge.  The  eye,  or  hole  for  the  wooden  handle. 
broad-axe.  gogg  straight  through  the  head.  In  this  the  axe  differs  from  the 
less  convenient  Spanish  implement,  in  which  the  handle  is  fitted  mto  a  loop  at 
the  back  of  the  blade,  on  the  principle  of  a  plantation  hoe.  Nearly  all  the 
processes  of  manufacture  are  carried  on  liy  machinery.  The  head  is  cut  ironi 
a  bar  of  iron,  the  eye  punche<l  out,  and  the  head  flattened  and  pressed  into 
shape  while   hot,  by  machines  made   for  the  purpose.      The  edge  ot  the 


OF    THE    UN/ TED   STATES. 


'73 


WORKS  OF   DOUGLAS!)  AXB  COMrANV. 


Iiead  is  grooved,  and  a  narrow  piece  of  cast-steel  welded  to  it  at  a  white- 
licat.      The    steel    is   drawn    out    to    form    the    liKule  in   the  welding-opcra- 
lion.  the  steel  being  thoroughly 
smithed  to  condense  the  metal, 
anil  render  it  tough.     The  axe 
is  tempered  very  hard  ;  and  the 
iiardiiess  is  then  ilrawn  down  to 
wlut   is   called  a  blue  temper, 
uIk'u  it  is  ground,  polisiieil,  the 
lieail  jiainted  red  or  black,  and 
tlie   axe   sent    to    the    pa(  king 
ru.)ni.      In   old   times   the    axe 
was  not  sharpened  at    the  fac- 
tory :    every   purchaser  gave    it 
an   edge    on    his    own    grind- 
stone at  home.      Dif-    Different 
trcnt  styles   of  axes    kindi  of 
are  made   for  differ-   ****■ 
cut  jiurposes  and  different  tastes. 
Some  are  made  for  the  foreign 

market  exclusively.  American  heavy  edge-tools  have  a  great  reputation 
abroad,  and  they  form  a  i)rominent  feature  in  (he  shipment  of  hardware  to 
Kngland,  Germany,  Australia,  Cuba,  and  South  .\mcrica.  .Among  the  varieties 
made  are  hatchets,  axes  for  turpentine-making,  adzes,  machetes,  cleavers, 
l)road  square,  and  crescent  blades,  &c. 

The  consumption  of  axes  is  enormous.  From  thirty  thousand  to  forty 
iliousand  men  go  out  annually  in  the  United  States  and  Canad..;  to  cut  lumber, 
the  area  cut  off  every  season  amounting  to  between  three  hundred  and  fifty 
and  four  hundred  and  fifty  scpiare  miles.  .\n  axe  seldom  lasts  a  month.  A 
handle  lasts  only  three  weeks.  Tlie  axes  are  ground  every  day,  consumption 
and  the  blade  soon  becomes  so  worn  that  it  is  tlirown  away.  The  "'  ■""•■ 
old  axes  are  not  utilized  afterward.  But,  besides  the  lumbermen  of  America, 
the  United  States  now  supply,  in  part,  the  pioneers  of  the  vast  forests  of 
South  .\merica,  where  the  harder  woods  —  the  mahogany,  rosewood,  and  other 
cabinet  timber  —  create  a  still  more  prodiuious  consumption  of  blades.  There 
is,  besides,  a  constant  demand  for  general  purposes  all  through  the  population 
of  tne  countries,  which  the  American  makers  supply. 

The  style  of  axe  preferred  varies  in  different  parts  of  America.  The  lum- 
bermen are  the  true  connoisseurs  of  blades.  .A  Maine  backwoodsman  selects 
a  long,  narrow  head,  the  blade  in  crescent  shape,  the  heaviest  part  of  the  axe 
being  in  the  head  above  the  eye.  New- York  cutters  choose  a  broad,  crescent 
blade,  the  head  rather  short,  the  weight  evenly  balanced  about  the  eye. 
A  \Vestem    lumberman    selects  a  long    blade,  the  comers    only   rounded 


•74 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


off,  the  eye  holding  the  weight  of  the  axe.     The  Canadian  chopper  pre- 
fers a  broad,  scjuare  blade,  with  the  weight  largely  in  the  blade,  the  liandle 

being  short  and  thick. 
The  difference  in  taste 
in  regard  to  the  shape 
of  the  axe  extends  also 
to  the  manner  in  which 
the  cutter  flings  himself 
at  a  tree.  An  expert  in 
the  woods  can  tell  the 
state  or  the  nationality 
of  a  man  by  glancing  at 
his  axe,  and  seeing  him 
strike  one  blow.  The 
swinging,  graceful  cut  of 
the  Down-easter,  flung  at 
the  tree  from  over  the 
left  shoulder,  with  both 
hands  at  the  extreme 
end  of  the  handle,  is 
the  model  blow.  It  is 
claimed  that  a  Yankee 
cutter  will  do  one-fifth 
more  work  in  the  sanv.' 
length  of  time  than 
either  the   direct-hitting 

flH[^pj|n^    M    ^^^^P^^P89HR^^9  nuck  (who  strikes 

■^sHB^    ™^^^^       ^^-i3B^^^r^^    from    over    the    head), 

antl  with  less  fatigue. 

The  saw  followed  the 
cirly  settlers  of  .America 
mto  iTie  forest  almost  from  the  start.  It  was  the  hand  or  cross-cut  saw  at  first, 
■Saw  and  — a  long,  Straight  piece  of  flat  steel  toothed,  fitted  with  a  handle  at 
•■wmin.  g„^].,  g^j^  ^„(l  worked  bach  and  forth  by  two  persons,  —  or  else 
a  shorter,  stiflcr  saw,  designed  to  be  used  by  one  person  by  means  of  a  handle 
at  .one  end.  Dut  sa^vmills  were  in  use  extremely  early.  The  first  of  wliich 
iTicrc  is  any  record  was  put  up  at  New  York  in  1633,  and,  in  the  al'siiice 
-fif  water-power,  was  driven  by  the  vanes  of  a  windmill.  One  was  also  Iniilt 
■Eeriy  e««b-  ^"^  Govemor's  Island  in  the  harbor,  and  in  1639  was  loaned  for 
auhmentof  a  consideration  of  five  hundred  merchantable  boards  yearly,  lialf 
*"■  oak,  half  pine.     Another  sawmill  was   in  operation   as  earlv  as 

1634,  .at  the  Falls  of  the  Piscataqua  at  Berwick,  Me.,  by  English  settlers. 


LBSTER  SAW, 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


275 


Another  was  built  at  Scituate,  Mass.,  in  1656,  under  a  stipulation  by  the 
authorities  that  the  owners  should  saw  for  the  public  before  sawing  for  them- 
selves, and  should  have  one  half  the  lumber  for  sawing  the  other  half.  Others 
were  built  on  the  Delaware,  by  the  Dutch  and  Sweiles,  before  Penn  arrived. 
America  was  a  hundred  years  in  advance  of  Kngland  in  the  employmt  nt  of 
the  sawmill.  The  liberal  Dutchmen  employed  it  in  Holland,  and  introduced  it 
both  to  Kngland  and  .America ;  but  there  was  so  much  opposition  in  England, 
tliat  Parliament  prohibited  its  use,  and  as  late  as  1760  a  sawmill  was  de- 
stroyed by  a  mob.  In  .-Xmerica  sawmills  were  a  great  boon,  and  were  gladly 
welcomed.  They  soon  came  into  general  use  throughout  the  colonies. 
They  followed  the  pioneer  everywhere,  and  formed,  with  the  gristmill,  the 
nucleus  of  every  settlement  and  neighborhood.  The  saw  in  these  mills  was 
a  straight  blade  until  about  1 790,  when  circular  plates  were  invented. 

The  saws  of  early  times  were  all  imported,  large  and  small.     There  was 
both  a  lack  of  capital  and  skill  for  making  them  here.     The  oldest  instance 
of  an  attempt  to  make  saws  in  the  United  States  is  the  case  of  p,j,j  ,,^, 
William  Rowland  of  Philadelphia  in  1802.     Other  attempts  were  wereim- 
made  :  they  all  failed.     About  forty  years  ago  the  manufacture  was   '"*"' 
finally  established  by  an   English  mechanic  named  Henry  Disston,  who  had 
served  an  apprenticeship  in  a  shop  in  Philadelphia,  and  finally  became  foreman 
of  it.     He  was  ingenious,  and  resolved  to  try  to  make  saws.     His   Henry 
early  efforts  were  on  a  small  scale.     The  plate  steel  had  to  be  im-   Dittton. 
ported  from  England,  and  was  expensive  ;   and  there  was  a  prejudice  against 
American  work  of  this  description.     Disston  managed  to  get  his  saws  at  length 
into  the  hands  of  merchants,  and  built  up  a  considerable  business.     .Ml  his 
steel  was  imported,  the  precious  scraps  of  it  being  saved,  and  sent  back  to 
Kngland  to  be  rolled  into  plates  again.     In  1861   Mr.  Disston  resolved  to  cut 
loose  from  English  steel,  if  possible,  and  make  his  plates  himself     The  tariff' 
of  tiiat  year  gave  him  protection,  and  he  fitted  up  his  shop  for  the  experiment. 
He  succeeded,  and  soon  became  an  independent  manufacturer.     The  estab- 
lishment he  built  up  is  now  the  principal  factory  of  its  class  in  .America.    Other 
saw-factories  have  been  started,   however,  and  the  industry  is  a  large  and 
rapidly-growing  one.     .All  sorts  of  saws  are  now  made.    They  range  in  size 
and  power,  from  the  delicate  watch-maker's  and  dentist's  tool  to   Kindt  of 
the  heavy  circular  plates  for  wind  and  steam  sawmills,  and  the   ••^■• 
still  larger  ones  for  working  the  gigantic  trees  of  the  Pacific  coast.     Chain 
saws  for  surgeons  are  also  made.     At  the  factory  of  R.  Hoe  &  Company,  in 
New  York,  circular  saws  are  produced  eighty  inches  in  diameter,  and  cross- 
cuts more  than  ten  feet  long.     American  saws  are  now  regularly  exported. 
Siieffield  makers  have  lost  several   important  markets  on  account  of  them 
within  the  last  five  years. 

Saws  are  made  from  ingots  of  steel,  hammered  to  condense  and  toughen 
the  metal,  and  then  rolled  out  into  plates.    The  sheets  are  slit  up  into  the 


•76 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


proper  sizes  and  shapes  for  the  liiffcrent  saws.  Tlie  cutting  edges  beiny 
Proceii  of  ground  true,  the  teelli  are  punched  out  hy  a  fly-press  :  the  rough 
making.  edges  are  then  filed  down,  and  the  teeth  sharpened.     The  blades, 

heated  to  redness,  are  jjlunged  into  a  trough  of  oil,  mixed  with  tallow,  beeswax, 
and  rosin,  to  harden  them  ;  and  then  the  hardness  is  drawn  down  to  the  right 
point  by  wiping  otT  only  a  part  of  the  composition  from  the  blade,  and  setting; 
fire  to  the  residue.  This  is  called  "blazing  off:  "  it  softens  the  blade  to  the 
right  point,  leaving  it  elastic,  and  the  teeth  hard.  The  saw  is  then  well  smithed 
on  an  anvil  of  polished  steel  to  give  uniform  density  to  the  plate  ;  and  the 
blade  is  then  ground  away  back  of  the  teeth  upon  grindstones,  this  thinning  of 
the  plate  being  one  of  the  means  resorted  to  to  i)revent  the  saw,  in  operation, 
from  being  clogged  with  sawdust.  The  teeth  of  the  saw  are  generally  pointed 
forward.  In  the  cross-cut,  which  is  designed  to  cut  both  ways,  no  jiitch  is 
given  to  them  either  way.  In  the  circular  saw  a  tooth  has  been  introduccil 
by  Mr.  Disston,  pointing  about  straight  forward,  the  under  part  being  well  cut 
away,  its  outline  strongly  resembling  that  of  a  fish-hook.  Its  advantages  a-e 
facility  of  sharpening,  and  long  wear,  without  diminishing  the  diameter  of  the 
saw.  In  all  small  saws  a  set  is  given  to  the  teeth  ;  that  is,  ihey  are  bent  out- 
wards to  right  and  left  alternately.  This  causes  the  teeth  to  make  a  cut  wider 
than  the  blade,  and  so  gives  the  latter  free  play. 


ioned  fire' 
place. 


STOVES. 

The  old-fashioned  fireplace  will  never  cease  to  be  loved  for  the  beautiful 
atmosphere  it  impaits  to  a  room,  and  the  snug  and  cheerful  effect  of  an  open 
Old  (ath.  wood-fire.  When  stoves  were  first  introduced,  a  feeling  of  un- 
utterable repugnance  was  felt  by  all  classes  toward  adopting  them  ; 
and  they  were  used  for  a  generation  chiefly  in  schoolhouses,  court- 
rooms, bar-rooms,  shops,  and  other  public  and  rough  places.  For  the  home. 
nothing  except  the  fireplace  would  do.  The  open  fire  was  the  true  centre  of 
the  home-life,  and  it  seemed  perfectly  impossible  to  everybody  to  bring  up  a 
family  around  a  stove.  It  was  once  thought  that  the  fireplace  was  an  insuffi- 
cient means  of  warming  a  house,  and  the  impression  had  its  influence  in  se(  ur- 
ing  the  introduction  of  stoves.  But  it  is  now  understood  that  the  trouble  in  oM 
times,  which  made  it  possible  to  see  one's  breath  upon  the  air  sitting  by  iIh- 
fireplace,  and  find  apples  frozen  upon  the  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room  when 
the  family  were  roasting  in  the  blaze  of  the  log-fire,  was  not  due  to  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  fireplace,  but  to  the  bad  construction  of  houses,  which  allowed 
the  cold  air  to  penetrate  to  the  interior  in  gales.  With  better  built  houses  the 
huge  fireplace  of  colonial  times  became  too  large  and  too  hot,  and  had  to  he 
reduced  in  size.  The  convenience  of  the  stove  for  cooking  had  more  influ- 
ence on  its  eventual  popularity  than  all  other  causes  combined.  Food  was 
better  cooked  in  the  old-fashioned  fireplace,  but  not  so  conveniently :  in  fact, 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


'71 


the  operation  was  a  very  slow  and  laborious  one  until  the  cooking-stove  was 

invented. 

One  of  the  first  attempts  at  a  stove  or  closed  fireplace  was  made  by  Cardi- 
nal I'olignac  in  P'rance  about  1709.     The  cardinal's  little  treatise  on  the  sub- 
ject shows  by  its  title  why  l^iropeans  could  be  easily  interested   PoUgnac't 
in  every  new  style  of  heating-apparatus.     It  was  calletl  '*  La  Mo-   •*»v«- 
(•ani(iue   du   Feu,  ou  I'Art  d'en  augmenter  les  KfTets,  et  d'en  diminuer   la 
Hepcnse."     Wood  was  becoming  scarce  in  Europe,  and  fiiel  dear.     Holland 
invented  the  plain  box-stove,  with  a  single  door  in  front  to  intro-   other  Buio- 
(liK  e   the   fuel,  a   single  hole  in  top,  and  a  small   smoke-pipe.   pe«n  inven- 
liotii  the   Holland  and  the   Poligiiac  stoves  saved  fiiel ;  but  the   *'**"'' 
peoiilc  did  not  take  to  them  for  the  same  reasons  that  retarded  their  intro- 
(liK  lion  in  America.     Franklin  paid  a  great  tleal  of  attention  to  stoves.     That 
philosopher  made  some  very  valuable 
sii;,'jiestions.     In  1 745  he  invented  a 
fireplace,   capable   of   being   closed 
completely,  in  which  the  current  of 
flame  and  air  from  the  fire  passed 
tlinniL,'!!  air-boxes  in  the  sides;  by 
vviiidi  means  nearly  all  the  heat  was 
saved,  and  radiated  into  the  room. 
The  stove  had  a  damper,  and  would 
have  been  air-tight,  except  that  cast- 
ings I  (KiKl  not  be  made  at  that  time 
tt)  fit  (lose  enough  to  be  air-tight. 
In  1771   p'ranklin   invented  a  stove 
for  bituminous  coal,  with  a  down- 
ward draught,  and  consuming  its  own 

smoke.  Count  Rumford,  an  American,  devised  many  improve- 
ments from  17S5  to  1795.  He  invented  cooking-ranges,  lined 
with  fire-brick  and  soapstone,  with  ventilating-ovens,  which  were  used  in  New 
York  in  1798,  and  in  Boston  in  1800.  The  stoves  made  in  Vermont  and 
other  places  at  that  day  were  mainly  of  the  Rumford  patterns.  Stoves  made 
very  little  headway  in  jjopular  estimation,  however,  for  a  long  period. 

Up  to  1835  stoves  were  made  at  the  bog-iron  and  other  blast-fiirnaces.  the 
plates  for  them  being  cast  direcUy  from  the  iron  in  the  smelting-  ^ 

furnaces.    The  principal  makers  were  in  Salisbur)'  and  Canaan,   facturein 
Conn.,  Rutland  County,  Vt.,  Cold  Spring,  N.Y.,  and  in  Pennsyl-  **"  ""'*** 
vania  and  New  Jersey.     The   first   furnace   to   cast   stoves  from 
pig-iron  was  built  at  New  York  in   1835  by  Jordan  L.  Mott,  who  had  been 
making  self-feeding  soft-coal   stoves  since  1827,  and  anthracite-   Pir«tc««t- 
<oal  stoves   since  1833.      In  1835  Mott  Iwught  some  immense  *«n  ttovM. 
refuse-heaps  in  the   Schuylkill   coal-yards,  and  screened  them   for  nut   and 


STOVK. 


Rumford. 


•78 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOK  Y 


Men. 


•tove  made 
In  Albany. 


pea  coal  for  his  stoves,  and  sold  it  in  New  York  to  the  owners  of  his  stoves. 
Mott's  success  was  so  great,  that,  before  the  end  of  1835,  other  stove-factories 
were  started  in  New  York  and  in  Albany  ;  Joel  Rathlione  buy- 
ing an  old  furnace  in  the  latter  place  for  the  purpose,  and 
thus  beginning  the  stove-business  as  a  regular  inilustry  in  that  city.  The 
manufacture  began  in  Providence,  R.I.,  at  nearly  the  same  time. 
It  was  about  this  time  that  Dr.  Kliphalet  Nott  of  Union  College 
began  experimenting  with  stoves.  The  talented  president  of  the  college 
was  a  great  mechanical  genius ;  and,  like  Franklin,  he  spent  years  of  lalM)r. 
and  thousands  of  dollars,  in  perfecting  the  base-burner  and  other  stoves. 
The  stove-trade  is  under  a  great  weight  of  obligation  to  the  old  doctor, 
who  never  himself  reaped  the  harvest  of  what  he  had  so  laboriously  and 
wisely  sown.     Others  made  fortunes  from  his  ideas. 

The  oj)ening  of  the  Krie,  the  Champlain,  and  other  canals  and  routes  of 
transj)ortation,  gave  an  immense  impulse  to  the  stove-business  by  chea|)eninj,' 
the  transportation  both  of  the  stoves  and  also  that  of  coal.  'Ihe  iiatterns  i)f 
stoves,  too,  were  improving  very  fast,  and  the  convenience  of  cooking-stoves 
was  beginning  to  be  understood.  The  manufacture  of  cooking-stoves  espe- 
Cookine-  cially  increased  with  great  rapidity.  The  early  |)atterns  in  .Mbany 
were  the  ten-plate  oval  stoves,  with  the  oven  above  the  fire,  and 
a  single  hole  in  the  top.  The  saddle-bag  pattern  came  ne.\t,  tlie 
oven  being  in  the  middle,  over  the  fire,  and  the  stove-collar  and  pipe  over  it ; 
while  on  either  side  were  oval  projections,  a  boiler-hole  in  each,  level  wiili  tlic 
stove-top.  The  next  pattern  was  the  horse-block  stove,  the  rear  part  being 
a  step  higher  than  the  front.  A  rotary  stove  was  also  made,  with  a  movable 
top  to  bring  any  particular  vessel  directly  over  the  fire.  Then  came  the 
parent  of  the  modern  cooking-stove,  the  Huck,  for  wood  and 
coal,  with  the  fire  above  the  oven,  which  carried  the  flame  arouiui. 
behind,  and  below  the  oven,  the  ojiening  into  the  stove-pipe  being  about  on 
a  level  with  the  oven-floor.  There  have  been  several  hundred  modifications 
of  this  pattern  of  cooking-stove.  In  heating-stoves  there  have  been  many 
changes  and  improvements,  the  base-burning  and  self-fcei'ing  principle  being 
applied  to  the  greater  number,  but  many  popular  heaters  being  the  ordinary 
coal-burner,  with  the  draught  through  the  whole  mass  of  coal.  In  all,  tlierc 
Number  of  '^^^^  been  nearly  a  thousand  patents  issued  in  this  country  for 
patent*  stoves ;  and  the  manufacture  has  now  become  so  skilful,  and  the 

iaaued.  stoves  SO  tight,  their  conveniences  for  cooking  so  perfect,  and  the 

blaze  of  the  fires  of  the  parlor-stoves,  shining  out  through  mica  windows,  so 
cheerful,  that  the  fireplace  has  been  practically  superseded  even  in  country 
houses,  and  the  stove  is  in  universal  use. 

Magnitude  There  are  now  about  220  firms  and   companies   engaged  in 

q|  industry,  ^his  industry  in  the  country.  They  consume  from  250,000  to 
340,000  tons  of  pig-metal  yearly,  and  employ  about  28,000  men,  producing 


Tlie  Buck. 


OF    THE    UN/ TED   STATES. 


a  79 


from  3,100,000  to  3,686,000  stoves  a  year,  worth  al)out  550,000,000.  The 
stoves  made  vary  in  size,  from  tlie  minute  {{as  and  petruleum  burning  affairs 
(with  which  cx|)criment  is  now  making),  all  the  way  through  the  long  list 
of  large  ami  small  cooking-stuves,  —  with  two,  four,  six,  and  eight  holes 
for  kettles,  and  with  fixed  boilers  and  double  ovens,  —  to  the  large  ranges, 
ca|)al)le  of  cooking  for  the  thousand  guests  of  a  large  hotel,  and  the  furnaces 
for  the  basements  of  buililings,  capable  of  heating  structures  of  every  size, 
from  a  dwelling  to  a  court-house.  The  largest  firms  are  in  .Mlxiny,  'I'roy, 
I'liil.idelithia,  HulTalo,  Pittsburgh,  C'lirveland,  Dayton,  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  St. 
Louis,  Milwaukee,  Huston,  Norwich,  I'rovitlence,  Portland,  Manchester,  and 
U  heeling.  Perhaps  no  persons  have  displayed  greater  energy  in  pushing  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  their  wares  than  the  stove-makers.  Of  the  superior- 
ity of  oa(  h  new  invention  as  it  ap])care<l  the  public  has  lM.*en  (juickly  and 
thoroughly  informed  through  the  medium  of  the  press  and  in  other  ways.  The 
production  in  1876  was  distributed  throughout  the  difTerent  States  as  fol- 
lows :  — 


•TATB. 


Maine  . 

New  Hampshire 

Vermont 

M;i>s.ithu.>ctt8 

Rhode  Island 

Coniictticiit 

New  York    . 

New  Jersey . 

Pennsylvania 

Maryland 

Virj;inia 

\Ve»t  Virginia 

Georgia 

Mitliigan 

Ohio    . 

KcntiR-ky     . 

Mi»ouri 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Wisconsin   . 

Iowa    . 

Kansas 

California    . 

Total 


a8o 


INDUSTRIAI    HISTORY 


Like  the  sewing-machine-makers,  the  stove-makers  are  indebted  for  part 
of  their  popularity  and  larce  sales  to  the  county  fairs  of  the  coun- 

CountyUirs.  ,  ,        ,  ,      ,  ,    ,  ,  •   , 

try,  where  they  have  hail  numerous  and  sharp  competitions,  which 
advertised  them  extensively. 


SAFES. 

The  suhjcrt  of  strong-boxos  to  secure  valuable  articles  and  money  against 
fire  and  theft  attracted  very  little  attcnli"n  in  this  country  until  after  the  rise 
The  strong-  of  the  commercial  cities  upon  the  coast,  i'hc  strong-box,  i)ir- 
''**•  vious  to  1820,  was  nothing  more  than  a  heavy  oaken  chest.     Its 

contents  were  protected  from  robbery  merely  by  a  stout  lock  and  the  blundii- 
buss   of  its  owner.     Its  only  security  against  ^\\^^  was  the  address  and   llic 


MARVIN  SAFE. 


Strong  muscles  of  the  occupants  of  the  buiUling  where  a  fire  broke  out.  bi 
Europe,  where  wealth  abounded,  and  the  industrial  arts  had  been  developed. 
the  people  were  scarcely  any  better  off  for  strong-boxes.  A  few  iron  colters 
with  complicated  locks  were  in  use;  but  the  great  majority  of  those  who  Iki'I 
occasion  to  stow  away  valuables  at  all  depended  upon  wooden  chests  ami 
their  own  personal  vigilance  for  their  protection.  These  chests  were  often- 
times gilded  over  every  inch  of  the  visible  surface,  and  decorated  with  ]>aint- 
ings,   being  very   showy  and   costly  articles    of   furniture.     They  were   no 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


s8i 


protection  against  fire ;  and  in  this  respect  the  world  was  no  better  off  than 
in  tJK'  (lavs  of  King  Priam  of  Iroy,  whose  treasure,  carried  in  a  wooilen  box 
with  a  copper  ivcy,  was  left  on  the  walls  of  I'roy  at  the  fall  of  the  city,  anil 
was  (lug  from  the  calcined  ruins  by  Dr.  Schliemann  in  1873,  its  contents  half 
uK'lted  and  distorted  by  fire. 

The  earliest  safes  us(hI  in   this  country  were  imported  from   France  about 
I S20  bv  Joseph  Houchaud.  a  merchant  of  New  York  engaged  in   Earliest 
vi-'rv  extensive   commercial  transactions.      They  were  called    fire-    "''•• 
proof.     They  were  simply  boxes  of  hard  wood   |)late(l   on  the  outside  with 
thi(  k  iron,  and  on  the  inside  with  sheet  iron.     Hands  of  iron  two 

•1-11  Bouchaud. 

UK  hcs  wide    covered    the   outside   ot    the   chests,  crossing  each 
other  at  r'uln  angles,  and  being  secured  in  |)lace  by  heavy  wrought-iron  nails, 
whicii   penetn.ted   through  band,  plate,  and   box.  and  were  secured  on   the 
iii>itlc  by  clinching.     These  boxes  were  bought  by  merchants  and  bankers  in 
large  numbers  for  several  years.     James  Conner,  a  type-founder  of  New- York 
Citv,  invented  a  better  safe  tiian  this  tor  his  own  use  about  this  time,  but  does 
not  appear  \.o  have  realized  the  value  of  the  invention,     (lypsum,  or  plaster 
of  Paris,  had  long  been  used  in   l-'rance  tor  building  fire-proof  houses.     Con- 
lUT  was  familiar  with   the  (pialities  of  this  substance,  plaster  of  Paris  having 
liocn  at  that  day  extensively  used  in  making  the  moulds  for  casting  stereotype- 
jilates ;  and  he  applied  it  to  the  protection  of  an  iron  chest  he  had   in   his 
ofticc,   and   which    he    continued    to    use    thereafter   for  many   years.     Had 
Conner  been   visited   with    tiie    calamity  of  a    fire,   he   would   have    become 
;nv;ue  of  the  properties  of  his  safe.     As  it  was,  its  value  was  not  made  known 
to  liic  world:    and  the  first  manufacturer  of  safes  of  whom  there  is  any  ac- 
toant,  Jesse    Deland   of  New  York,  began  :naking  fire-jjroof  strong-boxes,  in 
iS:(),   of  the    Paris  pattern  ;    that  is,  of  wood  plated  with  iron. 
lie  patented  one  im[)rovement  upon  this  style  of  box,  however, — 
the  ( oating  of  the  wood  with  a  mixture  of  clay,  lime,  jjlumbago,  and  mica, 
to  make  it  incombustible;  and  "he  also  thought  of  saturating  the  wood  with 
potash,  lye,   and  alum,  for  the   same   purpose.      In  1S33  Charles 
I.  liaylor  patented  the  idea  of  using  a  lining  of  asbestos  between 
the  iron  plating  and  the  wooden  box.      His  asbestos  fire-jnoof  safes  had  a 
large  sale  ;  and  one  of  them,  preserving  its  contents  in  a  fire  at  'I'homaston, 
Mc.,  was  dubbed  a  salamander  by  some  admiring  individual  ;  and  the  name 
has  often  been  applied  to  safes  since  that  date.     Deland  and  (la) lor  both 
sokl   large   numbers   of  their  strong-boxes  ;  but  there  were  only  sixty  of  the 
latter  in  use  when  the  great  fire  of  1835  took  place  in  New-York  City,  and 
very  few  of  them  proved  serviceable  in  the  intense  heat  of  that  great  confla- 
gration.    Something  more  efficient  than  that  jjattern  was  needed, 
mid  inventors  and  chemists  began  to  think  of  the  matter.     John 
iicott  invented  another  asbestos  safe,  and  in  1837  Henjamin  Sherwood  got  a 
patent  for  one  with  charcoal  and  plaster-of- Paris  filling. 


Deland. 


Caylor. 


Sherwood. 


283 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Fitzgerald. 


Herring. 


It  soon  became  evident  that  substances  like  fire-clay,  asbestos,  mica,  &c.. 
which  were  absolutely  indestructible  themselves,  were  not,  after  all,  the  rigln 
matenal  for  fire-proof  safes.      In  a  hot  fire  they  became  heated  to  redness 
and  even  to  a  white-heat  themselves,  and  accordingly  destroyed  the  books, 
papers,  bank-notes,  and  other  contents  of  the  safes.     The  need  of  the  hour 
was  for  something  which  should    not    conduct    heat.      In    1843 
Daniel  Fitzgerald  invented  the  safe  with  outer  and  inner  boxes 
of  iron,  the  space  between  being  either  vacant,  or  filled  with  plaster  of  Paris 
mixed  with  water,  and  poured  in.     The  plaster,  setting  hard,  and  taking  tlic 
water   into   combination,   formed    an   excellent    jjrotecting    material.      W  hen  • 
subjected  to  heat,  it  gave  out  its  water  as  steam,  which  is  itself  a  valualile 
non-conductor ;  and  the  contents  of  the  safes  were  protected  in  a  manner 
previously  unknown.     Fitzgerald  had  a  contest  over  his  invention  with  Mr. 
Conner,  who  now  came  forward  to  claim  the  merit  of  originating  that  st)le  of 
safe.     The  courts  confirmed  the  jiatent  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  however,  on  the 
ground  of  ecjuity  and  sound  public  policy,  Mr.   Conner  not  having   made 
public  his  idea,  and  thus  secured  the  right  to  it.      Knos  Wilder  becoming 
associated  with   Fitzgerald,  the  safes  were  introduced  to  the  market  as  the 
"Wilder  Patent  Salamander  Fire-Proof  Safes."     The  patent  was  translerred 
to   H.  Ci.  Wilder  in   1844.      Mr.  Silas  C.  Herring  had  bci  uine 
interested  in  this  patent  in  1841,  and  had  obtained  the  right  to 
make  them  ;  which  he  still  retained  after  1844.     Herring  began  in  a  small  w;iy 
in  the  cellar  of  a  Water-street  store  in  New  York,  but  soon  became  the  prin- 
cipal manufacturer  of  safes  in   the  United  States.     The  business  becoming 
profitable,  Roberts  &  Rich  began  the  manufacture  of  chests  with  the  plasier- 
of-Paris  filling  also.     This  led  to  lawsuits  and  a  compromise,  by  which  both 
firms  were  to  carry  on  the  manufiicture.     In   1854  Herring  tS:  Company  virtu- 
ally abandoned  the  Wilder  patent  for  one  of  their  own.     They  had  advertised 
for  a  better  filling  than  plaster,  and  i)roniised  a  thousand  dollars'  re  wan!  lor 
the  discovery.    Mr.  Spear,  a  chemist  of  Philadelphia,  found  that  chalk  tre;ited 
with  sidphuric  acid,  washed  and  dried,  and  then  rammed  into  a  safe  in  a  line 
powder,  had  superior  (lualities  to  plaster  of  Paris.      It  gave  up  its  water  ol 
combination  more  slowly  and  in  Jess  (luantity,  i)rotecting  the  safe  better,  and 
obviating  a  dangerous  tendency  of  the  Wilder  filling,  in  fires,  to  fill  the  sale 
with  steam,  and  obliterate  the  precious  writing  in  books  and  papers,  and  also, 
when  in  ordinary  use,  to  rust  the  safe  by  slow  evaporation  from  day  to  day. 
Herring  &  Company  devoted  themselves  to    utilizing   this  new 
idea  ;  and  R.  ().  Wilder,  Roberts  i*v:  Rich,  and  their  successors, 
manufactured  tmder  the  old  patent.     Herring  took  a  first  premium  at  the 
World's  Fair  in  London.     It  is  claimed  by  the  firm,  that,  since  their  humble 
beginning  in  1841,  they  have  made  antl  sold  four  million  safes. 

There  have  been  a  great  many  improvements  in  the  salamander  qualit.es  of 
safes  since  i860.    The  patents  have  been  very  numerous.     Roberts  &  Rit^hi 


Wilder. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


283 


ca,  &c.. 

lie  riglu 

redness 

J  books, 

:he  hour 

In   1843 

er  boxes 
of  Paris 

iking  tlie 

.      When  • 
vaUialile 

a  manner 

with  Mr. 

t  style  of 

;r,  on  the 

ing   made 

becoming 

ket  as  the 

transferred 

id  beionie 

le  right  to 

1  small  way 

e  the  inin- 
bceoniing 

the  plasler- 

vvhich  b'llii 

ipany  virui- 
advertised 
reward  for 
lalk  treated 
|o  in  a  fine 
(ts  water  ot 
better,  and 
Ifdl  the  safe 
[s,  and  also, 
(lay  to  day. 
^r   this  new 
succe^^ors. 
iium  at  the 
jheir  humble 

I  (jualit'.'^^  of 
Jrts  ^:  1'^'^'^' 


and  their  successors,  Rich  &  Roff,  Roff  &  Steams,  and  Steams  &  Marvin,  con- 
tiniie<l  to  experiment  with  the  Wilder  patent ;  but  an  improvement  other 
upon  the  hydrated  plaster  which  they  used  was  at  length  effected,  inventon. 
wliereby  the  safes  were  filled  with  calcined  plaster,  rammed  in  dry,  with  small 
lMni])s  of  alum  scattered  through  the  mass.  Alum  contains  fifty  jjer  cent  of 
water  in  combination,  which  is  given  ofT  only  at  a  heat  of  212°  Fahrenheit. 
Tlie  tendency  to  rust  the  safe  has  been  oln  iated  by  this  arrangement,  and  the 
Marvin  True- Standard  safe  is  now  made  upon  this  principle. 


HERRING  SAFE. 


Among  recent  inventions  are  the  following :  the  use  of  common  salt  for 
filling,  a  <  cment  filling  with  small  water-vessels  stopped  with  glue  or  mucilage, 
tlay  or  concrete  simply  as  non-conductors,  air-spaces  containing  More  recent 
vessels  of  water  to  give  off  steam  during  a  fire,  the  use  of  non-   improve- 
coiidui  ting  niateiial  between  the  plates  of  the  door  and  the  door-   ""'"*"• 
easing,  and  a  wall  made  in  layers,  thus, — a  wooden  inner  casing,  a  layer  of 
felt,  a  metallic  lining,  a  layer  of  cement,  a  water-chamber,  a  layer  of  cement, 
and  an  external  metallic  casing.      The  safes  made  within  the  last  ten  years 
have  been  extremely  serviceable.     In  recent  great  fires  in  Boston,  Chicago, 
and  Now  York,  they  have  repeatedly  brought  their  contents  through  unscathed, 
thongli  hidden  in  the  burning  ruins  of  buildings  for  two  or  three  days.     The 


a84 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


industry  has  now  become  very  large.  Factories  have  been  started  in  Chicago, 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  New  York,  and  elsewhere.  Safes  are  manufactured  at 
an  average  cost  of  three  hundred  dollars,  and,  having  been  thus  popularized, 
are  purchased  in  immense  numbers.  None  have  ever  been  imported,  except 
the  few  strong-boxes  brought   from    France  about  1820:   on   the   contrary, 


MBRRING   BURGLAR-PROOF  SAFE. 


many  are   now  being  exported,  especially  to  South  America,  France,  and 
Germany. 

To  be  fire  •  .  is  not  the  only  quality  of  a  good  safe,  nor  the  only  tiling 
wliich  renders  it  in  such  universal  demand.  No  one  wants  a  safe  lutw 
Burglar.  unless  it  is  at  the  same  time  burglar-proof.  The  first  decided  >H-'[) 
proof  locks,  in  ti^g  direction  of  a  box  which  would  defy  the  adroit  tliief, 
whose  resources  of  drills,  files,  saws,  gunpowder,  sledge-hammers,  wedges, 
blow-pipes  for  softening  steel,  &c.,  are  so  varied,  was  taken  by  Mr.  Lillie  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


285 


lYoy,  N.Y.,  who  was  Herring's  early  competitor.  Mr.  Lillie  employed  thick 
slal)s  of  chilled  cast-iron,  pouring  cast-iron  over  wrought-iron  Liiiie't 
ribs  in  their  construction.  Safes  of  this  style  were  largely  used  '"vent'o"- 
l)y  l)anks  both  for  their  large  vaults  and  the  inner  strong-box,  which  constituted 
onlv  a  single  feature  of  the  furniture  of  its  interior.  Lillie's  chilled  iron  is  still 
largely  used ;  but  it  has  been  penetrated  with  the  drill,  and  blown  up  with 
l)()\v(ier.  Herring  &  Company,  within  the  last  fifteen  years,  have  adopted 
the  plan  of  using  an  external  casing  of  boiler-plate,  and  an  inner  casing  of 
steel,  filling  the  intermediate  space  with  Franklinite,  the  hardest  of  all  known 
ores.  This  safe  has  deSed  the  drill-and-file  burglars  who  once  penetrated  to 
bank-safes  by  digging  under  the  vault  in  secret,  and  operating  at  leisure  on  the 
(loor,  or  by  working  in  from  an  adjoining  building.  They  have  been  thrown 
into  despair  by  the  use  of  Franklinite,  and  are  driven  to  operate  solely  on  the 
lock  and  the  doors  of  the  safe  and  vault.  The  doors  and  locks  having  now 
been  made  so  tight  that  gunpowder  cannot  be  blown  into  the  crevices  and 
explofled,  a  safe  completely  burglar  and  fire  proof  seems  to  have  been  secured. 
Joseph  L.  Hall  of  Cincinnati,  who  established  the  business  of  safe-making  in 
that  city  in  1848,  also  brought  out  a  good  safe.  The  company  which  manu- 
factures them  employs  walls  of  alternate  plates  of  iron,  welded  iron  and  steel, 
and  carbonized,  decarbonized,  and  crystal  steel,  the  whole  united  by  bolts  from 
the  inside.  What  new  resources  the  burglars  may  bring  to  bear  against  the 
strong-box  can  only  be  learned  by  time  ;  but,  for  the  present,  the  race  of 
nialignants  appears  to  be  completely  defeated. 

.\s  the  subject  of  locks  will  be  treated  elsewhere,  nothing  further  need  be 
said  about  them. 


Iron-bridge 
making  b 
new  in- 
dustry. 


IRON    BRIDGES. 

The  construction  of  this  class  of  engineering  works  of  iron  and  steel  is 
one  of  the  new  industries  of  the  United  States.  It  has  come  into  being 
within  tlie  last  thirty  years,  and  has  attained  its  importance 
within  the  last  fifteen.  It  is  now  one  of  the  ten  or  twelve  princi- 
pal iron  and  steel  consuming  ind'istries  of  the  country.  Before 
the  stoppage  of  railroad-building  in  1873  by  the  panic  of  that 
year,  150,000  tons  of  pig-metal  were  absorbed  annually  in  the  iron-bridge 
lactories. 

With  rare  exceptions,  all  the  early  long  bridges  of  the  country  were  of 
wood.  The  short  bridges  were  generally  of  wood ;  but  here  and  there,  on 
well-traversed  rural  roads  or  city  streets,  bridges  were  occasionally  wood 
built  of  stone,  with  massive  arches  and  rising  roadway.  In  18 10  Bridget. 
there  were  eight  bridges  in  the  country  built  on  the  suspension  principle,  the 
plank  roadway  in  each  being  supported  by  two  heavy  chains  hung  across  the 
stream,  passing  over  tall  stone  towers  on  the  shore,  and  anchoring  themselves 
in  a  mass  of  masonry  back  of  the  towers.    The  first  of  these  bridges  was  built 


286 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Toll-bridges. 


in  1 80 1  over  Jacob's  Creek.  A  patent  for  these  was  obtained  by  James 
Finlay  in  1808.  The  chief  of  the  eight  referred  to  were  over  the  Falls  of  the 
Schuylkill,  with  306  feet  span ;  over  the  Potomac,  at  Cumberland,  Md.,  with 
130  feet  span  ;  over  the  Brandywine,  at  Wilmington,  with  145  feet  span  ;  and 
over  the  Potomac,  near  Washington.  The  suspension  principle  was  first 
applied  to  bridges  in  the  United  States.  The  English  engineers  did  not  take 
up  the  idea  until  18 14.  Wood,  however,  was  the  popular  material  for  bridges. 
It  was  easily  worked,  did  not  cost  much,  and  was  sufficiently  serviceable  for 
the  travel  of  that  age.  Even  wooden  bridges  were  not  built  where  they  could 
be  avoided,  because  few  localities  were  rich  enough  to  bear  the  expense  ui 
them.  Streams,  lakes,  and  bays  were  forded  or  ferried,  whenever  possible. 
The  inscription  on  a  crumbling  gravestone  in  an  ancient  graveyard  at  \Vater- 
town,  Mass.,  "  He  built  the  famous  bridge  over  the  Charles  River  in  this  town ' 
(a  little  wooden  affair,  only  thirty  feet  long),  shows  how  rare  the  briilge- 
builders  were  in  early  times,  and  how  much  of  an  incident  it  was  to  throw  a 
roadway  over  a  stream. 

The  toll-bridges  built  along  from  1810  to  1840  by  the  private  companies 
chartered  for  the  purpose  by  the  legislatures,  were,  almost  without 
exception,  of  wood. 
With  the  era  of  railroad  and  canal  building,  bridge-building  received  an 
impetus,  and  became  a  special  art.  Highways  had  to  be  carried  across  canals, 
Railroads  'i"^^  railways  across  ravines ;  and  the  country  became  stocked 
with  bridges.  These,  again,  were  generally  of  wood  ;  and  a  great 
deal  of  ingenuity  was  expended  in  die  invention  of  woudcn 
framework  which  would  have  the  reciuisite  stiffness  and  strength 
for  spanning  200  and  250  feet  chasms,  and  at  the  same  time 
consume  the  smallest  aniount  of  material  in  the  structure.  Howe,  Burr.  Long. 
and  McCallum  became  known  as  inventors  of  successful  trusses  for  the  inir- 
poses  of  the  railroads  and  canals,  and  their  patterns  were  extensively  utilised 
in  bridges.  The  wooden  bridges  were  heavy,  clumsy,  and  unornamentai.  and. 
Defects  of  vmCX  the  comjianies  knew  how  to  protect  them  from  the  wcatiicr 
wood  and  from  fire,  short-lived.     It  may  be  said,  however,  that   they 

bri  ees.  \\^x(t  alwavs  favorites  with  the  railroad  companies  and  muni'  ipal 

corporations,  because  of  their  comparative  cheapness,  and  they  are  still,  and 
are  being  largely  used  to-day.  Notable  bridges  of  wood  have  been  built.  c\en 
of  late  years,  since  the  pa.ssion  has  been  for  a  different  material.  The  1  ridge 
at  Bellows  Falls,  and  the  Suscjuehanna  Bridge,  put  up  by  the  I'hiladeli.iiia, 
Wilmington,  and  Baltimore  Railroad  Company  at  a  cost  of  ^2,000,000,  with 
2150  feet  spans,  are  among  the  number. 

When  sub-  "'       ,  .        .       ,  .  ,  ,  i       „<■ 

ject  first  en-  About  1S45  attention  in  this  country  was  drawn  to  the  vakie  ot 

gaged  atten-    jfon  for  bridge-buikling.     The  .\merican  idea  of  chain-bridges  had 

been   adopted   abroad,  and   the   use   of  wire  was  substituted  in 

them  for  that  of  iron  chains.     Wrought- iron  beams  were  being  largely  used 


and  canals 
gave  great 
impetus  to 
this  indus- 
try. 


*^ 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


a87 


James 
of  the 
I.,  with 
n  ;  ami 
as   first 
o\.  take 
bridges, 
able  lor 
;y  could 

)ense  ot 
possible. 
It  Water- 
is  town ' 
;  bridiic- 
)  throw  a 

;ompanies 
iSt  wiUiout 

;ceived  an 
OSS  canals, 
e   stocked 
nd  a  great 
)f  wooden 
d  strength 
ame   time 
Surr.  Long. 
jr  the  pur- 
ly  utiluetl 
ental.  and, 
Ihe  weaii-.cr 
that  they 
munii  ipal 
still,  and 
built,  even 
:he  Vvidg<-' 
iladLii'liia. 
000.  with 

he  vaUie  of 
[ridges  had 
Istitutcd  in 
irgely  u^^^ 


in  the  construction  of 
houses  and  stores.  Iron 
rods  were  being  freely 
introtluced  into  wooden 
trusses  and  into  roofs. 
The  additional  lightness 
and  strength  of  structure 
gauu'd  by  the  use  oi 
iron  caused  engineers  t') 
study  the  capacities  of 
this  metal  as  the  soK' 
material  for  trusses  and 

framework.    Early  exper- 

Kxperiments   '■"«""• 
in  Kurope  to  determine 
til--    tensile   strength   of 
materials    gave    an    im- 
petus   to    the    growing 
tendency.      The  conse- 
■]uence  was,  that  a  ninn- 
iier    of    iron -makers    in 
liiiTerent    parts    of    the 
(onntry    made    a     few 
short   iron-truss  bridges 
of  angle  and  plate  iron 
and  stout  bars,  and  p:\t 
them     up     for    railroad 
companies   over    short 
spans    as    experiments. 
There  was  considerable 
popular  doubt  as  to  the 
behavior  of  iron  frame- 
work   in    the    cold     of 
winter  and  extreme  heat 
o;'  summer  ;   and  confi- 
lienee,  always  a  plant  of 
■>lo\v    growth,    was    not 
conceded    to    the    new 
•>'.ructures    until    after 
vears  of   trial.       .-\bont 
'iie  time  of  the  war  they 
!>egan  to  come  into  gen- 


eral use  on  railroads  and  canals. 


388 


INDUS  TRIA  I.    ///S  TOK  Y 


A  new  era  of  suspension-bridges  began  about  the  same  time  as  interest 
awoke  in  iron-truss  bridges.  The  needs  of  the  railway  system  of  the  I'laslLTii 
Suspeniion-  States  recfuired  the  crossing  of  the  chasm  of  tiie  Niagara  River  at 
bridge!.  sonie  point  near  the  Falls.     John  .\.  Rocbling,  an  .American  engi- 

neer, i^roposed  a  suspension-bridge  of  wire  below  the  Falls.  So  much  ability 
was  manifested  in  his  plans,  that  he  obtained  the  contract  to  build  the  bridi^e 
against  the  competition  of  all  the  noted  builders  of  Fngland. 
ij  ^luding  Sir  James  Fairbarn.  The  structure  was  erected  about 
the  year  1846  w.th  821  feet  span,  the  material  being  supplied  by  the  Ph(enix- 
ville  Bridge  Works  of  Pennsylvania.  Roebling  afterward  put  up  the  Cincinnati 
and  Covington  Bridge,  with  1,057  feet  span.  It  was  completed  in  1.S67. 
Niagara  River  was  afterwards  spanned  by  another  suspension-bridge,  called  the 
"  Clifton,"  1,268  feet  long  from  tower  to  tower.  It  was  a  less  important  struc- 
ture than  the  former,  however,  as  it  was  designed  only  for  wagon-travel.  Few 
suspension-bridges  have  been  put  up  besides  these.  The  preference  is  fur  the 
other  style  of  structure. 

I'p  to  1862  all  the  iron  truss  bridges  built  were  of  short  s|)an.  Tiic 
Schuylkill  Bridge,  with  spans  of  192  feet,  and  the  Green  River  and  the  Monon- 
gahela,  with  spans  of  200  feet  (the  latter  built  by.Mbert  Fink),  were  the  longest 
in  the  United  States.  In  1862  the  Steubenville  Bridge  was  designed  by  J.  H. 
First  long  Linville,  containing  one  span  320  feet  long.  This  was  the  piunccr 
•pans.  Qf  long-span  structures.     The  Monongahela  Bridge  at  Pittsburgli, 

with  spans  of  260  feet,  was  undertaken  the  same  year.  These  structures  wltc 
closely  studied  by  engineers  in  all  the  States.  Each  one  was  an  experiment, 
requiring  special  ♦ests  of  material,  special  rolling-mills  to  get  out  the  angle  and 
T  iron,  special  patterns  of  plates  and  beams,  and  separate  appliances  for  erec- 
tion. They  were  all  truss  bridges,  the  plates  and  beams  being  fastened 
together  by  riveting,  and  the  bars  and  rods  being  fitted  to  their  places  to  brace 
the  structure  by  nuts  and  screws.  After  the  completion  and  success  of  these 
works  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  ordered  two  long-span  bridges  for  their 
road,  one  of  which  was  built  at  Parkersburgh,  with  two  spans  of  348  feet,  four 
of  200  feet,  and  several  shorter  ones.  The  other  was  erected  at  Bellairo.  at  a 
cost  of  $1,000,000.  It  had  one  span  of  348  feet,  one  of  250,  four  of  200  feet, 
and  a  number  of  107  feet  spans,  the  approach  consisting  of  forty-three  stone 
arches  of  twenty-eight  feet  four  inches  each.  Nothing  has  seemed  impossible 
since  the  construction  of  these  works.  A  general  introduction  of  large  iron 
bridges  has  taken  place  accordingly  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  especially 
in  the  West.  The  wooden  structures  have  been  taken  away  as  they  have  be- 
_    ,  ,,    ,     come  worn  out  or  shattered  by  freshets,  and  have  been  replaced 

Exploits  of  ■'  '  J 

the  West  In    with  the  lighter  and  more  substantial  bridges  of  iron.     New  roads 
have  been  generally  built  with  iron  viaducts  only. 

The  West  has  been   the  theatre   of  the  greatest  exploits  in 
bridge-building  up  to  the  present  time,  because  of  the  greater  necessity  for  the 


bridge- 
making 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


389 


itcrest 
Eastern 
Aver  at 
\  cngi- 

abilily 

briilpe 
ni^laml, 
I  al)o»it 
I'htenix- 
nrinnati 
n    1S67. 
ailed  the 
.nt  slruc- 
el.     Fl>w 
is  fur  the 

lan.  The 
c  Monon- 
he  longest 

ibyJ.H. 
ne  pioneer 
Fittsbvirgh. 
;tures  were 
xperinient. 

angle  and 
k  for  erec- 
|g   fastened 

:s  to  brare 
|ss  of  these 

res  for  their 
feet,  four 

lellaire.  at  a 

,f  200  feet. 

three  stone 

inip'-'^^'^'*'' 
large  iron 
t  especially 
:y  have  be- 
in  replaced 
I»{ew  roads 

exploits  in 
Issity  for  tli« 


creation  of  v  i  a  cl  nets 
across  j,'reat  streams.  In 
1S67  a  fiaiiifi-britige  was 
begun  across  the  Ohio 
River  at  Louisville,  whicli 
took  tliree  years  to  com- 
plete, having  spans  of 
400  feet ;  and  the  New- 
port  and  Cincinnati 
Jinilge  was  erect  cm! 
alior.i  the  same  time, 
Willi  a  great  span  of  420 
ket,  which  remains  to 
ilie  present  time  the 
largest     truss    in    the 

United  States.  A  very 
interesting  structure  was 

built  at  St.  Joseph,  >[o., 

in  1872-73,  across  the 

Missouri     River.      The 

current  of  the    river   is 

of  frightful  velocity  and 

force  at  this  point,  and 

tlie  work  of  constructing 

llie   piers   was    a   great 

engineering    task.      I  n 

order    to    prepare    the 

river     to     receive     the 

bridge   it  was  necessary 

10  eon  hue   the    current 

to    a   specific    channel, 

so  that  it  might  not  af- 
terward wear  away  the 

abutments.       Tliis    was 

successfully    done     by 

Col.  v..   I),  ^rason,  the 

engineer   in   charge  ;   a 

sand-bar    more    than"  a 

mile  long  and  half  a  mile 

^vide,  containing  8,000,- 

000  cubic  yards  of  earth, 

l^eing  removed    in    the 

operation.    The   bridge   is    1,345   feet  long  from  bank  to   bank,  and  cost 


390 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


J  1, 000,000.  Another  groat  bridge  was  thrown  across  the  Missouri  at  St.  Charles, 
for  the  St.  Louis,  Kansas-City,  ami  Northern  Short- Line  Railroad,  by  a  com- 
pany which  leases  it  to  the  road  at  a  perpetual  rental  of  $170,000  a  year. 
The  work  is  a  mile  and  a  quarter  long,  cost  $2,250,000,  and  is  the  finest 
structure  of  its  class  in  the  country.  The  approaciies  to  the  bridge  pr()|)ir 
are  over  iron  trestles,  of  which  there  are  forty  each  siile  of  the  stream  ;  and 
the  stream  is  crossed  by  seven  trusses,  two  of  305  feet  span,  two  of  306 1,  two 
of  31 7^,  and  one  of  32 1§.  In  this  structure  are  cmi)loyed  the  two  styles  of 
bridge  used  upon  railroads  and  highways.  The  central  three  si)ans  are 
"  through  "  spans,  technically  so  called,  because  they  have  the  track  on  a  level 
with  the  lower  chords :  the  others  are  "  deck  "  sjians,  having  the  track  on  a 
level  with  the  upper  chords.  The  quantity  of  iron  used  was  7,690,000  pounds, 
and  every  bar  and  plate  was  tested  up  to  20,000  pounds  to  the  scjuare  inch. 

The  greatest  bridge  of  all  in  the  West  crosses  the  greatest  river  of  the  repub- 
lic at  St.  Louis,  and  is  adapted  bnth  to  railway  and  ordinary  travel.  Ii  is  cuin- 
St.  LouU  posed  of  three  spans, — two  502  feet  in  length,  and  one  of  520  feet, 
Bridge.  —  which  are  crossed  by  steel  tubular  arches,  supporting  a  double 

roadway,  one  for  railway  and  the  other  for  wagon  and  foot  travel.  F'ach  arch 
is  composed  of  cast-steel  tubes  twelve  feet  in  length,  there  being  four  sets  of 
tubes  in  each  arch,  —  two  above  to  form  the  upper  chord,  and  two  below  to 
form  the  lower  chord,  the  chords  being  united  vertically  by  zigzag  bracing,  anil 
laterally  by  huge  iron  rods.  The  stnicture  is  really  a  double  bridge,  or  two 
bridges  side  by  side.  Each  span  is  accordingly  crossed  by  two  arches.  Work 
was  begun  upon  this  great  viaduct  in  August,  1867,  under  the  super- 
vision of  Capt.  James  B.  Eads,  its  originator  and  engineer ;  and 
the  superstructure  was  completed  in  April,  1874,  at  a  total  cost  of  $12,000,000. 
The  materials  used  in  construction  were  supplied  under  contract  by  the  Key- 
stone Bridge  Company  of  Pittsburgh  and  Philadelphia.  Every  beam,  tul)e.  bar. 
Construction  and  bolt  was  fitted  to  its  place  with  microscopic  exactituile  Ijcforc 
of  tiie  bridge,  jj  igfj  ^^g  works  for  the  scene  of  the  bridge.  The  piers  of  this 
work  were  built  by  the  process  employed  at  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  and  afterwards 
on  the  East  River  at  New-York  City.  It  is  called  the  pleuro-pneuinatii .  It 
was  necessary  to  excavate  the  bed  of  the  river  down  to  the  soliil  roi  k,  a 
distance  of  119  feet  below  ordinary  high-water  line.  In  order  to  accouii)lish 
this,  huge  caissons  of  wood  and  iron  were  built,  eighty-two  feet  long,  sixty 
wide,  and  twenty-eight  feet  high  when  launched,  open  below  like  diving-bells. 
The  masonry  of  the  pier  was  built  upon  the  caisson,  so  as  to  be  constantly 
above  the  surface  of  the  water  as  the  caisson  slowly  settled  down  into  the 
water  to  the  mud,  and  then  into  the  excavation  made  for  it  by  the  workmen 
in  the  open  air-chamber  below.  The  pressure  of  air  in  this  chamber  was  fifty- 
two  feet  to  the  square  inch.  It  was  very  trying  to  the  workmen  ;  but  this  plan 
of  building  a  pier  in  deep  water  proved  very  efficient  and  successful.  Eads's 
sand-pump,  invented  to  assist  in  excavating  the  bed  of  the  river,  has  since 


Eadt. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


•9« 


become  famous.     This  bridge  has  the  longest  existing  spans  of  its  class  in  the 
worlil. 

In  the  ICast  there  have  been  no  great  ".jritigcs,  cxct'i)t  the  International  at 
Niaj;ara  Kails,  until  recently.  .\  suspension-bridge,  however,  is  now  buiUling 
;;t  New-York  City,  over  the  East  River,  to  I'.rooklyn,  which  not  Eutt-river 
Dill)  surpasses  any  work  of  its  class  in  the  country,  but  in  the  Bridge, 
wjdil.  The  great  stone  towers  for  this  work  are  260  feet  high,  and  the  bridge- 
wav  will  be  suspended  in  the  air  at  a  distance  of  130  feet  from  the  waUr, — 
a  height  sutticient  to  allow  vessels  of  all  sizes  to  jjass  without  striking  a  ;.par, 
except  in  the  case  of  a  few  of  the  great  sailing-ships  in  the  California  and 
China  trades,  .and  these  will  seklum  have  occasion  to  pass  this  point,  'i'he 
distance  from  tower  to  tower  is  1,620  feet,  and  to  the  New-York  and  Mrooklyn 
anchorages  from  the  towers  1,337  and  ."137  feet  respectively.  From  end  to  end 
the  bridge  will  be  over  a  mile  in  lenfjth.  It  wiU  weigh  3,600  tons,  antl  hold 
1,400  tons  of  freight.  This  great  bridge  was  begun  in  1870,  and  at  this  time 
hair  of  the  supi)orting  cables  arc  laid.  It  will  retpiire  a  year  to  lay  the  other 
half,  the  cables  being  strung  and  l)uilt  up  wire  by  wire.  The  total  c:ost  will  l)e 
^13,000,000.  The  bridge  was  begun  by  John  A.  Roebling,  its  ])rojector,  and 
isiiice  his  death  is  being  carried  on  by  his  son.  Col.  W.  \.  Roebling. 

;\m.'rican  constructive  talent  has  found  a  problem  worthy  of  its  powers 
in  grappling  with  the  subject  of  crossing  the  great  streams  of  the  republic. 
Every  venture  so  i\x  Inis  been  attended  with  ( reditable  success,  'i'he  engi- 
neers have  had  a  great  advantage  in  the  fact  that  .American  iron  is  of  superior 
tenacity,  which  enables  them  to  imp.art  greater  lightness  to  the  cables  and 
tnisses  of  bridges,  without  loss  of  strength,  with,  in  fact,  a  gain  of  strength, 
since  the  weight  of  the  structure  is  diminished.  I^x-ry  (iifilculty  so  liir  has 
been  solved  by  the  ready  invention  of  engineers  and  the  intelligenc<*  and 
care  of  the  workmen.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  what  gigantic  work  may  not  yet 
be  attempted.  The  Newport  Uriilge  at  Cincinnati,  with  its  peerless  truss  of 
420  feet,  was  once  considered  the  acme  of  effort ;  but  the  steel  arches  at  .St. 
Lt)iiis  have  passed  it ;  and  a  corner-stone  has  been  laid  for  a  "deck  "  bridge 
at  I'oughkeepsie,  N.Y.,  designed  by  Linville,  like  the  one  at  Newport,  stan<ling 
11)0  feet  above  the  water,  with  five  sjjans  of  525  feet  each.  Hut  who  shall  say 
that  American  builders  will  stop  even  with  5 25 -feet  trusses?  or  who  can  safely 
lircilict  that  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  is  the  limit  of  ])ossibility  in  the  direction 
ot'  suspension-bridges  ? 

Iron  bridges  of  small  size  for  general  purposes  are  now  largely  manufac- 
turcil  as  a  regular  industry  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  except  the  South. 
nicre  are  no  factories  at  present  south   of  Mason   and  Dixon's 

T  ■  'i-i  1  -HI-  ,-  .       1.    .      Iron-bridge 

Liine.     1  hat  there  will  be  m  a  very  few  years  there  can  be  htde  building  a 
lioubt,  owing  to  the  needs  of  the  Southern  States,  and  their  abun-  «gu«"r  *»■ 
Jant  coal,  iron,  and  water-power.      American   bridges   find   the    "*"*'' 
railways,  of  course,  their  principal   consumers ;    but  the  purely  agricultural 


2()7 


ISl)  I 'S  TRIA  I.    HIS  TOR  Y 


■ 

,1   ■  ^ 

.iV    1, 

■  1 

i"'r  !:!i 

'kU': 

i.,t!'i'':'.iii  .■ 

::[ 

cstmg  to  relate 


OA    THE    UMTED    STATES. 


•93 


Tlic  old  press  used  by  the  first  printers  was  merely  a  table,  upon  \vhi(  h 
llu-  lypc  fijrmin;,'  the  page  to  be  printed  was  laid,  being  1k)UiiiI  together  by 
a  frame  and  \ve<lges  into  what  is  called  a  "  form."      The  type  was   _       ,    . 

"^  •  ^  Datcrlptlon 

inked   by  patting  it  with  an  inking-ball,  or  running  an   inking    of  old  prm, 
rnllcr  over  i;.      The  pai)er  was  laid  on  by  hand,  and  a  flat  plate  •'"'»"<"'•  <>' 

'     '  .       '  '  working  it. 

(it  wood  or  iron  was  brought  down  on  it  by  turning  a  screw,  whit  h 

liniught  the  type  under  pressure.      The  Karl  of  Sianliope  invciv.ed  an  improve- 

iiKiit  upon  this,  by  win*  li  a  lever  was  used  in  <  oniie(  lion  with  the  screw,  .tt,  I 


ler  ma- 
ted to 
rform 
()  m  f 
iccial 
have 
nt  ori- 
h  have 
niged 
(1  with 
f  lime, 
n    b;'.^ 
lr     ami 
m  a  n  tl  i 
vviccs. 
g.pros 
hvuUL^h 
vici-isi- 
its  mi- 

p.      ^^ 

Jc  iiiti-'r- 

njtui. 


CUTBNBBKt;  s   FIKST   HKOOF. 


the  plate,  or  platen,  was  brougiit  down   more  (luickly  ;  and  a  carriage  was 
inadi.'  to  run  the  form  out   from   under  the   platen  after  the  impression,  so  as 
tci  ink  it  again  more  easily.     The  screw  was  al'terwards  superseded  by  a  lever 
and   liy    an    ell)ow-joint    of   iron,    the 
straightening    of    the     joint    bringing 
flown  the  platen.     This   sort  of  press 
was  tlu'  one  used  by  the  early  Ameri- 
can iirintcrs.      Hooks,  newspaners.  tiie 
smiioiis  and  pamphlets  of  whu  ?  there 
was  su(  h  a  jjrodigious  number  in  early 
•lay-*,  ;ind  all  fine  work,  were  printed  on 
presses  of  this  general  description.     The  pattern  has  not  gone   out   of  tise 


L(i.ll1)SIMi-STKK. 


29 1 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


alwa\ 

value 
liuld 
-  pow 

'I 

ill  a 

aniphi 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


"95 


•J 


I'll 


t 


--i. 


even  yet.    It  is  a  convenient  style  of  machine  for  printing  posters,  placards, 
&c.,  in  small  offices. 

The  first  step  in  advance  was  in  1 790,  when  the  idea  of  a  cylinder  press 
was  broached.     The  original  style  of  machine  never  came  into  Fintcyiin- 
use ;  but  the  idea  was  a  good  one,  and  it  became  the  theme  of  **"■  ?"■•• 
numerous  inventors.     A  Saxon  by  the  name  of  Frederick   Konig   built   the 
first   cylinder  press    to   run  by  steam  in  1814  for  "The  London 
Times."     This  style  of  press  was  introduced  into  the  United  States 
in  1830  by  Robert  Hoe,  and  Sereno  Newton  his  partner,  who  built  the  first 
l)rcss  in  use  in  the  country.    Mr.  Hoe 
improveil  this  jjress  immensely ;  and 
his  son,  Richard  M.  Hoe,  has  added 
to   its   capacities    still    more.      The 
principle    of    the    original    cylinder 
press  was  to  cause  the  table  bearing 
the  form  to  move  horizontally  back 
and    forth    under    a  large  cylinder. 
Tliis    cylinder    was     supplied    with 
paper,  a  sheet  at  a  time,  the  paper 
being   held    to    the    surface    of  the 
cylinder  with  tapes  strung  taut  over 
it.     As   the   form   went  under  the 
cylinder,  the  paper,  moving  at  the 
same   rate    of  speed,   was    brought 
into  contact  with  it  with  pressure, 
and  an  impression  taken.    The  form 
flew  back  under  the  cylinder  again, 
when  a  depressed  part  of  the  surface  of  the  latter  was  presented  to  it,  to 
ad\ance  again  for  another  impression.     This  was  called  technically  the  single- 
cylir.dcr  press.     A  number  of  American  inventors  improved  the  machine  as 
well  as  Hoe,  —  Campbell,  Babcock,  and  others  among  the   number,  —  and 
it  lias  been  made  capable  of  printing  from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand 
newspapers  an  hour. 

In  1S30  and  1836  Isaac  Adams  of  Boston  patented  the  press  which  has 
always  been  called  by  his  name,  and  which  has  not  yet  been  superseded  in 
value  for  book-work  and  fine  printinur.     In  this  machine  the  table 

Adams. 

holding  the  form  rises  and  falls  vertically  through  tlie  action  of 

a  i)o\\ciful  toggle-joint  below  it,  making  a  cjuiet  and  strong  impression  on  the 

The  cylinder  press  was  improved  by  Richard  M.  Hoe  in  1847    H^e-gj^ 
in  a  iiLw  and  extraordinary  way.     The  type  was  lucked  up  in  a   provements 
I'onn  called  a  "  turtle,"  from  its  resemblance  to  tlic  bark  o(  that   '"  '**^- 
amphibian.     The  turUe  was  curved,  and  was  made  so  that  the  form  could  be 


FRANKLIN  PRESS. 


296 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


fitted  to  the   surface  of  a  large  cylinder,  and  made  to  revolve  at  any  rate 
of  speed  without  flying   off,  or  parting  with  its  type.     Hoe  enormously  in- 
creased the  capacity  of  tiie 
cylinder  press   by  thi-s   in- 
vention.     The    paper   was 
presented    to   the    form  as 
the  latter  revolved  upon  the 
big  cylinder  l)y  a   number 
of  small  cylinders,  each  at- 
tended by  a  separate  woik- 
man.     The    feeding  cylin- 
ders have  been  as  high  as 
eight,   ten,    and    twelve   in 
number.    The  monster  Hoe 
press   lately  removed   iiom 
the    press-room    of    "The 
Tribune"    office    at    New 
York,  to    make  way   fur  a 
more  modern  machine,  was 
of  the  ten- cylinder  pattern. 
The    twelve-cylinder    press 
would  print  about  four  hun- 
dred  papers   a  minute,  or 
twenty-four    thousand     an 
hour.    The  adoption  of  the 
Hoe  press  by  "The  London 
Times"  showed  its  value. 
The  next  and  Inst  step  forward  has  been  the  perfection  of  the  wcb-iHcss. 
This  is  an  American  invention,  and  is  to  be  credited  to  William  A.  l>ullo(k 
of  Philadelphia,  who  got  a  patent  for  it  in  1861,  and  patented  it 
in    En^!;land    in   1862.     The  idea  has  been  taken   up  abroad  by 
Walter  of  "The  London  Times"  and  others;  but  the  American  inventors  ^lill 
retain  the  lead  in  the  construction  of  the  machine.     Hoe  &  Comjiany  and 
(Campbell  have  both  jierfected  web-presses  of  their  own,  which   are  in  smne 
respects  better  than  Bullock's.     The  principle  upon  which  these  presses  are 
Hoe  and  Bui-   ^^^^^  's  to  feed  the  paper  to  the  i)ress  from  a  huge  roll,  or  web, 
lock  presses     upon  which  there  is  wound  up  from  three  to  five  miles  of  paper. 
Lightning-like   shears   in  the   press  cut  off  the  sheets  from  the 
roll,  either  before  they  are  printed,  as  in  the  Bullock  press,  or  afterwards,  as  in 
the  others.     The  forms  are  stereotyped,  and  mounted  on  two  large  rollers ; 
those  for  one  side  of  the  newspaper  on  one  roller,  and  those  for  the  other  side 
of  the  sheet  on  the  other.     The  jxiper  goes  to  one  roller,  and  receives  the 
impression  of  one  set  of  forms,  and  then  goes  to  the  other,  and  is  printed  on 


RTANSnURV  HAND-PRESS. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


297 


the  other  side,  and 
passes  on  to  the  fly, 
10   be   delivered  to 
I  he  men  who  carry 
the    papers    to    the 
folding-room.     The 
Moe  i)resses  have  a 
capacity   of    18,000 
impressions      with 
folder  an  hour,  and 
25,000  without  this 
aitachment.        The 
Campbell  press  has 
a  capacity  of  35,000, 
but  is  generally  op- 
erated with  a  fold- 
ing-machine,   which 
reduces      its     work 
to  10,000  an   hour. 
The    advantage     of 
this  style  of  press  is 
not  so  much  in  the 
number  of  impres- 
sions per  hour  as  in 
tile    saving    of    the 
original  cost  of  the 
machine,    and     ex- 
penses of  oi)eration. 
A  \veb-j)ress  is  well 
served     by    two    or 
three  men,  while  the 
old    style    of    Hoe 
press  of   tlie   same 
capacity   would    re- 
quire ten  or  twelve 
men. 

The  United  States 
is  greatly  interested 
in  the  progress  of 
'lie  printing-press, 
because  the  news- 
P'lper  and  the  book 
luve   now    become 


298 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


essentials  in  the  life  of  every  intelligent  person,  and  the  cheapening  of  the  pro- 
cesses of  making  them  is  of  vital  importance  to  the  welfare  and  progress  of 

our  beloved  coun- 
try and  its  inhab- 
itants.    When    this 

Importance  chcap- 
of  printing-  e  n  i  n  g 
P""-  can    be 

done  by  the  employ- 
ment of  machinery, 
instead  of  by  the 
cheapening  of  the 
wages  of  labor,  the 
progress  made  is 
wholesome  and  sat- 
isfactory. 


WIRE. 


The  manufacture 
of  wire  is  a  very 
ancient  art ;  but 
the  metal  originally 
used  was  almost  ex- 
clusively either  gold 
or  silver,  and  malle- 
ability was  taken  ad- 
vantage  of   in   the 

prod'iction  of  the  wire  rather  than  ductility.  The  metal  was  hammered  out 
into  thin  sheets,  and  then  cut  into  narrow  slips,  or  slivers,  which  were  after- 
Ancient  wards  rounded  by  hammering.  The  fabled  net  of  Vulcan  was 
made  of  such  wire.  Fabrics  were  also  woven  of  it ;  and  a  golden 
garment  weighing  thirty-six  pounds,  made  from  wire  of  this  sort. 
was  found  in  the  tomb  of  the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Honorius  when  opened 
at  Rome  in  1544.  An  allusion  is  made  in  the  Book  of  Exodus  to  the  tact 
that  •'  they  did  beat  the  gold  into  thin  ])lates,  and  cut  it  into  wire,"  for  deco- 
rating the  rich  garments  of  the  priests.  "  The  beautifully-twined  tassels  ol 
solid  gold  "  of  the  /t^gis,  referred  to  in  the  "  Iliad  ; "  the  zone  which  Juno  put 
on  to  captivate  Jupiter,  — 

"  All  around 
A  luuKlrecl  tassels  hung,  rare  works  of  art, 
All  gold,  each  one  a  hundred  oxen's  price ; " 

and  the  wonderful  head-dress  of  a  profusion  of  gold  chains  found  by  Schlie- 
mann  at  Troy,  —  were  all  made  of  hammered  wire. 


NE\VSPA;'ER   I'ROOF-PRESS. 


wire-mak- 
ing. 


recordt 
The 
"ere  noi 
(^•'lains  a; 
\Vire  has 
"ig  bra 

li'on.  Fo 
^••I'^il.v  han 
'■'•Inland 
"■"i-clads. 
■'^■'iip.  an- 


W 


"■e  is  [Ik 


ior  ail  k 


in( 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


«W 


It  was  not  until  some  time  after  1300  that  wire-drawing  became  an  art. 
A  race  of  wire-drawers,  who  made  iron  wire  by  hand,  and  afterwards  by  water- 
jiower,  then  sprang  up  in  Germany,  and  became  famous  in  Europe.  Nurem- 
berg was  the  great  centre  of  the  industry.  It  was  introduced  ^,,g. 
tluiice  into  England  abont  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  drawing  in 
In  the  original  machine  processes  the  wire  was  stretched  out  from  "*  *" 
slender  iron  bars  by  pincers  driven  by  water-power,  which  came  forward  and 
I  aught  the  wire  and  retiretl,  and  then,  letting  go,  came  forward  again  and  took 
another  hold,  to  retire  again.  England  afterwards  applied  steam-power  to  the 
tirawing-process,  and  then  made  use  of  the  drawing-plate.  She  became  in 
time  tiie  principal  wire-making  nation,  from  the  fact  that  her  policy  was 
steadily  directed  to  the  breaking-down  of  the  Dutch  and  German  industries, 
and  to  the  development  of  her  own.  In  the  present  century  she  has  furnished 
wire  to  all  the  world,  and  especially  to  the  United  States  and  the  other  coun- 
tries of  the  American  continent.  Her  manufacturers  bid  eagerly  for  contracts 
for  supplies  for  telegraph  companies  and  suspension-bridges  on  this  continent, 
and  have  been  in  the  past  very  successful  in  securing  contracts  against  all 
competitors. 

riiis  industry  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  early  in  the  present  cen- 
tury. It  gained  very  little  headway  until  a  very  recent  date.  There  was  little 
demand  for  iron  wire  at  first ;  and  when  the  telegraph  was  invented  vvire-mak- 
bv  an  American,  and  a  new  and  extraordinary  demand  for  wire  ing  in  United 
was  thns  created,  foreign  competition  was  too  powerful.  Factories  '"***' 
were,  however,  started  in  Boston,  Worcester,  Providence,  New  York,  and  other 
cities ;  and  the  industry  has  now  become  a  considerable  one,  and  successfully 
comi)etes  for  most  of  the  large  American  contracts.  It  is  singidar,  however, 
that,  while  there  has  been  immense  progress  in  this  country  in  every  other 
industry,  in  this  one  very  few  new  ideas  have  been  evolved.  Up  to  1874 
tliere  had  been  only  five  patents  issued  concerning  wire  out  of  the  146,119 
recorded  up  to  that  date.     In  1874,  however,  twelve  patents  were  issued. 

The  uses  of  wire  are  now  constantly  increasing.     It  would  seem  as  if  there 

were  nothing  like  wire  for  a  thousand  purposes  for  which  hemp,  and    iron 

chains  and  bars,  cobwebs,  and  other  things,  have  been  employed,    uses  made 

Wire  has  now  for  forty  years  been  twisted  into  cables  for  support-   °'  ^'''"• 

ing  bridges,  hoisting   elevators    in    mines   and    buildings,    securing   anchors, 

riL!ging,  and  guns,  and  tlireading  the  oceans  and  seas  for  telegraph  communica- 

t.oM.    For  cables  and  ropes  it  is  far  lighter  tiian  hempen  cordage,  and  more 

easily  handled.     Eight-inch  hawsers  of  steel  wire  have  recently  been  made  in 

I.Ui^land  to  take  the  jilace  of  the  enormous  twenty-five-inch  hawsers  used  on 

ii  m-clads.     The  steel  hawser  weiglis  only  one-third  as  much  as  the  one  of 

'(^i"P>  'TH'I  is  handled  by  twelve  men ;    whereas  the  other  takes  forty-eight. 

\\  ire  is  the  universal  material  for  telegraph  and  telephone  lines.     It  is  drawn 

'Jr  all  kinds  of  pins  and  needles,  for  the  wire  cards  used  in  spinning,  for  the 


300 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Strings  of  pianos,  and  for  fences,  and  is  woven  by  machinery  for  a  great  variety 
of  purposes.  Recent  deep-sea  soundings  have  been  made  with  piano-wire, 
■'hich  liave  been  a  hundred  times  more  satisfactory  than  any  ever  before  made 
with  cords  and  rope.  Gold  and  silver  wire  for  chains,  and  filigree  work, 
and  lace,  are  extensively  used  in  the  decorative  arts ;  and  platinum  wire  is 
Wire  for  drawn  out  as  fine  as  a  cobweb  for  the  purposes  of  the  crossed 
telescopes.  \\-x\x^  \\\  the  telescope.  The  finest  wire  made  is  for  the  tekscopc. 
An  ingot  of  platinum  is  surrounded  with  silver,  and  the  compound  wire 
drawn  down  to  the  finest  point.  The  silver  is  then  dissolved  with  nitric  m\A. 
leaving  the  microscopic  thread  of  platinum  behind.  Wire  thus  made  has  ben 
as  fine  as  rgljj  of  an  inch. 


WASHBURN   *   MOEN  WIRE-WORKS,   WORCESTER,   MASS. 


The  process  of  wire-drawing  is  simple.  For  orilinary  commercial  wire,  iro:: 
rods  of  tough  quality  are  bent  into  coils,  and  put  into  large  tumbling  boxes  cr 
Process  of  rotating  cylinders,  with  water  and  gravel  to  remove  the  scale.  Tliey 
wire-draw-  are  heated  and  re-rolled  until  they  are  reduced  to  a  coarse  wire  ot 
*"*'■  about  an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.     Tliey  are  then  passed 

cold  through  the  draw  plate.  This  is  a  piece  of  hardened  steel  pierced  with  a 
large  number  of  tapering  holes,  the  smallest  part  of  each  hole  being  on  tie 
side  from  which  the  wire  emerges.  The  end  of  the  wire,  being  carried  tiironch 
the  largest  hole,  is  attached  to  a  reel,  and  the  rod  drawn  through  with  jiowernt 
the  rate  of  from  sixty  to  two  hundred  feet  a  minute,  stretching  it,  and  reducin;, 
its  size.  It  is  then  passed  through  a  smaller  hole,  and  the  process  is  rei)eatc(l 
until  the  requisite  size  of  wire  is  obtained.  The  wire  is  often  passed  tliroiich 
ten,  fifteen,  thirty,  and  even  more  holes,  to  get  it  down  to  the  requisite  finenes?. 
The  continued  drawing  rendering  the  wire  brittle,  it  is  necessary  to  anneal  it 
several  times  during  the  process  of  reduction  to  make  it  soft.     It  \-i  iieat-'J 


OF    THE    UNI  TED   STATES. 


301 


alwiro.iro;". 
T  box^^s  cr 
cale.  Tliev 
irse  wire  of 
then  I'^^sseil 
Tcetl  wiil^  "^ 
ing  on  t!  0 
•ied  throucli 
•ith  power.: 
nd  reducinu 

is  rcpeateil 
[sed  throud'^ 

site  fmene*^- 
jto  anneal  it 

It  is  heated 


to  redness  in  coils,  and  allowed  to  cool  gradually  in  kilns.  Twenty-four  hours 
is  the  usual  length  of  time  for  cooling  for  the  smaller  wires.  The  scale  is 
removed  after  each  annealing  by  pickling  in  dilute  oil  of  vitriol. 

Cast-steel  wire  is  made  from  rods  hammered  to  a  quarter-inch  diameter 
i)y  tlie  tilt-hammer.  It  makes  the  toughest  wire  known ;  and  it  will  stand  a 
strain  of  about  200,000  pounds  to  the  scjuare  inch  against  100,000  Cast-tteei 
pounds,  which  is  the  strain  the  best  iron  wire  will  endure  to  the  ^''■•• 
^  iiarc  inch.  Spurious  gold  wire  is  made  by  heating  copper  wire  to  redness, 
and  exposing  it  to  the  fumes  of  zinc,  which  converts  the  exterior  of  the  wire 
into  brass.  American  inventors  iiave  brought  out  a  wire  with  a  steel  core  and 
copper  exterior,  which  is  claimed  to  have  advantages  for  telegraphy.  In  185S 
Henry  Waterman  invented  a  plan  for  tempering  flat  steel  wire  for  crinolines 
(made  by  drawing,  and  rolling  afterwards),  which  reduced  the  cost  of  temper- 
ing from  three  dollars  to  three  cents  a  pound.  Previously  the  wire  had  been 
wound  into  great  volute  coils,  interlaced  with  iron  wire,  and  in  this  form 
exposed  to  the  baths,  &c.,  of  the  tempering  process.  Waterman  drew  the  wire 
through  the  heating-furnace  directly  into  the  hardening  bath  by  machinery. 
His  process  is  applied  to  all  tempered-steel  wire  now. 

Wire-drawing  has  not  received  the  conspicuous  development  in  the  United 
States  to  which  it  is  entitled,  both  because  of  foreign  competition  and  of  the 
limited  uses  of  wire.     Present  indications  point  to  an  enlargement  ueveiop- 
of  the  industry  on  account  of  the  growing  applications  of  wire,   mem  of  in- 
and  the  probability  of  finding  a  large  market  for  the  American     "**'^' 
article  in  South  America  and  Australia.     If  China  and  Japan  would  introduce 
the  telegraph  generally,  a  great  impetus  would  be  given  to  the  factories  of  this 
country. 

WATER-WHEELS. 

The  rugged  ranges  of  mountains  and  hills,  and  the  generally  broken  quality 
of  the  surface  of  the  country  of  all  the  States  lying  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
of  this  country,  have  been  to  our  people  a  boon  of  decided  value. 
Causes  which  lie  so  far  away  behind  the  setting  of  the  stage  upon   vva*ter- 
which  the  incidents  of  history  take  place  as  to  be  invisible  to  the    power  in 
physical  eye,  and  almost  to  the  mind,   often  exercise   the  most   ^^^H^ 
powerful  of  influences  upon  all  that  occurs.     A  large  part  of  the 
wonderful  progress  of  the  American  people  in  industry  and  civilization  is  due 
to  the  rugged  nature  of  the  territory  in  which  the  first  colonies  of  the  republic 
were  planted.     The   speculative  philosopher  can  see  in  the  peculiarities  of 
that  territory  the  germs  even  of  American  independence  and  the  free  institu- 
tions which  the  people  set  up  here  after  independence  had  been  secured  ;  for, 
on  a  comparison  of  the  different  races  and  countries  of  history,  it  is  found, 
^hat,  in  general,  the  mountains  and  hills  have  always  been  the  seat  of  the 
greatest  human  liberty  and  progress,  whereas  the  plains  have  been  the  basis 


302 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


and  New 
England 


of  whatever  indolence  and  slavery  the  world  has  seen.  A  real  connection  can 
be  traced  between  the  free  and  aggressive  spirit  of  the  early  colonists  of  the 
North  and  the  character  of  the  region  they  inhabited.  But  the  hills  were  of 
more  immediate  value  in  the  influence  they  e.xerted  upon  material  progress. 
They  filled  the  States  they  permeated  with  an  unparalleled  luxuriance  of 
water-power,  .»hich  was  of  incalculable  value  in  enabling  the  people  to  manu- 
facture, and  to  build  mills  and  factories  and  shops  of  all  kinds,  and  thus  make 
for  themselves  those  implements  and  goods  which  are  to  every  great  nation 
an  important  source  of  its  culture  and  power. 

At  New- York  City,  and  along  the  flat  seacoast  of  the  countrj',  windmills 
were  employed  by  the  early  inhabitants  to  grind  their  grain,  and  saw  their 
Early  mills  '""^^er ;  and  those  quaint  relics  of  a  bygone  age  are  still  in  use 
In  New  York  among  the  people  on  the  New-England  coast  and  the  outlying 
islands  of  that  region.  They  have  no  waterfalls,  because  the 
country  is  too  flat.  In  the  interior  there  has  been  from  the 
beginning,  in  all  the  arable  States  except  Illinois,  an  almost  inexhaustible 
supply  of  water-power ;  and  all  the  heavy  machinery  of  the  interior  was  pro- 
Water-  pelled  by  it  for  two  hundred  years.  This  water-power  has  been 
power  In  eagerly  taken  up,  and  it  has  given  rise  to  a  myriad  of  flourishing 
*  '  "''  cities  and  villages  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  It  has  been 
improved  by  the  building  of  costly  dams  to  regulate  the  flow  of  water  so  that 
it  might  not  run  to  waste,  and  the  construction  of  great  storage  reservoirs  to 
hoard  the  accumulations  of  the  wet  seasons.  A  few  streams  like  the  Merrimack, 
the  Quinebaug,  the  VVillimantic,  the  Genesee,  and  the  Owasco,  have  become 
the  seat  of  extraordinary  aggregations  of  capital  and  labor.  Yet  so  abundant 
is  the  republic's  endowment  of  this  cheap  and  serviceable  power,  that  probably 
not  one-half  of  that  which  is  available  in  the  country  is  yet  harnessed  for  the 
service  of  man.    It  is  only  in  the  East  that  it  is  well  taken  up. 

Up  to  within  forty  years,  all  the  wheels  used  in  the  United  States  for  utiliz- 
ing the  power  of  mill-streams  were  of  wood.  They  were  huge,  heavy,  clumsy 
Wood  structures,  twenty,  thirty,  and  forty  feet  in  diameter,  —  picturesque 

wheels.  enough  when  taken  together  with  the  red  mills  by  the  side  of 

which  they  hung,  and  the  sparkling  waterfalls  which  they  took  their  power 
from,  but  still  liable  to  get  out  of  order,  to  be  choked  with  ice  in  the  winter, 
and  to  waste  almost  as  much  power  as  they  saved.  They  were  of  four  classes, 
—  the  undershot,  the  overshot,  the  bieast-wheel,  and  the  suspended  or  tide 
wheel.  The  former  were  very  little  used,  because  they  utilized  only  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  force  of  the  stream.  They  were  hung 
near  the  fail  j  and  the  water,  issuing  from  the  bottom  of  the  dam  witli  great 
velocity  through  a  floodgate,  acted  against  the  floats,  or  paddles,  of  the  big 
wheel.  They  were  a  very  crude  type  of  motive-power.  The  breast-wheel  was 
the  undershot,  placed  in  actual  contact  with  the  fall,  so  that  about  one-quarter 
of  the  circumference  was  acted  upon  directly  by  the  water  of  the  fall.    The 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


303 


indmills 
iw  iheir 
1  in  use 
outlying 
luse  the 
rom   tlie 
haustible 
was  pro- 
has  been 
lourishing 
has  been 
er  so  that 
lervoirs  to 
[e 


for  utihz- 
•y,  cUimsy 
icturesque 
le  side  of 
leir  power 
he  winter, 
,ur  classes, 
;d  or  tide 
only  from 
were  hung 
with  great 
|of  the  big 
•wheel  was 
ine-quarter 
fall.    The 


water  acted  upon  this  class  of  wheels  both  by  gravity  and  momentum.  About 
sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  power  of  the  water  was  saved  in  a  wheel  from  sixteen 
to  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter.  The  suspended  wheel  is  hung  in  the  current 
of  the  stream,  and  is  simply  an  undershot,  inten<led  to  take  advantage  of  the 
flow  of  the  tide  back  and  forth.  The  overshot  was  the  most  powerful  of  the 
four  classes  of  wooden  wheels.  This  type  is  still  largely  used.  The  wheel  is 
supplied  with  buckets  on  the  circumference  instead  of  paddles,  and  recei\'es 
its  water  through  a  pipe  or  raceway  from  above.  It  may  bt^  used  with  any  size 
of  fall  from  ten  to  fifty  feet  high ;  and  it  is  said  that  one  is  in  use  in  the  Isle  of 
Man  which  has  the  enormous  diameter  of  seventy-two  feet  and  a  half,  and  a 
breadth  of  six.  The  disadvantage  of  the  wheel  is,  that  it  is  always  heavily 
loaded  with  water,  which  causes  it  to  bear  heavily  upon  its  axle.  It  is  also 
a  slow-moving  wheel,  and  this  makes  it  necessary  to  multiply  gearing  in  the 
mill  in  order  to  impart  speed  to  the  machinery. 

No  special  ingenuity  was  required  to  make  these  old  wooden  wheels.    Any 

carpenter  could  build  them.     Very  few  patents  were  issued  in  regard  to  them. 

About  forty  years  ago  there  came  a  demand  for  an  improved  water-wheel. 

In  densely-populated  regions,  where  mill-streams  were  crowded  with  factories, 

It  became  important  to  make  every  gallon  of  water  which  passed  over  a  dam 

do  its  share  of  work,  and  do  as  much  work  as  possible.     Attention  was  turned 

to  awheel  invented  in  France  by  Benoit  Fourneyron  in  1834,  who  received 

six  thousand  francs  from  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  the  Arts  at 

Paris  as  a  reward  for  his  valuable  device.     This  was  the  original  turbine-wheel, 

or,  if  not  absolutely  the  first  and  the  parent  of  its  class,  the  first  original 

which  was  ever  in  practical  use.     It  was  a  horizontal  wheel  placed  tui'bine. 

at  the  bottom  of  the  fall,  and  supplied  with  water  from  a  perpendicular  pipe. 

The  water  descended  upon  a  solid  circular  plate,  which  was  stationary ;  the 

upper  surface  of  it  being  grooved  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference,  the 

grooves  not  being  straight,  like  the  spokes  of  a  wagon-wheel,  but  curved,  like 

a  sickle ;  so  that  the  water,  as  it  reached  the  rim  of  the  circular  plate,  shot  out 

of  the  grooves  at  a  tangent  in  twenty  or  more  spouts  all  round  the  wheel. 

The  buckets  or  floats  of  the  wheel  were  outside  the  circular  disk,  and  received 

the  spouting  water  with  great  violence,  and  were  thus  forced  to  revolve  rapidly 

around  the  disk,  the  water  flowing  outward  into  the  river-bed  from  the  buckets. 

The  floats,  being  attached  to  an  annular  disk,  turned  the  perpendicular  shaft, 

and  transmitted  the  power  to  the  mill  above.    Attention  was  turned  to  the 

new  idea  in  the  United  States  about  1843.     Public  discussion  took  place  ;  and 

in  1844  Mr.  U.  A.  Boyden  of  Boston  invented  a  turbine  which 

was  an  improvement  upon  Fourneyron's,  and  which,  with  later 

improvements  of  its  own,  has  come  into  extensive  use  in  this  country.    The 

first  one  in  practical  use  was  put  into  a  cotton-mill  in  Lowell.    It  saved 

seventy-eight  per  cent  of  the  power  of  the  water.    Boyden  has  made  others 

since  which  have  saved  eighty-two  per  cent.     From  1843  to  the  present, 


Boyden. 


304 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


t  jrbine  ii 
(Ictermined. 


invention  has  been  active,  and  more  than  a  tliousand  patents  have  been  issued 
at  Washington  for  new  forms  of  wheels,  and  new  attachments  to  them.     A 

variety  of  exceedingly  effective  wheels 
have  been  produced,  and  the  iron  tur- 
bine has  now  almost  completely  supcr- 
sedeil  the  great  wooden  wheel  of  our 
forefathers.  About  twenty-five  large  and 
flourishing  factories  of  them  have  grown 
up  in  New  Kngland,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  and  the  West. 

The  power  of  the  turbine  is  derived 
from  the  weight  of  the  column  of  water 
How  th«  flowing  into  the  wheel,  and 
power  of  the  the  Speed  of  the  current. 
If  8,000  pounds  of  water 
flow  through  it  in  a  second, 
and  the  height  of  the  fall  is  fifteen  feet, 
the  power  expended  is  120,000  pounds 
a  second.  If  the  wheel  transmits  eigiity 
per  cent  of  this  to  the  machinery  of 
the  mill,  it  is  an  efficient  wheel. 

After  a  few  years  of  experiment 
with  the  Boyden  turbine,  it  was  found 
that  a  smaller  percentage  of  the  power  of  the  water  was  saved  when  the  gate 
of  the  wheel  was  opened  only  half  way,  because  of  the  eddies  and  commo- 
tion of  the  water  in  the  wheel  itself;  and  some  Dayton  (O.)  manufacturers 
undertook  to  effect  an  improvement  upon  the  style  of  wheel,  by  which  the 
Dayton  water  should  flow  through  solid,  and  should  escape  more  readily, 

wheel.  i^i^ug  leaving  less  dead  weight  of  water  for  the  wheel  to  carry.     Tliey 

brought  out  the  inward-flow  wheel,  and  gave  a  new  turn  to  invention.  The 
Swain  turbine,  inward-flow,  was  afterwards  brought  out  at  Chelmsford,  Mass.. 
which,  with  the  gate  wide  open,  would  save  eighty-four  per  cent  of  the  energy 
of  the  fall,  eighty-three  per  cent  with  a  three-quarters  gate,  seventy-seven 
per  cent  with  a  half  gate,  and  sixty-three  per  cent  with  a  quarter  gate.  T.  H. 
Risdon  of  Mount  Holly,  N.J.,  however,  has  since  then  constructed  an  out- 
ward-flow wheel  which  saves  eighty-eight  per  cent  with  a  full  gate. 
and  seventy-five  per  cent  with  a  half  gate.  Another  form  of  wheel 
has  been  invented,  called  the  parallel-flow,  in  which  the  water  goes  straight 
through  the  turbine,  emerging  at  the  bottom.  It  has  not  yet  obtained  the 
favor  which  has  been  accorded  to  the  others.  Steady  progress  is  being 
made  by  all  inventors  as  the  science  of  the  flow  of  water  is  better  under- 
stood, and  the  wheels  are  now  rapidly  approaching  a  stage  when  almost  the 
entire  energy  of  falls  will  be  utilized. 


TURBINE-WHEEL. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


305 


een  feel, 
»  pounds 
its  eighty 
linery  of 


Turbines  are  now  made  in  a  great  variety  of  sizes  and  patterns.  Since 
tin-  introduction  of  the  Holly  system  of  water-works  into  cities,  which  dis- 
tributes water  to  the  dwellings,  stores,  and  factories  of  a  pluce,  variety  of 
under  a  pressure  of  from  sixty  to  two  hundred  pounds,  small  «"'»»'"«•• 
pailerns  of  turbines  have  been  made  to  be  attached  to  the  Holly  water-pipes, 
,uul  drive  lathes  and  other  light  machinery.  'I'hey  are  made  as  small  as 
ihri'c  inches  in  diameter.  Turbines  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  occupying  no 
more  space  in  the  room  than  an  ordinary  gas-meter,  are  made  to  run  printing- 
presses  for  daily  newspapers.  From  this  size  they  are  manufactured  all  the 
way  up  to  six  and  seven  feet  in  diameter.  Several  eighty-four-inch  wheels  are 
now  ill  use,  one  of  them  being  under  a  ninety-foot  fall,  and  transmitting  six- 
hundred-iiorse  power  to  the  machinery  of  the  mill.     The  turbine 

.         -  -.  .-  ,  ,      Their  merit. 

has  liie  great  merit  of  economy  of  space,  uniform  and  steady 
action,  great  velocity,  —  thus  obviating  the  use  of  the  old-time  appliances  put 
upon  the  sedate,  leisurely-moving  overshot  wheels  to  increase  the  speed  in 
the  mill,  —  and  absolute  protection  from  frost,  as  they  are  always  submerged 
uniler  the  water.  Latterly  the  wheels  have  been  supplied  with  a  regulator, 
which  opens  and  closes  the  gate  automatically,  so  as  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  mill.  .Any  one  who  stands  in  the  engine-room  of  a  great  factory 
driven  by  steam-power  will  notice  from  the  motion  of  the  engine  whenever 
any  heavy  piece  of  machinery  in  the  mill  above  is  put  into  operation,  or  the 
reverse.  The  engine  labors  under  the  new  strain,  or  suddenly  quickens  when 
the  strain  is  removed.  The  governor,  sensitive  to  the  slightest  change  of 
strain  on  the  engine,  opens  or  closes  the  steam-pipe  instantly,  and  maintains 
a  regular  and  uniform  motion.  The  regulator  of  the  turbine  is  the  same  in 
jirinc  iple  :  it  is  the  governor  of  the  water-power. 

The  progress  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  in  invention  in  this  depart- 
ment of  effort  was  well  shown  at  the  World's  Fair  of  1876,  where  Exhibition  o( 
a  splendid  show  of  turbines  was  made  by  American  and  C'ana-  turbines  at 
ilian  makers.  These  wheels  are  now  being  sought  for  by  manu- 
facturers abroad. 


Centennial. 


LOCKS.  - 

In  the  days  of  the  earlier  simplicity  of  the  republic  the  latch  was  an  ample 
fastening  for  all  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life.     A  grand  public  morality  and 
generous  good  feeling  between  man  and  man  prevailed  at  that   j^   ^. 
time,  which  is  fascinating  now  to  look  back  upon,  and  which  it   period  locks 
is  equally  fascinating  to  find  the  traces  of  to-day  in  the  rural  and   ^*"  ""' 
isolated  communities  of  different  parts  of  the  country.     The  door 
was  seldom  barred,  and  then  only  at  night.    The  treasures  of  the  household 
were  kept  in  unprotected  drawers  and  closets.     People  rested  secure  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  privacy  of  their  homes  and  the  possession  of  their  articles 
of  value,  not  so  much  by  reason  of  bars  and  bolts  as  by  reason  of  the  virtue 


3o6 


INDUS  TNI  A  I.    HIS  TOR  Y 


and  self-restraint  to  which  people  were  so  rigidly  bred  in  tliosc  days,  and  td 
the  absence  of  a  vicious  class  in  die  conununity.  With  immigration,  the 
increase  of  wealth,  and  the  disajjpearance  of  native  Americans  in  the  rank> 
of  hcusehold  servants,  there  came  a  different  state  of  things  ;  and  people 
found  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  securing  their  houses  carefully  against 


BUKOUAK-HKOOF   LOCK. 


the  intrusion  of  unauthorized  persons,  and  their  valuables  within  tiic  house- 
hold against  even  their  own  domestics.  The  change  has  been  very  great.  A 
hundred  years  ago  the  bolt  on  the  outer  door,  and  the  lock  upon  the  one 
box  of  private  papers  and  valuables  in  the  house  or  upon  the  strong-box  at 
the  store,  were  almost  the  only  barriers  erected  against  plunder  and  curiosity. 
Number  of  To-day,  in  the  large  cities,  the  whole  building  is  placed  under  lock 
locks  used  and  key,  even  to  the  pantry  ;  and,  instead  of  the  two  locks  of  the 
nowadays.  q\^q^  time,  a  city  residence,  with  its  furniture,  will  now  W  fitteil 
with  from  one  to  three  hundred,  and  a  public  building  with  two  or  tliree 
thousand. 


OF    THE    UNlTF.n    STATES. 


307 


M,    IIk' 


The  earlier  Jocks  of  the  country  were  of  the  simplest  form  of  construc- 
tion. They  consisted  simply  of  a  l)()lt  operated  l)y  a  spring  within  the  lock, 
ami  l>y  a  winged  key  inserted  throiigli  a  keyhole,  whi(  h,  being  turned,  moved 
the  bolt  i>a(  kward  and  forward.  intri< :a(  y  was  given  to  the  lo<  k  simjily  hy 
fashioning  the  wing  of  the  key  into  some  curious  shai)e,  and  then  nuiking  the 
lock  so  that  only  a  key  of  that  particular  pattern  would  turn  around  within  it. 
.Sonn-  of  the  heavy  lo(  ks  put  upon  safes  and  strong-hoxes  in  the  early  part 
of  tlie  present  century  were  so  made  as  to  shoot  six  or  eight  bolts  at  on<:e  ; 
liMt  they  were  all  of  the  simple  plan  above  described,  and  couKl  be  easily 
l)icke(l  with  a  bit  of  crooked  wire  in  five  minutes,  'i'liey  were  forn'.idablc 
chiefly  in  appearance. 


ty^vc^t.    A 
Ion  the  one 
rong-boxa' 
[(\  (niriosiiy- 
under  locl^ 
locks  of  tb^' 
,v  be  fitte'l 


LOCK. 


kvo    ^'^ 


three 


In  Kngland,  where  the  greater  accumulation  of  wealth  compelled  people 
to  i)ay  more  attention  to  lock-making,  an  idea  was  brought  out  by  Mr.  Barron 
in  1778,  which  added  greatly  to  the  security  of  locks,  and  which,  in  Barron's 
fict,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  our  modem  devices  for  fastening  invention. 
the  doors  of  safes  and  treasure-magazines.  Barron  employed  two  tumblers,  or 
latches,  which  fell  down  into  the  bolt  and  caught  it,  and  which  had  to  be 
lifted  before  the  bolt  could  be  moved.     In  1 788  Joseph  Bramah  of  England 


3o8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


\\\ 


Bramah. 


improve 
ment. 


Newall. 


invented  a  lock  with  several  sliders  and  two  barrels,  the  inner  one  shooting 
the  bolt.  Bramah  declared  that  it  was  not  within  the  range  of 
art  to  pick  his  lock,  and  the  contrivance  did  defy  the  burglars 
and  locksmiths  for  over  half  a  century. 

Many  years  after  the  war  of  1812  attention  began  to  be  paid  to  lock- 
making  in  this  country.  The  tumbler  was  adopted,  and  many  minor  improve- 
ments effected.  How  to  make  a  lock  which  nobody  could  pick  was  a  prol)lem 
that  "veil  suited  the  genius  of  the  Yankee,  and  applications  for  patents  for  one 
device  and  another  began  to  pour  into  the  city  of  Washington.  The  first  real  stir 
was  created  in  1841  by  Dr.  Andrews  of  Perth  Amboy,  N.J.,  wiio 
drews's  brought  out  a  permutation-lock,  in  which  a  number  of  rings  were 

attached  to  the  key,  and  susceptible  of  an  endless  variety  of  com- 
binations.    When  the  bolt  is  turned,  the  lock  cannot  be  moved 
except  with  exactly  the  same  combinations  on  the  key.     The  lock  had  tumblers 
and  a  detector,  —  a  device  which  prevented  the  tumblers  from  freeing  the  bolt 
if  lifted  too  high.     This  invention  excited  great  admiration  ;  but  it  was  picked 
by  Newall  of  New  York,  who,  in  turn,  brought  out  one  of  his  own 
in  1843,  with  two  sets  of  tumblers,  thus  increasing  the  complication. 
It  wan  thought  that  the  acme  of  perfection  had  been  reached,  and  Newall 
confidently  offered  five  hundred  dollars  to  any  one  who  would  pick  it.    His 
contrivance  succumbed,  however,  to  Mr.  Pettitt  and  to  William  Hall  of  ISoston, 
who  picked  it  by  the  smoke-process,  —  a  device  of  the  burglars.     A  smoky  flame 
was  blown  into  the   keyhole,   leaving  a  fine  deposit   of  lamp-black  on  the 
tumblers.     The  key  being  introduced  removed  the  lamp-black  from  the  parts 
it  touched.     By  means  of  a  reflector  a  strong  light  was  thrown  into  the  lock, 
and  the  key-marks  revealed,  and  the  proper  shape  of  the  false  key  thus  indi- 
cated.    Newall's  lock  was  then  improved  by  devices  for  keeping  the  mechanism 
concealed  from  view.     H.  C.  Jones  of  Newark  used  concentric 
rings  and  a  curtain  for  this  purpose,  and  Pyes  used  eccentric  rings 
and  a  curtain.     A.  C.  Hobbs,  an   expert  American  locksmith,  adopted  the 
improved  device,  calling  it  the  Parantoptic,  and  got  a  gold  medal 
for  it  at  London  in   1851.     The   American  lock-makers  made  a 
distinguished  sensation  at  that  World's  Fair.     Hobbs  declared  that  he  could 
pick  all  the  locks  in  England  in  a  few  minutes,  including  the  famous  liraniah. 
„       ,  His  challenge  was  accepted,  and  he  was  given  a  ("hubb  lock,  an 

experiments  old  patent,  and  the  original  lock  which  first  used  a  detector,  to 
in  picking  experiment  upon.  A  convict  lock-maker  had  once  been  oftered 
his  liberty  and  a  hundred  pounds  to  pick  this  lock,  and  had  tailed 
after  three  months  of  trial.  Hobbs  opened  it  in  a  few  minutes.  The  tairness 
of  the  experiment  being  cr\lled  in  question,  he  renewed  the  attempt  in  a  private 
house  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  gentlemen,  and  succeeded  in  twenty-five 
minutes.  He  then  went  at  the  Bram- ";.  The  manufacturer  of  it  had  for  years 
exhibited  a  lock,  with  an  offer  of  two  hundred  guineas  to  any  one  who  should 


Jones. 


Pyes. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


309 


to  lock- 

mprovc- 

problem 

s  for  one 

It  real  stir 

S.J.,  who 

ings  were 

\  of  (-om- 

je  moved 

I  tvimblers 

g  the  bolt 

vas  picked 

of  his  own 

Implication. 

ind  Newall 

ck  it.     His 

I  of  l^oston. 

jinoky  flame 

Lck  on  the 
the  parts 

[o  the  lock, 
thus  indi- 
mechanism 
concentric 
[-entric  rings 
Lilopted  the 
I  gold  medal 
[ers  made  a 
tt  he  could 
lus  V'raniah. 
Lbb  lock,  an 
detector,  to 
Len  olTered 
Id  had  t^'l*^^' 
Iriie  fairness 
in  a  privat'-' 
twenty-five 

,ad  for  ywr« 
who  should 


pick  it.  The  Bramah  troubled  him ;  but,  after  working  at  it  from  July  24  to 
Aug.  23,  he  succeeded  in  unlocking  it  at  last.  Hobbs  then  offered  the  same 
reward  to  whoever  should  pick  the  Parantoptic.  Several  of  the  best  of  the 
Kngiish  locksmiths  accepted,  and  worked  on  the  lock  for  thirty  days,  and  failed. 
The  American  invention  won  a  conceded  supremacy,  and  the  furore  over  it 
was  immense.  The  Bank  of  England  procured  one,  and  the  pattern  came 
into  general  use  in  banks  and  stores  in  the  United  States. 

Even  the  I'arantoptic,  however,  gave  way  to  American  ingenuity  in  1855. 
Linus  Yale,  jun.,  who  had  picked  a  very  successful  lock  invented  by  his  father, 
attacked  the  Parantoptic,  and  won  a  victory  by  the  impression 
process.  He  had  declared  for  several  years,  that  as  long  as  the 
key  is  of  a  winged  form,  and  rubs  an  impression  on  tumblers,  it  can  be  picked ; 
and  this  event  proved  it.  To  obviate  this  weakness  of  locks,  he  had  invented 
in  185 1  one  of  his  own  contrivance,  which  he  called  "the  magic  lock."  It  is 
believed  that  this  one  has  never  yet  been  picked.  The  key  and  its  bits,  though 
apparently  of  one  piece,  are  separable.  On  the  key  being  introduced  to  the 
lock,  the  bits  are  taken  off  by  a  pin.  The  key  being  turned  puts  in  motion  a 
set  of  wheels,  which  carry  off  the  bits  to  a  remote  part  of  the  lock,  out  of  the 
reach  of  picking-tools,  where  they  o  ")"rate  upon  the  tumblers ;  afterwards 
returning  to  the  handle  of  the  key,  and  jc   ling  it  again. 

These  brilliant  devices  —  with  others  on  the  Hall  rotary  combination  prin- 
ciple, which  dispense  with  a  key,  and  open  the  lock  by  turning  a  knob  one 
way,  and  then  the  other,  certain  distances,  according  to  a  set  of  HaU'sinven- 
numbers  one  has  in  mind — have  made  safes  and  banks  almost   *'°"' 
absolutely  secure  against  robbery.     The  burglars  are  for  a  time  at  their  wits' 
end.    The  larger  i)roportion  of  the  locks  made  for  ordinary  use  arc  not,  how- 
ever, of  these  elaborate  patterns.     They  are  merely  strong,  serviceable,  hand- 
somely-made locks  of  the  tumbler  and  spring  patterns,  for  doors,  trunks,  chests, 
bureaus,  &c.,  operated  either  with  a  flat  or  a  winged  brass  key,  which  may  be 
carried  in  the  pocket.     The  parts  of  the  locks  are  made  by  machinery  upon 
the  American  system,  except  the  i)arts  which  are  cast ;  and  these  latter  have 
already  won  a  reputation  for  their  accuracy  and  general  superiority.     The  lock 
Victories  of  the  country  are  situated  in   New  England,  New  York,  and  the 
Middle  States,  principally  :  they  employ  an  extremely  intelligent  class  of  men, 
and  form  a  large  and  important  industry.     The  American  lock  in  its  various 
forms  is  in  world-wide  use.     It  is  one  of  the  varieties  of  builders'  hardware  for 
wliicli  there  is  just  at  this  time,  in  foreign  countries  which  have  been  supplied 
«ith  hardwire  from  F)ngiand,  a  very  warm  admiration. 

PUMPS. 

The  pump  is  a  machine  which  has  attained  such  importance,  that  a  special 
annex  was  devoted  to  its  exhibition  at  the  World's;  Fair  of  1876  at  Philadel- 


3IO 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


t 


phia.  It  is  a  very  ancient  machine  (dating  back  to  the  second  century 
Importance  before  Christ  at  least),  is  now  made  in  a  witle  variety  of  forms, 
of  industry.  jjf,(|  j^  ^f  incalculable  utility.  It  was  not  in  very  general  use 
among  the  colonists  of  America,  because  of  the  cost  of  pump  logs  or  tubes, 

through  which  the  water  had  to  be  lifted  by 
the  piston  of  the  pump.  The  well  was  fiir- 
Wood  nished  with  buckets,  operated  by 

pumps.  means  of  the  long  well-sweep,  or 

by  a  counterpoise  of  some  other  sort,  whicli 
made  it  easy  to  lift  the  brimming  bucket 
from  the  depths  of  the  well.  With  machinery 
for  boring  pump-logs,  and  with  the  imjjor- 
tation  of  lead  pipe,  pumps  came  into  use. 
They  were  at  first,  and  indeed  until  witiiiii 
thirty  or  jorty  years,  always  of  wood,  the  vah  es 
alone  being  of  iron  and  leather.  Al)out  forty 
years  ago  manufacturers  began  to  make  ( ast- 
iron  pumps,  and  these  have  virtually  super- 
seded all  others  for  domestic  uses.  Tlie 
wooden  pump  survives  only  on  farms  and  as 
f  the  town-pump  on  village  greens.  Sweet  and 
tender  memories  cluster  around  the  well- 
sweep  and  the  old  wooden  pump,  and  the 
,.,  ;^,,,  gradual  disappearance  of  l)oth  before  the  bus- 

tling  and    unsentimental    civilization   of  tiie 
present  times  causes  a  feeling  of  positive  regret. 

The  highest  type  of  pump  up  to  the  date  of  the  introduction  of  the 
machine  into  the  water-works  systems  of  cities  was  the  fire-engine.  ^\'e 
had  no  great  mines  in  this  country  whose  treasures  were  deluged 
with  floods  of  water  as  in  the  silver  mountains  of  Pern,  and 
machines  of  great  power  to  keej)  "the  mines  dry  were  unnecessary ;  so  that 
for  a  long  period  the  fire-engine  was  the  peer  of  pumps,  and  a  very  old- 
fogy  sort  of  a  peer  it  was  too.  The  pimip  was  mounted  upon  a  huj,'e 
water-tight  wagon-box,  into  which  the  water  was  poured  by  the  bucket 
First  ma-  companies,  which  stood  in  line,  and  passed  the  buckets  along 
chines:  how  from  the  nearest  well.  The  ]Kimp  was  operated  by  hand-levers. 
constructed.  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  twenty  men  being  able  to  catch  hold  of  the 
levers.  The  old  machines  were  clumsy  and  absurd  devices.  .After  thf 
great  fire  in  New  York  in  1835  more  attention  was  given  to  them,  ami 
they  were  then  greatly  improved.  They  were  fitted  with  suction-pipes,  \\hi< h. 
while  en  route  to  and  from  fires,  were  carried  in  the  position  in  which 
a  squirrel  carries  his  tail,  and  which  afterwards  were  made  to  be  detarhen, 
and  put  on  at  will.     The  brakes  were  lengthened,  and  large  brass  receivers 


Fire-engine. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


3" 


;ntury 
forms, 
al  use 

tu\)es, 
"ted  \)y 
vas  fur- 
itetl  by 
veep,  or 
t,  whic^i 

bucket 
achinery 

i  imv'O'^' 
into  use. 
til  wilhiu 
the  valves 
\)out  forty 
.nakc  last- 
lUy  super- 
ses.      'Hi^-' 
rms  iukI  as 
Sweet  awl 
the  well- 
ip,  and  tin- 
,rc  the  bus- 
ion   of  lli^' 


tion  oi 


the 

Agine.      "*-' 
ere  dolugea 
Peru,  anil 
so  ilwi 
old- 


|iry 
a  very 


Iwn   a  luiii<-' 
the   b^H-l^^'^ 
lickets  alons; 
1  hand-lever;^. 
i^old    of  the 
After  the 
them,  'tn'l 
js,  Nvhii'h. 


bipes 


whieh 


Ion  ni 

detachert. 

i.'ceivef* 


pe 
[ass  rec 


were    put    upon    the   pumps.      Some    very   effective   types    of    fire-engines 
were   prochiced  by  this   means.      The    best   of  cast-iron  and  cast-steel  was 
put  iiUo  tlie    working-parts  of  the  machine,  and  tliey  were   made  to  work 
sniuothiy.  and  to  endure  a  long  period  of  hard  usage.      The  machine  con- 
tained either  two  double-acting  or   four   single-acting   force-pumps.      They 
were  mostly  made    in    the 
Ivistern    States  ;    and    the 
larger  part  of    the    thirty- 
five  htuidred  fire-engines  in 
use  throughout  the  United 
States  are  still  of  this  class 
of    iiand-power    machines. 
They    are    able    to    throw 
an    incii-stream    of    water 
sfventy-five  feet  high  ;  but 
it  is  very  exhausting  work 
for  the  men  who   o[)erate 
the  brakes.     Simultaneous- 
ly with  the  improvement  of 
the  hand  lire-engine,  atten- 
tion began    to   be   paid  to 
the  Mihject   of  steam   fire- 
engines.     ( )ne  of  the  latter 
(lass    liad    been    made    in 
Kngland  as  early  as  1829; 
liiit  if  was  excessively  clum- 
py; and,  after  a  few  were 
made,   they    attracted     no 
more  attention   for  twenty 
years.     Hut  in  the  United 
States  the  idea  was  taken  up 
ami  utilized.     Mr.  Hodges 
I'iiilt    a    steam 
tire-engine      in 

1S41  for  the  insurance  companies  of  Ne\v-\'()rk  City,  and  employed  it  to  good 
eiiect  on  several  occasions  of  fire.  It  was  too  heavy,  however,  for  rapid  trans- 
portation from  one  part  of  the  city  to  another  in  emergencies.  Cincinnati  was 
the  first  city  to  make  the  steam  fire-engine  a  success.  .A.  W.  I-atta  Extent  of 
Imilt  one  of  these  engines  for  the  city  in  1853,  and  two  more  the  modern  im- 
year  following.  They  were  designed  to  be  locomotives,  and  go  by  P'o^^*"'"**- 
'heir  own  steam,  but  were  dreadfully  heavy,  weighing  about  twelve  tons  each. 
Ihese  three  engines  were  successfully  used  as  part  of  the  fire- apparatus  of 
•Cincinnati ;  but  the  attempt  to  propel  them  from  one  place  to  another  with 


Hodges. 


noi'iii.F.-ACTiNr,  !L.Mr.  miii   hu  iiui- 


312 


iND  US  TRiA  I.  ms  roN  V 


their  own  power  was  afterwards  abandoned.  In  1859  a  machine  was  built  in 
New  Yorit,  weighing  only  five  thousand  pounds,  to  be  drawn  by  hand.  That 
then  came  to  be  the  standard  weight  of  this  class  of  engines,  antl  a  great 
many  patterns  of  them  have  since  then  been  invented  and  perfected.  Boston, 
Philadeljihia,  Chicago,  and  other  large  cities,  made  experiments  with  this  class 
of  fire-apparatus  ;  and  the  result  has  been  that  all  large  communities  have 
now  adopted  them  permanently,  and  discarded  their  old  hand-machines. 
New- York  City  has  thirty-five  of  the  new  class.     Those  at  jjresent  in  use  arc 


IIYIlKAUI.ll.    WAM. 


drawn  by  two  horses  each,  and  will  throw  a  five-eighths  inch  jet  over  a  Im" 
dred  feet  high,  sometimes  a  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  'I'hey  are  siipplii'l 
either  with  piston  pumps  or  rotary  pumps  ;  the  latter  being  a  new  idea  in  tlii^ 
class  of  machines,  introduced  about  fifty  years  ago,  and  within  tlu-  last 
twenty  has  become  exceedingly  j)opular.  An  animated  controversy  li'i^ 
raged  between  the  rival  makers  of  steam  fire-engines  as  to  tiie  resptctivi' 
merits  of  the  rotary  and  the  piston  principles.  A  continuous  flow,  however, 
is  maintained  with  both.     In  the  best  types  of  engines  now  made  slcain  i^ 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


3>3 


raised  in  live  minutes.  The  principal  factories  are  those  of  the  Amoskcag 
Company,  Silsby  &  Company  of  Seneca  Falls,  N.Y.,  the  Paterson  Company 
of  I'aterson,  N.J.,  and  E.  A.  Straw  of  Manchester,  N.H ;  but  there  are  half 
a  dozen  other  manufacturers. 

Within  the  last  forty  years  a  change  has  taken  place  with  regard  to  pumps 
in  domestic  use,  and  the  fire-engine  is  no  longer  the  peer  of  pumps.  Water- 
works have  been  extensively  introduced  to  cities  and  villages  :  and 

Pumps  for 

this  has  led  to  a  double  result :  first  the  almost  total  abolition  of  supplying 
the  lummon  iron  pump  from  households  in  those  cities  and  vil-   «='*'«*  w'«*' 
lagcs,  and  the  construction  of  a  new  class  of  massive  machines  of 
enormous  power  to  take  their  place,  by  forcing  the  water  through  pipes  and 
mains,  under  pressure,  to  the  different  houses  and  buildings  of  the  community. 


STEAM-I-UMP. 

A  great  many  towns  have  been  able  to  build  reservoirs  on  the  adjacent  hills 
or  hij,'h  lands,  at  such  a  height  above  the  place  as  to  insure  a  Iicavy  pressure 
i'l  all  the  water-pipes  of  tiie  place  by  the  operation  of  gravity.  IJut  not  all 
<  ommunities  are  so  happily  situated  ;  and,  in  order  to  secure  a  distribution  of 
the  water,  resort  is  had  to  powerful  forcing-engines.  These  machines  are 
'"lilt  so  massively  that  they  frequently  constitute   the  heaviest  machinery  in 


314 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


,|||,|l,i|l|l!ll'!IIi.  iil1'!il!'i!v' :i|:i,;  Miiiiljinri'! 


i 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


3»5 


ojieration  in  a  city,  and  are  one  of  tiie  local  wonders  of  the  place.  They  are 
cither  piston  or  rotary  pumps.  The  rotary  pumps,  if  driven  by  water-power, 
arc  direct  acting ;  that  is,  the  shaft  of  the  turbine  rises  into  the  box  of  the 
rotary  pump,  and  forms  the  axle  of  the  pump,  or  else  gears  into  the  axle. 
The  turbine  moves  naturally  with  such  velocity,  that  no  special  gearing  is 
required  to  increase  the  speed  of  the  pump.  If  steam  is  used,  or  if  a  piston- 
pump  is  employed  with  water-power,  the  machine-room  is  generally  supplied 
with  a  heavy  fly-wheel,  which  maintains  an  ecjuable  motion.  The  piston- 
pumps  are  of  cast-iron,  with  steel  pistons  and  iron  valves,  fitteil  with  great 
nicety.  The  workmanship  upon  them  is  of  such  superior  order,  that  foreign 
engineers  have  given  it  hearty  commendation.  In  some  of  the  water-works 
huilt  on  the  Holly  principle  gangs  of  piston-pumps  are  used,  there  being 
eight  pumps  in  the  set.  The  eight  pistons  rise  one  after  the  other ;  and  a 
continuous  flow  of  the  water  is  thus  obtained,  and  the  pulsations  in  the  pipes 
of  the  city,  freciuently  heard,  are  obviated. 

Heavy  pumps  have  also  of  late  been  used  to  keep  the  gold  and  silver 
mines  of  the  Territories  free  of  water.  There  is  nothing  peculiar  in  their 
construction. 


3i6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  111. 

MANUFACTURES   OF   GOLD,   SILVER,   AND   OTHER   METALS. 

IN  the  republic  of  industry,  iron  is  the  president  of  metals ;   but  it  by  no 
means  fulfils  all  the  purposes  in  the  arts  for  which  a  metal  is  desirable.     It 
is  durable,  and  enomiously  strong :  but  it  is  corrosible  even  by 

Iron :  its  un-  '  j  ct  >  / 

fitness  (or       water,  and  is,  therefore,  unfit  for  dishes  and  utensils,  except  for 

many  pur-  coarse  uses,  and  then  only  to  a  limited  extent.  It  is  not  a  hand- 
poses. 

some  metal,  being  utterly  without  rich  color  and  decorative  effect ; 

and  cannot,  therefore,  be  used  for  ornament  and  for  fine  statuary.  It  lacks 
delicacy  of  texture,  and  cannot  be  readily  and  elegantly  wrought ;  and  can  play 
no  part  in  the  manufacture  of  delicate  ware  for  the  gratification  of  luxurious 
tastes,  even  had  it  the  beauty  and  value  which  would  incline  one  to  devote  it 
to  such  purposes.  It  is  too  abundant  to  be  precious  ;  and  cannot,  therefore,  be 
used  as  a  medium  of  exchange.  To  supply  the  defects  of  iron  for  luxurious 
and  many  common  uses,  a  bounteous  Providence  has  stored  the  rocks  prodi- 
gally with  a  variety  of  other  metals  of  great  beauty  and  value,  which  experience 
and  scientific  research  have  enabled  man  to  abstract  from  their  mineral  sur- 
roundings, and  apply  to  a  thousand  important  uses.  Gold,  silver,  and  copper 
—  all  noble  metals  —  were  the  first  of  them  which  were  utilized  by  man,  and, 
indeed,  the  first  which  were  utilized  at  all ;  and  so  true  is  this  last  remark,  tliat 
gold,  silver,  and  copper  were  not  only  the  primary  metals  employed  in  tlie 
arts  by  the  ancient  peoples  of  Europe  and  Asia,  but  were  the  first  which  the 
savages  of  America  also  took  from  the  rocks,  and  worked  up  into  tools  and 
ornaments.  The  reason  of  this  early  popularity  of  gold,  silver,  and  copper,  is 
doubtless  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they  were  beautiful  metals,  attractive  to  tlie 
eye,  and  so  soft  as  to  be  easily  worked.  Iron,  zinc,  and  lead  were  discovered 
Extensive  ^"^^  employed  next,  and,  after  iron,  platinum,  last  of  all.  Copper 
use  of  copper  was  the  great  resource  of  antiquity  for  all  objects  of  metallic  manu- 
by  ancient      facture.     They  hardened  it  with  zinc  and  tin,  converting  it  into 

nations.  '  •,  I 

brass  and  bronze,  and  making  of  it  arms,  tools,  armor,  utensils,  and 
many  ornaments.  They  put  it  into  their  gold  and  silver  to  give  them  hardness 
and  durability,  and  used  a  great  deal  of  it  pure.     Silver  and  gcM  gradually 


OF   THE    UNITED    ST  A  TEH. 


3«7 


superseded  it  for  elegant  purposes,  however,  on  account  of  their  greater  splen- 
dor and  incorrosibility,  and  to  this  day  are  the  matchless  metals  for  table-ware, 
ornaments,  and  decorations.     They  are  charming  metals  to  work,  and  objects 
made  of  them  can  be  covered  with  a  profusion  of  luxuriant  sharp-cut  orna- 
ment which  is  absolutely  unattainable  in  any  other  mineral  substance.    Their 
scarcity  renders  them  additionally  valuable,  and,  with   their  other  qualities, 
marks  them  out  as  the  true  metals  for  a  medium  of  exchange  in  trade.     Coj)- 
pcr,  however,  still  maintains  its  rank  next  to  iron  for  purposes  of  utility,  and 
next  to  gold  and  silver  for  beauty.     Tin,  zinc,  and  platinum  have  properties 
of  beauty  and  incorrosibility  such  as  iron  does  not  possess,  and  the  first  two 
were  greatly  valued  in  antiquity  for  their  ability  to  make  beautiful  alloys  with 
copper.     They  are  still  extensively  employed  for  the  same  purposes,  and  also 
for  others  which  modern  invention  has  discovered  that  they  alone  are  good 
for.     A  variety  of  other  metals  have  been  found  in  the  earth,  —  lead,  antimony, 
jjuniinum,  iridium,  mercury,  nickel,  manganese,  &c.,  —  each  with  special  and 
valuable  qualities,  which  have  given  it  a  distinct  rble  to  play  in  the  arts,  which 
iron  nor  any  other  substance  qan  perform  equally  well.     The  culture   and 
convenience  of  mankind  have  been  promoted  immensely  by  the  discovery  of 
this  wide  range  of  diverse  metallic  substances.     Each  one  of  the  seven  princi- 
pal metals  has  done  its  distinct  share  in  lifting  man  from  barbarism  to  civiliza- 
tion.    Collectively  they  have  in  every  age  supplied  the  principal  motive  for 
exploration,  conquest,  and  colonization,  and  each  one  has  exerted  its  influence 
on  passing  events ;  and  it  is  not  too  nmch  to  say,  that,  had  any  one  of  them 
been  lacking  from  the  resources  of  Nature,  the  whole  history  of  the  world 
would  have  been  totally  different  from  what  it  has  been.     With  reference  to 
the  llnited  States,  it  may  be  said  that  Nature  has  blessed  our  territory  with 
ample  stores  of  all  the  principal  metals  except  tin,  and  with  a  large  sup'^ly  of 
many  of  the  rarer  kinds.     As  the  race  which  took  possession  of  the  country, 
anil  settled  and  developed  it,  was  an  educated  one,  and  full  of  the  spirit  of 
modern  enterprise  and  industry,  it  was  natural  to  expect  a  development  of  the 
manufacture  of  the  metals  sooner  or  later  in  the  country.     The  expectation 
has  already  been  realized.     The  facts  in  regard  to  iron  have  already  been  set 
forth  ;  those  in  regard  to  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  the  rarer  kinds,  will  now  be 
related. 

COINAGE. 


The  most  important  employment  of  gold  and  silver  is  as  a  medium  of 
exchange  in  trade.  This  was  not  the  primary  use.  Gold  and  g^  , 
silver  first  subserved  only  the  vanity,  and  love  of  magnificence,  ment  of  gold 
on  the  part  of  kings  and  conspicuous  people,  and  die  popular  ""''  •''^"' " 
taste  for  the  decoration  of  temples  and  statues.  Articles  made 
of  the  two  metals  were,  indeed,  bartered  for  other  goods ;  but  the  notion  of 
measuring  the  value  of  all  articles  by  a  weight  of  pure  gold  or  of  pure  silver 


3i« 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


\ 


was  invented  only  after  trade  had  been  carried  on  liy  barter  for  centuries.  A 
common  medium  of  value  at  length  became  necessary,  and  nothing  answered 
the  purpose  so  well  as  these  beautiful  and  universally-admired  metals.  In  the 
days  of  chivalry  it  was  not  an  uncommon  practice  to  wear  heavy  chains  of 

gold  or  silver  about  the  neck,  and 
pay  the  score  at  the  wayside  tavern 
by  breaking  off  a  link  or  two  of  the 
precious  metal.  Hut  a  more  accurate 
mode  of  payment  was  desirable,  and 
the  more  popular  custom  of  striking 
coins  of  gold  and  silver  of  given 
,N,;„Ts  weights  and  jjurity  to  pass  from  hand 

to  hand  in  trade  gradually  sujjcrseded 
all  others.  In  the  gold-mining  regions  of  the  United  States,  since  1(848, 
another  mode  of  employing  gold  as  a  medium  of  exchange  was  resorted  to 
more  or  less  before  local  facilities  for  coining  were  created,  and  banks  were 
establislied  to  issue  paper  money.  This  was  to  carry  about  little  bags  of 
gold-dust,  and  pay  all  debts  and  scores  by  weighing  out  a  projjcr  amount  of 
the  metal.  'I'lie  method  is  still  in  use  in  remote  districts  to  a  limited  extent, 
and  is  the  same  in  principle  as  payment  in  minted  coin ;  that  is  to  say,  i)y 
specific  weight  and  purity  of  metal. 

When  this  country  was  first  settled,  trade  was  carried  on  by  the  inhabitants 

after  the  primitive  plan  of  barter.     Tobacco  was  an  almost  universal  medium 

of  exchange  in  Virginia  and  other  Southern  colonies ;  and  cattle, 

Barter. 

skins,  wheat,  and  other  produce,  were  used  in  the  Northern  colonies 
even  to  pay  taxes,  (lold  and  silver  were  extremely  rare.  What  little  there 
was  in  the  coimtry  was  brought  at  first  from  England  and  Holland  by  the 
colonists,  or  received  from  those  two  countries  in  exchange  for  the  products 
of  their  labor.  It  was  too  valuable  to  circulate  much,  and  its  owners  generally 
preferred  to  hoard  it.  Houses  and  ships  were  built,  and  real  estate  bought,  by 
First  use  of  barter.  After  a  few  years,  a  sui)ply  of  silver  coin  was  obtaineil  by 
silver.  trade  with  Cuba  and  the  Spanish  settlements  in  the  other  ^^  est 

Indies.  This  was  an  illegal  trade,  because  England  and  Spain  both  required 
their  respective  colonies  to  deal  only  with  the  mother-country ;  but  it  was 
winked  at  by  both  countries  on  account  of  its  obvious  advantages  to  both  tlie 
English  and  the  Spanish  colonies.  The  latter  obtained  fish,  flour,  and  otlier 
food  which  they  could  not  raise  themselves  ;  and  the  former  secured  silver  coin 
wherewith  to  pay  Elngland  for  the  manufactures  they  were  forced  to  buy  of 
her.  The  exports  of  produce  from  the  English  colonies  never  paid  for  the 
imports  of  manufactures,  and  the  balance  in  trade  had  to  be  paid  for  with 
coin.  The  colonies,  having  no  money  of  their  own,  were  flooded  with  foreign 
coins,  principally  silver,  but  partly  of  gold  also,  the  larger  part  of  the  currency 
being  Spanish.     English  shillings  and  sixpences,  and  the  Spanish  dollar  with 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


3»9 


ia\)itants 
medium 
\  cattle, 
colonies 
le  there 
I  by  the 
products 
generally 
night,  hy 
[lined  hy 
iier  ^Vest 
I  required 
X  it  was 
Iboth  the 
id  other 
[ivcr  coin 
buy  of 
\  for  the 
for  with 
foreign 
cunency 
)llar  with 


its  iVactions,  were  the  principal  money,  (lold-pieces,  siirh  as  guineas,  doub- 
loons, joes,  pistoles,  itc,  were  also  in  circulation,  but  were  too  greatly  prized 
for  conversion  into  jewelry  to  play  a  very  important  i)art  in  trade.  'I'lie  Span- 
ish dollar  became  the  accepted  unit  of  the  circulation. 

The  colonies  always  wanted  a  coinage  of  their  own,  and  some  rough 
pieces  were  struck  at  various  times.  Massachusetts  established  a  mint  for 
tiie  production  of  silver  shillings,  sixpences,  and  threepences,  pine-tree 
wiiii  h  were  made  of  twopence  to  the  shilling  less  value  than  the  coinage. 
I'jiglish  coin,  so  as  to  insure  their  remaining  at  home.  The  larger  coin  was 
tiie  lamous  pine-tree  shilling.  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  also  coined  pennies. 
'Ihcse  ventures  were  regarded  with  great  tlisfavor  in  iMigland  as  an  infringe- 
ment on  the  prerogatives  of  royalty,  and  they  became  short-lived  experiments 
in  consetjuence. 

Nothing  more  was  done  about  a  mint  until  i  7.S2.  when  Robert  Morris  — 
the  best  financier  of  his  day,  and  who  had  more  than  once  hcl])cd  Washington 
through  a  crisis  by  his  advances  of  hard  money  to  the  national  treasury  —  was 
asked  to  report  a  system  of  coinage.  Mr.  Morris  complied,  and  Egt^bUsh 
his  report  formed  the  theme  of  debate  for  a  number  of  years,  mentofmint 
The  foundation  of  the  currency  had  been  for  years  the  Spanish   '*  Phiiadei- 

^  ^  '  phia. 

dollar,  and  contracts  for  hard  money  were  always  ])ayable  in  that 

coin.     In  order  to  determine  the  exact  value  of  the  coin,  so  that  no  injustice 

might  be  done  by  replacing  it  with  American  pieces,  careful  assays  were  made 

by  Hamilton,  and  371^  grains  of  pure  silver  were  fixed  upon  as  the  standard 

value  of  the  Spanish  dollar.     The  ecpiivalent  of   this  in    gold  was  fixed  at 

twenty-seven   grains.     Several   plans  of  coinage  were  suggested  ;   Jefferson's 

and  finally  one  proposed  by  Jefferson  was  adopted,  and  enacted   system. 

April  2,  1792.     It  conformed  to  the  decimal  notation,  and  included  a  golden 

eagle  of  270  grains  (fineness  916^),  a  half-eagle  of  gold,  a  (piarter-eagle,  and 

a  (k)llar,  a  silver  dollar  of  416  grains  (fineness  892^;),  a  half-dollar,  qnarter- 

(li)llar,  dime,  and  half-dime,  and  a  copi)er  cent  of  264  grains.     A  mint  was 

established  at  Philadelphia,  some  very  noble  devices  adopted  for  the  coins, 

and  the  striking  of  metal  money  began.     This  first  gave  the  Americans  a 

money  of  their   own,  and    the    Spanish   and    other  foreign    ])ieces   gradually 

<lisapi)eared   from    the   purses   and  money-boxes  of  the  peo[)le.     They  were 

mostly  sent   into  the   mint,  and    recoined.     It  took  some  time,  however,  to 

effect  the  change,  because  the  facilities  of  rapid  and  safe  transportation  of 

money  from  one  jjoint  of  the  country  to  another  had  not  yet  been  created ; 

and.  the  circulation  of  foreign  coins  being  permitted,  merchants  and  bankers 

preferred  to  let  matters  take  their  own  course  without  forcing  them. 

Two  varieties  of  the  coins  authorized  by  the  act  of  1792  were  worth  too 
much  to  circulate.  Owing  to  a  rise  in  the  value  of  copper,  it  was  found  that 
the  cent  had  been  made  too  heavy,  and  was  worth  more  than  the  hundredth 
part  of  the  dollar.     The  weight  was  accordingly  changed,  Jan.  14,  1793,10 


JfO 


IND  US  1 KIA  I.    HIS  TON  Y 


VIRGINIA   HALFPENNV. 


208  grains.  A  year  or  two  later  it  was  reduced  to  168  grains,  and  remained 
Difficulty  at  tiiat  standard  until  discontinued  in  1857.  The  gold  dollar  and 
with  coinage  its  iTiultij)les  Were  also  too  heavy.  Hy  an  error  in  the  calculation. 
**  '^'''  twenty-seven  grains  were  erroneously  fixed  upon  as  the  equivalent 

of  the  silver  dollar ;  and  gold,  though  coined  to  a  limited  extent,  never  cainc 

into  use  under  the  law  of  1792.  The 
reason  was,  that  the  eagle,  while  worth 
more  than  ten  dollars  in  silver,  could 
only  circulate  as  ten  dollars ;  where- 
as for  exportation  it  would  bring  its 
true  value  as  270  grains  of  bullion  of 
a  certain  purity.  The  gold  coin,  ac- 
cordingly, was  all  sent  abroad  to  pay 
for  foreign  purchases  ;  anil  the  only 
metal  currency  of  the  United  States  was  silver  and  copper  until  after  1834. 

About  that  time  there  was  a  gold  furore  in  the  United  States,  caused  hy 
the  discovery  of  that  precious  metal  in  Georgia  and  in  the  mountains  of  the 
Creation  of  Carolinas.  The  yield  of  gold  from  the  mines  which  were  opened 
goid-piecei.  ^j^jj  never  extravagantly  large ;  but  it  was  sufficient  to  cause  the 
public  men  of  the  United  States  to  resolve  to  restore  gold  to  the  circulation 
of  the  country.  A  careful  study  of  the  relative  values  of  gold  and  silver  was 
made,  and  a  ratio  of  values  agreed  upon.  In  order,  however,  to  make  the 
gold  dollar  circulate,  its  weight  was  not  only  reduced  to  the  proper  point  to 
make  it  worth  exactly  the  same  as  the  silver  dollar,  but  it  was  brought  just  .a 
trifle  below  it.  The  law  of  June  28,  1834,  was  then  enacted,  creating  a  gold 
eagle  of  258  grains  (899.225  fine,  changed  in  1837  to  900  fine)  and  a  half 
and  a  quarter  eagle  of  relative  weight.  The  gold  dollar  of  25.8  grains  was 
authorized  March  3,  1849.  The  mint  went  actively  to  work  coining  gold; 
and  a  few  years  later,  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  branch  estab- 
lishments at  San  P'rancisco,  New  Orleans,  and  Carson  City,  were  opened  to 
aid  it  to  dispose  of  the  vast  quantities  of  metal  which  were  brought  to  it  for 
conversion  into  current  money.  The  law  of  1834  produced  an  unexpected 
result.  In  lessening  the  weight  of  the  gold  coins,  Congress  had  aimed  only 
at  preventing  their  exportation.  But  now  the  silver  dollar,  being  worth  more 
Withdrawal  than  a  gold  dollar  as  bullion  or  for  exportation,  was  rapidly  ex- 
of  silver.  ported  or  melted  up,  and,  in  an  exceedingly  short  time,  totally 
disappeared  from  the  circulation.  The  silver  dollar  was  reduced  to  412^ 
grains  (900  fine)  in  1837  ;  but  that  did  not  arrest  the  change  which  was  going 
on.  Silver  began  to  grow  extremely  scarce.  There  was  hardly  small  cliange 
enough  to  transact  the  business  of  the  people.  The  dollars  and  half-dollars 
were  at  four  per  cent  premium  for  export,  and  the  stock  in  the  country  was 
growing  beautifully  less  day  by  day.  The  people  could  not  go  back  to  barter 
for  the   purposes  of  trade ;    and,  in  order  to  supply  the  demand  for  small 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES, 


321 


aincd 
r  and 
ation, 
valent 

caiTif 
The 

worth 
,  could 
whcrc- 
•ing  its 
llion  of 
oin,  ac- 

to  pay 
he  only 

834- 
used  liy 
s  of  the 
:  opened 
avise  the 
irculation 
silver  was 
lake  the 
point  to 
;ht  just  a 
ig  a  gold 
id  a  half 
rrains  was 
[ing  goW; 
ich  estab- 
,pened  to 
to  it  for 
nexpected 
imed  only 
lorth  more 

lapiflly  ^'^' 
Le,  totally 

to  4' 4 
was  going 
,all  chiinge 
[half-^lollars 
]ountry  was 
to  barter 
i\  for  small 


change,  the  merchants  began  to  issue  a  sort  of  fractional  paper  currency, 
wliic'h  was  extensively  used  in  large  cities.  In  order  to  afford  the  people  the 
needed  relief.  Congress  enacted  a  law,  Feb.  21,  1853,  changing  the  weight  of 
the  I  ' "  '''liar  to  192  grains  (900  fine),  and  the  smaller  coins  relatively.  That 
gave  people  a  subsidiary  coinage  for  small  business-transactions ;  but  it 

finishea  the  silver  era  of  American  money  at  a  blow.  All  the  old  silver  dis- 
appeared like  a  ilash  into  melting-pots  and  bullion-offices ;  and  gold  became 
the  standard  money,  with  silver  for  small  change. 

All  metal  money,  except  copper,  bronze,  and  nickel  cents,  two-cent  and 
five-cent  pieces  (the  bronze  and  nickel  pieces  authorized  in  1862,  1865,  and 
1866),  went  out  of  circulation  in  the  United  States  shortly  after  _.. 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  1861.     The  government,  and  banks  war  upon 
North  and  South,  issued  so  much  paper  money,  that  its  value  fell  ">•*•"'« 

•  .  currency. 

below  that  of  com,  and  coin  disappeared.     It  is  only  in  1878  that 

the  value  of  paper  has  approached  so  closely  to  that  of  coin,  that  coin  is  again 

in  circulation. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  mint  in  1792,  and  its  branches  in  later 
years,  t'  ''ollowing  values  of  money  have  been  struck  under  the  laws  of  the 
Unite  's  up  to  June  30,  1877  :  —  > 


Double-eagles     . 

E.iglcs 
Malf-c.ngles. 
Qii.Titcr-eagles    . 
Tliree-dollar-pieces 
Gold  dollars 
Silver  dollars 
Trade  dollars 
Half-dollars 
Quarter-dollars    . 
Twenty-cent-pieces 
Dimes 
Half-dimes  . 
Three-cent-pieces 
Xickel  five-cent-pieces 
Nickel  three-cent-pieces 
Uronze  two-cent-pieces 
Copper  cents 
Half-cents  . 

Total  gold  . 
Total  silver. 
Total  minor  coins 

Grand  total . 


•  •  • 


$809,598,440 
56,707,220 
69,412,815 

26,795.750 
1,300,032 

19.345.438 

8,045.838 

24,581,350 

1 18,869,540 

34.774.'2i 
270,858 

16,141,786 
4,906,946 
1,281,850 

S.7  73.090 
855,090 
912,020 

S.304.577 
39,926 

iP983. 1 59.695 

208,872,289 

12,884,703 

$1,204,916,687 


While  the  government  exercises  the  sole  right  of  coining  the  precious 


f 


322 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


^^.; 


IP 


metals  for  the  purposes  of  a  medium  of  exchange,  and  of  regulating  the 
Mi  ti  n  t  fi"*^i^*^ss  of  the  pieces,  it  does  not  carry  on  the  process  of  minting 
carried  on  for  profit.  Coining  v/as  formerly  a  source  jf  enormous  gain  to 
for  making  a  royalty  in  Europe,  when  the  people  were  systematically  defrauded 
by  the  issue  of  pieces  worth  far  less  than  their  nominal  value,  in 
order  that  the  king  might  make  the  difference.  In  the  United  States  the 
mint  has  always  been  merely  a  factory  where  the  people  can  bring  their  gDJil 
and  silver  and  other  metal,  and,  by  paying  a  small  charge  for  the  expenses  of 
the  operation,  have  the  metal  converted  into  pieces  of  a  given  weight  and  fine- 
ness. The  stamp  of  the  government  is  merely  the  certificate  of  its  weight 
and  fineness.  Coining  has  never  been  carried  on  by  the  people,  except  under 
the  stress  of  a  great  necessity,  and  then  only  to  a  limited  extent.  During  the 
WT  a  vast  number  of  copper  tokens,  which  passed  current  as  a  cent,  were 
ciouied  for  business-niei  ,  and,  during  the  early  days  of  gold-ininiiig  in  the 
West,  private  firms  establisheil  private  mints  at  Denver,  Col.,  and  in  SiUi  I'Van- 
cisco.  The  coins  they  struck  were  merely  tokens  ;  and,  though  they  wore 
largely  twenty-dollar-pieces,  they  were  ahvajs  worth  more  than  their  face  as 
bullion.  The  miners  resorted  to  these  mints  nierei\'  as  a  resource  for  having 
their  gold-dust  converted  into  convenient  ibrin  for  sliipmenl  to  the  States. 

The  process  of  coining  is  very  sinii)ie.  and  is  substantially  the  same, 
whether  the  pieces  struck  arc  of  gold,  silver,  cop|)er,  or  nickel.  Cold  and 
Process  of  silver  are  brought  to  the  mint  in  many  different  forms.  —  in  the 
coining.  {oxx\\  of  gold-dust,  amalgamatcil  cakes  froin  the  retorts  of  the 

stamp-mills,  laminated  bars,  assayed  bars,  plate,  jewelry,  and  foreign  coin.  The 
metal  is  sent  first  to  be  assayed,  where  the  pure  gold  and  silver  are  first 
extracted,  and  t.'ien  severally  alloyed  in  the  proportion  of  nine  per  cent  of 
pure  metal  to  one  of  alloy.  The  metal  comes  to  the  mint  proper  in  flat  bars. 
It  is  weighed,  tested  to  ascertain  its  fineness,  and  is  passed  over  to  the 
manufacturing  department.  The  bars  are  then  annealed,  and  rolled  at  a  red- 
heat  into  long,  thin  strips.  They  are  again  annealed,  and  drawn  out  between 
steel  plues  of  the  hardest  steel  to  the  proper  thickness  for  coining.  I'rom 
the  strips  thus  obtained  a  machine  punches  out  round  planks,  or  plain  lut.s, 
of  the  proper  si/e  for  coining.  The  punch  cuts  out  a  hundretl  and  sixty  a 
minute.  The  blanks  are  collected,  and  the  perforated  strip  sent  bai  k  u.  he 
melted  and  re-rolled.  The  blanks  are  then  cleaned,  and  a  few  pieces  from  each 
lot  weighed  in  deKcate  balances  to  ascertain  if  they  are  of  the  proper  standard. 
In  old  limes,  when  coins  were  struck  by  hand  on  an  an\il,  pieces  diifired 
trtaterially  in  weight ;  and  the  merchant  balanced  each  one  on  his  fingir.  and 
estimated  its  value,  before  he  took  it.  The  use  of  machinery  has  obviated  the 
ancient  wide  differences  in  weight ;  yet  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  a  siiade  of 
variation,  and  the  mint  does  not  attempt  to  give  each  piece  a  mathcinatirally 
exact  value.  What  is  cailed  a  "working  tolerance"  of  weight  is  alloweil.  Hiis 
legal  deviation  is  as  follows  ;  — 


eiitiiv 
iiioiici 


CoMi. 

I  line, 

('Wphi.i 
^■•>t.il)lisl 
C'lpaeit; 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


323 


g  tl^e 

inling 

ain  to 

■iuulcd 

Aue,  in 

Les  the 

:ir  goltl 

nsos  of 

lid  finc- 

,  weight 

)t  unilcr 

iring  tl\e 

:nt,  were 

ig  in  the 

.m  I'ran- 

hey  were 

X  lAce  as 

or  havini; 

.ates. 

Vhc   same, 
Colli  and 

<^^  —  in  the 

^rts  of  the 

[:oin.  'Hie 
T  are  first 
,or  eent  of 
lA  tiat  liars. 
Iver  to  the 
]\  at  a  rcil- 
jul  l>et\vecn 

ling.     l">-^^>" 
pl.iiuhets, 

an<.l  ^i^^y^ 
Inick  lu  be 
•s  fvoni  each 
ler  standard. 
•OS  ilil'lVrcd 
linger,  and 
obviated  the 
a  shade  of 
[thcinaticaliy 
wed.    'H"^ 


TIIK    riECB. 


WORKINC  1  .ILKRANCB 
IN  G  (AINS. 


Douhle-eagle 
I'.iij-lc   . 
Il.ilt-faglc    . 
Quaiter-cagle 
Three-dollar  coin 
n.illar. 
Silver  dollar 
Trade  dollar 
U.ilfdollar  . 
Quarter-dollar 
Twenty  cents 
I)imc   . 


Pieces  which  Hill  below  the  standard  by  more  than  the  above  variation  are 
called  "condemned  liglits,"  and  are  sent  back  for  re  melting.  Tlie  "heavies" 
are  reduced  to  the  proper  point  by  filing.  The  others  are  called  "  standards." 
When  those  of  the  right  weight  are  sorted  out,  they  are  milled  in  a  machine 
whit  1',  raises  the  edge  so  as  to  protect  the  device  of  the  completed  coin  from 
wear.  The  blanks  are  then  cleaned,  polislied  by  agitation,  and  sent  to  the 
coining-press.  The  press  is  a  simple  but  very  massive  maciiine.  When 
douhle-eagles  are  coined,  it  is  made  capable  of  administering  to  the  golden 
blanks  a  grim  thrust  of  seventy-five  tons.  The  blanks  are  put  into  a  tube, 
and  sli[>  down  one  by  one  upon  the  bed  of  the  jiress.  They  rest  upon  a  ilie 
containing  the  device  of  one  side  of  the  coin,  while  a  die  containing  the  other 
conies  down  upon  them.  Tlie  iuipression  of  both  sides,  and  the  fluting  of  the 
edge  to  save  it  from  filing,  are  given  all  at  once. 
Steel  fingers  pick  up  tlie  stamiK'd  coin,  and  re- 
nun  e  it.  Tlie  ordinary  sjK'ed  of  coinage  is  from 
sixty  to  eighty  per  minute.  .\  pair  of  dies  lasts 
about  two  weeks. 

The  operations  of  the  mint  arc  not  confined 
entirely  to  the  coining  of  .\merican 

nvM,  ...         I     „        .^  Operations 

moncN.  A  great  many  commenio-  „/^i„j„„t 
r.uive  and  other  medals  ordered  by  solely  con- 
t'on-ivss  are    struck   from  time  to   «"«<»  »o=°'n- 

tng  money. 

time,  and  tiiere  lias  been  some  work 

for  foreign  governments  performed.     .\t  Pliila- 

(Wphia  12,000,000  nickel  pieces  were  struck  in    1876  for  Venezuela.     The 

establishment  at  Philadelphia  is  the  principal  one  in  the  country,  and  has  a 

capacity  of  about  25,000  pieces  an  hour.     The  branch  at  New  Orleans  has 


riRST  UNITED-STATES   DOLLAR, 


324 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


been  idle  for  several  years,  owing  to  the  war  and  the  falling- off  in  coinage 
during  the  era  of  paper  money.  It  was  usefully  employed  in  previous  times 
in  converting  the  Mexican  dollars  to  our  own  coinage.  The  Pacific-coast 
mints  have  run  principally  upon  trade  dollars  for  export  to  China,  Japan, 
and  India,  that  coin  having  been  authorized  in  February,  1873,  simply  for 
export  purposes.  The  piece  is  not  for  circulation  in  the  United  Stales, 
and  was  made  heavy  in  order  that  it  should  certainly  go  abroad.  It  has 
been  very  successful  in  taking  the  place  of  the  Spanish  and  Mexican  dollars 
in  Asiatic  countries.     The  new  labors  imposed  upon  the  mints  by  the  law 


I'MU.AUELIHIA    MINT. 


of  1878,  remonetizing  silver,  will  tax  all  the  establishments  in  the  United 
States  heavily,  and  compel  the  one  at  New  Orleans  to  be  re-opened,  and  a  iitnv 
one  to  be  built. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  on  the  basis  of  a  report  by  Dr.  Lindeman, 
Total  coin-  director  of  the  mint,  that  the  total  coinage  of  the  United  States  up 
•*••  to  June  30,  1877,  was  $1,204,916,987.     How  much  of  this  coin- 

age remains  in  existence,  and  how  much  of  what  remains  in  existence  is  still 
in  the  United  States,  available  for  circulation,  is  not  certainly  known.  If  the 
flow  of  specie  into  the  country  and  out  of  it,  for  the  purposes  of  trade,  were 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


325 


Mnage 
times 
>  coast 
Japan, 
ply  for 
Stales, 
It  has 
dollars 
the  law 


to  be  alone  regarded,  it  would  appear  that  there  was  none  of  it  scarcely  left  in 
tlie   land  of  its  origin.    The  movement  of  specie  since   1820  has  been  as 

follows  :  — 


IMPORTS. 


From  1S20  to  1S30 
"  1S30  to  1S40 
"  1S40  to  1S50 
"  1850  to  i860 
"  i860  to  1870 
"      18-0  to  1S77 

Total      . 


$69,143,780 
107,469,296 
86,835,992 
71,187,934 
188,450,442 
f62,56i,i95 


56,839,893 

65,010,921 

49t;,ii  1,813 

659,865,683 

534.360,182 


5685,648,639         $1,882,726,948 


This  would  seem  to  shov'  that  the  whole  coinage  of  the  United  States  had 
been  substantially  exported  ;  but  fortunately  a  large  __ 

part  of  the  export,  perhaps  $500,000,-  Extent  of  ex- 
000,  was  in  bullion,  and  consequendy  port  of  coins. 
the  drain  upon  the  coinage  was  lessened  by  that 
amount.  Those  who  have  studied  the  subject 
closely  believe  that  aliout  $300,000,000  of  the 
gold  and  silver  of  the  United  States  has  escaped 
the  melting-pot.  and  is  still  extant,  and  held  in  the 
country,  and  therefore  available  for  circulation. 
The  rest  is  believed  to  have  been  recoined  in 
Europe,  or  consumed  in  the  arts. 


THE  WASHINGTON   HALF-DOLI-\K. 


Ihe  United 
and  a  new 

h.inflenian. 
Id  States  up 
this  coin- 
lence  is  still 
In.  inhe 
1  trade,  were 


JEWELRY. 

The  most  ancient  use  of  gold  and  silver  was  probably  for  personal  adorn- 
ment.   The  rarity  and  beauty  of  the  two  metals  caused  them  to  be  prized  for 
this  purpose  from  the  very  beginning.     At  first  the  kings  monopo- 
lized gold  and  silver  to  themselves  for  table-ware,  jewels,  and  the  gold  and  siu 
gilding  of  their  arms  and  i:alaces  ;  but  tl;f.>  rich  discoveries  in  .Vfrica  ""  '""^  °'''"" 

"  '  '  ment. 

and  Spain  caused  them  vo  come  into  more  popular  use,  and 
wealthy  people  employed  them  for  all  tlie  purposes  named,  and  also  for  money. 
The  Orientals  were  passionately  fond  of  decoration.  They  loved  rich  colors 
and  gold  and  silver  ornaments  in  i)rofusion ;  and  doubtless  John  was  in  ecstasy 
over  the  sight,  when,  looking  up  from  his  rocky  Patmos,  he  beheld  the  New 
.Krusalem  with  its  jasper  walls,  its  streets  of  gold,  and  gates  of  shadowy  pearl. 
•^olor  and  ornament  were  becoming  to  those  dusky -hued  people  ;  and  they 
could  wear  a  luxuriance  of  both  which  the  cooler  taste  of  the  North  would 


'" 


336 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


not  approve,  and  which,  in  the  United  States  of  to-day,  would  be  regarded  as 
highly  objectionable.  The  manufacture  of  jewelry  was,  therefore,  one  of  the 
earliest  arts.  The  Egyptians  and  Phoenicians  became  celebrated  in  it.  The 
treasure  of  the  kings  consisted  of  gold  and  silver  dishes  and  jewelry,  with 
arms  made  of  the  baser  metals ;  and  these  things  constituted  the  most  hignly 
prized  gifts.  Rebekah  wa.s  wooed  with  ear-rings  and  bracelets  of  gold  ;  Isaac 
probably  not  having  heard  the  line  from  the  old  poem,  "  Win  men  with  thy 
sword-arm,  and  maids  with  thy  tongue,"  or  at  any  rate  trusting  (and  success- 
fully too)  to  the  influence  of  splendid  jewelry  to  create  a  favorable  first  im- 
pression. Juno,  when  she  wanted  to  beg  a  favor  of  Jove,  began  by  putting  on 
a  dazzling  array  of  golden  tassels  and  jewels.  Jewelry  was  greatly  valued  even 
among  the  more  spirituelle  peoples  of  the  north  of  Europe  ;  but  its  use,  which 
was  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  gods  and  to  kings,  was,  until  modem  times,  more 
limited.  In  the  days  of  early  superstition  it  was  imagined  that  the  jewels  of 
the  gods  were  fashioned  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  by  the  dwarfs ;  and 
Oehlenschlager  wrote  a  pretty  poem  entitled  "The  Dwarfs,"  in  which  he 
described  their  marvellous  manufacture  :  — 


"  He  crept  on  his  belly  as  supple  as  eel 
The  tracks  in  the  hard  granite  through, 
Till  he  came  where  the  dwaifs  stood  hammering  steel 
By  the  light  of  a  furnace  blue. 

I  trow  'twas  a  goodly  sight  to  see,  — 

The  dwarfs,  w'th  their  aprons  on, 
A  hammering  and  smelting  so  busily 

Pure  gold  from  the  rough  brown  stone. 

Rock-crystals  from  sand  and  hard  flint  they  made. 

Which,  tinged  with  the  rosebud's  dye. 
They  cast  into  rubies  and  carbuncles  red. 

And  hid  them  in  cracks  hard  by. 

They  took  them  fresh  violets,  all  dripping  with  dew. 
Dwarf  women  had  plucked  them  the  morn, 

And  stained  with  their  juice  the  clear  sapphires  blue 
King  Dan  in  his  crown  since  hath  worn. 

Then  for  emeralds  they  searched  out  the  brightest  green 
Which  the  young  spring  meadow  wears, 

And  dropped  round  pearls,  without  flaw  or  stain, 
From  widows'  and  maidens'  tears. 

Then  they  took  them  the  skin  of  a  large  wild  boar,  — 

The  largest  that  they  could  find ; 
And  the  bellows  they  blew  till  the  furnace  'gan  roar, 

And  the  fire  flamed  on  high  for  the  wind. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


327 


They  took  them  pure  gold  from  their  secret  store,  — 

The  piece  'twas  but  small  in  size  j 
But,  ere  't  had  been  long  in  the  furnace  roar, 

'Twas  a  jewel  beyond  all  prize. 

A  broad  red  ring  all  of  wroughten  gold, 

As  a  snake  with  its  tail  in  its  head; 
And  a  garland  of  gems  did  the  rim  infold, 

Together  with  rare  art  laid. 

'Twas  solid  and  heavy,  and  wrought  with  care ; 

Thrice  it  passed  through  the  white  flame's  glow : 
A  ring  to  produce,  fit  for  Odin  to  wear, 

No  labor  they  spared,  I  trow." 


In  the  United  States  the  use  of  jewelry  was  at  first  discouraged,  partly 
because  of  the  poverty  of  the  original  colonists,  but,  in  the  North,  more  on 
account  of  the  ascendency  of  Puritan  and  ascetic  ideas.     Most  of 
the  colonists  in  New  York,  Virginia,  and  the  other  middle  and  ry^fn  United 
southern  provinces,  brought  with  them  a  few  articles  of  ornamental  states  was 
work  in  gold  and  silver;  but  they  bought  litUe  or  none  when  they  '°„'^"gj'"' 
got  here  until  after  the  Revolutionary  war.     Only  a  few  families 
thougiit  fit  to  make  purchases  of  this  description.     The  gold  beads  and  the 
few  other  ornaments  in  the  family  were  handed  down  from  one  generation 
of  women  to  another  as  precious  heirlooms.     With  the  rise  of  prosperity  after 
the  Revolution  a  moderate  amount  of  luxury  began  to  prevail,  and  ascetic 
ideas  to  lose  their  influence.     A  demand  for  jewelry  sprang  up.     Guineas  and 
doubloons  and  Spanish  dollars  began  to  be  converted  by  the  gold-   opposed  to 
smiths  of  the  times  into  rings,  seals,  watch-chains,  and  pins.    Public  republican 
sentiment  was   still  opposed  to  much  ostentation.       Republican  '""''  '"**'' 
simplicity  of  dress  and  manner  was  preferred.     Still  the  taste  for  ornament 
rapidly  grew,  and  somewhere  about  1 790  the  trade  in  jewelry  became  so  large 
as  to  tempt  a  native  workman  to  begin  the  manufacture  of  it  in  this  country. 
Kpapliras  Hinsdale  of  Newark,  N.J.,  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  regular 
manufacturer  of  .American  jewelry.     He  was  a  mechanic  of  great  ingenuity  j 
and  somewhere  from  1 790  to  1 795    he  devoted  himself  to  the   pj^^j  manu- 
production  of  the  brooches,  seals,  and  other  simple  gold  and  silver  facturerof 
ornaments,  worn  at  that  day.     Hinsdale  died  about  1810  ;  but  one  J''*"'"'*'- 
of  his  men,  by  the  name  of  Taylor,  followed  him  in  the  business,  and  put 
fresh  vigor  and  capital  into  it.     Both  of  these  men  used  gold  sixteen  carat:; 
fine,  and  their  work  was  all  solid.     Every  piece  was  made  by  hand  by  ham- 
mering, filing,  welding,  and  soldering. 

About  1800  the  manufacture  of  jewelry  was  begun  in  New  England,  the 
very  seat  of  the  ancient  abhorrence  of  ornament,  by  two  or  three  firms  at  Provi- 


3*B 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


facture  at 
Providence 


Filled  work. 


dence,  R.I.  The  fact  illustrates  the  great  revolution  which  had  taken  place 
Early  manu-  '"  ^^  world  of  ideas  since  the  days  of  "  The  Mayflower  "  and 
Miles  Standish.  Providence  immediately  became  the  chief  centre 
of  the  industry  in  this  country.  By  1810  its  firms  were  employing 
a  hundred  men  in  the  business,  and  producing  jewelry  to  the  yearly  value  of  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

In  18 1 2  George  F.  Downing  was  making  watch-seals  at  Newark,  N.J. 
He  carried  on  the  business  for  many  years.  In  182 1  he  removed  to  the  grow- 
ing city  of  New  York,  and  diversified  his  manufacture  greatly.  The  only  other 
concern  in  New- York  City  at  that  time  is  believed  to  have  been  that  of  La 
Guerre,  a  Frenchman  who  had  a  jewelry-shop  in  which  he  employed  French 
workmen.  La  Guerre  had  started  about  181 2.  The  work  of  these  two  makers 
was  of  solid  gold  and  silver,  and  all  produced  by  hand. 

Yankee  ingenuity  had  devised  a  thoroughly  different  mode  of  manufacture, 
however,  and  New  England  was  filling  the  country  with  a  less  expensive  kind 
of  jewelry.  Almost  from  the  very  first  the  Providence  makers 
employed  machinery,  and  began  to  produce  what  is  called  filled 
work.  The  ornament  was  stamped  by  a  die  from  a  ribbon  of  gold  or  silver, 
the  gold  being  about  eighteen  carats  fine ;  that  is  to  say,  containing  eighteen 
pennyweights  of  pure  gold  to  six  pennyweights  of  alloy.  The  softness  and 
tenacity  of  the  metals  permitted  them  to  be  stamped  into  the  most  elaborate 
forms.  The  hollow  jewel  was  then  filled  with  pewter  or  lead,  and  fitted  with 
a  back  of  gold  of  inferior  quality.  Ornaments  in  a  thousand  patterns  were 
thus  produced,  which  were  to  all  appearance  of  solid  gold,  but  which  coukl  be 
made  and  sold  for  a  small  fraction  of  the  expense  of  solid  gold  jewels.  In 
the  manufacture  of  this  work  a  great  deal  of  gold  plate  was  used,  made  by 
putting  a  thin  sheet  of  gold  upon  one  of  copper,  and  rolling  them  out  in 
the  rolling-mill,  the  two  sheets  being  first  united  by  fusing.  Filled  jewelry 
found  a  wide  market  from  the  very  first.  The  universal  Yankee  ijeddier  »olil 
Rapid  in-  immense  quantities  of  it,  and  the  manufacture  of  it  increased 
year  by  year.  Other  cities  began  the  business ;  but  so  rapitlly 
did  the  demand  increase,  that  from  1830  to  1837  it  was  beyond 
the  power  of  American  factories  to  respond  to  it.  The  discovery  of  gold  and 
silver  in  California  and  in  the  West  gave  a  new  impulse  to  jewelry  manufacture, 
especially  of  the  more  solid  kinds.  Factories  of  it  started  up  everywhere.  In 
i860  there  were  463  establishments  making  jewelry  in  the  United  States, 
employing  5,947  workmen,  and  struggling  to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  ot 
population  and  luxury,  —  a  task  which  they  found  to  be  one  of  considerable 
difficulty. 

The  war  of  1861,  which  impoverished  the  South,  and  led  to  a  decrease  in 
the  amount  of  jewelry  worn  in  that  part  of  the  republic,  gave  an  enormous 
stimulus  to  it  in  the  North.  Speculation  was  rife  in  every  part  of  that  section. 
The  issues  of  paper  money  stimulated  business.     Everybody  was  making  and 


crease  of 
business. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


329 


)lace 

and 
entre 
jying 

of  a 

N.J. 
grow- 
■  other 
of  La 
French 
makers 

facture, 

ve  kind 
makers 

;d  filled 

ar  silver, 

eighteen 

ness  and 

elaborate 

ttetl  with 

:rns  were 
could  be 
,vels.     In 
made  by 
,11  out  in 
\  jewelry 
Idler  sold 
increased 

,0  rai)i<-lly 
s  beyond 
golil  and 
-mfaciure, 

ihere.  In 
(I  States, 
rrt)\vth  ot 
iisiderablc 

k-rea>e  in 
I  enormous 
lat  section, 
■akin!;  aiul 


war  of 
i8eo-64. 


spending  money,  and  all  classes  of  the  people  indulged  in  expenditures  for 
objects  of  luxury  and  ornament  to  an  extent  never  before  known.     The  rich 
bought  diamonds  set  in  solid  gold,  solid  gold  and  silver  bracelets, 
rings  with  emeralds  and  other  precious  stones,  gold  pins  and  but-   ,"dyg'*y  ° 
tons,  and  all  the  varieties  of  ornaments  which  the  jeweller's  art  has  during  the 
produced ;  while  the  poor  bought  pins,  ear-rings,  bracelets,  finger- 
rings,  and  necklaces  of  the  cheaper  styles  of  filled  work.     From 
i860  to  1870  the  factories  increased  from  463  to  681  in  number,  and  the  yearly 
production  from  $10,415,000  in  value  to  $22,104,000.     In  1870.  10,091  people 
were  employed  in  the  business.     The  growth  of  those  ten  years  of  inflation 
and  speculation  has  not  been  maintained,  however.     The  panic  of  Enectof 
1873  struck  a  heavy  blow  at  jewelry-making.     It  was  one  of  the   ?»"'«=  of  «873. 
first  industries  to  suffer,  and  production  has  fallen  off  materially :  a  revival  is 
only  beginning  to  take  place.     The  manufacture  of  solid  work  has  suffered  the 
least  from  the  period  of  retrenchment  and  economy,  because  the  rich,  who  are 
the  buyers  of  the  work,  were  the  least  affected  by  the  times.     'I"he  chief  centres 
of  the  jewelry-trade  now  are  Providence,  R.I.,  which  has  about  seventy-five 
establishments ;    Philadelphia,  with  fifty-five  factories ;    New  York,  with    two 
hundred ;    IJristol   County,   Mass.,  with    thirty-five ;    and    Sjjringfield,   Mass., 
Boston,   Cincinnati,    San    Francisco,    and    Newark,    N.  J.       The    filled   work 
is  mostly  made  in  New  England  and  New  Jersey.     The  principal  New-York 
factories,  such  as  Tiffany  &  Company,  produce  nothing  except  solid  jewelry 
made  by  hand,  each  piece  being  unicjue,  and  seldom  copied. 

.\  great  many  alloys  of  gold  are  used  in  the  making  of  ornaments.  Silver 
is  used  pure,  being  alloyed  only  to  give  it  hardness.  Gold  is  fiised  with  copper 
to  give  it  a  red  color,  and  with  silver  to  give  it  a  silverv  lustre.    .„ 

^  '  o  ,  Alloys  of 

It  is  seldom  used  purer  than  twenty-two   carats,  nor  inferior  to  gold  used  in 
fourteen  carats,  because  it  would  tarnish  and  stain  below  that  i)urity.   ■"■'•'"K 

jewelry. 

It  is  given  either  a  polished,  dead,  or  frosted  surface,  and  is  often 
elaborately  ornamented  by  soldering  gold  wire  upon  it  to  form  a  jiattern,  or  by 
chasing  with  a  tool.  In  large  factories  a  corps  of  designers  is  kept  steadily 
employed  in  producing  new  patterns  in  pins,  bracelets,  rings,  &c.,  ideas  being 
borrowed  from  every  source,  ancient  and  modern.  Chinese,  Jai)anese,  and 
anticjue  tyjies  are  now  the  rage.  New-York-City  makers  are  borrowing  liberally 
from  the  patterns  in  the  Cesnola  collection  of  antiipiities  at  the  Metropolitan 
Museum.  In  the  hand-labor  shops  it  often  takes  two  and  three  weeks  to  make 
a  single  piece  of  jewelry,  and  set  it  with  stones :  in  the  machine-shops 
thousands  of  pieces  are  completed  in  a  single  day. 

Platinum  is  now  used  to  some  extent  by  the  goldsmiths  of  the  United 
States  for  the  more  expensive  kinds  of  ornaments.  The  metal  very  much 
resembles  silver,  and    is   readily  worked.     It   has   the   desirable 

,  ,...,.,         .  ,    ,  .  ,  .,       Platinum. 

quality  of  resisting  chemical  action,  and  does  not  tarnish  as  easily 

as  silver.    It  is  the  best  material,  therefore,  for  such   costly  ornaments  as 

plumes  set  with  diamond  i,  to  be  worn  in  the  hair. 


330 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


Gilding. 


I   ! 


Tortoise-shell  and  jet  jewelry  is  also  largely  made.  These  varieties  are 
Tortoiie-  not  only  cheaper  than  the  others,  but  they  are  also  very  pretty, 
•iieii.  and  enable  thousands  to  gratify  their  love  of  decoration  who  are 

debarred  from  buying  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones. 

The  diamonds  and  other  gems  which  are  set  in  the  more  costly  articles 
of  jewelry  are   nearly  all  imported.     The  rocks  of  the  United 

Diamonds.        „,,.  ij/-fi 

States   supply  only   the   agate,   garnet,   opal,   and   a  few  of  the 
cheaper  varieties  of  gems. 

GOLD   AND   SILVER   LEAF. 

A  large  amount  of  gold,  and  some  silver,  is  consumed  annually,  in  the  form 
of  gold  and  silver  leaf,  in  the  decoration  of  the  covers  of  books,  in  the  gilding 
of  picture- frames,  furniture,  &c.,  and  by  dentists.     The  quantity 
is  almost  if  not  quite  as  large  as  that  employed  either  in  coinage 
or  in  jewelry ;  and  it  is  an  actual  consumption,  because  it  does  not  pay  to 
attempt  to  save  the  leaf  after  the  articles  to  which  it  is  applied  are  worn  out, 
any  more  than  it  pays  to  collect  the  worn-out  ends  of  lead-pencils,  or  the 
stumps  of  cigars.     It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the  use  of  the  metal  in  the 
leaf  replaces,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  employment  of  solid  metal.    The  lavish 
use  of  gokl  and  silver  leaf  took  its  rise  in  modern  times  in  Italy  and  France. 
The  passion  for  it  in  France  outran  all  bounds,  either  of  good  taste,  or  pru- 
dence in  expenditure.     The  rise  of  luxury  in  England  creating  a  similar  rage 
for  gilding,  tlie  drain  upon  the  world's  supply  of  gold  became  very  large.     In 
the  time  of  James  I.  the  loss  became  so  serious,  that  a  special  act  was  passed, 
restricting  the  use  of  gold-leaf,  and  permitting  it  to   be  employed  only  for 
specified  objects,  the  decoration  of  military  trappings  being  the  principal  one. 
After  the   discovery  of  gold   and  silver  in  America  there  was  no  need  of 
further  economy,  —  at  least  not  on  account  of  any  supposed  danger  of  using 
up  the  world's  supply  of  the  metals,  —  and  gilding  and  silvering  rapidly  be- 
came universal.     In  this  country  the  taste  for  that  style  of  decoration  has  lat- 
terly outgrown  the  ability  of  people  to  afford  it  to  the  extent  which  is  desired; 
and  a  number  of  cheap  bronze  and  other  imitation  gold  and  silver  leaves 
and  powders  have  been  invented  for  the  lettering  of  large  signs,  the  illumina- 
tion of  paper-hangings,  &c.,  so  as  to   put   gilding  and   silvering  within  the 
reach  of  the  masses  for  common    purposes.     Genuine  gold  and  silver  hold 
their  own,  however,  for  the  better  sort  of  decoration.     Their  use  increases 
year  by  year.     Latterly  the  use  of  silver-leaf  has  been  almost  superseded  in 
the  arts  by  the  process  of  silvering  called  electro-plating,  which  is  elsewhere 
described  ;  but  a  small  amount  is  still  consumed. 

Gold-beating  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  arts.  The  process  is  ver}' 
simple,  and  differs  from  the  practice  of  the  olden  time  principally  in  the  use 
of  the  rolling-mill  for  part  of  the  work.     Instead  of  hammering  out  tlie  leaf 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


33» 


3  are 
)reUy, 
lo  are 

irticks 
United 
of  the 


he  form 

;  gilding 
quantity 
1  coinage 
)t  pay  to 
vorn  out, 
Is,  or  the 

ta\  in  t^^e 

Hie  lavish 

id  France. 

te,  or  pru- 
milar  rage 
large.  1" 
■as  passed, 

d  only  fof 
icipal  one. 
need  of 
|er  of  using 
■apidly  be- 
jn  has  lat- 
|is  desired; 
iilver  leaves 
^e  ilhnnina- 
within  the 
silver  hoW 
ic  increases 
jerseded  in 
[s  elsewhere 

[ess  >^  '■^''- 
in  the  use 

Lt  the  leaf 


directly  from  the  ingot,  the  ingot  is  now  rolled  until  it  is  reduced  to  the  thick- 
ness of  ^}sxs  P^rt  of  an  inch  before  it  goes  under  the  hammer,  ooid-beating 
An  ounce  of  gold  will  make  a  strip  ten  feet  long  and  an  inch  and  "n  ancient 
half  wide  when  rolled  to  the  thickness  of  g^^j  part  of  an  inch.  *'*' 
For  beating,  the  delicate  strip  is  cut  up  into  pieces  an  inch  square.  Each 
piece  is  laid  upon  a  leaf  of  fine  vellum  four  inches  square,  and  a  hundred 
and  fifty  of  these  leaves  piled  up  one  above  the  other,  with  a  few  extra 
pieces  of  vellum  at  each  end.  This  pile  is  called  a  *'  kutch."  It  is  put  into 
a  parchment  case,  so  that  the  four  sides  are  protected  ;  and  a  workman  rains 
upon  it  a  shower  of  blows  from  a  sixteen-pound  hammer,  turning  the  pack 
over  end  for  end  occasionally,  bending  it  between  the  hands  so  as  to  make 
the  gold  leaves  spread  readily,  and  interchanging  the  different  parts  of  the 
pack.  The  hammer  has  a  convex  face.  In  about  twenty  minutes  the  little 
squares  are  spread  to  the  full  size  of  the  vellum.  They  are  then  taken  out,  cut 
into  (juarters,  and  again  packed  and  beaten.  They  are  once  again  taken  out, 
quartered,  and  beaten  until  the  original  inch-square  pieces  have  been  beaten 
out  to  192  times  their  original  size,  and  the  thickness  reduced  to  about 
TsuVTrTT  part  of  an  inch.  They  are  often  beaten  again.  The  ordinary  com- 
mercial gold-leaf  is  usually  beaten  out  to  jffjx'ffjTTy  part  of  an  inch ;  but  the 
French  have  reduced  it  to  ^^^xsn  part  of  an  inch,  spreading  out  an  ounce 
of  gold  to  cover  a  surface  of  160  square  feet.  Imitation  gold-leaf  is  made 
by  gilding  brass,  and  rolling  and  beating  it  out  in  the  usual  way.  Silver-leaf, 
which  is  very  beautiful,  cannot  be  reduced  to  quite  the  thinness  of  gold,  but 
is  hammered  out  to  T0ff\nm  P^*"^^  of  ^"^  'vciQ}ci ;  which  is  thin  enough  for  this  less 
costly  metal. 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  substitute  a  machine  for  Attempts  to 
hammering  gold  and  silver  leaf  in   place  of  the    hand-process.   '|lj"'""*! 
New  England  brought  out  several  devices  for  the   purpose,  and  of  manu- 
exhibited    them    at  the   world's   fairs.      They  have  not  proved  '•<='"''«• 
popular,  and  have  virtually  been  abandoned. 

Gold-leaf  is  put  up  for  the  market  in  little  books  of  smooth  paper,  contain- 
ing twenty-five  leaves  each,  which  are  kept  from  sticking  to  the   how  goid- 
paper  by  preparing  the  latter  with  chalk  or  red  ochre.     The  books  ''"'  '*  P"t"P 

,  1  •  ,  -        ,  for  market. 

are  sold  ni  packages  of  a  dozen. 

SILVER   TABLE-WARE. 

There  was  very  little  silver-ware  to  be  seen  upon  the  tables  of  the  early 
colonists  of  the  United  States.     Such  a  luxury  was  beyond  the  means  of  all 
except  a  very  few,  and  was,  besides,  inappropriate  to  the  era  of  log-   colonists 
cabins  and  leather  garments.     A  few  families  in  New  York,  Mary-   had  but  little 
land,  and  Virginia,  had  silver  plate  ;    but  they  were  chiefly  the   8"^«'-*"'«- 
families  of  rich  planters,  old  Dutch  patroons,  and  royalist  governors.     A  large 


333 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


part  of  the  population  were  unable  to  a(Tord  even  china,  which  was  expen- 
sive then ;  and  pewter  plates  and  dishes  were  often  the  sole  furniture  of  tlic 
table  in  country  houses.  A  great  deal  of  even  the  small  amount  of  plate 
hoarded  by  old  families  disappeared  after  1792.  It  was  sent  to  the  mint,  and 
coined. 

After  the  peace  of  18 15  there  came  an  era  of  prosperity  and  speculation, 
during  which  there  sprang  up  a  demand  for  objects  of  luxury  and  value.  C"oii- 
importa-  siderable  importations  of  silver  plate  took  place  in  consequence, 
tions  after  The  plate  was  generally  solid,  and  always  cosUy.  Snuff-boxes  and 
'  ''■  candlesticks  and  other  objects  were  sometimes  imi)ortcd,  which 

were  made  of  the  baser  metals,  and  covered  with  gold  or  silver  leaf  by  mechani- 
cal processes  ;  but  usually  the  ware  was  solid  and  substantial,  and  worth  its 
Expensive-  whole  weight  as  bullion.  The  expense  of  solid  plate  made  its 
purchase  by  the  majority  of  the  people  very  limited  ;  and,  indeed, 
the  austere  ideas  of  the  days  of  colonization  were  still  sufficiently 
universal  to  make  jjublic  sentiment  unfavorable  to  the  use  of  much  silver  upon 
the  table.  Martin  Van  Buren  was  defeated  for  re-election  as  President  of  tlic 
United  States  in  part  because  he  added  to  the  use  of  silver  table-ware  the  other 


ness  of  solid 
plate. 


Sl'OONS,   AC,   IN   CASE. 

aristocratic  extravagance  of  golden  teaspoons.  The  spirit  of  the  times  was  not 
partial  to  ostentation  of  that  sort ;  and  though  silver  was  admired,  yet  not  one 
family  in  a  thousand  placed  an  article  made  of  it  ujion  their  tables  (ex(  ci't. 
perhaps,  a  candlestick)  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other.  Block-tin  was 
Use  of  block-  "^^'^^  ^^  some  extent,  and  after  1840  britannia-ware  came  into  favor ; 
tin  and  bri-  but  the  masses  clung  to  pewter  and  blue  crockery.  Silver  was  so 
tannia-ware.  jjjg|^iy  valued  as  coin,  that  it  seemed  a  sinful  waste  of  money  to 
put  it  into  a  dish  for  the  table.     The  esteem  in  which  silver  was  held  at  that 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


IM 


lies  was  not 
let  not  one 
les  (exc-fl't- 
lock-tin  wa> 

;  into  tuNor ; 
liver  was  so 
If  money  to 

[held  at  that 


334 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


(lay,  and  the  economical  ideas  which  prevailed,  are  illustrated  by  the  incident 
of  a  New-Kngland  whaling-captain  giving  his  daughter  a  wedtling-dowry  of  her 
own  weight  in  silver  dollars,  which  was  regarded  at  the  time  as  an  act  of  un- 
exampled munificence  ;  though  in  tnese  days,  if  a  prosperous  father  gave  his 
daughter  no  more  than  that  at  her  wedding,  he  would  he  regarded  as  a  cur- 
mudgeon very  much  in  need  of  the  prayers  of  the  faithful. 


MERIOEN  CUTLERY  COMPANY,   MEKIDEN,   CONN. 


The  origin  of  the  manufacture  of  silver-ware  in  the  United  States  is  quite 

within  the  memory  of  old  silversmiths  who  are  still  in  the  business :  it  dates 

from  the  year  1842.      Prior  to  that  year,  there  were  no  regular 

manufacture   factories  of  plate  in  the  country.     The  i&w  silversmiths  who  had 

of  sliver-        opened  shops  in  the  commercial  and  other  cities  for  the  repair  of 

ware. 

watches  and  imported  plate  made  cups,  snuff-boxes,  watch-ciiaiiis, 
and  other  small  articles,  in  a  desultory  way ;  but  there  -.vas  no  regular  iiiami- 
facture.  The  few  expert  workmen  of  those  days  had  little  capital  of  their 
own.  They  had  only  their  tools  and  their  skill ;  and  the  usual  thing  for  thcin 
to  do  was  to  go  to  the  jeweller  and  silver-merchants,  and  obtain  from  thcni 
orders  to  make  special  pieces  of  plate.  The  merchant  supplied  the  ingot,  or 
sheet  of  silver,  and  the  workman  hammered  it  out,  and  wrought  it  intu  the 
object  desired,  bringing  back  to  the  merchant  the  finished  work  and  the  siir|)!us 
scraps  of  metal,  botli  of  which  were  carefully  weighed  to  see  that  the  workman 
had  not  abstracted  a  part  of  the  raw  material.  In  1842  a  number  of  the 
silversmiths  of  New-York  City  and  other  places  got  together  to  consult  al)oiit 
the  interests  of  their  trade.  Mr.  Clay  was  agitating  at  that  time 
for  a  protective  tariff,  and  the  silversmiths  regarded  the  hour  as 
auspicious  for  an  effort  to  obtain  some  recognition  of  their  art  from  the  gov- 


Tariff. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES, 


335 


i(k'nt 

)f  iiiv 
\iz  bis 
a  cur- 


-s  is  quite 
il  (laics 
a  regular 
who  had 
repair  of 
Ich-chains, 
]ilar  manu- 
al of  their 
for  theni 

ingoi,  or 
It  into  the 
Ihe  surplus 
workman 
ber  of  the 
Isult  alwut 
that  time 
tie  hour  as 
,  the  gov- 


ernment of  the  country.  A  delegation  wxs  accordingly  sent  to  Washington  to 
see  Mr.  Clay.  Mr.  Clay  asked  the  men  what  the  prosperity  of  their  business 
rcipiired,  and  promised  to  do  what  he  could  for  them.  It  was  a  very  easy 
matter  to  obtain  recognition  in  the  bill  which  was  being  drawn  up,  silver-ware 
being  so  exclusively  an  article  of  luxury  ;  and  accordingly,  when  the  act  passed 
in  .\ngust  of  that  year,  a  duty  of  thirty  per  cent  was  levied  by  it  upon  all 
importations  of  gold  and  silver  wares,  whether  solid  or  plated.  This  protec- 
tion is  said  by  old  silversmiths  to  have  given  the  industry  in  this  country  its 
first  decided  impetus.  Nearly  all  the  shops  enlarged  their  business  immedi- 
ately after  the  law  was  passed. 

.About  this  time  the  art  of  electro-plating  came  into  use  ;  and  this  gave  a 
still  more  remarkable  impulse  to  the  industry  in  the  United  States  by  cheapen- 
ing the  cost  of  silver  table-ware,  and  vastly  extending  its  sale.  Eiectro-piat- 
Kady  in  the  century  it  had  been  diicovered  that  copper  or  gold  '"*• 
hekl  in  solution  might  be  made  to  settle  upon  the  faces  of  objects  suspended 
in  the  solution,  and  to  form  upon  them  a  thick  film,  by  passing  a  current  of 
electricity  through  the  bath  to  the  object  to  be  gilded  or  coppered.  It  was 
found  that  the  film  of  metal,  once  formed,  might  be  taken  off,  and  used  as  a 
mould  to  produce  an  exact  copy  of  the  original  object  upon  which  it  had 
been  deposited.  It  was  then  found  that  metallic  objects  might  be  gilded  by 
this  process,  and  made  to  appear  like  solid  gold.  The  invention  was  at 
first  regarded  as  a  curiosity.  It  was  not  until  about  1840  that  its  Regarded  ■■ 
value  for  the  gilding  and  silvering  of  articles  of  common  use  was  •c""o»>ty' 
realized.  !\'umerous  experiments  were  then  made  with  the  invention  both  in 
the  United  States  and  Europe.  Professor  Silliman  suggested  that  prussiate 
of  potash  would  hold  silver  in  solution  without  oxidizing  the  baser  metals. 
This  was  a  step  in  advance.  Subsequently  it  was  found  that  the  solution  of 
cyanide  of  potassium  would  do  the  work  better,  and  silver-plating  then  became 
practicable  and  popular.  The  idea  was  taken  up  by  New-England  manufac- 
turers, and  sever-'  very  important  factories  of  plated  ware  and  cutlery  were 
st.r  ,  ture  for  the  American  market.     It  was  found  that  the  most 

c'  'lul  tea  sets  could  be  produced  by  the  new  process,  coated 

-.nirc  Mlvcr  to  any  thickness,  for  about  one-fourth  the  expense  of 
soha  . ;  aud  Yankee  push  and  enterprise  soon  found  a  way  to  create  a 
demand  for  it  in  every  part  of  the  country.  The  public  taste  had  begun  to 
era'  elegant  table-sets,  and  the  low  cost  of  the  new  class  of  goods  secured 
for  t.kiii  a  ready  recognit        and  great  favor.     Iron   forks  and  knives  were 

lies  of  all  people  of  taste,  and  from  hotels  and 
and  dinner  and  tea  sets  made  their  Number  of 
le  industry,  being  protected  by  a  liberal   manufac. 
and  is  now  firmly  established :  260    "'""' 
establisliments  are  employ.  I  in  it,  giving  work  to  5,200  hands,  and  producing 
ayeady  value  of  $12,000,000  worth  of  ware. 


virtually  banished  from  the 
steamlioats ;  and  plated 
appearance  everywhere. 
tariff,  has  grown  up  rapif; 


336 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Tht  earlier  silversmiths  of  the  United  States  made  their  dinner  and  tea 
sets,  punch-bowls,  goblets,  &c.,  by  hammering  the  various  dishes 
from  flat  sheets  of  solid  metal,  shaping  them  upon  iron  forms 
called  "stakes."  The  process  of  building  up  all  round  and  oval 
dishes  is  still  the  same  in  principle,  only  that  the  hammer  is  no 
longer  used,  and  the  iron  stake  is  thrown  aside  for  a  block  of  wood.  Sup- 
pose the  dish  be  a  sugar-bowl.    A  perfectly  round  disk  is  cut  from  a  flat  sheet 


How  earlier 
■llversmitht 
made  their 
wares. 


CAKB-BASKBT. 


of  solid  silver,  weighed,  and  turned  over  to  a  workman,  lo  whom  it  is  charged 
on  the  books.  The  workman  has  a  block,  made  in  pieces  like  a  hat-block, 
Modern  SO  diat,  if  a  certain  key  oe  removed,  it  will  fall  apart.  The  block 
procese.  jg  p^  together  and  keyed,  and  put  into  a  lathe  touching  the  flat 
disk  of  silver.  The  block  and  the  silver  disk  are  then  made  to  revolve  at  great 
speed.  A  smooth  steel  tool  is  pressed  against  the  disk ;  and  the  malleable 
metal  is  made  to  bend  down  upon  the  block  little  by  little,  and  gradually  en- 
close it,  forming  the  body  of  a  perfectly  symmetrical  and  smooth  sugar-bowl, 
without  joint  or  flaw.  The  top  and  bottom  are  properly  trimmed  with  a  sharp 
tool,  and  the  bowl  taken  from  the  lathe.     It  would  be  impossible  now  to  get 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


337 


id  tea 
dishes 
forms 
d  oval 
r  is  no 
,  Sup- 
It  sheet 


the  wooden  block  out  of  the  silver  bowl,  were  it  not  that  the  block  is  made 
pieces.    The  workman  loosens  the  key  which  binds  the  block   together, 


in 


;  is  charged 
Viat-blod. 
The  block 
Ling  the  flat 
live  at  great 
le  malleable 
ladually  en- 
[sugar-boffl, 
vith  a  sharp 
I  now  to  get 


and  shakes  the   pieces   out   of  the  narrow  mouth  o^  the  sugar-bowl.     The 
bottom  of  the  sugar-bowl  is  shaped  upon  an  appropriate  block  by  the  same 
process,  which   is   called  "spinning   up."     The   handles   are  cast,  and  the 
different  parts  fastened  together  by  soldering  under  a  blow-pipe.     This  is  in 
principle  the  manner  in  which  all  round  and  oval  dishes,  presentation-pieces, 
goblets,  &c.,  are  made  from  aolid  silver.     For  convenience  the  bodies  are 
sometimes  made  in  several  parts,  so  as  to  permit  the  insertion  at  different 
plates  of  a  flat  strip  of  decorated  metal  which  has  been  rolled  in  a  machine, 
and  they  are   then  subsequently  assembled  by  the  silversmiths  proper,  and 
united  by  soldering.     The   soldering  is  so  perfectly  done,  that  the  finished 
article  is  in  fact  one  piece  of  solid  work,  —  as  much  so  as  though  it  had  been 
cast.    All   scraps  are  carefully  collected  and  weighed,  and   credited   to   the 
workman  to  whom  they  were  previously  charged.     Large  objects  like  punch- 
bowls, and  all  others  of  irregular  shape,  are  hammered  out  by  hand  from  flat 
sheets  of  metal,  and  put  together  by  soldering.      Pro- 
jecting ornaments,  like  monograms,  flowers,  handles,  &c., 
are  frecjuently  cast  solid,  and  put  upon  the  piece  in  the 
usual  way ;  but  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  decoration 
is  done  by  chasing  and  engraving.     The  pattern  is  drawn 
in  bla  ;k  and  white  upon  sheets  of  paper.     The  workman 
goes  all  over  the  inside  of  the  goblet,  teapot,  or  other 
piece,  whatever  it  may  be,  with  a  delicate  hammer,  and 
beats  down   the   metal,   so  as  to  raise  the  large  leaves, 
flowers,  scrolls,  &c.,  of  the  pattern,   into  relief  on  the 
outside  of  the  piece.     The  dish  is  then  filled  with  melted 
pitch  and  rosin,  which  is  allowed  to  solidify  and  form  a 
backing,   in  order  that  it  may  not  lose  its  symmetrical 
shape  in  the  subsequent  processes.     The  workman  next 
goes  carefully  over  the  whole  of  the  surface  outside  which 
is  to  be  decorated,  and  fashions  it  by  indenting  and  beating  down  the  metal 
with  hule  chisels  and  a  hammer,  so  as  to  leave  a  clear,  sharp-cut   pattern 
raised  in  high  relief  upon  the  beaten-down  background.     The  pitch  is  then 
removed  by  melting  ;  and  the  dish  goes  on  to  be  smoothed,  burnished,  frosted, 
satin-finished,  or  gilded,  as  the  case  may  be,  for  the  store.    The  ornamenta- 
tion of  flat  surfaces  is  sometimes  done  by  etching.     Spoons  and  forks  are 
made  by  rolling  in  a  machine,  the  pattern  of  the  fork  or  spoon  being  engraved 
on  the  surface  of  the  rollers.     The  edges  of  surplus  metal  are  removed  by 
clipping  and  filing,  and  the  article  receives  its  final  shape  under  a  die.     The 
handles  of  nut-picks  and  knives,  when  hollow,  are  stamped  in  a  die,  in  halves, 
and  united  by  soldering.     In  the  solid-silver  shops  great  care  is  exercised  to 
prevent  waste   of  metal.    The   waste   in   polishing,   clipping,  filing,   &c.,  is 


lEll'ER-llOX. 


I 


338 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


enormous,  amounting  in  Tiffany's  from  four  liundred  to  six  hundred  ounces 
a  week  in  tlie  process  of  polishing  with  leather  and  cotton  alone.  All  the 
refuse  of  the  shops,  the  grease,  the  dirt  of  the  floor,  the  water  in  which  the 
silver  is  washed,  &c.,  is  carefully  saved,  and  sent  to  the  furnace  for  the  ex- 
traction of  the  metal.  With  all  the  precautions  that  intelligence  can  suggest, 
it  is  still  found  that  five  per  cent  of  the  metal  weighed  out  to  the  workmen 
is  never  recovered. 


VEGETABLE-DISH, 


I' 


Stamping, 

aluminum. 

Use  of  brass 
and  copper. 


In  the  factories  of  plated  -vare  a  large  part  of  the  work  is  done  by  stamps, 
dies,  and  presses  ;  and  more  of  the  ware  is  cast  than  in  the  solid-silver  shoi^, 
The  metal  forming  the  basis  of  the  pieces  is  usually  German  silver 
(an  alloy  of  nickel,  copper,  and  zhc),  brittania,  white-metal,  and 
Brass  and  copper  are  sometimes  used  for  very  cheap  work.  The 
original  method  of  plating  the  ware  with  silver  was  to  dissohe  the 
metal  in  nitric  acid,  and  precipitate  it  as  a  cyanide  by  ryanicle 
of  potassium.  The  precipitate,  being  washed,  was  dissolved  in  a  solution  of 
Process  of  cyauide  of  potassium.  The  object  to  be  silvered  was  then  coii- 
piating.  nected  witii  the  negati\'e  pole  of  a  powerful  battery,  dipped  in  nitric 

acid,  and  then  suspended  in  the  solution  of  silver.  After  a  few  moments  it 
was  taken  out  and  well  brushed,  and  then  replaced  in  the  solution.  The  siher 
begins  to  make  its  appearance  on  the  surface  of  the  object,  and  in  a  W\s  hours 
has  covered  every  part  of  it  with  a  uniform  dead  vhite  coating  of  pure  metal, 
The  process  may  be  stopped  when  the  plating  has  reached  the  thickness  of 
tissue-paper,  or  it  may  be  continued  until  the  piece  is  double  or  triple  j'hited. 
The  stronger  the  current  of  electricity,  the  harder  will  be  the  plating,  ^^'hen 
taken  from  the  solution,  the  piece  is  washed,  and  then  burnished  and  finished 
in  the  ordinary  manner.  Latterly,  plating  is  carried  on  by  a  variation  of  this 
process.  The  silver  is  not  dissolved  and  held  in  suspension,  but  is  put  into  the 
bath  of  cyanide  of  potassium  in  the  form  of  a  plate  attached  to  the  positive 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


339 


pole  of  the  battery.     The  electrical  current  decomposes  the  silver,  and  the  dish 
attached  to  the  negative  pole  then  becomes  covered  with  the  dissolved  metal 

as  before. 

I'^lectro-gilding  is  not  extensively  practised  in  the   manufacture  of  table- 
ware, being  resorted  to  more  commonly  in  the  production  of  cheap  jewelry. 
It  is  astonishing  how  flir  a  small  quantity  of  gold  may  be  made  to   Eiectro- 
go  in  hiding  the  cheap  materials  of  which  cheap  ornaments  —  pencil-   Bi't^'^s- 
cases,  thimbles,  &c.  —  are  made.     The  "magnificent"  gold  ear-rings  and  other 
things  offered  as  prizes  in  the  lotteries  are  frecjuently  manufactured,  at  a  cost  of 
not  much  more  than  ten  dollars 
a  bushel,  from  copper  or  some 
such  material,  and  gilded  at  an 
expense  of  about  fifteen  cents  a 
piece.      Heavy  gold    plating    is, 
however,  sometimes   done   upon 
cheap  watch-cases,  and  also  upon 
solid-silver  ware.     The  inside  of 
salt-cellars,    soup-tureens,    soup- 
ladles,  spoons,  &c.,  is  frequently 
gilded  :  and,  in  the  case  of  some 
very  splendid  sets  of  table-ware, 
the  whole  surface  of  the  spoons 
is  thickly  coated  with  the  precious 
metal.     The    use   of   solid -gold 
table-ware    is   at  present  limited 
in  this  country  to  bells  and  salt- 
ci'llars.     Its  cost  bears  the  same 
relation  to  silver  as  that  of  silver 
does  to   pewter.      But    the   rich 
color  of  pure  gold  is  \"ery  much 

admired,  and  gilding  is  therefore  demanded  to  a  certain  extent.     The  process 
i>  substantially  the  same  as  the  original  method  of  plating  with  silver. 

Within  the  last  ten  years  the  United  States  ha\e  made  a  great  advance  in 
the  honuty  and  originality  of  styles  of  silver-ware.  Some  factories  make  a  hun- 
dred i);uterns  of  tea-sets.  The  Gorham  Com[)any  makes  nearly  improve. 
three  hundred  varieties  of  spoons.  The  New-Vi)rk-City  factories  mentsofiast 
produce  designs  which  are  not  surpassed  anywhere  in  Europe.  *'"  ^^""" 
I  his  result  is,  in  part,  due  to  the  education  of  competent  designers  by  the 
Cooper  Institute  and  other  schools  of  design  in  the  country.  It  is  also  attribu- 
table, in  part,  to  the  constant  purchase  of  books  of  patterns  in  China,  Japan, 
and  all  other  parts  of  the  world  where  decoration  is  made  an  art,  and  to  the 
fliligent  study  of  the  treasures  of  antiquity  which  have  been  exhumed  by  the 
scholars  of  the  Old  World.  The  growth  of  wealth  and  taste  in  the  United 
States  has  also  proved  a  great  stimulus. 


FRUIT-DISH. 


340 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


GRAVY-DISH. 


The  taste  for  solid  silver  is  increasing.  There  already  begins  to  be  visible 
in  the  centres  of  wealth  and  fashion  a  little  of  that  pride  in  the  family  plate, 
Cultivation  '^"'^^  emulation  with  others,  which  led  the  Romans  to  vie  with  others 
of  taste  for  in  the  massiveness  of  their  silver  dishes.  Before  the  civil  war, 
Bohd  Sliver.  ^\^q^^  wtxQ  in  Rome  153  silver  dishes  that  weighed  over  100  pounds 
each ;  and  Pliny  tells  of  one  of  500  pounds,  with  eight  plates  of  250  pounds 

each.  The  Ro- 
mans were  gross  in 
their  tastes ;  and 
the  more  intel- 
lectual American 
does  not  incline 
in  the  direction  of 
ponderous  dishes 
which  would  crush 
the  table  under 
their  weight ;  l)iit 
he  loves  orna- 
ment, and  the  ri- 
valry here    is   for 

the  most  profusely  and  richly  decorated  ware.  The  most  splendid  set  ever 
made  in  the  United  States  was  that  ordered  by  Mr.  Mackey,  one  of  the  owners 
of  the  Bonanza  silver-mines,  in  1877,  which  comprised  several  hundred  pieces 
of  elaborately  made  solid-silver  ware,  including  an  enormous  punch-bowl  and 
a  huge  candelabrum.     The  set  kept  ' 

several  hundred  workmen  busy  for 
months  in  its  manufacture.  Some  of 
the  spoons  and  dishes  were  heavily 
gilded.  The  whole  cost  exceeded 
$100,000.  Private  dinner-parties 
have  been  given  in  New- York  City 
within  the  last  five  years  by  princely 
merchants,  in  which  $75,000  worth 
of  silver  and  valuable  china  and 
crystal  ware  were  used  to  spread 
the  table,  and  increase  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  occasion  ;  but  the 
Mackey  silver  is  the  first  grand  set 
of  great    price    ever   made    in    the 

United  States.  Part  of  it  goes  to  furnish  the  owner's  private  residence  in 
California,  and  the  rest  of  it  to  his  houses  in  Paris  and  London. 

Within  the  last  few  years  a  special  variety  of  silver-ware  has  been  created 
to  answer  the  demand  for  prizes  for  rifle-matches,  yacht-races,  trotting  ami 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


341 


Silver  prizes. 


l;all  contests,  &c.  The  pieces  are  often  in  the  form  of  goblets  and  vases, 
following  the  ancient  idea  of  a  royal  gift,  which  was  generally  a 
valuable  cup.  Whether  adapted  for  drinking  or  the  holding  of 
masses  of  flowers,  or  whether  statuesque  and  purely  ornamental,  they  are 
fashioned  very  much  on  the  principle  of  a  trophy.  They  exhibit  the  symbols 
of  yachting,  hunting,  and  athletic  sports,  and  assemble  into  one  piece  every 
thing  which  is  characteristic  of  the  contest  for  which  they  are  the  victor's 
reward.     American  silversmiths  display  great  ingenuity  in  this  style  of  work. 


COPPER    AND    BRASS    UTENSILS. 

Copper  was  the  first  metal  wrought  into  arms  and  implements  in  the  terri- 
toiy  which  is  now  the  United  States,  if  the  testimony  of  the  relics  of  the  days 
of  the  Indian  occupation,  and  of  the  records  of  the  Catholic  Early  use  of 
missionaries,  does  not  deceive  us.  The  red  metal  which  underlies  copper, 
the  State  of  Michigan  in  such  priceless  deposits  early  caught  the  eye  of  the 
savage  warriors  who  threaded  the  forests  of  the  North  in  the  jjursuit  of  game 
and  built  their  camp-fires  on  every  hill.  The  stone-hammers  of  this  early 
race  of  men  had  been  employed  upon  the  metal ;  and  the  Jesuit  fathers,  who 
marched  with  the  cross  of  their  religion  in  advance  of  the  soldiers  who  bore 
the  lilies  of  France,  found  great  quantities  of  it  worn  as  ornaments  and  shaped 
into  tools  and  weajDons  by  the  red  heathen  whose  conversion  to  Christianity 
they  suu^jht.  Had  the  white  man,  who  succeeded  to  the  occupancy  of  the  soil, 
also  inherited  tlie  civilization  of  the  red  man,  it  is  probable  that  he,  too,  would 
have  expended  his  art  first  upon  the  working  of  red  cojiper,  before  attemjjting 
to  utilize  the  less  attractive  and  more  refractory  metal  which  now  claims  his 
more  diligent  attention  ;  but  the  white  man  brought  to  America  the  science  and 
arts  of  an  older  and  higher  civilization,  and  copi)er  claimed  his  attention  less 
at  the  outset  than  the  denser  metal.  That  has  not,  however,  prevented  copper 
from  assuming  the  important  rank  in  the  arts  of  the  country  to  which  its 
iiualiiies  entitle  it.  Its  manufacture  is  on-j  of  the  great  industries  of  the  United 
States. 

C'ojjper  was  first  worked  in  the  United  States  by  the  white  man,  not  under 
the  Catholic  cross  of  France  in  the  North-West,  but  under  the  austerer  auspices 
of  Protestantism  in  New  England.     The  first  mines  were  opened   ^^,^^5^ 
in  Connecticut ;  and  the  State  employed  its  convicts  for  a  period  copper-mines 
of  sixty  years,  ending  about  1830,  in  getting  out  the  metal  in  the   '"  Connecti- 
town  of  Simsbury.     The   ingots  of  metal  were  sold  to  the  mint 
and  to  the  smiths  ;  but  at  first  by  far  the  larger  part  was  exported  to  Flurope  to 
lie  manufactured.     After  181 2,  when  a  duty  of  thirty-five  per  cent  was  levied 
upon  manufactures  of  copper,   there  was   less  of  the   metal  exported,  and 
more  of  it  made  up  into  plate  and  utensils  for  use  on  this  side  of  the  water, 
Ihe  intlustry  developed  the  (iistest  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.     In 


34a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ment  of 
industry 


1870  there  were  391  copper  and  brass  factories  in  operation,  employing 
Develop-  5>6oo  hands,  and  producing  a  value  of  $15,000,000  in  finished 
goods  annually ;  there  being  of  these  factories  twenty-nine  in 
Connecticut,  forty-four  in  Massachusetts,  eighty-five  in  New  York, 
eighty-one  in  Pennsylvania,  and  twenty-one  in  New  Jersey.  Ansonia  antl 
Waterbury,  Conn.,  became  the  principal  centres  of  the  manufacture. 

Pure  copper  is  one  of  the  softest  of  the  metals,  and  is  easily  rolled  into 

plates  for  use.     It  is  in  the  form  of  plates  principally  that  it  is  employed  in  the 

arts.     Its  most  imijortant  use  is  in  the  sheathing  of  the  bottom 

Importance  '  ° 

of  copper  as   of  woodcn  ships  to  protect  them  from  accumulations  of  barnacles 
sheathing       ^j^j  shell-fish  and  the  ravages  of  the  bores.     The  navigators  of 

(or  ships.  .  . 

the  early  centuries  had  great  trouble  with  their  ships  on  account  of 
the  fouling  of  the  bottoms.  It  was  finally  suggested  that  the  jjrotoction  of  the 
part  of  the  ship  below  the  load-line  with  sheet-lead  would  prevent  incrustations, 
and  that  material  was  used  for  awhile.  In  1761  "The  Alarm,"  a  frigate  in 
the  royal  navy,  was  sheeted  with  copper,  which  was  found  to  answer  the 
purpose  very  much  better.  After  a  series  of  years,  it  was  found  that  pure 
copper,  while  protecting  the  ship,  was  itself  rapidly  eaten  away  by  the  chemical 
action  of  salt  water,  which  made  its  renewal  necessary.  This  was  expensive, 
and  shipping-men  cast  about  for  some  improvement  of  the  process  of  slieatli- 
ing.  A  curious  experiment  was  tried  in  response  to  a  suggestion  by  Sir  Hum- 
phry Davy.  This  was  to  j^lace  strips  of  iron  under  the  sheets  of  copper,  which 
would  be  corroded  by  the  galvanic  action  rather  than  the  copper.  The  in\en- 
tion  worked  beautifully  :  the  copper  was  preserved,  and  money  saved,  liut, 
quite  unexpectedly,  it  was  then  found  that  the  copper,  no  longer  dissoh  inj;  in 
the  sea,  became  covered  with  barnacles  as  badly  as  the  wooden  bottoms  liad 
been  before.  So  the  ship-builders  went  back  to  pure  cojiper.  After  a  while. 
however,  an  alloy  of  copper  was  invented  by  mixing  with  it  forty  per  cent  of 
zinc,  which  answered  the  purposes  of  sheathing  admirably.  This  alloy  was  a 
Process  of  species  of  brass.  It  was  called  "  yellow  metal,"  and  still  retains 
making  the  name,  anil  is  now  universally  used  for  the  coi)pering  of  wooden 

vessels.  The  metal  is  very  soft,  and  is  rolled  cold.  It  is  worked 
down  very  gradually  and  carefully  from  the  ingot,  being  annealed 
after  each  rolling,  and  cleared  of  oxide  by  pickling  in  a  bath  of"  diluted 
sulphuric  acid.  Owing  to  the  high  price  of  labor  in  this  country,  sheathing 
has  been  more  expensively  made  in  the  United  States  than  abroad  until 
within  a  very  few  years.  Of  late  the  price  has  been  so  reduced,  tliat  tlie 
former  large  importations  of  it  have  greatly  fallen  off,  and  the  sheathing 
used  by  American  ship-builders  is  virtually  all  American-made.  The  bolts 
and  nails  by  which  copper  sheathing  is  fastened  to  the  ship  are  cast  solid. 

Sheet-cojiper  is  a  very  popular  material  for  boilers  and  cooking-uten-ils  in 
domestic  use.  The  metal  resists  the  action  of  the  fire  better  than  tin  and 
sheet-iron  :    it  is,  therefore,  applied   to   the   construction  of  many  forms  of 


sheet- 
copper 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


343 


;d  into 
,  in  the 

bottom 
irnacles 
tors  of 
ount  of 
1  of  the 
stations, 
rigate  in 
jwcr  the 
hat  pure 
chemical 
X  pensive, 
,f  slieath- 
Sir  Hnm- 
)er,  which 
he  inven- 

ed.     1'"^ 
;ohing  in 
ttoms  liad 
■r  a  while, 
r  cent  of 
oy  was  a 
till  retains 
of  woollen 
jv^  worked 
annealed 

oftlihil^'^^ 
sheathing 

,roa(l  until 

,  that  the 

'sheathing 

I'll,-  holts 

|soli<l. 
•utensils  in 
Lii  tin  and 
forms  ol 


manufacturing  apparatus  which  come  into  contact  with  fire ;  such  as  retorts 
and  pipes,  vacuuin-pans,  rondensers,  and  boilers  in  distilleries,  useofcop. 
sugar-refineries,  and  other  factories.  The  smaller  utensils  are  per  for  cook- 
formed  from  the  sheet-metal  by  hammering,  and  by  the  process  "s-utensiu. 
of  spinning  up,  desrribeil  under  the  head  of  "  Silver  Table-ware."  The  copper 
hecomes  very  dense  and  brittle  in  the  smithing  process,  and  has  to  be  annealed 
constandy  as  the  work  goes  on.  In  boiler-making  the  plates  are  either  united 
by  lapped  joints,  soldering,  or  riveting,  and  sometimes  by  more  than  one  of 
these  methods. 

Copper  is  more  extensively  used  in  the  form  of  brass  than  in  its  pure 
state.     By  admixture  with  a  certain  proportion  of  zinc  it  gains  beauty  and 
durability,  and  is  generally  preferred  in  that  form.     The  best  pro-   ^se  of  cop- 
portion  of  the  metals  is  two  of  copper  to   one   of  zinc,  which  per  in  mak- 
makes  what  is  called  eight-ounce  brass  ;  that  is,  eight  ounces  of  '"^^  *""*'" 
zinc  to  sixteen  of  copper  in  the  pound.     Sixteen-ounce  brass,  the  two  metals 
being  equal,  is  a  beautiful  golden  alloy,  called  "  prince's  metal."     Other  com- 
binations are  made  to  produce  pinchbeck,  Manheim  gold,  and  other  alloys 
suitable  for  cheap  jewelry,  and  ware  for  gilding  and  silvering.      Brass  is  as 
agreeable  a  metal  to  work  as  piu'e  silver.     In  thin  jilates  it  can  be 
stamped  and  embossed  in  any  form.     It  spins  up  beautifully  in  a 
lathe.     It  can  be  drawn  out  into  delicate  wire  ;  and  is  so  malleable,  that  it  can 
be  beaten  out  almost  like  gold-leaf  itself  for  the  purposes  of  cheap  gilding. 
The  metal  is  susceptible  of  a  high  polish.     It  does  not  rust  by  Advantages 
exposure,  and  has  a  great  deal  of  the  beauty  of  gold.     It  is  the  °'  brass. 
tuii\crsa!   material   of  which  chandeliers  and    gas-fixtures   are    made ;    being 
susceptible  of  rich  coloring,  bronzing,  and  silvering  by  chemical  Things  made 
l)rocesses,   and   of  shaping   into   the    most    elaborate    forms    by  "'  brass. 
stanijiing  and  embossing.     Brass  was  at  one  time  the  exclusive  material  out  of 
which  tlic  works  of  clocks  were  made.     Steel  works  are  now  beginnin^^  i  j  be 


Sheet-brass. 


tised  to  a  very  large  extent ;  but  brass  holds  its  own  for  all  cheap  clocks,  anil 
indeed  is  i)opular  in  every  grade  of  time-piece  uj)  to  the  great  machines  put 
in  the  towers  of  our  city  halls  and  churches.  Its  beauty,,  and  freedom  from 
nist.  insure  its  popularity.  Brass  is  also  extensively  consumed  in  the  manu- 
fiiture  of  pins.  It  is  drawn  out  into  wire.  It  is  clipped  by  machinery 
ip*o  pieces  of  the  right  length,  which  are  pointed,  headed,  and, 
after  being  tinned  by  agitation  and  boiUng  in  a  solution  of  tin, 
are  stuck  into  papers  for  the  market,  all  by  machines  especially  invented  for 
the  purpose.    The  machine  for  putting  them  up  in  papers  is  an  American  idea, 


344 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


and  saves  thousands  of  dollars  of  expense  annually.  A  great  deal  of  brass  is 
also  consumed  in  the  manufacture  of  buttons.  Our  forefathers  were  fond  of 
brass  buttons,  and  wore  them  regularly  upon  the  ubiquitous  blue  dress  coat. 
Brass  Brass  buttons  are  still  a  regular  part  of  the  uniform  of  the  army 

buttons.  and  navy  of  the  Ignited  States.     They  are  struck  from  sheets  of 

flat  metal,  and  stamped  with  the  national  coat  of  arms,  and  with  proper  letter- 
ing, to  show  that  they  are  for  government  use.  Backs  and  eyes  of  cheaper 
metal  are  then  fastened  on  by  soldering.  The  ornamental  work  of  machinery 
and  military  ecjuipments,  the  pegs  upon  which  pictures  are  hung,  andirons, 
pens,  candlesticks,  and  a  hundred  objects  in  daily  use,  are  made  of  this  beauti- 
ful and  serviceable  alloy. 


KSIEHHKOOK   I'KN-MANUFACTORV,  CAMDEN,   N.J. 


BRONZE   WARE    AND    STATUARY. 

Bronze  is  the  most  beautiful  of  the  alloys  of  copper.  It  has  been  in  use 
from  antiquity.  Much  of  what  was  called  brass  among  the  ancients  was  in 
Ancient  use  reality  bronze.  It  was  supposed  that  the  ancients  had  learned  the 
of  bronze.  jjj.j  ^f  hardening  pure  copper  so  as  to  make  the  metal  serviceable 
for  axes  and  daggers :  it  is  now  believed  that  this  hardened  copper  was 
only  bronze  also.  The  art  of  hardening  copper  is  said  to  be  lost :  the  fact 
is,  chemical  analysis  had  resurrected  the  art.  The  copper  battle-axes  foiuKi 
by  Dr.  Schliemann  at  Troy  have  been  drilled,  and  the   drillings  analyzed. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


345 


Peducting  the  sand,  the  following  was  the  result  in  the  case  of  the  three 
weapons  tested:  (i)  copper  958,  and  tin  38;  (2)  copper  906,  and  tin  8; 
(5)  copper  923,  and  tin  74.  This  slight  addition  of  tin  made  the  metal  a  soft 
i)ronze,  which,  being  compacted  by  good  smithing,  produced  a  weapon  with 
a  hard  edge.  It  is  probable  that  the  ancients  did  not  clearly  understand  that 
zinc  and  tin  were  distinct  metals;  for  they  used  the  terms  "brass"  and 
"  bronze  "  interchangeably.  The  brazen  axes  which  slew  Agamemnon,  gave 
rise  to  so  many  glowing  epics  and  dramas  among  the  (Irccian  ])oets,  and 
gave  Shakspeare  his  suggestion  for  his  tragedy  of  "  Hamlet,"  were  jjroperly 
true  bronze.  The  statue  in  the  harbor  at  Rhodes,  under  whose  legs  passed 
for  years  the  incoming  and  outgoing  boats  of  that  busy  island  shipping-port, 
was  also  of  bronze. 

Bronze  has  always  been  devoted  to  great  uses.  First  it  was  the  metal  of 
war ;  then,  when  iron  began  to  be  wrought  into  blades  and  armor,  bronze 
became  the  favorite  material  for  heroic  statues.  It  was  costly,  but  important 
it  was  beautiful,  and  more  enduring  than  marble  ;  and  the  scul[)tor  uses  of 
found  great  satisfaction,  when  his  conception  had  been  embodied  '■°"^*- 
in  his  crumbling  clay  model,  in  seeing  it  reproduced  immeiliately  and  easily 
in  this  nol)le  metal,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  await  the  slow  process  of 
cutting  the  statue  from  marble,  and  to  rim  all  the  attendant  risks.  After  the 
invention  of  gunpowder,  bronze  again  became  a  favorite  metal  in  war. 
Napoleon  emijloycd  it  in  the  cannon  with  which  he  subdued  the  whole  of 
Europe.  Its  strength  was  only  about  half  that  of  wrought  iron ;  but  its 
beauty  jjleased  the  cultivated  French,  who  loved  to  lavish  upon  every  thing 
which  belonged  to  them  —  their  guns,  as  well  as  ujion  their  dress,  their  build- 
ings, and  all  articles  of  construction  —  their  national  fondness  for  color  and 
for  decoration,  and  the  resources  of  a  lively  imagination.  The  metal  resisted 
wear  extremely  well,  and  bronze  gims  were  the  rage.  The  Europeans  also 
employed  bronze  for  commemorative  monuments*  arches,  and  statues.  The 
Japanese  and  Chinese  have  used  bronze  from  very  distant  centuries  ;  but  their 
fondness  for  it  had  little  to  do  with  its  use  in  Europe. 

The  first  experiments  in  modern  times  to  ascertain  the  mingling  propor- 
tions of  copper  and  tin  were  in  1770  at  Turin.  There  the  proportion  of 
twuhe  or  fourteen  parts  of  tin  to  one  hunilred  of  cojjper  was  fixed  upon  as 
the  best.  The  Frencl  made  many  experiments  a  few  years  later.  Composition 
Tliey  decided  upon  eleven  parts  of  tin  as  the  maximum,  and  eight  °'  bronze. 
as  the  minimum,  to  one  hundred  parts  of  copper.  The  French  learned  to 
mix  in  a  small  percentage  of  lead  and  zinc  also.  At  present,  one  to  ten  is 
the  standard  proportion.  Manufacturers  vary  from  this  standanl  freely,  how- 
ever, to  produce  special  effects.  For  a  hard  bronze,  they  mix  the  metals  in 
the  projjortion  of  seven  to  one.  For  machinery  bearings  and  medals,  eight 
to  one  is  the  rule ;  for  statues,  four  to  one  ;  for  flexible  tenacious  bolts  and 
nails,  twenty  to  one ;  and  for  speculum  metal,  two  to  one.     In  whatever  pro- 


346 


IXD  us  TRIAL    HISTORY 


Durability. 


portion  tlie  compound  is  made,  bronze  is  the  most  durable  of  metals,  except 
gold  and  platinum.  It  acquires  a  fine  rich  color  by  exposure,  whicii  is 
called  "  patina  ;  "  but  it  does  not  rust.  Exposed  to  the  weather, 
it  lasts  forever.  It  has  the  peculiar  proi)erty  of  becoming  mal- 
leable by  tempering;  and  it  can  be  given  a  black,  red,  brown,  green,  or  silvery 
patina  by  oxidation  or  sulphurizalion. 

Up  to  the  present  decade  the  use  of  bronze  in  the  United  States  has  been 
confined  to  the  manufacture  of  bells,  cannc^n,  and  statuary.  Within  the  last 
twenty  years  the  country  has  crossed  the  threshold  of  a  general  manufacture 
of  the  metal.  The  last  two  decades  will  always  be  taken  as  the  real  beginning 
of  the  production  of  general  bronze-ware  in  the  United  States.  Hitherto 
bronze  has  been,  as  of  old,  the  heroic  metal.  It  has  been  sacred  to  arms 
and  statuary,  bells  being  the  only  form  in  which  it  was  utilized  for  any  <!()- 
mestic  purposes.  Now  it  comes  more  prominently  into  popularity  in  the 
domestic  arts.  It  retains  its  rank  as  the  unapproachable  material  for  great 
statues;  but  it  is  losing  ground  for  use  in  cannon,  in  which  form  it  has  Iilcii 
extremely  popular  in  the  last  two  wars ;  and  it  is  now  being  made  up  into 
a  thousand  objects  for  the  decoration  and  glorification  of  homes  and  cities. 
Since  the  war  of  1861  the  government  has  distributed  to  the  different  cities 
and  villages  of  the  country  a  large  number  of  bronze  cannon  to  be  melted 
up  into  statues,  in  honor  of  the  victories  and  heroes  of  the  war,  to  grace 
public  squares  and  parks  ;  and  factories  for  manulacturing  bronze  objects  for 
common  use  have  started  up  all  over  the  industrial  i)onions  of  the  land. 
In  the  Revolutionary  war  the  peaceful  old  statue  of  King  George,  in  New- 
York  City,  was  tumbled  down,  and  converted  to  warlike  uses  by  being  melted 
up  into  good  republican  bullets.  .At  the  present  time  a  change  is  going  on 
which  might  be  compared  to  the  overthrow  of  the  brazen  arms  and  statue 
of  Mars,  and  the  melting  up  the  warlike  material  into  objects  of  beauty  and 
peaceful  luxury. 

The  bronze-manufacturers  of  the  United  States,  previous  to  1861,  were  {^\\, 
and  far  between.  The  estal)lishments  of  the  Messrs.  Ames  at  Chicopee,  Mass., 
and  of  the  Meneelys  at  Troy,  N.Y.,were  the  i)rincipal  ones  in  the  country  ;  and 
there  were  only  a  few  others  sprinkled  about  here  and  there  in  the  liast- 
em  States.  These  factories  made  bells  in  times  of  peace,  and  cast  cannun  in 
times  of  war.  The  so-called  brass  guns  used  in  the  Mexican  War.  in  the 
struggle  of  1861-615,  and  in  the  army  on  the  i)lains  in  fiLditing 

Increase  of  °°  -^  ^  >■  i 

bronze-  Indians,  were  made  of  bronze.     They  were  cast  solid,  and  bored, 

and  were  nearly  as  strong  as  iron.  They  were  known  as  Napo- 
leons in  the  army,  to  distinguish  them  from  iron  and  steel  guns. 
The  expense  of  bronze  limited  its  manuflicture  to  these  two  articles  and  to  the 
occasional  statues  which  public  gratitude  or  private  liberality  caused  to  lie  set 
up  in  some  opulent  city.  The  beauty  of  bronze  caused  it,  however,  to  be 
prized  in  the  arts.     For  many  years  manufacturers  tried  to  discover  a  method 


manufac- 
tories. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


347 


letals,  except 
ire,  which  is 
)  the  weather, 
ecoming  mal- 
een,  or  silvery 

ates  Vias  l)een 
Vilhin  the  last 
al  manufacture 

real  beginning 
ates.     Hitherto 
sacred  to  arms 
zed  for  any  do- 
opularity  in  the 
uuerial  for  great 
orm  it  has  liecn 
g  made  up  into 
,onies  and  cities. 
»e  different  cities 
.on  to  be  melted 
the  war,  to  grace 
pronze  objects  fur 

ions  of  the  lan.l. 

George,  in  Ncw- 
bv  being  melted 
.;nge  is  going  on 
arms  and  statue 

Us  of  beauty  and 


Ito  1861,  were  few. 
It  Chicopee,  M:«s.. 
1  the  country  ;  -i"'' 
Lere  in  the  V-^ 
Lnd  cast  cannon  in 
Lican  War,  in  the 
I  plains  in  fighting 
|t  solid,  and  bored, 
I  known  as  N^P^'" 
Ln  and  steel  guns. 
articles  an.l  to  the 
,  caused  to  be  set 
I  it,  however,  to  be 
discover  a  method 


for  lironzinj;  other  substances,  so  that  the  growing  refinement  of  the  public 
ta>te  might  be  gratified  by  the  purchase  of  objects  which  should  have  the 
appearance  of  bronze  without  its  cost.  Various  washes,  powders,  and  alloys 
were  brought  out  one  after  the  other.  A  compound  of  tin.  regulus  of  anti- 
mony, and  leail,  was  once  employed  as  an  imitation  bronze.  The  manufacturers 
of  fountains,  vases  for  the  decoration  of  grounds,  doorstep-statuary,  and  other 
metal-work,  gave  that  alloy  up  for  zinc  covered  with  copper  by  the  electri'- 
process.  They  then  discovered  the  solution  of  chloride  of  platinum,  which 
will  1,'ive  almost  any  color  to  copper,  brass,  iron,  or  new  bronze.  Cheap  sub- 
stitutes for  bronze,  and  powders  anil  washes,  are  still  largely  used  :  they  can 
be  seen  in  chanileliers,  cheap  statuary,  anil  coarse  decorative  metal-work.  Hut 
there  has  been  a  decided  increase  in  the  employment  of  real  bronze  since 

186 1.      No  one  wants  an  imitation,  if  he  can  afford  the  real  thing. 
Americans,  particularly,  have  a  hatred  for  shams,  whether  it  be  in   ,^',^^86  in 
the  professions  of  their  public  men,  or  in  so  simple  a  matter  as  the   use  of  real 
Ini^ts  of  Washington  which  adorn  their  mantle-pieces.     Iksides   ''^""  *'"'^" 
thin,  there  has  been  a  growth  of  the  sense  of  color  in  this  country. 
A  ri(  h  dark  wall-paper  is  wanted  now  where  a  whitewashed  wall  answered 

before.     The  old-time  white  plaster-of-1'aris  statuette  no  longer  pleases  ;  but  it 

must  be  colored  to  resemble 

bron/e,   or   must    be    of   that 

oi)nli'nt    metal     itself.       The 

chani^a'  in  taste  and  the  growth 

of   prosperity    have    prepared 

the   way   for   a    sale    of    real 

l)ion/e  objects.     The  result  is 

already  seen  in  the  factories. 

Concerns  which  formerly  pro- 
duced house-hardware  of  iron, 

such  as  locks,  hinges,  latches, 

metal    ornaments,    &c.,    have 

liiauLied  over  to  bronze.     All 

handscjine  houses  are  now  fiir- 

iiished.  to  a  large  extent,  with 

bronze  metal-work  and  fosten- 

iiigs,  as  far  as  the  doors  and 

windows  are    concerned,    the 

light-colored     bronzes     being 

preierred     for     the     purpose. 
I'ublic    buildings    and    stores 

liave  also  adopted  this  style  of  work.  The  whole  world  is  astonished  and 
ilelighted  with  the  beauty  of  American  bronze  hardware,  which  displays  great 
tote,  and  originality  of  pattern.     The  manufacturers  of  clocks,  inkstands, 


LAST  MOMENTS   DEHINU  THE   SCENES. 


348 


IND  VS  TR/A  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


cigar-holders,  thermometers,  and  Yankee  notions  in  general,  are  also  now 
flooding  the  country  with,  and  sending  abroad  to  a  certain  extent,  handsome 
wares  of  this  popular  material.  For  this  class  of  ol)jects  the  darker  bronzes 
are  used  ;  many  of  the  cheaper  pieces,  however,  being  simply  of  iron,  Init 
japanned  to  resemble  bronze.  I'urely  ornamental  bronze-work,  such  as 
statues,  vases,  pots,  trays,  &c.,  are  not  yet  made  in  America.  We  are 
behind  the  rest  of  the  world  in  that  respect.  Yankee  genius  loves  to  pro- 
duce the  useful,  giving  it  a  beautiful  form  ;  but  there  is  not  yet  a  distiiK  tive 
development  of  that  independent  passion  for  the  purely  beautiful  which  leads 
a  people  to  go  largely  into  the  manufacture  of  exclusively  ornamental  ol»jc(  ts. 
That  will  come  in  time  ;  in  fact,  is  already  coming  :  but  the  progress  in  bronzes 
is  not  yet  sufficient  to  be  dwelt  upon.  Bronze  busts  of  eminent  men,  and 
statues  for  parks  and  public  places,  are,  however,  now  very  commonly  made. 
There  is  a  genuine  passion  for  bronze  for  that  department  of  art.  Tiie 
richness,  dignity,  and  strength  of  the  alloy  are  asserting  themselves,  and 
the  manufacturers  are  rea|)ing  a  rich  harvest  therefrom. 

American  development  in  bronze-work  will  doid)tlcss  come  during  the  next 
twenty  years  more  largely  from  studying  the  ideas  of  the  Japanese  than  from 
.  analyzing  those  of  the   ICuropeans.     The  Japanese  have  <|uiL'tiy 

of  studying     Spent  an  immense  amount  of  thought,  experiment,  and  patient 
Japanese         manual  labor,  upon  ornamental  bronze-work  since  the  sixth  centiirv, 

productions.  * 

and  have  attained  an  excellence  in  the  art  enjoyed  by  no  other 
nation,  although  they  have  made  the  least  bustle  about  it  of  any  nation.  'I'lieir 
alloys  are  very  niunerous  and  very  rich.  They  call  them  by  the  color  which 
predominates  in  them  when  they  are  finished.  Their  "  green  copper  "  is  i oin- 
posed  of  copper  and  lead,  or  copper,  tin,  and  lead.  "  Hlack  copper"  is  produced 
by  uniting  the  three  metals  differently.  The  "  purple  copper  "  is  copper  and 
lead  again.  One  beautiful  alloy  is  made  of  four  parts  of  copper,  and  six  of 
silver;  and  the  famous  and  peculiar  dark-blue  Shakudo  is  made  by  adding 
to  copper  from  two  to  five  per  cent  of  gold.  The  metal  can  be  made  of  any 
hue  and  richness.  American  workmen  are  now  studying  Japanese  designs: 
when  they  come  to  study  the  raw  material,  good  results  may  be  expecteil  to 
follow. 

The  principal  factories  of  bronze  statues  in  the  United  States  now  are  that 
of  Robert  Wood  &  Company,  Philadelphia,  and  that  of  the  Ames  Company 
at  Chicopee,  Mass.  The  statues  made  at  these  shops  are  either  of  life  or 
Principal  heroic  size.  There  are  no  colossal  works  by  them  yet.  TIh' 
bronze-man-  United  States  have  no  colossal  statues.  One  is  proposed  of  a  iight- 
ufacturers.  house  in  New-York  harbor,  to  be  presented  by  the  French,  and  to 
be  called  "  Liberty  enlightening  the  World."  It  will  be  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet  high  with  its  pedestal,  if  ever  erected,  and  will  cost  one 
million  francs ;  but  it  will  not  be  sent  here  until  the  United  States  l)uild  a 
pedestal  for  it  to  stand  on,  and  at  present  nothing  is  being  done  about  it. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


349 


LIDEHTV-nEt.I.. 


UELLS. 

The  story  of  the  boll  should  always  be  written  by  a  poet :  indeed,  the  bell 
has  been  a  favorite  theme  with  the  i)oets  of  all  ages  and  countries  since  its 
invention  and  introduc  tion  to  the  towers  of  castles,  churches,  and  Poetic  hit- 
great  liuildings.  No  sound  speaks  to  men  with  such '•  a  various  tory  of  belli. 
lanj,'iiaj,'e  "  as  the  clang  of  a  great  bell.  It  always  announces  something.  ( )nce 
the  l)ells  of  a  tower  were  rung  to  scatter  the  storms,  it  being  believed  that  the 
holy  sound  would  have  a  subjugating  effect  upon  the 
elements ;  but  that  custom  has  passed  away,  and 
now  tlie  bell  sjjeaks  only  to  tell  something  important 
to  the  people  living  within  the  sound  of  its  voice. 
It  signalizes  the  sweetest  and  most  tender  incidents 
in  life.  It  attends  us  to  the  grave.  It  alarms  a  com- 
munity to  meet  a  danger.  There  is  always  some- 
thinj,'  of  melancholy  in  the  voice  of  a  great  bell,  even 
on  the  most  joyful  occasions,  and  the  sound  is  always 
full  of  symjjathy.  A  great  bell  without  that  trace  of 
melancholy  is  worthless.  In  Europe  it  has  always 
been  the  custom  to  inscribe  upon  the  bell  a  legend 
of  some  sort ;  antl,  from  among  the  many  in  Latin, 

the  following  may  be  taken  to  show  with  how  many  voices  the  same  iron 
tongue  can  speak  to  the  peoi)le  of  a  town  :  —  "  ', 

"  Funcra  plango  ;  ful(;ura  frango  ;  sabbato  pango  ; 
E.\cito  lentos  ;  dissipo  ventos  ;  paco  cruentos." 

In  other  words,  — 

"  I  mourn  the  deaths  ;  I  break  the  lightnings  ;  I  mark  the  sabbaths ; 
I  arouse  ihe  slow  ;  I  scatter  the  winds  ;  I  appease  the  cruel." 

.And  this :  — 

"  Laudo  Deum  verum  ;  plebem  voce  ;  congrego  clerum ; 
Defunctos  ploro  ;  pestem  fugo  ;  fcstam  que  honoro." 

That  is  to  say,  — 

"  I  praise  the  true  God  ;  I  call  the  people  ;  I  convoke  the  clergy ; 
I  mourn  the  dead ;  I  frighten  the  plague  ;  I  honor  the  feast." 

Schiller,  Tennyson,  Edgar  A.  Poe,  and  nearly  all  the  great  national  poets, 
have  given  us  a  song  of  the  bell.  "  The  Bells  of  Shandon  "  shows  how  uni- 
versal is  the  lovc  of  this  powerful  mover  of  the  sentiments  and  feelings. 

The  early  bells  of  the  United  States  were  all  imported  from  England,  whence 
alone,  for  a  long  period,  were  to  be  obtained  the  supplies  of  tin  which  enter 
into  their  composition.     Not  many  were  wanted :   yet  the  early  Early  beii* 
settlers  of  America  were  a  very  religious  people,  and  the  white  'mported. 
spires  of  their  churches  dotted  the  dark  brown  and  green  of  every  landscape ; 


ll 


I' 


If 

Mi 


350 


/A'Z» C'SJA'/A L    niS TDK  Y 


and  it  was  r'  :sired  to  hang  a  bell  in  as  many  of  the  spires  as  possible.  So  there 
was  something  uf  a  demand  for  bells,  and  the  shijis  from  Mngland  brougiit  all 
that  were  ordered.  Occasionally  one  was  imng  in  a  state-house  also.  Among 
this  class  was  the  famou.i  bell  imported  in  1752  for  Independence  Hall  at 
Philadelphia ;  which,  being  cracked  on  trial  by  a  too  energetic  stroke  of  the 
clapper,  was  recast  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Isaac  Morris  of  riiiladelphia. 
The  new  bell  was  inscribed  from  Lev.  xxv.  10,  "  Proclaim  liberty  throughout 
the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof;  "  also,  "  By  ordjr  of  the  Assenihlv 
of  the  Province  of  Penn.  for  the  State  House  in  Phil. ;"  and,  "  Pass  &  .Stow, 
Phil.,  MDCCLII."  After  the  tariff  of  1842,  which  gave  those  wiio  chose  to 
take  up  bell-founding  as  a  regular  business  the  protection  of  a  duty  of  thirty- 
five  per  cent,  a  ntimber  of  small  factories  were  started,  some  cf  which  after- 
wards attained  celebrity  ;  among  them  being  that  of  tlie  Meneel}'  Brothers  at 
Troy,  N.V.,  tiie  oiv,  at  Boston,  and  that  of  the  Bevin  Brothers  Manufacturing 
Company  of  i:.ast  Ham[)ton,  Conn. 

The  bells  whi  hi  ha\c  been  made  in  the  United  States  have  been,  so  f.iv.  of 

moderate  size,  with  few  exceotions.  iiie 
conditions  of  society  here  h.  ,e  not  liccii 
Bells  made  favorable  to  the  jiroduction  ol" 
in  United  monster  tocsins  as  in  suniL- 
other  countries.  Royahy  and 
priestcraft  h.^ve  resorted  to  colossn'  liells  in 
all  ages  to  impress  the  common  peo])lc  with 
tlie  power  of  their  rulers ;  and  Eiirojjc  io 
filled  with  monster  castings  of  th's  dcscri])- 
tion.  the  fiffy-seven-ton  a.Tair  rt  Moscow 
bein;^  the  largest  ;  while  imperia'  ''Mnaaml 
Ja|)ai  ,  with  kincired  aims,  liave  liuii^::  irc- 
irendc'1'5  liftccn-foot  bells  in  nearly  all  the 
great  cides  of  their  respective  empires.  In 
the  Unii-^d  States,  where  the  democratic 
spirit  prevails,  where  jiomp  and  ':ircam- 
sianc;  are  not  emo'.oyed  to  ctrenglhen  the  r.uthority  of  Church  and  State,  and 
all  things  are  gauged  by  a  cominon  rule  o*"  beauty  and  utility,  bells  have  tbund 
their  u^e,  and  iia\c  only  Ucen  made  larg';  enough  to  subserve  the  wants  and 
pleasures  of  the  people.  The  largest  b.-U  ever  niade  in  the  coimtry  was  c.ist 
at  Boston  for  the  City  Hall  at  New  Vork.  It  weighed  twenty-three  thous:ind 
pounds,  was  eight  feet  across  at  the  mouth,  six  feet  high,  and  six 
iucln.s  and  a  half  thick  wiere  the  clapper  struck  it.  V  feu  four 
and  five  ton  beils  have  also  been  cast ;  but  the  majority  of  those  made  a\cr.v'e 
a  thousand  ])ounds'  weight  only  for  churches  and  city  halls,  and  four  luiiidrcd 
pounds'  weiglit  for  factories. 

The  tone  of  a  bell  is  entirely  ..ilhin  the  control  of  the  manufacturer.    Its 


J.^PA.NE^E    I'-.LL. 


Size  of  bells, 


OF    THE    U XI TED    STATES. 


351 


there 

;ht  all 

lall  at 
of  the 
.elphia, 
lUghout 
isembly 
s:  Slow, 
:hose  to 
.[  ihlny- 
:h  aUev- 
jthers  at 
iactuving 

so  lav.  of 
)ns.      Hie 
not  l>'--e» 
uction  of 

in    some 
)vaity  and 
;;,!  bell^  in 
opk  with 
"uvoi)e  ;i 

;s  ('.oscviv- 

MO-'COW 

,ina  and 
huHL;  tre- 
ulv  all  the 
In 


softness  and  sweetness  can  be  varied  by  using  difTerent  proportions  of  copj)er 
and  tin,  and  jxitting  in  a  little  lead  or  silver.    Its  pitch  is  varied  by   xoneof 
the  size  and  dianicter.     For  instance,  the  bells  ringing  the  first,    beii,  how 
third,  fifth,  and  eighth  of  the  scale  are  cast  relative,  with  diame-     «*^'''"'"«= 
tcrs  of  thirty,  twenty-four,  twenty,  antl  fifteen,  and  weights  of  eighty,  forty-one, 
twenty-four,  and  ten.    The  ease  of  graduating  the  tone  has  led  to  the  adoption 
of  chimes  of  bells :  and  churches  in  all  the  large  cities  of  the  country,  and  in 
some  of  the  smaller  ones,  have  within  the  last  twenty  years  purchased  them. 


CKURCH-IBEI.1.. 


■tv'.rcv. 


lb 


■ind  the  communities  h.ave  been  filled  with  the  music  of  "sweet  chimes  of 
magk-  bells."  'I'he  inoit  ancient  chime  in  the  country  is  tliat  in  a  pictures([ue 
'  ur.  in  the  southern  part  of  California.  It  is  a  relic  of  the  Spanish  occuiiation. 
liie  Jesuit  missionaries  from  Mexico  buih  a  number  of  massive  mission-houses 
'''Hl„if  part  of  the  country,  an  1  hung  in  them  bells  brought  from  Kurope.  One 
ct  these  structures,  being  erected  in  a  region  occasionally  shaken  by  earth- 
ij'akcs,  was  made  with  a  dome  ten  feet  thick,  in  order  that  it  might  resist  any 
I'Ossible  shock  \  and  the  bells  were  hung  in  the  arches  of  a  low  buttressed  wall, 


352 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


separate  from  the  main  building.  In  irony  at  the  calculations  of  man,  an  earth- 
quake crushed  the  massive  central  building,  and  has  left  the  bells  hanging  in 
their  arched  colonnade  to  the  present  day.  The  most  interesting  chime  in  the 
country  is  that  at  Cornell  University,  in  Ithaca,  N.Y.  There  are  ten  bells, 
the  largest  weighing  4,889  pounds,  antl  the  smallest  230.  They  represent  the 
notes  of  1),  (1,  .-\,  B,  C,  L),  E,  F,  F  sharp,  and  G.  The  largest  of  these  bt'lU 
bears  various  legends,  as  follows  :  "  The  gift  of  Mary,  wife  of  Andrew  I )  White. 
First  President  of  Cornell  University,  1869;"  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest. 
and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men  ;  "  "  To  tell  of  Thy  loving-kindness 
early  in  the  morning,  and  of  Thy  truth  in  the  night-season."  Also  the  follou- 
ing,  written  for  the  purpose  by  James  Russell  Lowell :  — 

"  I  call,  as  fly  the  irrevocable  hours, 

Futile  as  air,  or  strong  as  fate,  to  make 
Your  lives  (jf  saiiil  or  granite  :  awful  powers, 
Even  as  men  choo^i-,  they  either  give  or  take." 

Upon  the  nine  other  bells  are  couplets  from  Tennyson's  "  In  Memoriam.'' 
beginning  with  the  smallest,  as  follows  :  — 

"  Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new  ; 
Ring  out  the  f.ilse,  ring  in  the  true. 

Ring  out  the  grief  that  saps  the  mind ; 
Ring  in  redress  to  all  mankind. 

,  Ring  out  a  slowly-dying  cause, 

And  ancient  forms  of  j^arty  strife  ; 
Ring  in  the  no'oler  modes  (>f  life. 
With  sweeter  manners,  purer  laws. 

Ring  out  false  pride  in  place  and  blood; 
Ring  in  the  common  love  of  good. 


1 1»  $  - ' 


king  out  the  s.andcr  Pud  the  spite  ; 
Ring  in  the  love  of  truth  and  right. 


Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold ; 
Ring  out  the  thousand  wars  of  old. 

Ring  out  old  shapes  of  foul  disease  ; 
Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  peace. 


Ring  in  the  valiant  man  and  free. 
The  larger  heart,  the  kindlier  hand  \ 
Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land  ; 

Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be." 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


353 


I 


On  this  last  bell  is  also  the  inscription,  "  This  chime  the  gift  of  Miss  Jennie 
McGraw  to  the  Cornell  University,  1868." 


CHIMB  OF   BBLLS. 


American  manufacturers  are  not  very  confident  of  the  value  of  silver  in 
bells,  and  they  generally  ^  refer  clear  mixtures  of  copper  and  tin.     The  pro- 
portion is,  for  musical  bells,  six  of  copper  to  one  of  tin;    horse-    silver  in 
!)ells,  copper  four,  tin  one  ;  and  large  bells,  three  to  one.     Cattle-    *"="*• 
bells  arc  made  of  iron  and  copper.     They  are  not  intended  to  do  any  thing 
except  make  a  noise.     Steel  bells  have  been  experimented  with   Composition 
some  in  England  ;  but  they  are  harsh  in  sound,  and  not  popular.    °*  ''""*• 
A  k\\  fire-alarm  bells  have  been  used  in  the   United  States,  consisting  of  a 
heavy  bar  of  steel,  coiled  spirally,  and  mounted  upon  a  sounding-   pire-aiarm 
board.    They  have  been  abolished,  however,  by  the  new  system   ''="'• 
of  fire-alarm,  which  provides,  not  for  ringing  a  great  tccbiu  to  agitate  vhe  town. 
but  for  ringing  a  gong  in  every  engine-house  by  means  of  the  telegraph,  and 
thus  giving  tlie  alarm  only  to  iho.e  who  need  to  know  about  the  existence  of  a 
lire.     Table-bells  are  now  made  of  silver,  gold,  and  German  silver.     Those  in 
the  form  of  a  little  gong,  mounted  upon  a  little  slender  rod,  which,  in  turn,  is 
supported  upon  a  small  pedestal,  are  the  most  popular.     Bronze   Bronze 
gongs  are  made  of  all  sizes,  from  the  tei-rific  monsters  shaped  like  b«>"b»- 
a  warrior's  shield,  which  the  waiters  bang  at  the  railroad  eating-houses,  to  the 
tiny  bell-like  bronzes  in  alarm-clocks  and  office-annunciators.     The  casting  of 
Wis  is  so  simple  a  process,  that  it  need  not  be  described.     The  gong  —  that 


354 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


bell-manu- 
factories. 


is,  the  gong  of  the  Chinese  sort  —  is  made  by  forging  under  a  heavy  hammer. 
Number  of  There  are  now  about  thirty-five  establishments  in  the  United 
States  engaged  in  the  production  of  bells  :  a  portion  of  their 
product  is  sold  abroad.  The  imports  of  bells  have  stopped. 
It  is  not  probable  that  great  bells  will  ever  form  a  special  feature  of 
American  life.  The  tendency  of  things  is  not  in  that  direction.  Great  bells 
Future  of  are  only  valuable  to  alarm  a  town  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  siir- 
beUs  in  U.S.  rounding  country.  In  the  days  of  the  hand  fire-engine,  it  was 
important  that  every  able-bodied  man,  in  a  city  where  there  was  any  spe(  ial 
Value  of  accumulation  of  wealth,  should  be  warned  whenever  any  of  the 
great  bells,  buildings  of  the  place  caught  fire,  so  that  he  might  lend  his  efforts 
to  stay  the  conflagration.  Steam  fire-engines,  public  water-works,  and  tJK- 
telegraph  alarm-bell,  have  superseded  the  need  both  of  a  call  to  the  popiilniion 
of  the  place  and  the  use  of  great  bells.  During  the  late  war,  heavy  l)i.lls 
were  useful  to  call  in  the  people  of  the  rural  towns  to  hear  the  news  of  some 
great  victory  or  great  defeat ;  but  cannon-firing  answered  very  well  in  the 
absence  of  bells  then,  and  probably  will  in  the  future.  , 


LEAD-MANUFACTURES. 

Lead,  though  the  humblest  of  the  metals,  has  played  its  part  royally  in  the 
drama  of  human  life.  When  gunpowder  was  invented,  lead  was  the  one 
material  of  which  missiles  could  be  made.  Its  existence  dictated  the  form  of 
weapons,  and  changed  the  art  of  war ;  and  not  only  that,  but  it  decided  the 
fate  of  all  rude  nations,  and  changed  the  history  of  the  world.  Wlien 
chemistry  brought  its  resources  to  bear  upon  the  metal,  lead  became  useful  to 
man  in  beautifying  his  dwellings  with  color ;  and,  when  machinery  was  applied 
toward  fashioning  it,  it  was  found  serviceable  for  a  variety  of  objects  for  wliich 
no  other  metal  has  been  able  to  do  equally  well. 

Lead  was  found  scattered  along  the  coast  of  North  America,  here  and 
there,  by  the  earlier  setUers,  as  will  be  mor;  fully  described  elsewhere  ;  and  its 
_  manufacture  for  common  purposes  began  long  before  the  Rcvo- 

leadwas  lution.  It  was  cliiefly  employed  for  bullets.  The  metal  was 
obtained  at  the  store,  and  the  huntsman  cast  his  own  bullets  by 
hand.  In  the  gcvernnient  armories,  balls  were  made  for  the  use 
of  the  army ;  but  there  was  litde  general  manufacture  of  lead  for  the  market, 
for  that  or  any  other  purpose,  until  after  the  Revolution.  After  the  peace  ol 
1783  the  uses  of  lead  inc-eased.  It  was  found  that  oil-paint  had  a  teiulenrv 
to  preserve  wooden  dwellings  from  decay.  Very  few  dwellings  had  been 
painted  before  the  war.  Paint  was  costly,  it  being  all  imported ;  aiKl  it  wa^ 
regarded  as  a  worldly  and  sinful  luxury  in  most  of  the  colonies,  especially  in 
New  England.  When  it  was  found  that  paint  not  only  beautified,  but  wa?  of 
positive  utihty,  a  perfect  epidemic,  of  coloring  houses,  barns,  and  other  wooden 


chiefly  for 
bullets. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


'355 


y  in  the 
^he   one 
form  of 
ided  ihe 
When 
iscful  to 
a^iiilled 
lor  which 


buildings,  set  in,  and  the  home  manufacture  of  it  began.  A  factory  to 
make  lead-paint  was  started  in  Philadelphia  before  1800  :  by  1820  Utedfor 
there  were  several  in  New-York  City,  and  still  others  west  of  the  P*'"*- 
Alleghanies  and  elsewhere  in  operation.  Other  factories  in  Brooklyn,  Albany, 
lioston,  Buffalo,  and  the  West,  soon  followed.  Then  the  manufacture  of  small 
shot  had  been  invented.  In  1782  a  plumber  living  in  Bristol,  by  the  name  of 
Watts,  dreamed  that  he  was  caught  out  in  a  rain-storm,  which  turned  to  lead 
as  it  fell.  This  suggested  the  idea  of  shot-making.  He  went  up  into  a 
church  and  poured  out  some  melted  lead,  which  fell  into  water  below,  and 
became  shot.  The  idea  was  taken  up  quite  generally.  In  1807  Early  shot- 
Paul  Beck  built  a  large  shot-tower  on  the  Schuylkill,  a  hundred  •""''•nB- 
and  seventy  feet  high,  which  he  thought  would  supply  t'le  whole  United 
States.  He  could  not  supply  the  United  States,  however ;  and  several  other 
factories  were  built  in  the  country  in  succeeding  years.  Four  were  built  at 
New-York  City,  with  a  capacity  of  over  three  thousand  tons  per  annum  ;  and 
seven  were  built  at  St.  Louis.  Virginia,  Baltimore,  and  other  localities,  were 
ecjuipped  with  shot-towers  also ;  and  they  have,  in  fact,  sprung  up  all  over  the 
country.  The  census  of  1870  showed  seven  of  them  in  active  operation, 
producing  about  five  thousand  tons  of  shot  annually.  Besides  these  uses  of 
leatl,  various  others  were  introduced  at  different  periods  ;  and  the  United  States 
have  embarked  in  the  manufacture  of  lead  therefor  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 
Principal  among  these  uses  of  lead  is  its  application,  either  in  the  form  of 
the  pure  metal  or  an  alloy,  to  pipe-  making,  and  the  manufacture  of  type, 
emery  wheels,  solder,  table-ware,  sheet-metal,  the  keys  of  musical  instruments, 
Babbitt  metal  for  the  bearings  of  machinery,  &:c. 

Lead  derives  a  great  part  of  its  importance   from  its  useful  alloys.     In 
combination  with  antimony  it  makes  a  metal  good  for  type,  the  bearings  of 
machinery,    and     ornamental     metal-work,    being    white,    hard,   .j-j^^  ^^^  ^^ 
capal)le  of  a  polish,  and  i)roducing  a  sharper  casting.     The  alloy   lead  as  an 
melts  more  readily  than  lead,  and  is  harder.     \\'ith  twenty  per  '  °^' 
cent  of  tin,  lead  produces  jjcwter.     It  is  harder  in  the  form  of  an  alloy,  and 
more  fusible  ;  a  fact  which  is  turned  lo  use  in  the  making  of  solder,  by  mix- 
ing e([ual  parts  of  tin  and  lead,  and  in  the  production  of  a  metal  with  which 
naturalists  can  take  delicate  castings.     Lead  melts,  when  pure,  at  635°  :  but  in 
the  form  of  an  alloy  composed  of  lead  i,  bismuth  2,  tin   i,  it  fuses  at  201°; 
which  is  considerably  less  than  that  of  boiling  water,     ^\'hen,  therefore,  it  is 
(kNJred  to  form  a  mould  of  some  delicate  tissue;  or  substance  which  would  be 
destroyed  by  boiling  water,  this  useful  alloy  is  available  for  the  purpose. 

Perhaps    type-founding,    next    after  that   of    bullet-making,    is   the    most 
niuicnt  industry  in  which  the  people  engaged  in  produc.iig  useiul  articles 
from  lead.      Type  was  cast   in    this   country  as  early  as    1735.   Type- 
Hie  i/ioneer  in  the  art  was  Christopher  Saws  (or  Sowes),  who  •""'''"k- 
l^egan  printing  at  Germantown,  Penn.,  and   cast   the   type   required  in  his 


i 


mri 


356 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


business,  executing  therewith,  in  1743,  the  secoi.d  Bible  printed  in  America, 
it  being  in  the  German  language.     Type  was  cast  by  several  printers  subse- 
quent to  him,  including  F'ranklin 
among  others.     In  1 796  Binney 
and    Ronaldson     of     Edinburgh 
established    type-founding    as    a 
regular  business  at   Philadelphia, 
having  a  pretty  hard  time  of  it 
for  a  few  years,  but  finally  ob- 
taining State  aid,  conquering  all 
difficulties,    and    building    up    a 
business  which  was  the  origin  of 
the  present  great  establishment  of 
Mackellar,  Smiths,  &  Jordan.    Be- 
fore the  close  of  the  century  I  )avid 
Bruce,  also  of  Edinburgh,  started 
the  business  at  New- York  City. 
Mr.  Bruce  was  an  ingenious  man, 
and  invented  improvements  in  the 
methods  of  type-founding  which 
developed  the  business.     The  ori- 
ginal method  was   to   cast  eacl. 
letter  by  hand,  one  at  a  time.    \ 
copper  mould  was  made  for  the 
type,   the   letter   being   stamped 
into  the  lower  end  of  the  mould, 
or  matri.x,  with  a  steel  die,  and  the 
matrix  capable  of  being  opcMied 
to  take  out  the  letter.     The  ma- 
trix was  put  into  a  little  wooden  or  iron  box  having  a  hopper  to  admit  the 
melted  metal.     The  workman,  holding  this  in  his  left  hand,  dipped  enough 
metal  for  a  letter  from  the  melting-pot  with  a  small  iron  ladle.     He  poured  it 
in,  and  gave  the  matrix  a  sharp  jerk  upwards  as  high  as  his  head  to  settle  the 
metal  into  the  finest  lines  of  the  tj'pe  and  to  condense  it.     He  then  pressed 
a  spring,  opened  the  matrix,  shook  out  the  type,  closed  the  box,  and  went 
on  as  before.      The  average  rate  of  casting  was  400  letters  an  hour.     Mi' 
David  Bruce  invented  an  improvement  in  1811  by  which  500  type  could  be 
cast  in  an  hour.     In  1812  a  duty  of  thirty  per  cent  was  laid  upon  fnivign 
type,  in  place  of  the  previous  fifteen  per  cent.     This  was  a  great  help  to 
American  makers.      Both  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York  the  business  soon 
became  important.     In  1813  David  and  George  Bruce  began  the  first  stereo- 
typing establishment  in  the  United  States.     In   1831  Mr.  David  Bruce,  jun.. 
patented    the   only   successful    type-casting   machine   which   has    ever   been 


PRINTER  S   STAND. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


357 


made.  It  was  the  product  of  years  of  experiment  and  study.  It  has 
entirely  superseded  the  little  hand-moulds,  and  has  gone  into  general  use 
in  American  factories  and  in  many  luiropcan.  In  this  machine  the  type- 
metal  is  kept  in  a  melted  condition 
in  a  small  iron  reservoir  by  means  of 
a  gas  jet.  From  tlie  reservoir  it  is 
imniped,  under  great  pressure,  through 
a  siccl  nipple,  into  the  matrix  of  the 
tvpc.  wiiich  presents  itself  to  the  nip- 
ple simultaneously  with  the  downward 
stroke  of  the  piston.  'l"he  (juantity 
of  nielal  pumped  from  the  reservoir 
in  each  case  is  just  enough  to  make 
one  letter.  A  blast  of  cold  air  plays 
upon  the  mould,  the  metal  hardens 
instantly,  the  mould  recedes,  the  type 
is  cast  out  into  a  hopper,  the  mould 
closes  again,  and  niox'es  forward  to 
repeat  the  ])roccss.  'I'he  speed  of 
casting  was  increased  about  three 
times  by  this  machine,  and  the  pro- 
portion of  im])erfect  tyi)e  materially 
diminished,  lly  an  improvement  in- 
vented by  J.  .'\.  '1'.  Overend  of  San 

Francisco,  in  1875,  the  speed  of  the  machine  was  increased  to  a  hundred 
ty|)es  a  minute.  .After  coming  from  the  mould,  type  has  to  be  smoothed  by 
rubbing  on  a  stone  slab  :    and  the  jet-end  must  be  cut  off,  so  that  all  the 

types  shall  be  exactly  the 
same  length.  In  type-found- 
ing, certain  letters  of  the 
alphabet  are  given  greater 
prominence  than  others. 
'Hiis  is  due  to  the  fre- 
fpiency  with  which  the  dif- 
ferent letters  occur  in  the 
I'jiglish  language.  The  pro- 
portion in  which  they  are 
cast,  and  in  which  they  occur 
in  print,  is  about  as  follows : 
e,  1,500;  t,  900;  a,  850; 
;  u,  340  ;  c,  m,  300  ;  f,  250  ; 
q.  50  ;    j,  X,  40  ;    z.  20  ;    fi, 


CABINlil     lOK   TVl'E. 


Mil  KINO-MACHINE. 


1-  0,  s,  i,  Soo  ;  h  640  ;  r,  620  ;  d,  440  ;  1,  400 
^>.  y,  :()o  ;  g.  p,  I  70  ;  b,  160  ;  v,  1  20  ;  k,  80  : 


50;  fl.  \o ;  fl,  20;  ffi,  ffl,  15  ;  K,  10  ;  ce,  5.     In  capital  letters  the  differences 


I 


^ii 


358 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


LKAD-CUTTBR. 


are  not  so  great ;  but  I,  T,  A,  and  E  lead  Im  importance.     The  best  type- 
metal    is   composed  of  fifty  parts  of  lead,  and  about  twenty-two  parts  of 

antimony  for  hardness,  twenty-two  of 
tin  for  toughness,  and  four  of  copper 
for  tenacity.  The  copper  is  left  out, 
however,  very  often.  It  is  replaced  by 
copper-facing,  put  on  by  the  electro 
process  invented  by  Dr.  L.  V.  Newton 
of  New- York  City.  A  metal  very  much  like  that  used  for  type  is  employed 
in  stereotyping.     It  will  be  referred  to  under  the  head  of  "Stereotyping." 

The  manufacture  of  lead-paint  was  begun  in  America  by  John  Harrison 
of  Philadelphia,  a  young  man  who  believed  that  a  large  number  of  chemical 
Manufacture  products  which  were  being  procured  from  abroad  might  be  made 
of  lead  paint.  \^y  Qy^  own  people.  Having  finished  a  thorough  education  in 
chemistry  by  a  course  under  the  celebrated  Joseph  Priestley  of  England, 
Harrison  started  a  factory  of  sulphuric  acid  and  white-lead  in  Philadelpiiia 
in  1798,  and  prospered  from  the  very  first.  The  house  of  John  T.  Lewis  & 
Brothers,  founded  in  1807,  afterwards  went  intp,  the  same  business.  The 
manufacture  soon  extended  all  over  the  country.  It  became  particularly 
successful  in  Brooklyn,  N.Y.,  owing  to  the  growth  of  the  communities  in  that 
immediate  vicinity.  At  the  present  time  there  are  145  factories  engaged  in 
the  production  of  paints,  the  manufacture  of  lead  pigments  being  a  part  of 
their  business.  They  employ  3,000  hands,  and  produce  about  517,000,000 
worth  of  goods  annually  in  fair  years.  Of  the  total  number,  thirty-four  are 
in  Pennsylvania,  sixteen  in  Massachusetts,  eleven  in  New  York,  fourteen  in 
Ohio,  ten  in  Missouri,  and  four  in  Illinois. 

The  principal  pigments  made  from  lead  are  minium,  or  red-lead  (which  is 
easily  produced  by  exposing  litharge  at  a  continued  low  red-heat  to  the  action 
of  the  air),  white-lead,  a  carbonate  of  the  metal,  chrome-red,  and  chrome- 
yellow.  They  are  all  beautiful,  brilliant,  and  valuable  pigments.  Oxide  of  zinc 
now  contests  with  white-lead  the  favor  of  builders  ;  but  the  importance  of  the 
pigment  is  scarcely  affected  by  the  competition. 

White-lead  was  originally  made  in  Holland  ;  and  invention  has  thus  far 
failed  to  supersede  the  "  Dutch  process  "  of  its  manufacture.  Some  variations 
in  the  details  have  been  made  in  America ;  but  the  process  is 
essentially  the  same  in  principle  as  that  invented  by  the  people 
who  taught  Northern  Europe  the  arts  of  industry.  To  prepare  the  jiigiiicnt, 
the  purest  metallic  lead  is  obtained.  Originally  it  was  subjected  to  the  cliemi- 
Mode  of  ^^'    operation   in   the   form   of  loose   rolls   of  sheet-lead.      The 

manufactur-    American  method  is  to  cast  the  lead  into  circular  gratings  looking 
'"^"  very  much  like  shoe-buckles.     In  whichever  shape  prejjarcd,  the 

lead  is  put  into  earthen  jars,  with  a  little  vinegar  at  the  bottom,  the  lead  being 
supported   by   earthen  ledges  from  coming   into   contact  with  the  vinegar. 


White-lead. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


IV. 


[bus  f;ir 
trialions 

x'css  is 

Di^mcnt, 

chenii- 

The 

hooking 

Id  being 
Ivinegar' 


Sometimes  the  pots  have  openings  in  the  sides  to  permit  a  free  circulation  of 
the  vapors  set  free  in  the  jjrocess.     An  immense  collection  of  the  jars,  tens  of 
thuusands  in  number,  are  then  packed  in  alternate  layers,  with  layers  of  some 
fermenting  material  which  will  give  out  carbonic-acid  gas.     Originally  stable- 
manure  was  employed.     At  present  spent  tan-bark  is  preferred.     The  layers 
of  jars  and  bark  arc  carried  up  sometimes  twenty  feet  high,  the  bark  being 
ke])t  out  of  the  jars  by  sheets  of  lead  and  by  boards.     A  large  building  being 
filled  in  this  way  is  then  closed.     The  fermentation  sets  free  a  large  (juantity 
of  carbonic  acid.     Basic  acetate  is  first  formed  on  the  surface  of  the  leatl  in 
the  pots,  which  is  decomposed  by  the  carbonic-acid  gas,  forming  carbonate 
and  free  acetic  acid.     The  latter  again  acts  on  the  lead.     Very  little  vinegar 
is  reiniireil ;  and  the  process  goes  on  continuously,  assisted  by  the  heat  of  the 
fermentation,  until,  at  the  end  of   ten  or  twelve  weeks,  fermentation  stops. 
The  process  is  then  at  an  end.     The  stack  is  then  taken  to  pieces.    The  lead 
is  found  in  its  original  form,  though  increased  in  bulk  and  weight,  and  con- 
verted into  a  very  white  and  soft  carbonate.     If  the  conversion  has  not  been 
thoroughly  done,  a  can  of  metallic  or  blue  lead  will  be  found  in  the  interior 
of  some  of  the  pieces.     The  pieces  of  lead  are  now  thrown  into  large  tanks 
filled  with  water,  in  which    they  rest  upon  shelves  of  copper  full  of  holes. 
They  are  beaten  to  sei)arate  and  pulverize  the  carbonate,  the  water  preventing 
the  fine  dust  from  poisoning  the  air  and   injuring  the  workmen,     (irinding, 
and  washing  in  water,  then  follow,  until  the  carbonate  is  reduced  to  an  im- 
l)ali)al)le  powder.     It  is  then  dried  in  steam  pans  or  upon  tile  tables,  and  put 
iij)  for  the  market.     The  carbonate  obtained  in  this  way  is  superior  to  that 
ol)tained  in  any  other  ;  but  a  very  fair  commercial  article  is  made  by  boiling 
solutions  of  nitrate  or  acetate  with  litharge,  and  preci])itating  the  solution  with 
carbonic  acid.     White-lead  is  not  alone  emjjloycd  as  the  best  white  paint ;  but 
it  constitutes  the  body  of  almost  all  other  paints,  it  being  colored  by  intermix- 
ture with  other  pigments. 

Chrome-yellow  is  obtained  by  preci])itating  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  lead 
with  chromate  of  jiotash,  and  washing  and  drying  the  product,     'i'he  red,  a 
brisiit  powder,  is  obtained  from  the  yellow  by  boiling  it  with  lime   chrome- 
or  soiue  other  alkali  ;  also  by  digesting  levigated  litharge,  by  boil-   y«"ow. 
ing  with  neutral  yellow  chromate  of  potash,  <S:c.     A  green  lead  is  also  made. 

Considering  how  far  a  pound  of  oil-i)aint  goes  in  coloring  a  house  or  a 
fence,  the  consumption  of  jjig-lead  in  i)aint-making  must  be  regarded  as 
enormous.  It  now  amounts  in  the  United  States,  yearly,  to  about  Aduitera- 
50.000  tons.  Notwiuistanding  the  cheai)ness  of  lead-paint,  it  is  *'""• 
largely  adulterated  for  the  market  by  small  dealers  with  whiting.  The  ])ovvder 
is  alisolutely  white,  and  does  not  discolor ;  but  it  does  not  make  so  brilliant 
a  paint. 

\\hen  the  use  of  paint  began  to  become  general  in  this    country,  the 
tjvorite  colors  were  white  for  houses,  churches,  and  wooden  stores,  —  the  color 


' 


r 


36o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


cei*  of  shot 
making. 


conforming  to  the  simplicity  of  that  age,  —  green  for  window-blinds,  and  red 
for  barns.  Red  barns  are  still  common  on  the  farms  of  the  country ;  although 
drab  and  brown  paints  have  come  into  popularity  within  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  threaten  soon  to  supersede  both  red  and  white  for  wooden  buildings  of 
all  kinds. 

Shot-making  is  the  simplest  of  mechanical  processes.  The  only  place  in 
the  process  where  any  special  judgment  is  required  is  in  the  preparation  of 
Modern  pro-  ^^  pig-metal.  Most  manufacturers  regard  the  presence  of  arsenic 
in  the  metal  as  absolutely  necessary.  Very  cheap  lead  is  used  in 
shot-making,  and  the  presence  of  one  or  two  per  cent  of  arscnit: 
gives  it  fluidity.  A  pot  of  lead  is  melted.  Either  white  arsenic  or  orpimcnt 
(the  sulphuret)  is  put  into  me  centre  of  the  mass,  and  a  cover  put  upon  the 
pot,  and  sealed  down.  A  chemical  combination  takes  place  in  a  few  hours ; 
and  the  pot  is  then  opened,  and  the  metal  tested  by  pouring  a  little  of  it 
through  a  strainer  at  a  moderate  height  into  water.  The  globules  of  lead  are 
round,  if  the  mixture  has  been  made  in  the  right  proportion ;  they  are  lens- 
shaped,  if  there  is  too  much  arsenic  ;  and  irregular  in  shape,  if  too  little.  If 
the  metal  is  all  right,  it  is  cast  into  pigs  for  use.  It  is  converted  into  shot  by 
fusing  it  at  a  low  height,  and  letting  it  drain  through  colanders  at  the  top  of 
a  tower.  The  drops  harden  on  the  way  down,  and  fall  into  water.  The 
imperfect  shot  are  separated  from  the  others  by  letting  them  roll  down  in- 
clined planes.  The  good  ones  go  down  with  speed,  and  shoot  off  into  proper 
receptacles :  the  irregular  ones  go  down  more  slowly,  and  drop  off  upon  the 
floor.  They  are  sorted  into  sizes  by  being  shaken  in  sieves.  The  heiglit  of  a 
shot-tower  is  from  150  to  250  feet.  One  in  Baltimore  is  256  feet  high,  and  is 
probably  the  tallest  in  the  world.  An  American  method,  patented  by  David 
Smith  of  New  York  in  1848,  aimed  to  dispense  with  these  tall  towers,  which 
stand  up  above  the  other  buildings,  like  ancient  obelisks,  in  every  city  where 
they  are  erected.  A  shorter  tower  is  used,  and  a  powerful  current  of  cold  air 
is  blown  up  through  the  falling  shot  by  means  of  machinery. 

About  the  last  of  the  great  manufactures  of  lead  to  be  introduced  in  tliis 
country  was  that  of  sheet-lead  and  lead  pipe  :  it  is  now,  however,  the  principal 
consumer  of  the  metal.  There  are  about  twenty-five  factories  en- 
gaged in  making  lead  pipe  and  sheet-lead,  having  an  annual  prod- 
uct of  $15,000,000  worth  of  goods.  They  are  located  principally 
in  the  Middle  States.  Sheet-lead  is  easily  made  by  rolling.  It  is  generally 
cast  into  plates  six  inches  thick  for  the  purpose,  and  is  gradually  worked  down 
between  two  heavy  iron  rollers.  Lead  pipe  was  formerly  made  by  hand : 
sheet-lead  was  turned  up  into  a  pipe,  and  the  edges  soldered.  Larf  2  pi])es  are 
still  made  in  this  way.  All  attempts  to  cast  lead  pipe  have  proved  to  l)e  too 
cumbersome  and  slow.  The  method  in  use  is  that  suggested  in  1797  by 
Bramah,  the  inventor  of  the  celebrated  English  lock  of  that  name,  and  patented 
by  him.     The  process  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  in  1840  by  Tatiuni 


Sheet  lead 
and  lead 
pipe. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


361 


I  red 
ough 

gs  of 

ice  in 

on  of 
irsenic 
sed  in 
irsenif 
pinicnt 
lon  the 
hours ; 
le  of  it 
ead  are 
re  lens- 
Ale.    If 
shot  by 
top  of 
er.    'I'he 
down  in- 
;o  proper 
upon  the 
light  of  a 
Ih,  and  is 
[by  David 
rs,  which 
ity  where 
cold  air 


&  Brothers,  who  patented  an  improvement  upon  it  in  the  genuine  Yankee  way. 
It  consists  in  pouring  lead  into  a  cylindrical  cavity  in  a  block  of  cast-iron, 
wliich  is  kept  at  a  heat  sufficient  to  melt  lead,  and  then  forcing  the  lead  out 
again,  under  a  pressure  of  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  tons,  with  an  hydraulic 
apparatus,  through  an  annular  space  the  size  of  the  pipe  required.  The  steel 
rod,  or  core,  which  forms  the  bore  of  the  pipe,  is  fastened  to  the  piston,  and 
passes  tlirough  the  cavity  containing  the  lead,  and  out  through  the  hole  in  the 
top  of  the  chamber.  It  rises  slowly  with  the  piston,  which  crowds  the  meltetl 
metal  out  of  the  chamber  through  the  annular  opening  above  formed  by  the 
die  and  the  core.  The  pipe,  as  it  cools,  and  rises  slowly  above  the  top  of  the 
machine,  is  coiled  around  a  large  dnuii  above.  In  one  process  the  piston  rises 
into  the  chamber  of  melted  metal :  in  the  other  the  piston  descends,  tlie  die 
being  in  the  piston,  and  the  core  projecting  upward  through  it  from  the  bottom 
of  the  chamber.  An  old  method  of  making  lead  pipe  was  to  cast  a  heavy 
cylinder  of  lead  with  a  bore  of  the  exact  size  required,  and  then  gradually  to 
work  this  down  under  rollers,  using  a  mandrel  to  keep  the  bore  open.  It  is 
not  yet  entirely  obsolete. 

Lead  pipe  is  very  convenient  for  domestic  purposes,  because  it  can  be 
readily  bent  tc  any  angle  recjuired.  If  the  w',ter  within  it  freezes,  and  burets 
the  pipe,  the  latter  can  be  easily  repaired.  Tne  only  drawback  to  utility  of 
lead  pines  is,  that  the  water  they  distribute  through  the  houses  '*■"*  p'P"* 
of  our  cities  often  corrodes  the  lead,  and  becomes  thus  impregnated  with 
poison.  The  evil  is  obviated  oy  keeping  the  pipes  always  full  of  water,  and 
letting  the  water  which  has  stood  in  them  any  length  of  time  flow  out  before 
drawing  water  for  cooking  or  drinking. 

For  ornamental  purposes,  lead  is  alloyed  with  seventy-five  per  cent  of 
antimony.  It  makes  a  hard,  white  alloy,  capable  of  taking  a  high  polish.  It 
is  the  material  generally  used  in  the  keys  of  flutes. 


td  in  this 
principal 
Itories  en- 
^ual  prod- 
jrincipally 
generally 
Iked  down 
\  by  hand : 
pipes  are 
Ito  be  too 
1797  by 


ll  paten' 


ted 


py 


I'athani 


STEREOTYPING. 

There  are  serious  objections  to  printing  newspapers  and  books  fi-om  type. 
A  form  of  type  is  always  liable  to  be  "  knocked  into  pie,"  as  it  is  called  in  a 
printing-office.     If  the  edition  of  the  book  or  the  newspaper  is  large,  it  cannot 
be  printed  expeditiously  upon  one  press.     It  is  necessary  to  set  several  at  work 
til.on  exactly  the  same  job.     Not  only  would  it  be  expensive  to  keep  type 
enough  on  hand  to  "  set  up  "  some  pages  more  than  once,  but  it  would  be  still 
more  so  to  set  them  up.     A  better  way  is  to  cast  the  page  of  type   Economy  of 
in  type-metal.     By  making  a  mould  of  the  page,  as  many  i)lates   stereotyp- 
can  be  cast  from  it  as  may  be  desired,  and  thus  several  presses  '"*' 
can  be  employed  at  once.     The  plates  have,  in  addition,  this  advantage  :  they 
can  be  stored  up  in  the  lumber-room,  and  kept  for  years,  if  necessary ;  so 
that,  if  a  new  edition  of  the  almanac,  pamphlet,  or  book,  is  desired,  it  can  be 
printed  without  encountering  the  cost  of  composition. 


^, 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


/. 


^/ 


1.0 


I.I 


2.0 


1.3 


1.25      1.4      1.6 

■• 6"     

► 

Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  873-4503 


<* 


<^ 


^^ 


0 


<> 


^ 


36» 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


No  books  or  papers  were  printed,  in  the  early  days  of  America,  in  sr.fficient 
numbers  to  justify  a  resort  to  the  process  of  stereotyping.  After  the  war  of 
rirtt  stereo-  '^'^  printing  increased,  and  the  need  of  stereotyping  was  felt, 
typibsetub-  David  and  George  Bruce  added  to  their  printing-business  in  New- 
liihment.  y^^^^  ^.j^y  ^  stereotyping  esUblishment  in  1813.  It  was  the  first  in 
the  country.  Since  that  time,  scarce  any  large  book-printing  or  newspaper 
establishment  has  tailed  to  add  a  stereotype-room  to  the  resources  of  the 
business. 


HAKPKK  S   PRINTINO-HOUSU. 


The  method  adopted  by  Mr.  Bruce  was  to  oil  the  surface  of  the  page  ol 
type  to  be  copied,  and  pour  uj)on  it  plaster  of  Paris  in  a  liquid  form.  I'liis 
Bnice't  substance,  when  wet,  hardens  in  a  few  minutes,  and  makes  ;in 

method.  excellent  mould.     The  moulds,  having  set,  were  taken  off,  dried 

in  a  furnace,  put  in  a  casting-box,  and  dipped  into  melted  stereotype-metal. 
The  metal,  having  cooled,  was  taken  from  the  mould.  It  was  carefully  o\- 
amined  for  defective  letters,  and  corrected  by  chiselling  out  the  bad  letters, 


OF  THE    UN/TED   STATES. 


363 


of  news- 
paper* i» 
done. 


and  inserting  type.  It  was  then  planed  on  the  back,  and  nailed  to  a  wooden 
liluck  for  the  press.  This  method  has  been  practised  in  the  United  States 
(tuwn  to  the  present  day.  It  is,  however,  rapidly  going  out  of  use.  It  long 
ago  disappeared  from  the  large  daily  newspaper-offices,  and  has  been  replaced 
in  most  of  the  large  publication-houses  by  another  system. 

In  the  great  newspaper-offices  the  new  method  is  called  the  "papier- 
mache  "  process.     A  few  hours  before  the  pages  come  down  from 
the  type-room  the  stereotypers  begin  to  prepare  heavy  sheets  of  ,tereotypin« 
paper,  in  order  to  make  the  mould  from  them.     A  sheet  of  thin 
tissue-paper  is  spread  out  on  a  smootli  iron  table.     It  is  brushed 
wiili  some  sort  of  sizing.     Another  sheet  of  tissue-paper  is  laid 
upon  it,  and  brushed  smoothly  down.     This,  again,  is  sized,  and  another  sheet 
lai«l  on.     A  dozen  sheets  of  tissue-paper  are  thus  put  together,  forming  a 
moist  sheet   of  thick,   hea"y  paper  of  extremely  fine   texture.     When  the 
forms  come  down,  one  of  these  thick  sheets  is  laid  upon  the  page,  and  ham- 
mered down  with  a  heavy,  long-handled  brush,  the  stiff  hairs  of  which  drive 
the  paper  into  the  finest  lines  of  the  type.     A  great  deal   of  the   paper  is 
beaten  down    v  vcen  the  type.     The  heavy  indentations  in  the  paper  are 
then  smoothly  sn.  ■"!< ..  with  wet  marble-dust,  and  another  of  the  thick  sheets 
laid  on,  and  cementc.  to  the  first  one  by  hammering  with  the  brush.     The 
form  is  then  slid  off  upon  an  iron  steam  table,  and  put  imder  a  press,  where  it 
(luickiy  tlries.     The  sheet  of  paper,  or  papier- machtJ,  is  then  taken  off.     It 
makes  a  perfect  mould,  and  can  be  used  for  the  casting  of  a  dozen  plates  if 
desired  ;  and  indeed  it  sometimes  is  desired,  the  casting  of  each  requiring  only 
two  or  three  minutes.     The  papier-mache  matrix  has  another  advantage.     It 
can  be  put  into  a  flat  iron  Ixjx  for  the  casting  of  a  perfectly  flat  plate,  or  into  a 
semicircular  one,  or  one  describing  any  segment  of  a  circle,  for  the  production 
of  a  curved  plate.     It  is  this  style  of  mould  which  has  made  possible  the  use  of 
stereotype-plates  upon  a  cylinder,  and,  per  consetpience,  the  invention  of  the 
perfecting  web-press.     It  takes  about  twenty-five  minutes  to  cast  three  plates 
of  the  page,  counting  from  the  moment  the  original  page  of  type  is  receivetl  in 
the  stereotype-room.      By  the  plaster-of- I'aris  process   it  would  take  several 
liours,  and  the  plates  would  be  imperfect  then  ;  whereas  by  the  other  j)rocess 
tliey  are  absolutely  correct.     This  system  was  the  invention  of  several  men, 
liiit  was  first  made  practical  by  Charles  Crashe.     It  was  brought  out  in  1861. 
Printers  pooh-poohed  at  it  at  first,  and  "  The  New-York  Herald  "  refused  to 
adopt  it ;  but  Mr.  Thomas  N.  Rooker,  the  old  foreman  of  Horace  Greeley  in 
'■  riie  Tribune  "  office,  saw  its  advantages,  and  tried  it  in  his  office.    It  worked 
\vi.li,  anil  was  instantly  adopted.      All  the  large  newspapers  of  the  country 
have  since  taken  up  and  now  employ  this  process,  if  they  do  any  stereotyping 
at  all. 

Tlie  other  new  system  referred  to  is  also  an  .American  idea.    It  originated 
with  Joseph  A.  Adams,  a  wood-engraver  of  New- York  City,  who  repro- 


3«4 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


duced  an  engraving  by  means  of  it  about  1839,  and,  about  1843,  employed  it 
in  producing  various  large  borders  and  engravings  for  Harper's  illustrated 
books.  It  has  been  gre^My  improved  in  various  details  by  Wilcox,  Filmer, 
Adamt't  Lovejoy,  Gay,  Knight,  and  others.  The  plan  is  to  oil  the  page 
proccM.  of  type  so  that  the  mould  will  not  adhere,  or  to  cover  it  with 
finely-powdered  graphite.  A  thick  sheet  of  the  best  pure  yellow  beeswax, 
cast  in  a  shallow  box,  is  brought  down  upon  the  page  under  heavy  hy- 
drostatic pressure.  An  exact  impression  is  thus  obtained  even  of  the  finest 
engraving.  Finely  pulverized  graphite  is  then  dusted  upon  the  v.ax,  coating 
it  uniformly  in  every  line  and  depression,  the  excess  being  blown  away. 
A  new  way  of  applying  the  graphite,  invented  by  Silas  P.  Knight,  is  to 
pour  a  torrent  of  water,  into  which  the  graphite  has  been  stirred,  ujxjn  the 
mould.  The  wax  matrix  is  then  attached  to  the  negative  wire  of  a  battery, 
and  placed  in  a  solution  of  sulphate  of  coj)per.  The  graphite  serves  as  a 
conducting  medium,  and  a  film  of  copper  begins  to  form  immediately  u|K)n 
the  face  of  the  wax  matrix.  The  mould  is  generally  left  in  the  solution 
over  night.  In  the  morning  tlie  copper  is  tliick  enough  to  be  removed. 
A  little  quicker  plan  than  this  has  been  invented  by  Knight.  He  takes 
the  wax  mould  dusted  with  graphite,  and  powders  it  with  iron-filings.  He 
then  pours  on  a  solution  of  sulphate  of  copper.  The  acid  leaves  the  co|)i)er, 
and  forms  sulphate  of  iron  ;  while  the  copper  is  deposited  in  a  film.  'I'iiis  is 
afterwards  thickened  by  the  electrotype  process.  The  copi>er  plate,  when 
finally  obtained,  whatever  the  details  of  the  process,  is  removetl  from  the  wax, 
tinned  upon  the  back,  and  then  laid  face  downwards,  when  stereotype-iuetal 
is  bound  on  it,  giving  it  the  thickness  of  a  regiilar  stereotype-plate.  It  is  tlien 
trimmed,  planed,  and  fitted  to  the  press  in  the  usual  way.  Or  only  a  thin  back 
of  stereotype-metal  is  given  to  it,  and  it  is  mounted  upon  a  wooden  block. 
This  plan  of  making  the  plates  is  more  leisurely  than  the  other,  is  a  more 
agreeable  method  for  the  workmen,  and  is  adapted  to  the  finer  work  of  Ixioks 
and  engravings.  The  number  of  impressions  which  can  be  taken  from  eleitro- 
type-plates  is  about  three  hundred  thousand. 

If  printing  was  the  "  art  preservative "  when  in  its  crude  infancy,  wli.it 
is  it  now,  when  the  pages  of  a  book  can  be  cheaply  cast  in  metal,  and  stdred 
away,  for  centuries  if  need  be,  and  then  brought  out  to  reproduce  the  thoughts 
of  a  generation  of  thinkers  for  the  benefit  of  other  ages  ? 


TIN-WARE. 

Tin  is  one  of  the  most  expensive  of  common  metals,  and  most  serviceable. 
While  the  average  price  of  commercial  iron  is  only  twenty  dollars  a  ton.  tin 
Utility  of  costs  about  three  himdred  dollars  a  ton.  The  metal  is  as  hand- 
tin  ware.  some  as  silver,  and  possesses  the  properties  of  incorrosibility.  and 
of  remarkable  adhesion  to  iron  ;  which  makes  it  remarkably  useful  in  the  irt3, 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


365 


and  would  alone  have  given  it  great  value,  even  did  it  not  ally  so  satisfactorily 
witli  lead  and  copper.  Tin  was  once  used  in  solid  form  for  dishes  for  the 
talilc  and  for  cooking-utensils,  on  account  of  its  beauty  and  incorrosibility.  In 
that  form  it  was  expensive.  When  it  was  found  how  readily  sheet-iron  could 
he  plated  with  it,  and  thus,  for  ail  practical  purposes,  a  sheet  of  metal  obtained 
answering  all  the  requirements  of  pure  tin,  but  at  one-tenth  the  cost,  tin-ware 
caiiie  into  general  use.  The  restless  mind  of  the  New- England  Yankee, 
which  ever  ran  in  the  direction  of  improving  the  utensils  of  every-day  life. 
seized  upon  the  idea  of  producing  dishes  and  house-ware  from  tin  plates, 
and  his  ingenuity  and  enterprise  have  made  the  United  States  the  largest 
consumer  of  tin-ware  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  introducing  the  ware  to 
the  public,  the  Yankees  resorted  to  that  important  agency  in  trade,  the  roving 
peddler,  who,  with  a  wagon  loaded  with  plates,  milk-pans,  tea-kettles,  dippers, 
cups,  pails.  &<:.,  threaded  every  highway  and  lane  in  the  country,  and  brought 
his  travelling  store  and  its  tempting  display  of  ware  before  the  eyes  of  every 
housewife  in  the  land.  Tin-ware  recommended  itself  not  only  on  account  of 
its  beauty,  but  its  lightness  and  general  convenience.  The  milk-pan  was, 
before  its  advent,  a  heavy  earthen  article ;  the  milk  and  water  pail  a  heavy 
bucket  of  wood,  romantic  enough  for  its  association,  but  dreadfully  tiresome 
to  milkmaids,  farmers'  boys,  and  whoever  had  to  carry  it  to  and  from  the 
pasture  and  the  well.  The  dipper  was  a  heavy  pewter  scoop.  All  the  ware  of 
the  household  and  the  cans,  and  pots  of  the  store  were  clumsy  and  fatiguing 
contrivances.  Tin-ware  brought  ease  of  handling,  security  against  breakage, 
and  beauty.  To  be  loved,  it  needed  only  to  be  seen  ;  and  the  untiring  peddler 
who  went  through  the  land  like  the  missionary  of  a  new  gospel  of  comfort 
created  a  veritable  revolution  by  means  of  it.  Forty  years  ago  the  peddler 
was  the  busiest  and  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  our  countrymen.  Since  he 
took  to  selling  tin-ware,  however,  tin-shops  have  been  opened  in  every  com- 
munity ;  and  each  city  and  village  now  depends  for  its  supply  upon  its  local 
makers.  Farming-towns  are  still  supplied  to  a  great  extent  by  the  peddler. 
The  growth  of  the  manufacture  of  tin-ware  is  surprising.  Formerly  confined 
to  the  sterile  soil  of  New  England,  it  has  extended  all  over  the  republic,  and 
no  corner  of  the  remotest  region  is  too  far  in  the  backwoofls  not  to  have  been 
invaded  by  it.  The  number  of  shops  where  tin,  copper,  and  sheet-iron  ware 
are  made  was  6,646  in  1870;  the  number  of  hands  employed  was  25,28.^; 
and  the  value  of  the  goods  produced,  $40,636,000.  Over  3.400  of  the  shops 
were  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  The  tin-ware  made  is  not  entirely 
for  culinary  and  pantry  use,  though  it  is  principally  so.  A  great  deal  of  it 
consists  of  gutters  for  roofs,  flues  for  the  distribution  of  hot  air  from  fur- 
naces, &c. 

Besides  the  use  of  tin  for  the  plating  of  sheet-iron,  the  metal  is  ,il?n 
employed  in  coating  a  wide  variety  of  other  small  iron  articles  to  protect 
them  from  rust.    Stirrups,  bits,  &c.,  are  among  the  number. 


366 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


TOYS. 


Tin  toys. 


Plate  tin  is  now  extensively  consumed  in  the  manufacture  of  toys  foi 
children.  It  is  lighter  than  wood  or  papier-mache,  is  cheap,  and  can  be  easily 
fashioned  by  the  use  of  dies  and  stamps.  The  business  is  uf 
recent  development.  The  largest  house  in  the  business  is  that  of 
Leo  Schlesinger  &  Co.,  New  York.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  playthings 
have  become  so  necessary  a  part  of  .American  life,  that  the  trade  in  them  lus 
suffered  the  least  of  all  by  the  hard  times.  Playthings  are  a  luxury  ;  but,  even 
if  there  is  retrenchment  in  the  family,  the  children  have  to  be  amused  jnst 
as  much  as  ever,  and  playiiiings  are  bought  for  them  in  scarcely  diminished 
numbers.  Besides,  there  is  a  growing  demand  for  American  toys  ahnxid. 
Their  ingenuity  is  unequalled.  A  great  quantity  of  them  now  go  to  Kuropc 
and  South  America.  In  the  manufacture  of  toys,  the  principal  expense  is 
the  preparation  of  the  dies.  These  are  subjected  to  long  and  rough  work, 
and  consequently  must  be  made  of  the  hardest  steel.  They  must  be  made 
with  great  nicety  too,  so  that  the  different  parts  of  a  toy  will  fit.  Some  of 
the  plainer  toys  require  only  one  or  two  dies :  others  require  four,  six,  and 
even  nine.  From  four  to  ten  weeks  are  necessary  for  the  making  of  the  dies 
for  a  single  toy.  In  working  up  the  tin  into  a  toy,  presses  are  used.  In 
making  a  plain  and  unpretentious  horse  for  every-day  use,  a  sheet  of  tin  is 
cut  into  the  proper  shape,  placed  in  a  press,  and  rounded  out  in  such  .1 
manner  as  to  form  one  side  of  the  proposed  animal.  The  two  sides  are  next 
passed  through  a  couple  of  cutting-machines  for  the  purpose  of  trimming  off 
the  superfluous  metal,  and  are  then  sent  to  another  part  of  the  building,  fitted 
together  in  a  mould,  soldered,  and  sent  to  the  floor  above,  where  the  completed 
animal  assumes  a  coat  of  paint,  and  is  turned  out  for  use  as  a  black,  white, 
sorrel,  or  bay,  at  the  discretion  of  the  painter.  The  manufacture  of  a  horse 
is  a  comparatively  simple  operation  ;  but  in  making  a  yellow  lamb  standing 
on  a  smooth  tin  platform,  with  a  painted  bell  about  his  neck,  the  animal  passes 
through  fifteen  pairs  of  hands  before  appearing  in  a  finished  state.  A  group 
representing  a  boy  leading  his  horse  to  a  manger  is  of  still  more  elahoiate 
construction,  and  goes  through  at  least  thirty-five  operations  before  being 
packed  for  removal.  Of  all  toy  animals  the  horse  is  the  most  popular,  and  he 
consequently  appears  in  nearly  every  variety  of  shape  and  size.  The  largest 
and  handsomest  is  the  "  Dexter,"  whose  graceful  form  is  made  of  zinc  instead 
of  tin.  180,000  "  Dexters"  are  born  and  arrive  at  maturity  in  one  fadory  in 
New  York  every  year,  and  nearly  6,000,000  horses  of  a  smaller  breed  were 
turned  oat  during  the  past  twelve  months.  One  of  the  simplest  playthings  made 
is  the  putty  blower,  well  known  to  every  school-teacher  in  the  country.  Alwut 
2,880,000  of  these  infernal  machines  were  put  upon  the  market  by  this  one 
firm  during  the  year  1876.  The  effects  of  the  falling  off"  in  the  number  of 
emigrants  to  this  country  during  the  past  few  years  do  not  seem  to  have 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


367 


^s  fui 

easily 
is  of 

hat  of 

/things 

em  has 

t,  even 

ed  just 

linished 

abroad. 

Kiiropc 

;)ensc  is 

h  work, 

)e  nw.de 

some  of 

six,  and 

the  dies 

ised.    In 

of  tin  is 

1  such  a 
are  next 

iming  off 

Ing,  fitted 

ompieted 
:k,  white. 

|f  a  horse 
standing 
hal  passes 
A  group 
elaborate 
ire  iK'ing 
ir.  and  he 
[he  largest 
ic  instead 
factory  in 
reed  were 
iing>^  made 

ly.       AllOUt 

ly  this  one 

]umbcr  of 

to  have 


reached  toy-land  as  yet ;  for  last  winter  nearly  10,000  emigrant- wagons,  pro- 
vided with  one  horse  and  two  wheels  each,  were  made  and  sold  by  one  Ami. 
One  of  the  best  selling  tin  toys  manufactured  is  the  hose-carriage,  of  which 
seventy-three  different  sizes  and  shapes  are  made.  Fifty  kinds  of  express- 
wagons,  fifty-nine  kinds  of  steam-cars,  and  twenty-five  kinds  of  horse-cars,  are 
manufactured.  The  newest  plaything  in  the  market  is  the  livery-stable ;  and 
tlie  swinging  cradle  immediately  preceded  it,  with  an  American  eagle  at  either 
end,  instead  of  the  guardian  angel  of  tradition  and  song.  One  of  the  most 
imi)ortant  departments  in  the  toy  establishments  is  presided  over  by  young 
men  whose  inventive  minds  are  constantly  engaged  in  producing  new  toys,  and 
"  improvising  amendments  "  upon  those  already  in  vogue.  All  the  paints  used 
in  toy-making  are  mixed  by  the  operatives  themselves  before  using,  and  in  the 
process  of  painting  alone  all  the  larger  toys  pass  through  half  a  dozen  or  half 
a  score  of  hands  and  brushes.  It  is  estimated  that  the  annual  production  of 
a  single  manufactory  will  often  aggregate  between  40,000,000  and  50,000,000 
toys. 

Tin  plates  are  prepared  simply  by  dipping  the  sheets  of  brightened  iron 
into  a  bath  of  melted  tin. 


APPLICATIONS   OF   ZINC. 

Zinc  is  good  for  a  great  many  things  beddes  '.he  making  of  brass.     It  vi  an 
important  rival  of  lead  in  the  manufacture  of  liouse-paint.     It  is  a  popular 
material  for  putting  under  stoves  to  prevent  coals  and  ashes  from  imporunca 
dropping  upon  the  carpet.     It  is  often  made  into  hot-air  flues  for  "'  *'""=• 
furnaces  in  the  warming  of  dwellings.     It  is  also  now  largely  used  in  architect- 
ure for  ornamental  and  fire-protection  purposes. 

The  manufacture  of  white  oxide  of  zinc  for  the  purposes  of  paint  is  a 
French  invention.  The  process  of  making  the  oxide  directly  from  the  ore, 
instead  of  from  the  pig-metal,  is  purely  an  American  idea.      It  .. 

'   °  '  •  Zinc-palnt. 

grew  out  of  the  experiments  of  Mr.  Richard  Jones  of  Philadelphia 
aJKMit  1849,  and  was  first  put  into  practice  by  the  New-Jersey  Zinc  Company 
of  Now- York  City,  which  was  incorporated  in  1849.  and  set  about  the  manu- 
facturing of  oxide  from  the  ore  at  Newark.  N.J.     The  company  Develop. 
was  very  successful,  and  has  developed  its  business,  until  it  has  forty  n>ent  of 
furnaces  engaged  in  the  pt  eduction  of  zinc-paint.     It  was  followed    "  "*"''" 
in  tlie  business,  about  1853,  by  the  Pennsylvania  and  Lehigh  Zinc  Company  at 
Bethlehem,  Penn. ;  and  a  third  company  was  established  in  1855,  called  the 
Passaic,  which  put  up  its  works  at  Communipaw,  on  New- York  harbor.    The 
zinc-jjaint  soon  recommended  itself,  from  the  fact  that  it  was  not  p,ocesi  of 
poisonous  ;  and  the  manufacture  of  it  has  become  enormous.    The  in«nuf«ctu^ 
process  of  manufacture  has  one  spectacular  feature.    The  ore  is  '"'" 
ground  up  fine,  mixed  with  coal-dust,  and  charged  into  a  blazing  furnace  in 


368 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  proportion  of  six  hundred  pounds  of  ore  to  three  hundred  pounds  of  coal. 
The  heat  sublimes  the  zinc.  The  vapors  rise  up  through  n  pipe  at  the  top  ^i{ 
the  stack.  The  pipe  ends  just  abo>  *  the  stack,  under  an  inverted  funnel, 
which  covers  it  like  a  hood.  A  strong  cuirent  of  air  is  drawn  up  through  tins 
funnel  by  flowing  apparatus  ;  and  the  vapors  uf  the  stack  are  thus  carricil  up 
through  the  funnel,  mingled  with  atmysphcric  air  which  enters  at  the  open 
base.  A  very  vivid  combustion  of  the  zinc  takes  place  within  the  hood.  The 
metal  unites  with  the  oxygen  ot  the  air  with  a  pale  blue  flame,  and  rushes  up 
into  a  huge  pipe  above  in  the  form  of  oxide  of  zinc.  The  current  of  floating 
particles  and  gases  is  now  carried  a  lung  distance  through  pipes  into  a  tower, 
where  it  is  partly  cooled  by  ilripping  water,  and  thence  into  another,  where  the 
air  is  strained,  as  it  were,  by  huge  flannel  bags  stretched  horizontally  across  ilic 
building.  The  oxide  collects  upon  the  bags,  and  is  from  time  to  time  shaken 
off  into  cotton  flues,  or  teats,  which  conduct  it  into  receptacles  below.  It  is  put 
into  bags  and  pressed  to  get  out  the  air,  and  then  grouml  with  blanched  linscid- 
oil  for  market.  It  is  claimed  that  zinc-paint  thus  |)rcpared  has  greater  purity, 
di'.al)ility,  and  brilliancy  than  lead-paint.  It  makes  a  valuable  pigment,  ( er 
tainly ;  but  its  most  valuable  (piality  is  the  fact  that  it  is  not  poisonous,  and 
that,  therefore,  the  workmen  may  handle  it  without  suffering  from  the  disease- 
known  as  painter's  colic. 

S.  recent  application  of  zinc  is  to  the  construction  of  the  cornices  of  build- 
ings. On  the  business-streets  of  a  city,  where  the  walls  of  the  buildings  arc- 
zinc  of  stone  or  brick,  and  the  roofs  sheeted  with  tin  or  a  gravelly 
cernieee.  composition  designed  to  protect  it  from  fire,  it  has  frequently  been 
found  that  the  buildings  often  take  fire  and  burn  down,  when  there  is  a  fire 
across  the  street,  because  the  cornices  are  inflammable.  The  wooden  cornice 
is,  therefore,  an  element  of  danger  to  a  store.  Within  the  last  twenty  years 
American  builders  have  been  experimenting  with  cornices  made  of  metal,  and 
they  find  zinc  well  adapted  to  the  object.  It  can  be  easily  stamped  or  beaten 
into  any  pattern  desired ;  resists  fire  ;  and  is,  when  painted,  indestructible  by 
the  elements.  It  is  so  cheap,  too,  that  it  hus  brought  handsome  cornices 
within  the  means  of  all ;  and  the  invendon  has  really  been  the  means  of 
improving  the  architectural  appearance  of  our  former  exceedingly  plain 
business-streets,  as  well  as  their  security. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


369 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE   MANUFACTURE   OF  WOOL. 


GENERAL    HISTORY   OF   THE    WOOLLEN-MANUFACTURE. 

QNK  of  the  very  first  cares  of  the  early  colonists  of  America  was  to  obtain 
an  ample  supply  of  materials  for  clothing.     This  for  many  years  they 
bought  from  the  1  )iitch  ships  which  came  across  the  sea  to  trade,   ni^.e^aii  (or 
and  from  the   Knglish  at  home,  paying  for  their  cloth  with  tar,   cioth.ng. 
boards,  tobacco,  hides,  and  other  rude  products  of  the  farm  and   ^ow  Urit 

'  obtained. 

forest.     In   1660  a  law  was  passed  m   England  prohibiting  the 
Dutch  from  trading  in  the  colonies,  and  requiring  the  colonies  to  trade  only 
with  I'.ngland  direct.     'I'his  cut  off  all  access  to  a  market  in  which  goods 
might  l)e  bought  cheaper  than  in  P'.ngland,  and  led  the  colonists  to  think  of 
manufacturing  their  goods  as  far  as  possible  for  themselves. 

Nevcrthcles!),  the  manufacture  of  woollen  came  into  existence  as  a  ]>ublic 
imhistry  very  slowly.     It  was  not  the  desire  of  the  home  government  that  the 
toionics  should  manufacture  for  themselves.     It  was  the  constant  study  of  the 
men  who  directed  the  government  to  find  ways  in  which  the  colonics  might  be 
made  useful  to  the  capitalists,  traders,  and  factory-owners  of  Kngland.     Mac- 
pherson  gave  expression  to  the  sentiment  prevailing  in  Kngland   ueasof 
when  he  said.  "  The  original  intent  of  planting  those  colonies  ;  viz.,   English  on 
lo  l)e  a  benefit  to  their  mother-country,  to  which  they  owed  their  **"  ■"bject. 
Wing  and  protection."     The  way  in  which  it  was  sought  to  make  them  a 
'  Itenefit"  was  to  compel  them  to  sell  to  Kngland  all  they  had  to  sell,  and  buy 
Tom  her  all  they  had  to  buy.     The  first  Lord  Sheffield  expressly  said  that 
"iiic  only  use  "  of  the  colonies  was  a  monopoly  of  their  trade,  and  the 
arriage  of  their  produce.     Lord  Chatham  declared  that  "  the  Hritish  colonists 
of  North  .America  had  no  right  to  manufacture  even  a  nail  or  a  horseshoe." 
A  law  of  Virginia,  passed  in  1684,  to  encourage  textile  manufactures  in  that 
province,  was    promptly  annulled   by   England.      In    1731    the   EnKiand-t 
•^•irriage  of  woollen  goods  and  hats  from  one  colony  to  another  P«>"=y- 
*as  forbidden  by  law.     The  exportation  of  woollen  was  also  forbidden.     The 


370 


IND  I'S  TKIA  I.    ms  TOK  Y 


object  of  ICngland's  policy  was  to  keep  the  Americans,  a  rare  of  farmers  and 
foresters,  raising  tobacco,  sugar,  indigo,  hemp,  &(;.,  and  getting  tar,  i)it(  li, 
rosin,  and  tiinbcr  froni  the  forests,  which  they  should  sell  to  the  mother-roun- 
try ;  and  to  make  them  dei»enil  upon   British  factories  absolutely  for  their 

clothing,  tools,  furniture, 
carriages,  anil  all  otlicr 
manufactures.  This  tujiiiy 
meant  mischief.  It  >  ouM 
not  go  on  forever.  .No 
nation  can  i)roduce  agri- 
cultural i)roducts  enoiii;!) 
so  as  to  have  a  suffi<  itnt 
sur|)lus  to  j)ay  for  the  nwn- 
ufactures  it  <:<)nsumcs.  The 
colonies  could  not.  iiuy 
never  exported  enou-ii  to 
llngland  to  pay  for  wliii 
they  bought  of  her ;  ami 
never  could  have  paid  fur 
what  they  bought  at  all, 
except  that  they  sold  Kirj^c 
quantities  of  provisions  to 
the  West  Indies  and  other 
coiuitries  in  exchange  for 
money,  in  spite  of  the  laws  which  forbade  it.  The  colonies  got  poorer  ami 
poorer  tmder  this  policy.  In  i  760  they  bought  ^^2, 300,000  worth  of  goods 
from  Kngland,  and  soKl  to  her  only  ;^750,ooo  worth  ;  and  in  1771  they 
bought  about  ^4,100,000  worth,  and  sold  only  ;^  1,350,000  worth  of  j;()ods. 
They  were  nearly  ruined  by  it. 

This  interference  with  the  freetlom  of  the  colonists  to  trade  and  manufac- 
ture led  to  two  results.  First  they  took  to  wearing  leather  garments,  because 
Effect  of  ^'^'-'V  *o'ild  rarely  afford  the  imported  woollens.  The  men  wore, 
Engiiih  for  a  long  period,  waistcoats  and  breeches  of  Indian-dressed  skins. 

policy.  — ^  custom  which  survived  until  the  Revolution,  and  made  its  las: 

appearance  historically  in  the  uniforms  of  the  Continental  regiments.  The 
women  wore  leather  jerkins  and  petticoats  very  largely ;  and  in  sonic  of  the 
colonies  the  « lothing  of  the  bed  was  almost  entirely  of  leather.  'I'lie  sheet> 
alone  were  of  linen.  A  second  result  was.  that  industry  not  permitted  to 
flourish  in  the  open  air  did  so  in  the  shade.  The  women  learned  to  \ve.ive 
and  spin  ;  and  a  large  quantity  of  woollen,  hemp,  and  linen  cloth  ami  other 
goods,  was  made  in  the  privacy  of  the  household  throughout  the  whole  coun- 
try. Nearly  every  family  wove  a  jiart  or  the  whole  of  its  own  clotliiiii,'  an" 
blankets ;   and  many  which  had  skill   in  the  art  had  many  pieces  over  and 


1776. 


Of-     THE    UN  I  IF.  I)    STATrS. 


.17' 


icrs  and 

r,  pii<l>. 
cr-t'onn- 
l\)r  thciT 
lurniturc, 
t\l  (iUkt 
iiis  uoluy 
ll  I  i)uM 

vcr.      N" 
iuce   agri- 

^  suffi'  ii-'"^ 
r  ihc  man- 
imcs.  Iht' 
not.  'H^^y 
cnoii^ii  to 
ly  for  what 
f  her;  ami 
ivc  \)a»l  f*^' 
light  at  all, 
^.y  sold  lirst 
)rovisii)n-'  to 
.-s  anJ  ollu'r 
■xchangc  for 
t  poorer  ami 
Till  of  gooils 

n   177'   'l^'-'y 
Irih  of  t;oods. 

Lnd  nianufac- 
Lnls,  because 
L-  met!  wore, 
lilressca  skins, 
,  made  its  l:t>^ 
liments.    'llie 
I  sotiK'  of  tht 
The  sheets 
pcrnVittcil  to 
Irnccl  to  vveav«; 
[loth  aii«l  other 
|e  whole  conn- 
clothing  an*^ 
eces  over  and 


above  tlicir  own  wants  lo  sfll  the  merchant.  Tht'  law  ronid  not  rea<  li  their 
jirn.ite  factories.  In  1 750  a  factory  of  wooIIlti  hats  in  Massachusetts  was 
(let  tared  a  nuisance,  and  su|>|)ressed.  Parliament  could  club  down  the  ripen- 
ing iriiit  which  hung  in  plain  sight  on  the  branches  ;  but  the  million  buds  form- 
ing ui  se(  ret  under  the  bark.  whi(  h  a  favoring  time  would  eventually  bring  out 


iiiMwr  1111 


|i||j.ilil'''lllinil:!llll4 


,4,«rf-i"<Jr 


^^^. 


UOUUI.K-ALTINl.   (;iO. 


"ito  liloom,  were  beyond  its  reach.  In  i  765  a  society  was  formed  in  New 
\i)rk  to  ciuoiirage  the  home-manufa<  ture  of  woollens.  The  enthusiastic  mem- 
'<rs  signed  a  pledge  not  to  buy  imported  cloth,  and  not  to  cat  the  meat  of 
^iieep  or  lamb.  The  great  want  of  the  country  was  a  supply  of  wool ;  and  the 
liilling  1)1  mutton  was  discouraged  by  this  society  and  by  public  sentiment,  in 


37» 


IND  US  TRIA  l.    HIS  TOR  Y 


ordiT  not  to  diminish  the  HOtirces  of  the  supply.  Homesptin  cloth  Ixrcanic 
the  rage.  The  Federal  troops  were  dressed  in  it ;  and  U'oshingtnn,  when 
inaugurated  as  I'resident,  wore  a  brown  suit  of  it. 

The  manufacture  as  carried  on  at  that  time  was  of  the  simplest  descrip- 
tion. The  wool,  being  washed,  was  combed  as  nearly  straight  as  possible  by 
Simplicity  of  ^*"  t-'ards,  with  leather  backs  and  wire  teeth,  held  in  the  hands  of 
early  manu-  the  operator.  The  wool  was  detached  from  the  cards  in  a  linij,- 
lactura.  ^^^  ^.^jj^  which  was  then  made  into  yarn  upon  the  simple  spiiin.iij,'- 

wheel  of  those  days.  A  large,  light  wheel,  kept  constantly  in  motion  liv  ilu- 
hand  of  the  goodwife,  and  afterwards  by  her  foot  by  means  of  ;i  irciiille. 
caused  a  single  spindle  to  revolve  with  great  velocity ;  and  this  spindle  gave  tu 
the  yarn  its  twist,  the  dexterous  fingers  of  the  operator  regulating  the  supply 
of  wool  and  the  consecjuent  size  of  the  yarn.  The  cards  were  made  by  liantl. 
Many  people  are  still  living  who  either  made  those  old  hand-cards  for  spinning;, 
or  who  spun  the  yarn  and  wove  the  cloth  of  the  whole  family,  year  in  and  year 
out.  'i'he  cloth,  after  being  woven  on  the  simple,  slow  moving  hand-loom  of 
the  colonial  days,  was  sent  out  to  be  fulled.  Every  village  and  country  liad 
its  fuller  and  dyer,  and  this  individual  was  the  only  one  in  the  industry  ulio 
carried  on  his  business  public:ly  and  for  a  number  of  customers.  Dyeiiij;  wa:i 
not  well  practised  then,  and  colors  were  seldom  fixed  so  that  they  would  not 
run.  Hright  colors  were  liked  by  gentlemen  for  coats  in  that  age, —  brij^ht 
blue,  scarlet,  claret-color,  &c.  But,  while  a  great  deal  of  cloth  was  made  of 
those  hues,  ii  always  behooved  the  wearer  of  the  coat  to  keep  out  of  tlie  rain. 
The  Continental  troops  often  presented  a  forlorn  apjiearance  from  the  ratlcil 
aspect  of  their  uniforms,  which  was  forlorner  even  than  that  of  the  weatlier- 
beaten  regiments  of  the  war  of  1861,  because  the  Continentals  made  some 
pretence  of  style,  while  the  regiments  of  1861-65  did  not. 

In  1791  Alexander  Hamilton  made  his  celebrated  report  on  manufac  lures, 
Hamilton'!  in  which  is  found  one  of  the  few  records  of  the  state  of  the 
report.  woollen  industry  at  that  time.      His  references  to  wool  arc  tlie 

following :  — 

"To  all  the  arguments  which  are  brought  to  evince  the  impracticability  of 
success  in  manufacturing-establishments  in  the  United  States,  it  ini^lit  liave 
been  a  sufficient  answer  to  have  referred  to  the  experience  of  what  has  been 
already  done.  It  is  certain  that  several  important  branches  have  grown  up 
and  flourished  with  a  rapidity  which  surprises,  affording  an  eiu ourayinj: 
assurance  of  success  in  future  attempts.  Of  these  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
enumerate  the  most  considerable. 


"VIII, 
silk  shoes. 


—  Hats  of  fur  and  wool,  and  mixtures  of  both,  women's  stuff,  and 


OF    THE    I'M  TED    STATES. 


\tZ 


"  Besides  manufactories  of  these  articles,  which  are  carrie«l  on  as  regular 
trades,  and  have  attained  to  a  consideraiiie  degree  of  maturity,  there  is  a  vast 
M  L-iie  of  household  manufacturing,  which  contributes  more  largely  to  the 
supply  of  the  community  than  couUI  Ik;  imagined,  without  having  made  it  an 
(ilijo(  t  of  particular  in(|uiry.  (Ircat  ijuantities  of  coarse  cloths,  tuatings,  serges 
and  flannels,  linsey-woolseys,  .  .  .  an«l  various  mixtures  of  wdoI  and  lotton, 
and  of  cotton  and  llax,  are  made  in  the  household  way,  and  in  many  instances 
to  an  extent  not  only  sufficient  for  the  su|)ply  of  the  families  in  which  they 
an-  made,  but  for  sale,  and  even,  in  some  cases,  for  exi)ortation. 


•'  in  a  country  the  climate  of  which  partakes  of  so  considerable  a  pro|H)r- 
tioii  of  wmter  as  that  of  a  great  part  of  the  Tnitecl  States,  the  woollen  branch 
cannot  be  regarded  as  inferior  to  any  which  relates  to  the  (lothing  of  the  inhab- 
itants.    Household  manufactures  of  this  material  are  carried  on  in  different 
l)arts  of  the  United  States  to  a  very  interesting  extent.     Hut  there  is  only  one 
branch,  which,  as  a  regular  business,  can  l)e  said  to  have  ac(|uired  maturity : 
tills  is  the  making  of  hats.     Hats  of  wool,  and  of  wool  mixed  with  fur,  are  matle 
in  large  ([uantities  in  diflerent  States  ;  and  nothing  seems  wanting,  but  an  atle- 
<|iiatc  supply  of  materials,  to  render  the  manufacture  commensurate  with  the 
(ieniand.     A  promising  essay  toward  the  fabrication  of  cloths,  cassimeres,  and 
other  woollen -goods,  is  likewise  going  on  at  Hartford  in  Connecticut.     Speci- 
mens of  the  different  kinds  which  are  made,  in  the  possession  of  the  secretary, 
evince  that  these  fabrics  have  attained  a  very  considerable  degree  of  perfection. 
I'hcir  (luality  certainly  surpasses  any  thing  that  could  have  been  looked  for  in 
so  short  a  time  and  under  so  great  disadvantages,  and  conspires,  with  the  scanti- 
ness of  the  means  which  have  been  at  the  command  of  the  directors,  to  form 
tile  etilogium  of  that  public  spirit,  perseverance,  and  judgment  which  have  been 
able  to  accomplish  so  much,     'i'o  cherish  and  bring  to  maturity  this  precious 
emliryo  must  engage  the  most  ardent  wishes  and  proportionable  regret,  as  far 
as  liie  means  of  doing  it  n^ay  -ippear  difficult  and  uncertain.     Measures  which 
should  tend  to  promote  an  abundant  supply  of  wool  of  good  (juality  would 
l)rol)al)ly  afford  the  most  efficacious  aid  that  present  circumstances  permit.      Xo 
tiuourage  the  raising  and  improving  the  breed  of  sheep  at  home  would  cer- 
tainly be  the  most  desirable  expet'ient  for  that  purpose." 

Farther  on  Mr.  Hamilton  alludes  to  the  fabrication  of  carjjcts  an<l  carpet- 
111};.  "  toward  which  some  beginning?  have  been  made."  He  also  remarks,  "  It 
is  doubtful  if  American  wool  is  fit  for  fine  cloths," — a  statement  which  sounds 
strangely,  seeing  that  all  our  fine  cloths  are  now  made  from  American  wools, 
and  tlie  coarser  fabrics  from  those  which  are  imported. 

The  woollen-manufacture  did  not  change  its  character  as  a  private  occupa- 
tion immediately  after  the  Revolutionary  war,  as  might  have  been  supposed, 
even  though  emancipated  from  the  chains  imposed  upon  it  by  English  policy. 
New  ways  are  slowly  learned,  and  there  was  a  lack  of  capital  in  the  country  to 


374 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


build  factories.  Besides,  after  the  treaty  of  peace,  a  flood  of  maniifarttircd 
goods  of  all  kinds  was  again  poured  into  the  country  from  England,  against 
Tariffs  of  which  there  was  no  jjower  in  Congress  to  offer  the  shield  of  a  pro 
1804  and  ;8ia.  tective  tariff.  When  Congress  was  equipped  with  the  i)ower,  it  was 
thought  best,  at  first,  not  to  exercise  it  in  respect  to  woollens.  Wool  was 
admitted  free  of  duty;  but  no  protective  duty  was  levied  on  cloths  until  1S04, 
when  fifteen  per  cent  was  levied.  In  181 2  this  was  increased  to  thirty  pir 
cent.  Under  these  two  laws  the  dormant  buds  awoke,  and  the  manufa<  ture 
bloomed  into  being. 

There  had  been  no  factories,  except  fulling-mills,  until  1791,  when  ••  tlie 
promising  essay"  was  made  at  Hartford.  In  1794  a  successful  flictory  was 
Rise  of  opened  in  Uyfield  Parish  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  where  the  work  was 

factories.        done  by  machinery.     The  same  year  the  first  carding-iuachinf  in 
the  country  was  set  up  at  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  one  of  the  early  centres  of  the  wool- 
len-industr),  where  also  the  first  broad  loom  in  the  coiuitry  was  afterwards 
set  in  motion.     In  1801,  1804,  and  1805,  other  carding-machines  were  started. 
Gray  mixed  broadcloth  of  good  (juality  was  made  at  Pittsfield  as  early  as  1804. 
Madison  wore  a  suit  of  black  broadcloth  of  American  make  at  his  inauguration 
in  1809,  —  an  act  which  well  became  that  eminent  statesman,  who,  though  a 
free-trader  in  principle,  openly  advocated  the  policy  of  protection  to  home 
manufactures  as  essential  to  the  strength  and  prosperity  of  the  republic,  and 
who  had  presented  to  Congress  the  original  tariff  bill  wiiich  it  had  adopted. 
In  1809  a  woollen-mill  was  put  up  in  Northern  New  York,  at  Oriskany,  in  Onei- 
da County  ;  and  others  followed  it  '"'ithin  a  few  years  in  that  region.    In  1812  a 
large  mill,  for  those  days,  was  started  at  Middletown,  Conn.,  for  the  making  of 
fine  cloths  and  cassimercs.     Every  day  thirty  or  forty  yards  of  broadloth  were 
made,  which  would  sell  from  nine  to  ten  dollars  a  yard  by  the  })iecc.     Small 
factories  for  coarse  cloths  were  now  getting  into  operation  in  all  directions 
throughout  the  country,  but  especially  in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Connecticut,  which  were  both  wool-growing  and  extremely  enterprising  Slates. 
Blankets  were  being  made  in  Connecticut  in  considerable  quanlilies.     Super- 
fine cloths  were  making  at  Northampton  and  elsewhere,  which  were  patriotically 
claimed  to  be  superior  to  the  imported  goods.     The  wool-supply  was  not  yet 
sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  coimtry.     But  a  merino-fever  was  ragiiig  :  wool 
rose  to  a  dollar  and  a  half  and  two  dollars  a  pound  ;  heavy  importations  ot 
sheep  were  taking  place,  and  farmers  giving  a  degree  of  attention  to  breeding, 
incited  thereto  by  the  high  prices,  which  promised  ere  long  to  give  the  iiianti 
facturers  an  ample  supply  of  excellent  and  cheap  home-grown  fleece.     Tlif 
war  of  1812  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  manufacturing;  and.  during  those  three 
years  in  which   it  was  in  progress,  it  was  impossible  to  take  up  a  newsi)ai)ci 
without  seeing  in  it  some  notice  of  a  new  woollen-factory  which  hat!  I'teii 
started,  or  some  new  style  of  American-made  woollen-goods  which  manulai  - 
turers  were  essaying  to  make. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


375 


The  census  of  1810  reported  that  the  mamifactiire  of  wool  was  at  that 
time  still  mostly  in  families.     The  production  was  roughly  valued  at  $25,608,- 


cry  was 
•ork  was 
rhino  in 
\ie  wool- 
ftcrwards 
e  started, 
as  1  So4- 
uguration 

though  a 
to  home 
iul)lic,  and 
I  adopted. 
,  in  Onei- 
In  iS'2* 
Imaking  of 
loth  were 
Ice.    Small 
directions 
)shire,  and 
,ing  Slates, 
bs.     Super- 
|)atriuUially 
as  noi  y<-'t 
Igir.g  ••  wool 
irtations  ol 
[o  \)ree(ling- 
the  nwnu 
leeee.    'Hh- 
Ithose  three 
newspaper 

h  nianutat- 


II 


FAVKV   UKOAU   LOOM. 

""8.     Although   the   spinning-jenny,  tiie    power  loom,   the   nap-cutter,   and 
virions  ingenious  machines,  were  now  in  practical  use  in  factories.    Household 
this  household  manufacture  appears  to  have  been  a  thing  the   manufac 
people  were  slov/  to  give  up.     It  was  a  valuable  source  of  income   *"""• 
'"  people  of  moderate   means.     Women  could  then  do   but  few  things  to 


376 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


make  their  time  a  source  of  revenue,  besides  spinning  and  weaving ;  and  the 
generation  of  men  and  women  of  1810  did  not  relinquish  the  household 
manufacture  until  they  had  i)assed  off  the  scene  of  earthly  toil  and  struggle. 
This  household  employment  was  also  prized  by  public  men,  for  the  sake  of 
its  influences  upon  the  character  of  our  people.  Henry  Clay,  speaking  of  the 
lives  of  farmers  and  mechanics,  said  they  tended  to  "  beget  a  peculiarly  eager, 
disinterested  love  of  truth,  and  exempted  them  in  a  good  degree  from  those 
sudden  impulses  to  which  those  who  move  in  the  more  excitable  walks  of  life 
are  more  frequently  liable,  and  which,  though  sometimes  leading  to  great 
actions,  are  oftener  the  prolific  source  of  error."  And  it  was  upon  people 
working  among  the  pure  associations  of  family  life  that  these  influences 
exerted  their  most  powerful  effect.  In  the  fall  of  18 14  thirty  bales  of  woollens 
were  sent  from  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts,  to  Albany,  in  one  shipment ; 
and  one  economist  of  those  days,  speaking  through  the  columns  of  a  Haiti- 
more  newspaper,  said  of  it,  — 

"  These  cloths,  it  adds  much  to  our  pleasure  to  learn,  were  mostly  manu- 
factured in  private  families,  —  the  plan  that  of  all  others  we  wish  may  he 
pursued,  as  it  brings  the  whole  labor  of  the  people  into  active  and  healthful 
employment,  and  is  without  the  many  objections  to  which  large  establishments 
are  liable.  It  is  astonishing  to  be  informed  of  the  extent  to  which  this  industry 
is  applied.  Many  of  the  most  elegant  belles  that  trip  our  streets  are  covered 
with  superb  shawls,  and  otherwise  protected  from  the  cold,  by  the  labor  of 
their  own  hands,  —  hands  that  heretofore  chiefly  held  a  romance,  or  touched  a 
piano.  These  household  manufactures  are  a  sort  of  clear  gain  to  our  tountr\', 
and  we  particularly  exult  at  the  progress  they  make." 

Alas  for  the  simplicity  of  the  times  of  our  bright-eyed,  dear  old  grand- 
mothers !  How  many  of  their  daughters  who  now  trip  the  streets  arc  "  covered 
with  superb  shawls,  and  otherwise  protected  from  the  cold,  by  the  labor  of 
their  own  hands  "?  It  is  to  be  feared  that  too  many  of  them  have  resumed 
the  romance  and  the  piano. 

So  long  did  the  home-manufacture  retain  its  charm,  even  after  factories 
were  established,  that  work  of  the  early  factories  simply  wove  the  yarn  tiiat  had 
been  spun  at  the  houses  in  the  country  round ;  and,  when  the  maidens  and 
spinsters  in  the  household  gave  up  the  spinning-wheel  and  hand-loom,  they 
simply  did  it  to  go  to  the  factory,  and  resume  work  there. 

After  1816  carding-mills,  fulling-mills,  and  woollen-factories  increased 
rapidly  in  every  part  of  the  country.  In  1832  the  protection  to  woolleii- 
Ra  id  in-  manufactures,  which  had  been  lowered  slightly  after  the  w  ar.  was 
create  of  increased  to  fifty  per  cent,  and  a  few  years  of  great  prosperity  were 
enjoyed  by  the  trade.  Under  the  descending  tariff  of  1836.  which 
brought  the  duties  down  to  twenty-nine  per  cent  in  1842.  an  era 
of  depression  occurred;  but  in  1842  protection  was  again  decreed  by  a  duty 
of  forty  per  cent,  which  changed  the  face  of  things.     New  vigor  was  imparted 


miUi  after 
t8i6. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


377 


i  the 

ehold 
iiggle. 
kc  of 
of  the 
eager, 
.  thi)sc 
of  lift: 
>  great 
people 
luentes 
^•ooUens 
ipment ; 
a  Balti- 

ly  manu- 
may  be 
healthful 
hshments 
s  industry 
-  co%-ered 
I  labor  of 
louchetl  a 
countr)', 

il  granil- 
overed 
lalior  of 
resumed 

r  factories 
•n  that  had 
aidens  ami 
•loom,  they 


o 


increased 
wooUen- 
lic  war.  was 
.perity  were 
S36.  which 
[842.  an  era 
\,v  a  duty 
[as  iniparW'i 


to  wool-growing  and  wool-manufacturing,  and  preparations  were  made  for  the 
erection  of  woollen-factories  in  great  numbers,  especially  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  Every  village  with  a  mill-stream  aspired  to  have  its  woollen- 
mill,  particularly  if  situated  in  a  pastoral  region.  Public  meetings  were  held  in 
all  such  places  to  raise  subscriptions  to  the  stock  of  the  mills ;  corner-stones 
were  laid  with  impressive  public  ceremonies,  and  odes  written,  beginning, 


*  I 


"  Hail,  Enterprise  !   whose  rising  sun 
This  day  beams  forth  its  light; " 


and  public  dinners  were  given  in  commemoration  of  the  new  era  in  village 
affairs,  at  which  extraordinary  toasts  to  "  Liberty,"  "  Public  Spirit,"  "  Our  Own 
Village,"  "  Our  Guests  from  the  Neighboring  Towns,"  &c.,  were  drunk  enthusi- 
astically. It  was  a  period  of  great  excitement,  adventure,  and  public  satis- 
faction. American  invention  took  fire  sympathetically  during  this  period,  and 
was  stimulated  to  improve  upon  the  looms  and  other  apparatus  then  in  use, 
and  a  great  many  valuable  ideas  were  patented  during  that  period.  By  1850 
the  number  of  factories  had  increased  from  about  twenty-five  in  1810  to  1,559, 
employing  39,252  hands,  and  producing  ^^43, 207,545  worth  of  goods.  The 
growth  of  production  year  by  year  had  been  as  follows  :  — 


1810 
1820 

1830 
1840 
.S50 


In  foundcries  .... 
\  In  factories,  the  family  manu- 1 
I  factures  not  being  reported,     ' 

In  f.ictories 

In  factories ! 

In  factories 


$25,608,788 
4,413,068 

14,528,166 
20,696,999 

43.207,545 


i8so. 


The  development  of  1850  was  chiefly  in  the  Middle  States.  One-half  of 
the  woollen-mills  in  the  country  were  in  the  three  States  of  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  and  Ohio.  More  than  one-third  of  the  whole  number  were 
in  New  England.  A  beginning  had  been  made  in  the  prairie 
States  of  the  West,  and  Virginia  was  employing  no  less  than  a  hundred  and 
twenty-one  factories  in  the  art.  In  the  great  mountainous  and  volcanic  regions 
of  the  Far  West,  which,  according  to  Judge  Kelley,  are  destined  to  be  the 
greatest  wool-producing  country  of  the  world,  there  was  as  yet  no  trace  of  the 
woollen-industry.  California  had  neither  mills  nor  sheep.  There  was  not  a 
mill  west  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  not  one  in  the  States  of  New  Jersey, 
South  Jarolina,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Kansas,  an<i 
Minnesota.  In  spite  of  the  unequal  distribution  of  the  industry,  the  develop- 
ment was  very  satisfactory.  It  kept  pace  with  population,  and  it  stimulated 
population  ;  for  it  enhanced  the  profits  of  agriculture  by  creating  a  large  home- 
market  for  wool,  and  it  brought  into  the  country  a  large  body  of  emigrants  to 
work  in  the  factories  and  settle  on  the  public  lands. 


378 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Struggles  of 
woollen- 
manufac- 
turers. 


The  woollen-manufacture  of  the  United  States  has  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  constantly  subjected  to  alternate  chills  and  fever,  owing  to  causes  entirely 
beyond  the  control  of  the  mill-owners.  It  was  now  to  encounter 
one  of  its  periodic  chills.  The  duties  were  lowered  a  trifle  after 
1846,  and  in  1857  they  had  been  reduced  about  one-half  what 
they  wer"  in  1842.  This  brought  upon  the  factories  again 
the  almost  undiminished  force  of  foreign  competition.  Their  plight  was 
aggravated  by  the  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  mills  enlarging  their 
capacity  to  a  great  extent,  and  by  the  erection  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
new  mills,  many  of  them  of  unusual  capacity,  in  diflerent  parts  of  the  coun- 
try;  also  by  the  panic  of  1857,  which  brought  about  hard  times.  The  total 
production  of  the  country  had  slightly  increased  by  i860;  but  four  hundred 
and  forty-seven  factories  which  were  running  in  1850,  and  a  number  of  others 
built  during  the  interim,  had  closed  their  doors,  discharged  their  operatives. 
and  ceased  to  do  business.  They  were  mostly  small  concerns,  built  to  make 
local  markets  for  the  wools  of  their  several  counties ,  but  a  large  amount  of 
the  earnings  of  the  people  was  invested  in  them,  and  tiie  disaster  was  a  serious 
one.  Many  of  the  mills  were  sold  out  by  the  sheriff,  to  the  great  loss  of  the 
original  owners.  Of  the  mills  which  closed,  sixty-five  were  in  Connecticut,  a 
hundred  and  nine  in  New  York,  a  hundred  and  ten  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
seventy-six  in  Virginia.     It  was  a  blue  time  for  the  woollen-industry. 


CROMPTON   LOOM-WORKS,   WORCESTBR,    MASS. 


.courage' 
menti. 


The  most  encouraging  feature  of  this  era  was  the  fact,  that,  though  nearly 
7  woollen-mill  in  the  countrj'  was  in  straits,  the  quantity  of  wool  actually 
consumed  was  fully  maintained ;  and  the  fanners  of  the  country. 
finding  the  market  for  their  fleeces  unfailing,  were  encouraged  to 
go  on  and  enlarge  their  flocks  and  production.  This  was  a  remarkable  era  of 
merino-breeding,  particularly  in  the  great  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Kentucky.  The  flocks  of  that  region  multiplied  extremely  fast  from  1 850  to 
i860 ;  and  so  much  attention  was  paid  to  the  care  of  the  sheep,  that  the  wool 


OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


379 


produced  was  of  the  most  admirable  quality.  It  found  such  a  ready  sale  in 
the  general  market,  that  wool-growing  in  New  England  received  a  check  on 
account  of  it.  The  flocks  of  New  England  actually  decreased  from  1 850  to 
i860.  Mr.  John  L.  Hayes,  one  of  the  high  authorities  on  this  subject, 
attributes  tLe  excellent  quality  of  the  wools  which  have  resulted  from  the 
hreeding  of  this  particular  era  to  the  rural  and  economical  habits  of  the 
American  people  in  large  part.  He  says,  "  There  are  certain  qualities  com- 
mon to  the  varying  breeds  which  are  due  to  the  influence  of  our  climate  and 
soil,  but  especially  to  the  system  of  keeping  consequent  upon  the  thrifty 
habits  of  our  people ;  and  the  most  influential  feature  in  their  keeping  is  the 
fact  that  our  sheep  are  uniformly  and  liberally  fed,  and  hence  produce  a 
uniform,  sound,  and  healthy  fibre."  The  finest  wool  at  the  Exhibition  of 
185 1  in  London  was  from  the  State  of  Tennessee.  Alexander  Hamilton  was 
"doubtful  if  American  wool  was  fit  for  fine  cloths."  The  quality  of  fleece 
bred  in  the  years  from  1850  to  i860  was  fit  for  the  finest  cloths;  and  from 
that  era  to  this  the  fine  cloths  of  the  United  States  have  been  almost  exclu- 
sively niaile  of  American  wools,  while  it  is  into  the  coarser  fabrics  tiiat  the 
imported  wools  have  principally  gone. 

A  new  era  in  the  woollen-industry  dawned  with  the  Morrill  tariff  of  1861, 
and  the  war  which  broke  out  in  our  territory  before  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  Morrill  tariff  was  not  a  war  measure,  althougli  it  became  a  MorHii  tariff 
law  in  the  very  midst  of  the  excitement  which  preceded  the  war.  •"'  '*''• 
It  was  introduced  into  Congress  March  12,  i860;  and  was  enacted  March  2, 
i<S6i.  It  gave  to  woollen-goods  a  protection  ranging  from  thirty  to  forty  i)er 
cent;  which  was  a  great  advance  from  the  low  standard  of  1857.  Once  a 
law.  it  was  powerfully  supplemented  in  its  operation  by  the  war.  The  two 
causes  combined  were  followed  by  extraordinary  results. 

Tile  United  States  have  never  yet  gone  into  a  war  with  factories  enough  to 
supply  regiments  in  the  field  with  clothing  and  the  people  at  home  too. 
The  country  has  been  obliged  either  to  resort  to  leather,  as  in  the  Revolution, 
or  buy  cloth  abroad,  as  in  1812,  1845,  and  1861-65.  It  has  even  been  the 
fact,  that  all  the  flags  of  the  United  States  have  had  to  be  purchased  outside  of 
our  own  country.  In  an  address  delivered  at  Philadelphia  in  1865  it  was 
stated  that  "  all  our  flags  are  grown,  spun,  woven,  and  dyed  in  England  ;  and 
on  the  last  Fourth  of  July  the  proud  American  ensigns  which  floated  over 
every  national  ship,  post,  and  fort,  and  every  patriotic  home,  flaunted  forth 
uiK)n  the  breeze  the  industrial  dependence  of  America  upon  England."  When 
the  hostilities  of  1861  broke  out,  therefore,  and  it  became  necessary  to  clothe 
several  hundred  thousand  men  for  the  field  and  a  larger  number  for  the  local 
defence  of  the  several  States,  the  woollen-cloth  for  the  purpose  could  not  be 
found  in  the  United  States.  Not  only  was  the  country  absolutely  short  of  a 
iuppi}-  of  common  woollen-cloth  North  and  South  too,  but  there  was  another 
fitt  in  the  situation.     It  had  not  yet  entered  upon  the  manufacture  of  the 


38o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


more  elegant  classes  of  goods.  Before  1861  the  factories  had  "attempted 
scarcely  any  thing  beyond  common  goods  of  the  coarser  kinds."  During  the 
gloomy  days  of  the  war,  an  association  of  patriotic  ladies  at  Washington 
pledged  themselves  to  wear  nothing  except  of  American  fabrication  ;  and  they 
found,  much  to  their  chagrin,  that  the  variety  of  worsted  dress-goods  manufac- 
tured here  was  of  an  extremely  limited  character,  and  the  goods  were  of  a 
common  class  at  that.  This  scarcity  of  cloth  and  of  elegant  goods,  the  in- 
creased consumption,  and  the  protection  of  a  timely  tariff,  made  an  immediate 
and  lively  market  for  American  woollens.  The  manufacturers  were  not  slow 
to  take  advantage  of  it. 

During  one  period  of  the  war,  a  large  number  of  the  cotton-mills  of  the 
country  were  obliged  to  suspend  operations  for  the  want  of  the  raw  material. 
.„    „  There  was  so  little  cotton  to  be  had,  that  the  material  rose  from 

WooUen- 

manufac  eighty-eight  dollars  a  bale  to  nine  hundred  and  a  thousand  dollars. 
turei  during    ■^^^  yj^^.   could   manufacture  cotton  at  that  price.      Mill-owners 

the  civil  war.  ' 

closed  their  doors.  At  one  time  it  is  said  that  there  was  not  a 
single  cotton-spindle  in  operation  in  the  whole  of  Lowell.  The  woollen-manu- 
facturers, on  the  contrary,  found  themselves  stimulated  into  wonderful  activity. 
'l"he  government  was  calling  continually  for  enormous  (juantities  of  goods.  \ 
fresh  demand  for  American  goods  sprang  up  among  the  people,  and  the 
several  States  came  into  the  market  to  buy  uniforms  for  their  re-organized  rcj;i- 
ments  of  militia.  The  mills  which  were  in  operation  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  soon  found  themselves  overwhelmed  with  orders  for  their  goods,  ami  a 
large  number  of  them  were  engageil  to  run  exclusi\ely  upon  goods  iox  the 
armies  in  the  field.  Under  the  influence  of  this  new  state  of  things,  a  great 
many  of  the  woollen-factories  which  had  been  shut  up  during  the  previous  iiard 
times  were  re-opened  and  set  at  work.  Hundreds  of  new  factories  were  l)iiilt 
in  the  great  wool-growing  region  of  the  West :  new  mills  were  erected  in  nearly 
every  one  of  the  Southern  States  for  the  production  of  warm  fabrics  for  army 
and  people.  In  addition  to  all  chis,  another  thing  took  place.  The  cotton- 
mill  owners  of  the  North,  seeing  such  a  demand  for  woollens  from  botli  the 
government  and  the  people  generally,  and  not  caring  to  keep  tiicir  own 
machinery  idle,  resolved  to  turn  a  portion  of  their  establishments  to  the  manu- 
facture of  woollens.  They  bought  expensive  machinery,  and  put  it  into 
operation.  Operatives  were  plenty,  in  consequence  of  the  closing  of  the 
cotton-mills  ;  and  there  was  no  difficulty  in  manning  every  spinning-jac  k  and 
loom  with  competent  hands.  F>ery  machine  was  run  so  as  to  produce  the 
greatest  amount  of  goods,  and  in  many  cases  the  mills  were  run  niglit  and 
day.  It  was  an  era  of  great  prosperity.  The  woollen-machinery  of  the 
<-ountry  was  more  than  doubled  during  the  war. 

After  the  war  there  was  a  falling-off  in  the  woollen-machinery  of  the  coun- 
try, owing  to  the  restoration  of  the  cotton-supply  and  the  conversion  of  mills 
from  the  woollen  to  the  cotton  manufacture.     But  the  South,  being  bare  of 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


381 


ipted 

ig  the 
nglon 
I  they 
nufac- 
t  of  a 
he  in- 
lecliate 
3t  slow 

of  the 
iiaterial. 
)se  from 

dollars. 

l-OWIUTS 

IS  nut  a 

in-manu- 
activity. 

oods.     A 

,  and  the 

ized  rc^i- 

ig  of  the 

ds,  and  a 

Is  for  the 

;s,  a  great 
ious  hard 

Ijvcrc  hnill 
in  neady 
for  army 
le  cotton- 
both  the 
their  own 
Ithe  manu- 
Ivit  it  int" 

|ng  of  ^^^'-' 

r-jack  ami 

■educe  the 

night  ami 

•ry  of  the 

the  coun- 
lon  of  mills 
|ng  bare  of 


goods,  became  a  large  buyer  from  the  North  at  this  time ;  and  this  served 
to  stimulate  toward  tiie  building  of  more  new  mills,  and  to  prevent  a  decline  in 
the  manufacturing  capacity  of  the  country.     As  the  abnormal  con-   ^    „  ^ 
sumption  of  woollen-goods  by  the  government  ceased  as  suddenly   manufactur- 
almost  as  the  demand  for  them  from  this  (luarter  arose,  the  wants  '"*  •'""  **" 

war. 

of  the  South  prevented  the  tide  from  turning  against  the  manufac- 
turers J  and  so  they  continued  to  reap  a  golden  harvest.    The  state  of  things  in 


I  MAIN  TAi  ri:Tiii(>\r. 


i8;o  as  compared  with  1850  and  i860  will  show  the  extraordinary  influence 
"1  the  tariff  and  the  war,  and  the  subsequent  demand  from  the  South,  in 
imtting  this  important  industry  once  more  upon  its  feet.  The  figures  are 
taken  from  the  census  reports :  they  refer  only  to  the  manufacture  of  woollen- 
'loihs.  and  cloths  of  mixed  wool,  cotton,  and  silk,  the  caq)et  and  worsted 
factories  not  being  included. 


( 


J<i 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Alabama  . 

Arkansas 

California 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia 

Florida     . 

Georgia    . 

Illinois     . 

Indiana    . 

Iowa         .        .        f 

Kansas    . 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan  .        . 

Minnesota 

Mississippi       .        . 

Missouri  . 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico    . 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon     . 

Pennsylvania  . 

Rhode  Island  . 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont  . 

Virginia    . 

West  Virginia . 

Wisconsin 

Total 


1 8  JO. 


'49 
9 
I 


3 


25 

I  •  •  • 

36 

38 

119 

'S 


I 
61 
4« 

•  •  •  • 

249 
I 

«30 

380 
45 


72 
12 


'.559 


i860. 


I 

84 
4 


II 

21 

79 
12 

37 
I 

26 

27 

'34 
16 

4 
II 

5' 
35 

•  •  •  • 

140 

7 

"5 

270 

57 
I 
I 

2 

46 

45 

'5 
1,260 


1870. 


'4 

'3 

5 
loS 

It 

I 

46 

109 

'75 

85 

9 

'25 

2 
107 

3< 
i8s 

54 
10 
II 

•56 

77 

29 

I 

252 

52 

"3 

9 

457 

65 

•5 

148 

20 

15 

(■'5 
68 

-4 
64 


The  following  table  shows  the  production  in  all  the  States  at  three  different 
periods.  This  includes  a  space  of  thirty  years,  during  which  time  a  remark- 
able change  occurred  in  the  ratio  of  production  in  several  of  the  States. 
Massachusetts  had  the  lead  in  the  beginning,  and  has  kept  it  ever  since ;  but 
the  production  of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  ;Js,32i,86o  in  1850,  had  increased 
to  $27,580,586  twenty  years  later,  thus  placing  her  second  in  the  list,  the  rank 
which  for  many  years  was  occupied  by  New  York. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


383 


Lee  different 
lie  a  remark' 
the  States. 
•  since ;  but 
id  increased 
1st,  the  rank 


.    1 

1 

iHo. 

iSto. 

1870. 

r  1 

Alul)ania 

$191,474 

$89,998 

■ 

Arlc;iimas 

78.690 
1,102,754 

'3 

California 

150,000 

S 
08 

Connecticut     . 
Pclaware 

16,463,216 
251,000 

6,840,220 
'53.035 

17,37 '.048 
576.067 

11 

District  of  Columb 
Florida     . 

a 

2,400 

•• 

500 

46 

Ccorgia    . 

"  88,750 

464,420 

471.523 

Illinois      ■  . 

206,572 

1S7.613 

2,849,249 

109 

Indiana    . 

205,582 

649.77" 

4.329.7" 

175 
8S 

Iowa 

13.000 

127,640 

1,647,606 

Kansas    . 

'53. '50 

9 

Kentucky 

3>8,8i9 

845.226 

1,3' 2.458 

125 

Louisiana 

45.200 

30.795 

2 

1          Maine 

753.300 

1,717,007 

6,398.881 

107 

1          Maryland 

295,140 

605,992 

427.596 

3' 
185 

1         Massachusetts 

12,770,565 

•9.655.787 

39,502,542 

1         Michigan 

90,242 

"39.246 

1,204,868 

54 

1         Minnesota 



219,862 

10 

t  * 

1         Mississippi 

1         Missouri  . 

158,507 
143.025 

'47.323 
1,256,213 

tt 

.56 

•  •  • 

56,000 

1        New  Hampshire 

2.  >  27.745 

2,601,653 

8,766,104 

77 

1        New  Jersey     . 

1,164,446 

1,085,104 

1,903,825 

*9 

I        New  Mexico    . 
1        New  York 

21,000 

I 

7,030,604 

5,870,117 

'4.394.786 

252 

1        North  Carolina 

23.750 

291,000 

298.368 

9 

1        Ohio 

1,111,027 

825,000 

3,287,699 

223 

I        Oregon 

85,000 

505.857 

9 

H        Pennsylvania  . 

5,321,860 

8,191,67s 

27.580,586 

457 
65 

1       Rhode  Island  . 

2,381,825 

6,915.205 

12,558,117 

H       South  Carolina 

80,000 

34.559 

'5 
148 

H       Tennessee 

6,310 

8,100 

696,844 

H       Texas 

15,000 

38.796 

152,968 

20 

^1      Utah 

199,600 
3.619.459 

»5 

68 

H       Vermont . 

1       i,S79.'6i 

2,938,626 

H      Virginia  . 

1         841.013 

717.827 

488,352 

^1      West  Virginia 
^1      Wisconsin 

475.763 
1,250,467 

-4 
64 

87.992 

172.720 
$61,894,986 

2,801 

$43,207,545 

J5' 55.405.358 

In  i860  the  number  of  worsted-establishments  in  the  country  was  three; 
in  1870  it  was  loa.     The  carpet-factories  had  not  changed  :  there  were  213  in 
i860,  and  215  in  1870.    These  figures  show  amazing  progress,  wonderful 
The  States  of  the  South   (excluding  Virginia),  which  had  only  P'op"e»»- 
thirty-two  factories  of  woollen  goods  in  1850,  and  eighty-one  in  i860,  contained 


384 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


730  factories  in  1870,  mostly  small  concerns,  to  be  sure,  and  producing;  a 
coarse  class  of  fabrics,  but  still  busy  factories,  and  affording  a  large  local 
market  for  the  fleeces  from  the  plantations  and  farms.  There  were  497 
woollen-factories  in  the  West  as  comjiared  with  258  in  i860.  In  Ohio,  New 
York,  and  Pennsylvania,  932  woollen-lactories  had  been  put  into  operation  as 
against  525  in  i860;  while  twenty-nine  had  been  built  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  In  i860  Massachusetts  had  two  worsted-factories,  and  Rhode 
Island  had  one.  There  were  no  others  in  the  United  States.  In  1870  tliere 
were  102,  eighty-seven  of  them  being  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  aiuij 
Pennsylvania. 

There  had  been  equally  interesting  progress  in  the  fabrics  produced.  Tk-fore 
i860,  the  cloths,  carpets,  and  woollen-goods  of  the  country  generally  were  of 
the  coarse  or  common  makes.  Scarcely  any  thing  had  been  atteiiijjted  in  tiic 
line  of  fine  goods.  After  i860  the  factories  began  to  make  fine  goods  of 
every  description.  Particularly  was  this  the  case  after  1864,  in  which  year  a 
more  favorable  adjustment  of  the  tariff  was  made.  It  was,  in  fact,  under  the 
act  of  1864  that  the  distinctively  fine  goods  were  chiefly  undertaken.  New 
machinery  was  bought,  and  old  machinery  was  adapted  to  now  uses.  Coarse 
articles  were  still  made  ;  but  the  mills  now  began  to  produce  fine  shawls, 
worsted  dress-goods,  fine  cassinieres,  broadcloth,  hosiery,  alpaca  fabrics, 
mohair-poplins,  mohair-lustres,  chinchilla  cloakings,  astrachans,  embroidered 
table-covers,  druggets,  Axminster  carpets,  and  almost  eveiy  other  variety  of 
elegant  wool-fabric.  Entire  success  was  attained  with  every  class  of  goods; 
unless,  perhaps,  the  finest  l)roadcloth  be  alone  excepted.  If  the  maini(;ic- 
turers  lacked  a  machine  proper  for  tiie  new  purposes  to  which  they  were 
adapting  their  mills,  they  invented  it.  They  frequented  the  world's  fairs,  anil 
studied  styles  and  processes.  They  acted  on  tiie  old  principle,  \vhi(  li  is 
expressed  in  a  homely  but  forcible  way  in  the  motto  at  the  head  of  the  cards  of 
a  bill-poster  at  AUanta,  Ga.,  for  1878  :  — 

"  It  is  not  birth,  nor  rank,  nor  state. 
It's  get  up  and  get,  that  makes  man  great." 

The  manufacturers,  during  this  period  of  ten  years,  displayed  unexampled 
energy,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  their  trade  they  were  alile  to 
furnish  almost  the  whole  of  the  immense  supply  both  of  coarse  and  fnu' 
goods  required  by  this  market.  This  market  too,  be  it  known,  had  increased 
threefold  in  power  to  consume  from  i860  to  1870.  The  new  styles  of  goods 
were  distinguished  by  greater  softness  and  strength,  owing  to  the  (lualities  di 
.American  wool.  The  staple  goods,  such  as  cassimeres,  ingrain  carpets.  iVc. 
displayed  better  style,  improved  finish,  and  softer  and  more  agreeable  ( olors. 
The  delaines  became  so  perfect,  that  a  celebrated  importer  at  New  \ox\. 
who,  when  called  as  a  witness  in  a  trial  at  court,  had  asserted  his  infal- 
libility in   detecting   the   differences   in   fabrics,  was   astounded  to  discovei 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


Sis 


that  he  had  sworn  to  the  identity  of  foreign  woven  and  American  printed 

delaines. 

Since  1870  depression  has  again  chilled  the  hearts  of  the  owners  of  the 
woollen-mills.    This  is,  in  part,  owing  to  the  panic  of  1873,  and  the  hard  times, 
•inil  retrenchment  of  personal  expenses,  which  have  reigned  ever  ^„„„,„. 
since.     It   has   been,  in  part,  due  to  the   immense   (]uantity  of  manufn'.. 
ftoi)llcns  which  the  government  had  on  hand  in  1866,  when  it  dis-   »"''''^»'"" 
i,)anded  its  volunteer  army  of  a  million  of  men,  and  sent  them  to 
their  iiomes.     The  government  had  more  cloth  than  could  be  consumed  I  y 
ilie  regular  army  in  several  generations.     As  these  goods  were  liable  to  be 
eaten  by  moths,  the  authorities  resolved  to  sell  them.    The  auctions  each  year 
depressed  the  price  of  coarse  cloths,  and  curtailed  the  sales  of  the  mills.    For 


SATINET-LOOM. 


several  years,  the  horse-car  drivers,  truckmen,  teamsters,  and  farmers  wore  the 
sky-blue  uniform  overcoats,  or  clothing  made  of  that  blue  cloth  dyed  black, 
'wiight  from  the  government.  In  consequence  of  the  panic  and  the  depres- 
sion, the  woollen-mills  have  lost  a  great  deal  of  money.  Many  of  them  have 
passed  into  other  hands  at  a  loss.  It  is  a  fact  which  may  be  mentioned  here, 
that  nearly  every  woollen-mill  of  any  consequence  in  the  United  States  has. 
Ijy  reason  of  these  regularly-recurring  periods  of  depression,  passed  out  of 


386 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  ownership  of  the  original  projectors  at  a  price  considerably  lower  than  its 
original  cost.  Owing  to  the  hard  times,  the  production  of  the  mills  has  bt-cn 
lessened,  so  as  to  lighten  the  burden  resting  upon  them  as  much  as  possible. 
Under  the  influences  of  decreased  produc  ti(jn  and  a  lower  rate  of  wages,  tiic 
interest  is  now  already  reviving.  Imjwrtations  have  been  cut  down  from  S50,- 
000,000  in  1872  to  $26,000,000  in  1877.  Foreign  fabrics  are  being  steadily 
driven  out;  and  this  great  market,  wherein  45,000,000  of  people  buy  cloths, 
provisions,  and  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  with  its  wonderful 
power  of  recuperation,  is  fast  bringing  back  hope  and  energy  to  the  hearts  uf 
the  native  manufacturers.  The  industry  has  a  great  future  before  it,  and 
cannot  long  remain  under  the  clouds  that  now  surround  it. 


SPINNING   AND   WEAVING. 

The  wire-toothed  cards  for  combing  out  the  wool  were  made  by  hand  in 
the  days  of  our  forefathers,  and  were  worked  by  hand.  Oliver  Kvans  of 
Bvant't  im-  Maryland,  one  of  the  active-minded  inventors  of  the  Revolution- 
proved  ma-  ary  era,  invented  a  machine  to  prick  the  leather,  cut,  bend,  and 
ne'y-  ggj  ^j^g  teeth  in  cards,  but  did  not  have  the  good  fortune  to  see  it 
go  into  practical  operation.  Subsequently,  machinery  for  cutting  the  teeth, 
which  were  to  be  set  in  the  leather  sheets  by  hand,  was  employed  at  Worcester 
and  elsewhere  in  New  England.  The  teeth,  put  up  in  bags,  were  given  out  to 
families  living  in  the  country  round  about.  The  setting  of  the  teeth  was  a 
fireside  occupation ;  and  the  business  employed  large  numbers  of  the  gentle 
girls  of  that  day,  who  afterwards  became  the  mothers  of  rich  and  influential 
families  of  to-day.  In  1796  Amos  Whittemore  took  out  a  patent  for  a 
machine  to  make  the  cards ,  and  this  invention  was  soon  followed  by  a  ma- 
chine to  do  the  carding,  and  the  two  new  processes  soon  superseded  the  old 
ones. 

Carding  is  the  first  process  of  spinning.  The  wool  is  laid  upon  a  feed- 
apron,  and  is  drawn  down  therefrom  to  a  large,  slowly-revolving  drum,  wliose 
whole  surface  is  covered  with  wire  card.  The  wool  is  taken  up 
by  the  teeth  of  the  card,  and  combed  out  between  the  large  drum 
and  two  smaller  ones  revolving  in  contact  with  it,  but  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. The  wool  is  then  detached  from  the  main  drum  by  the  action  of  the 
doffer,  —  a  sort  of  comb  moving  with  a  quick,  hoe-like  motion  ;  and  it  flows 
from  the  carding-machine  in  a  broad,  thin,  gauzy  fleece,  through  a  smooth  steel 
funnel,  in  which  it  contracts  into  a  ribbon,  or  sliver,  into  a  large  tin  can. 
Long  wools  which  are  used  for  worsted-goods  are  made  into  a  sliver  on  the 
same  principle,  although  the  combing-machine  varies  from  the  one  described 
in  a  few. details.  The  slivers  are  now  carried  to  the  breaking-machine.  T«'o 
or  three  (or  more)  cans  are  placed  by  the  machine  ;  and  the  ends  of  the  slivers 
they  contain  are  laid  together,  and  passed  through  between  two  rollers,  which 


Carding. 


OF    THh    UXITED    STATES. 


387 


\  its 

i)ccn 

iil)lt'. 
,,  the 

:a(.lily 
loihh, 
dcrlul 
rts  of 
t,  and 


land  in 
•ans  of 
oUuiun- 
nd,  and 
to  see  it 
le  teetVi, 
rorccster 
n  out  to 
h  was  a 
|ie  gL-ntk 
iif^iicniial 
X   for  a 
jv  a  nia- 
the  old 

a  feed- 
hii.  whose 
Ital^en  up 


g*^ 


drum 


lite  direc- 
)n  of  the 

|l  it  tlows 
30th  steel 
tin  can. 
er  on  the 
jdescribed 
Inc.    Two 
llhe  slivers 
lets,  which 


sci/o  and  draw  thorn  forward,  ami  pass  them  on  to  another  sot  of  rollers,  whi«h 
movi:  tiucc  limes  as  fa>t  as  the  fin>l.  As  a  <  onsoinicncL'  of  this  j>nMcss, 
tlu-  united  slivers  flow  from  the  niac  Iiine,  and  art*  coiled  in  another  lar^e  tin 
( an,  in  a  fresh  sliver  of  three  times  the  length  of  the  original  slivers.  Three 
t)f  the  new  cans  arc  carried  to  another  frame,  and  the  slivers  passed  through 
fresh  sets  of  rollers  ;  and  this  process  is  repe.ued  sometimes  until  one  of  the 
slivers  from  the  carding-machine  is  drawn  out  to  fifteen  hundred  times  its 
ori},'inal  length,  altiiougli,  hy  reason  of  having  been  incorporated  with  so  many 
of  its  (H)mpanions,  it  has  been  reduced  \\\  ludk  only  to  about  one-fourth  its 
original  size.  This  freiiuent  drawing  straightens  the  fibres  of  the  wool,  and 
l.ivs  them  parallel  to  one  another.  The  idea  is  the  invention  of  Kiehanl  Ark- 
wniiht  of  England,  who  made  a  fortune  from  it,  and  added  as  much  to  the 
productive  power  of  Kngland  as  though  tlie  country  had  doubled  its  popula- 
tion. .\fter  the  drawing  is  comjileted,  two  clivers  are  united,  and  passed 
through  the  roving-frame,  where  they  are  drawn  out  so  fmv  that  they  have  to 
he  twisted  in  the  frame  slightly  to  hold  together.  'I'he  roving  is  now  woimd 
upon  bobbins,  and  carried  to  the  spinning-machinery. 


CARDINC-MACHINB.       CLBVELAND   MACHISE-WORKS. 


Spinning. 


The  original  spinning-jenny  of  Hargreavcs  of  F.ngland,  invented  in  1767, 
liad  eight  spindles  only :  the  spinning-jack  of  tu-day  has  often  as  many  as 
from  two  hundred  and  forty  to  three  hundred.  They  are  mounted 
upon  a  long  frame,  bearing  the  same  relation  to  the  machine  as 
the  front  board  of  a  bureau-drawer  to  the  bureau,  which,  like  the  drawer  of 
a  gii,'antic  '  reau,  can  be  pulled  out  a  distance  of  ten  or  more  feet  from  the 
machine  in  the  spinning  process.  It  runs  out  on  wheels  which  support  its 
weight.  The  bobbins  containing  the  rovings  are  placed  in  a  long  row  in  the 
spinning-frame,  and  the  ends  of  the  sofl  yarn  are  carried  through  three  sets  of 


388 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


rollers  to  the  spindles  on  the  frame.  The  second  set  of  rollers  moves  twice  as 
fast  as  the  first ;  and  the  third,  five  or  six  times  as  fast  as  the  second,  liy  this 
means  it  is  still  further  attenuated.  The  twist  is  given  to  it  by  the  spindles, 
which  revolve  with  great  velocity  as  the  lung  frame  is  slowly  pulled  out  from 
the  machine  as  far  as  it  will  go.  As  the  frame  is  run  back  again  to  its  place, 
the  twisted  yarn  is  wountl  up  on  the  spindles  automatically,  and  the  machine 
started  again,  and  the  process  repeated.  The  twist  given  to  yarn  is  from  five 
to  ten  turns  in  an  inch.    The  yarn  is  now  wound  off  on  reels  in  hanks  five 


YARN  SPOOLER  AND  STAND. 


himdred  and  sixty  yards  long.     The  number  of  hanks  to  a  pound  indicate  tlic 
size  of  the  yarn  ;  as  No.  i,  No.  2,  and  so  on. 

For  weaving,  the  yarns  which  are  to  compose  the  warp  of  the  cloth  or 

carpet  are  wound  off  from  the  reels  upon  a  long  roller  in  a  broad  band  of 

parallel  threads  the  width  of  the  intended  piece  of  stuff.    Tlie 

Weaving.  j 

rollers  are  placed  in  the  loom.     A  forest  of  wires,  or  stout  threads 
crosses  the  loom  from  one  side  to  the  other,  each  one  carrying  an  eye  about 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


389 


the  middle  of  its  length.  The  yarns  of  the  warp  arc  passed  through  the  eyes 
of  the  harness,  as  it  is  called,  and  thence  on  to  the  roller  at  the  front  of  the 
loom.  Tlie  office  of  the  harness  is  to  raise  one  set  of  the  threads  of  the  warp, 
and  depress  another  set,  so  as  to  leave  an  ojjcning  through  which  the  shuttle 
c  an  he  thrown,  carrying  the  thread  of  the  woof,  and,  when  the  shuttle  has 
passed  tliroiigh,  to  depress  the  upper  set  and  raise  the  lower  set,  thus  locking 
llie  woof  in  its  place,  and  opening  the  warp  anew  for  another  throw  of  the 


SHIiAIilNCi-MACHINE. 


shuttle.  This  is  the  principle  upon  which  all  looms  are  made  ;  but  great  inge- 
nuity has  been  displayed  in  the  management  of  the  principle,  so  as  to  jiroduce 
not  only  i)lain  goods  by  means  of  the  loom,  but  goods  of  all  sorts  of  colored 
patterns,  and  varieties  of  surface.  Threads  of  different  colors  are  introduced 
for  different  parts  of  the  warp  ;  anil  a  large  variety  of  colors,  sometimes  eight 
oricn,  are  introduced  by  multiplying  the  number  of  shuttles  and  the  apparatus 
for  throwing  them.     The  figures  in  weaving  are  produced  by  the  fancy  loom, 


390 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


SO  called,  the  invention  of  Mr.  Wiiliani  Crompton,  a  native  of  England,  but 
living,  at  the  time  the  loom  was  projected,  in  this  country.  His  patent  was 
taken  out  in  1837.  The  looms  were  first  used,  it  is  believeii,  in  the  Middlesex 
Mills  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  in  1840.  It  is  upon  this  loom  that  the  fancy  cassi- 
mercs  and  other  figured  cloth-fabrics  are  now  woven. 


SHAWL-LOOM. 


After  weaving,  the  cloth  is  fulled  by  washing  and  pounding  in  a  t;ink, 

where  it  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  heavy  iron  mallets.     It  is 

reduced  greatly  from  its  original  dimensions,  both  in  length  and 

width,  by  this  process.     It  is  then  dried  upon  the  tenter-frame  upon  which  it 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


39» 


American 
inventors. 


is  Stretched.  Fulling  and  dyeing  complete  the  nloth,  and  it  then  needs  only 
to  be  finished  to  be  ready  for  the  market.  Made  to  pass  over  rollers,  it  is  first 
scratched  by  a  revolving  drum  upon  which  are  mounted  the  heads  of  the 
teasel-plant,  or  by  wire  teasels ;  and  it  is  then  shorn  by  a  cutting-machine  with 
spiral  blades  on  a  cylinder  acting  against  a  straight  steel  blade,  which  cuts  the 
nap  perfectly  to  an  even  length.  This  helicoidal  shearing- machine  is  an 
American  invention,  dating  back  to  1812. 

In  the  mechanical  department  of  the  industry  the  American  mind  has  been 
extremely  prolific.  There  is  not  a  machine  in  the  whole  factory,  from  the 
picker  and  the  card  to  nap-cutter,  which  has  not  been  altered,  i„  0^^. 
improved,  and  made  to  do  better  and  faster  work  than  the  ment»  of 
machines  employed  upon  other  continents.  Some  of  the  machines 
are  jnirely  of  American  invention.  The  wonderful  Bigelow  auto- 
matic loom,  by  which  figures  of  any  description  can  be  woven  into  carpets,  is 
the  conception  of  Erastus  B.  Bigelow  of  Massachusetts,  who  took  out  his 
patent  in  1845,  ^"'i  achieved  what  Europe  had  given  up  as  hopeless.  English 
machinery  was  largely  imported  at  one  time,  especially  during  the  war  :  but  the 
Kilbourn  self-operated  jack,  a  home-invention,  has  superseded  many  of  the 
very  best  English  mules  ;  and  the  Sawyer  spindle,  the  outgrowth  of  a  drought 
at  Lowell,  which  made  it  necessary  to  lighten  the  machinery,  has  brought 
about  a  revolution  in  worsted  spinning,  being  lighter,  more  efficient,  and 
running  with  ease  up  to  eight  thousand  revolutions,  being  at  twenty-five  per 
cent  higher  speed,  with  thirty-three  per  cent  less  power,  than  the  common 
spindle. 

The  machinery  for  a  ten-?et  woollen-mill,  all  of  American  make,  will  cost 
about  $70,000.     It  will  require   a  hundred-horse-power  to  drive  cost  of 
it,  and    155  hands  to  tend   it.     In   staple   fancy  cassimeres  its  *»«=tory. 
production  will  be  from  1,150  to  1,200  yards  a  day. 


HATS. 


One  of  the  most  interesting  uses  of  wool  arises  from  a  peculiarity  of  its 
structure.     The  fibres  of  wool  are  not  smooth  like  silk  and  flax,  but  they  are 
roughly  barbed  with  minute  imbrications  like  the  blades  of  some   useofwooi 
grasses,  or  the  branches  of  a  feather,  which  can  be  felt  by  pulling  in  making 
a  lock  of  wool  through  the  fingers.     Some  wools  are  less  roughly  **"*'■ 
barbed  than  others,  and  some  fleeces  which  go  by  the  name  of  wool  —  as,  for 
instance,  that  of  the  Angora  goat  —  do  not  possess  the  quality  in  any  apprecia- 
l)le  degree.     But  real  wool  has  a  serrated  fibre.     This  peculiarity  renders  the 
shortest  kinds  of  wool  available  for  spinning,  because,  no  matter  what  the 
lengtli  of  the  fibre  may  be,  the  barbs  of  the  wool  interlock  when  the  fibre  is 
twisted,  and  they  convert  the  fibre  into  a  practical  yam.     This  peculiarity  has 
also  given  rise  to  a  class  of  fabrics  which  are  not  spun  at  all.     By  rubbing  a 


392 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Hat-makinK 
one  of  the 
earliest 
colonial 
industries. 


lot  of  wool  together  in  hot  water,  the  interlocking  of  the  fibres  takes  place  in 
a  marked  manner ;  and  the  result  is  the  felting  of  the  wool,  or  a  shrinking  into 
a  close,  compact,  thick  fabric,  which  is  serviceable  for  a  wide  variety  of  pur- 
poses. The  most  popular  use  of  fabric  thus  made  is  for  the  manufacture  of 
hats.  The  idea,  however,  is  applied  to  the  making  of  piano-covers,  druggets, 
beaver-cloths,  and  other  heavy  coatings  ;  the  wool  when  made  into  these  goods 
being  delivered  from  the  carding-machine  in  a  broad,  thin  web,  which  is 
doubled  and  crossed,  and  otherwise  thickened,  and  then  subjected  to  steam- 
ing and  gentle  hammering.  Some  felt  seamless  clothing  has  also  been 
made. 

Hat-making  was  one  of  the  very  earliest  of  colonial  industries.  The 
wintry  storms  and  general  cool  climate  of  North  America  required  that  the 
covering  of  the  head  should  be  warm  ;  and  so,  while  the  Spaniards 
of  the  West  Indies  were  buying  and  weaving  for  themselves  broad- 
brimmed  hats  of  straw,  the  Americans  went  into  the  making  of 
head-wear  of  thick  wool.  The  industry  began  in  New  England : 
it  afterwards  extended  to  the  other  colonies.  In  Virginia,  in  1662, 
the  colonial  authorities  offered  a  premium  of  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  (the 
currency  of  those  days)  for  every  good  hat  of  wool  and  fur  made  in  the 
province.  Hats  were  made  in  almost  all  the  colonies;  and  in  173 1  a  special 
committee  of  Parliament  reported  that  the  enterprising  Yankees  were  making 
10,000  hats  yearly,  and  were  actually  exporting  them,  with  other  things,  to  the 
continent  of  Europe  and  to  the  West  Indies,  —  a  piece  of  unparalleled 
impudence  on  the  part  of  that  underbred  people,  and  quite  in  defiance  of 
the  welfare  of  the  people  of  England  and  the  navigation  laws.  So  Parlia- 
ment, in  1732,  forbade  the  Americans  to  export  hats  or  felts.  The  manu- 
facture continued,  however,  and,  indeed,  the  export  too  ;  and  in  1791 
Alexander  Hamilton  reported  the  business  to  be  in  a  thrifty  condition.  It 
has  been  in  that  condition  ever  since.  It  has  had  a  steady  development,  and 
has  increased  in  value  of  total  product  from  $4,323,000  in  1810,  until  it  has 
reached  the  large  aggregate  of  about  $30,000,000  at  the  present  time.  The 
number  of  establishments  making  hats  is  now  about  490,  employing  16.500 
hands. 

The  hats  of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  era  were  broad-brimmed 
affairs,  originally  with  high  crowns,  but  afterward  with  low  crowns  barely 
Style  of  rising  above  the  top  of  the  head.     In  the  Revolution  it  was  the 

early  hats,  fashion  to  catch  up  the  brim  on  one  side  of  the  head  with  a 
cockade  and  feather,  also  to  catch  it  up  in  two  or  three  places,  producing 
the  regular  military  cocked  hat  and  the  hat  of  private  gentlemen.  The 
cocked  hat  went  out  of  fashion  after  the  Revolution,  and  gave  place  to  the 
soft  felt  of  various  forms,  and  the  tall,  stiff  stove-pipe  which  still  remains 
the  dress-hat  of  gentlemen.  The  white,  bell-crowned,  shaggy  hat  of  the  days 
succeeding  the  Revolution  has  gone  into  history  as  the  symbolic  hat  of  Brother 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


393 


Lce  in 

g  into 
f  pur- 
ure  of 
iggets, 

goods 
iiich  is 

steam- 
3  been 

5.    The 
liat  the 

)aniar{is 
s  broad- 
iking  of 
England : 
in  1662, 
ceo  (tlie 
e  in  the 
a  special 
e  making 
IS,  to  the 
paralleled 
fiance  of 
;o  Tarlia- 
[le  nianu- 

in  1 791 
ition.  It 
iiient,  and 
litil  it  has 
me.  The 
lig  if'oO° 

l-brimmed 
jns  barely 
lit  wa^  the 

lad  with  ?• 
IprocUicing 
^en.  The 
lice  to  the 
111  remains 
the  days 
lof  Brother 


Jonathan.  When  Kossuth  visited  the  country  in  1851  and  1852,  the  style 
of  hat  he  wore  —  a  large,  soft  felt  —  became  the  rage  for  a  while,  and  was 
worn  for  a  few  years  with  a  feather.  At  present  all  sorts  of  soft  and  stiff 
felt  hats  are  worn,  varying  in  their  outlines,  size,  and  width  of  brim,  from 
year  to  year,  in  response  to  the  American  taste  for  something  new  every 
successive  season. 

In  hat-makmg,  the  fur  of  raccoons,  beavers,  and  rabbits,  is  often  mixed 
with  the  wool  in  small  proportions.  The  right  mixture  being  obtained,  it  was 
first  felted  by  a  process  called  "  bowing."  The  bunch  of  fleece  was  Process  of 
gathered  in  front  of  the  operator,  and  then  violently  agitated,  and  hat-making, 
tossed  into  the  air,  by  twanging  the  string  of  a  stiff  bow,  and  applying  the 
string  to  the  vool.  The  flying  fibres  would  fall  upon  the  table  in  a  thin,  even 
web.  This  was  pressed  under  a  cloth,  and  another  layer  put  on,  until  the 
fabric  was  thick  enough  for  use.  It  was  then  put  between  two  cloths,  im- 
mersed in  hot  water,  and  .vorked  into  a  cone,  which  was  shaped  upon 
a  hat-block,  and  allowed  to  dry  in  proper  form,  when  it  was  napped  and 
finished  for  the  store.  This  was  the  original  process.  One  man  could  make 
from  four  to  six  hat-bodies  in  a  day.  This  process  was  quite  sufficient  for  the 
leisurely  days  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  but,  in  the  more  bustling  times  which 
succeeded  them,  it  became  necessary  to  increase  the  speed  of  manufacture, 
and  machines  were  introduced  to  form  the  bodies.  The  wool  was  carded  in 
the  usual  manner,  and  passed  in  a  thin  web  from  the  machine  to  two  revolving 
cones,  placed  base  to  base,  over  which  the  web  wound  in  a  zigzag  manner. 
When  the  web  was  thick  enough  upon  the  cone,  it  was  cut  off,  the  two  cones 
cut  apart,  and  the  woolly  caps  removed  ;  when  the  process  went  on  again  as 
before,  the  removal  of  the  cones  being  effected  with  great  rapidity.  The 
cones  thus  formed  were  treated  in  the  usual  manner.  Another  machine  was 
also  made  to  produce  felted  hats  both  of  wool  and  of  fur.  The  fibres  were 
made  to  fly  into  the  air ;  and  the  draught  of  air  passing  through  a  perforated 
cone  of  cop])er  or  one  of  wire  caused  them  to  settle  down  u])on  the  cone 
evenly,  in  thickness  sufficient  for  a  bcxly.  These  machines  '-heapcned  the 
cost  of  hats  materially,  and  enabled  the  manufacturers  to  make  them  as  light 
as  one  ounce  if  they  chose  ;  whereas,  before,  a  perfect  hat-body  could  not  have 
been  made  to  weigh  less  than  three  or  four  ounces.  The  stiff,  tall  silk  hat, 
which  weighs  about  six  ounces,  is  still  made  chiefly  by  hand.  Its  texture  is 
silk  plush.  It  was  once  made  of  beaver-fur,  and  was  called  a  beaver  in  con- 
sequence. The  stiff  bat  made  of  brown  or  light-gray  wool  is  called  a  cassi- 
mere. 

For  summer  wear,  hats  are  now  made  largely  of  woven  straw.  Large, 
broad  brimmed  affairs  of  cork  are  made  for  seaside  and  country  wear,  being 
light  and  airy,  and  protecting  the  head  from  heat,  and  the  face  from  the  fierce 
rays  of  the  sun. 


394 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CARPETS. 


ment  in 
carpets. 


The  progress  of  a  hundred  years  in  carpets  was  well  shown  at  the  Exhibi- 
tion in  Philadelphia  in  1876.  No  objects  in  the  fair  attracted  more  attention 
than  the  brilliant  display  of  rich,  soft  American  carpets  ;  the  opulent  Axminster, 
Improve-  ^'^''^  down  in  the  Old  World  only  for  the  feet  of  emperors  and 
noblemen,  showing  its  radiant  face  from  the  midst  of  the  throng, 
along  with  the  more  humble  but  still  agreeable  ingrains,  three- 
plies,  Brussels,  and  tapestry  carpets.  In  1776  the  only  carpet  made  in  the 
United  States  was  the  unpretentious  rag-carpet,  woven  with  a  stout  yarn  warp, 
and  a  woof  composed  of  strips  cut  from  the  cast-off  clothing  of  the  people. 
From  the  hand-made  rag-carpet  of  the  farmhouse,  to  the  aristocratic  Axmin- 
ster, woven  in  intricate  and  showy  patterns  upon  a  powerful  automatic  loom, 
one  of  the  highest  products  of  civilized  art,  is  a  hundred  years. 

The  first  regular  carpet  used  in  this  country  is  said  to  have  been  imported 
by  Kidd  the  pirate.     A  few  carpets  were  imported,  just  before  the  Revolution, 
Who  im-        ^"ioxw^  Great  Britain  ;  but  they  were  too  expensive  for  most  people, 
ported  the       In  1 79 1  the  first  carpet-factory  was  built  in  the  city  of  Phila- 
first  carpet,     jeipiija  by  William  Peter  Sprague.      It  was  followed  not  long 
after  by  others  in  the  same  city ;  and  Philadelphia  soon  became  the  principal 
J,  ^        _       seat  of  the  carpet-industry  of  the  United  States.      It  has  always 
dustry  in        remained  so,  and  to-day  manufactures  about  one-half  of  all  the 
carpets  produced  in  the  United  States.      Its  factories  are  very 
numerous,  and  of  enormous  size.     The  city  has  a  very  extensive 
hand-loom   house-carjjet  industry  also.     Up  to  1845  carpets  were  woven,  en- 
Bigeiow's       tirely  by  hand.     In  that  year  Mr.  E.  B.  Bigelow  patented  a  power- 
invention,       loom  which  would  make  figures  that  would  match,  and  woiikl 
weave  so  rapidly  as  to  increase  the  production  from  eight  yards  a  day  (the 
average  of  hand-labor)  to  twenty-seven  yards  a  day  for  two-ply  carpet.     The 
same  machine  was  found  applicable  to  the  weaving  of  the  heavy  Brussels 
carpet  also.     It  was  employed  on  that  class  of  goods,  increasing  the  produc- 
tion from  four  to  twenty  yards  a  day.     This  invention  diffused  new  life  into 
the  carpet-business  of  the  country.     The  cost  of  carpets  was  so  reduced  by  it 
as  to  bring  the  goods  within  the  reach  of  all.     The  heavy  purchases  which  were 
made  by  the  people  had  the  legitimate  effect  of  leading  to  the  construction 
of  a  large  number  of  new  factories  and  the  enlargement  of  old  ones.    .America 
is  a  country  of  homes.     In  spite  of  the  emigration  of  population  from  one 
State  to  another,  the  American,  wherever  found,  makes  his  house  a  home,  and 
brings  into  it  the  charms  and  gentleness  and  grace  of  family-life.      In  the 
comfort  of  a  home  the  carpet  plays  an  exceedingly  important  part.      It  is 
absolutely  essential  to  the  quiet  and  happin'.'ss  of  the  home.     As  soon  as  its 
value  was  discovered,  it  found  its  way  into  every  dwelling,  from  farmhouse  to 
brown-stone  front ;  and  the  demand  for  carpets  has  therefore  been  regular, 


Philadel 
phia. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES.  395 

large,  and  unfailing.  The  value  of  the  carpet  is  so  great,  both  on  account  of 
its  l)eauty  and  its  capacity  for  deadening  the  sound  of  the  footfall,  that  it  has 
witiiin  the  last  twenty  years  also  invaded  schoolhouses,  churches,  counting- 
rooms,  railroad-cars,  court-houses,  and  public  buildings  of  the  people.  Its 
use  is  now  universal. 

The  growth  of  the  manufacture  after  1S50  is  indicated  by  the   indications 
following  statement  of  the  value  of  products :  —  of  growth. 

1S50 13,401,234 

iS6o  ....              7.857.636 

1870 '. 21,761,573 

1876 36,000,000 

The  mills  were  distributed  in  1870  as  follows :  — 

Connecticut 3 

District  of  Columbia i 

Maryland I 

Massachusetts 6 

New  Hampshire 3 

New  Jersey 2 

New  York 13 

Pennsylvania 184 

Wisconsin 2 

Total 215 


The  Axminster  carpets,  which  are  laid  down  only  in  the  most  luxurious 
houses,  and  cost  eight  dollars  a  yard,  were  first  manufactured  at  Philadelphia 
in  1868.     They  had  been  imported  into  the  city  of  New  York   Manutac- 
from    France    under  the   name  of  "mo(iuette."     They  were  all   tureof 
hand-made.      The    Philadelphians   undertook   their   manufacture   ca'rpets'i" 
with  power-looms,  and  succeeded  so  well,  that  the  thick,  velvety   Pbiiadei- 
product.  when  placed  side  by  side  with  the   French,  could  only   ^  '"' 
be  distinguished  from  it  by  its  own  superior  texture  and  cheaper  price.     The 
French  makers  were  obliged  to  lower  their  prices  one  dollar  and  two  dollars  a 
yard  to  maintain  themselves. 

Carpets  are  now  imported  only  to  a  limited  extent.  We  can  now  make  all 
the  ingrain,  two-ply,  three-ply,  jute,  and  hemp  carpets  that  are  used  in  this 
country.  We  have  the  capacity  to  produce  nearly  all  the  Brussels,  importations 
tapestry,  and  Axminster  carpets  also.  The  importation  is  there-  ne^^'y  "ver. 
lore  limited  to  Turkish  and  Persian  rugs,  and  a  few  of  the  more  elegant  and 
costly  styles  of  velvety  and  fashionable  French  and  English  carpets,  which 
fashion  desires  because  they  are  foreign-made,  and  because  it  despises  that 
wiiich  the  multitude  can  have,  no  matter  how  beautiful  and  comfortable  the 
fabric. 


39* 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


SHODDY. 


One  of  the  curiosities  of  the  woollen-manufacture  is  described  by  the  name 
above  given,  of  which  the  country  has  heard  so  much  since  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  of  1861,  and  which  has  come  into  common  use  to  designate  a  class 
of  vulgar  people  who  became  suddenly  rich  by  the  war,  and  went  about  tlie 
world  aping  the  manners  of  the  aristocracy,  without  possessing  the  refinement, 
breeding,  and  true  gentleness  which  distinguish  aristocrats  from  the  rest  of 
mankind  more  than  their  money.  There  is  no  need  to  tell  any  man  who 
shouldered  a  musket  for  the  Union  in  any  of  the  earlier  volunteer  rcginitnls 
of  New-York  State  as  to  what  shoddy  is  :  he  knows  already.  Four  or  live  uf 
those  early  regiments,  composetl  of  the  best  young  men  of  the  best  families 
of  the  State,  marched  to  the  front  clad  in  rough,  shaggy  uniforms  of  gray, 
which  disintegrated  by  the  mere  motion  of  the  body,  filling  the  imderilotiies 
and  shoes  full  of  short,  gritty  wool,  and  which  in  two  weeks'  time  were  in 
rags,  breaking  the  hearts  of  the  men  by  the  shabby  spectacle  they  presented 
among  the  splendidly-dressed  reg  nients  of  the  other  Middle  States  and  of 
New  England.  Those  uniforms  were  made  of  shoddy.  They  were  a  disgrace 
to  the  contractors  who  put  them  upon  the  men,  and  an  insult  to  the  men. 
Uniforms  were  too  often  made  of  this  sort  of  clotii. 

Although  the  term  "  shoddy  "  has  become  one  of  opprobrium  from  this 
incident  of  the  war,  the  thing  itself  subserves  a  useful  purpose  at  times  in  the 
Importance     manufacture  of  woollen-goods.      It  has  already  been  noted  th;it 
of  shoddy.      t:he  wool-supply  of  the  United  States  has  never  been  equal  to  llic 
demand.     Carpet  and  other  coarse  wools  have  to  be  imported,  because  the 
country  does  not  raise  all  the  wool  it  consumes,  even  at  this  late  day.    'I'he 
scarcity  of  home-grown  wool,  and   its  high  price,  have  led   manufacturers  to 
study  the  (]iicstion  of  introducing  other  materials  into  their  woollen-cloths,  for 
the  pur])ose  of  cheapening  them,  and  of  obtaining  an  abundant  supply  of  raw 
material.     The  manudicturers  have  tried  cotton,  silk,  and  flax,  and  still  use 
them  in  their  goods.      Whenever  one  of  these  three  materials  rises  in  price 
they  resort  to  the  others,  using  always  the  cheaper  in  the  greatest  (luantity. 
They  obtained  another  idea  on  the  subject  of  raw  materials,  however,  from 
England.     It  is  well  known  that  worn-out  clothing  of  cotton  and  linen  pos- 
sesses a  certain  market-value  for  paper-making.     Peddlers  and  small  dealers 
take  the  clothing  which  goes  technically  by  the  name  of  "rags  "  for  a  few  ceni- 
a  pound,  and  sell  it  to  the  paper-makers.     But  what  is  worn-out  woolkn-dolh 
ing  good  for?     It  has  never  been  utilized  for  paper-making.     It  is  good  torrai; 
carpets;  but  the  sujierannuated  woollens  of  forty-five  millions  of  people,  sucii 
as  we  have  in  the  United  States,  woultl  stock  the  market  with  more  rag-carpeis 
in  a  year  than  would  be  consumed  in  ten  or  twenty  years.     In  England  thty 
studied  the  subject  of  picking  the  old  woollen-clothing  to  pieces  again,  ami 
spinning  the  fibre  afresh.     A  machine  was  finally  invented  to  pull  the  cloths  to 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


397 


e  name 
reak  of 
a  class 
lOUt  the 
nement, 
:  rest  of 
lan  who 
L■JJ;inlt■nl^ 
ir  five  of 
t  families 

of  gray, 
Itrclothes 
e  wore  in 
presumed 
es  anil  of 
a  disgrace 

the  men. 

I  from  this 

pes  in  the 
noted  ih.n 
|ual  to  tV.^' 
jecause  the 

iday.  'nit-' 
ifacturers  lo 
n-clotbs,  for 
ipply  of  raw 
uul  still  use 
scs  in  pri« 
est  (\uantity. 
,wevcr,  from 
\  linen  pos- 
mall  ilealtrs 

.  a  few  t'-'i^'^ 
.•ooUen-clollv 

good  for  rai;- 
people,  sucli 
rag-can«i^ 
^.ngland  tho 
es  again,  an'l 
the  cloths  to 


pieces,  and  reduce  them  to  the  condition  of  unspun  wool.  The  fibre  suffered 
in  the  i)rocess,  and  the  wool  resulting  from  it  was  of  an  exceedingly  short 
staple  :  but,  by  reason  of  the  peculiarly  serrated  and  barbed  nature  of  woollen- 
fibre,  even  this  very  short  staple  could  be  spun  into  a  yarn,  especially  if  it  were 
mixed  with  a  certain  proportioi'  of  long  sta[)le  ;  which  yarn  was  available  for 
cloths. 


^-^S®5«;^^^^s^" 


SHODDY-l'ICKEI!. 


The  Rnglish  went  into  the  shoddy -business  to  an  enormous  extent. 
Vorksliire  liecame  the  warehouse  of  the  cast-off  garments  and  hosiery  of  ail 
lAirope.      These    garments  were  carefully  assorted    there,  sellinor   _ 

:  '  '  .-I    Enormous 

li)r  from   fifty  dollars  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  ton,  and   use  of 
were  converted   into  shoddy  wool  by  the   machinery  set    ui)  for   s*i°''''y''y 

■  ■  ^  '  English. 

ilie  i)uri)ose,  and  sold  to  the  English  woollen- manuflicturcrs. 
Ihc  putting  of  shoddy  into  genuine  wool  was  a  clear  adulteration  of  the 
litter.  The  completed  cloth  could  be  called  "all-wool  goods,"  and  sold  for 
iiie  market-value  of  such  goods;  yet  it  was  not  "all  wool  "  in  the  right  sense 
"I  the  term,  as  the  defrauded  buyer  quickly  foimd  out  after  putting  on  a  suit 
i»f  clothes  in  which  shoddy  was  present  in  any  considerable  proportion.  The 
shoddy  would  shake  and  rub  out  into  his  underclothing,  and  irritate  his 
person  ;  while  every  pocket  and  lining  would  gather  balls  of  loose,  gritt)'  wool, 
«l)ich  would  interfere  with  his  enjoyment  of  the  clothing.  This  was  the 
shoddy  working  ont,  as  it  invariably  will  work  out  whenever  shoddy  goods 
3re  worn.  But  the  English  did  not  care,  because  the  larger  part  of  their 
wollens  were  sent  abroad ;  and  they  suffered  no  pangs  of  conscience  as  long 


398 


IXDUSTRIAL    HIS  TORY 


Use  of 
■hoddy  in 
the  United 
States. 


as  it  was  somebody  else's  skin  which  was  scratched  by  the  shoddy,  and  not 
their  own. 

Since  1861  (and  possibly  from  a  little  earlier  date)  shoddy  has  been  made 
in  the  United  States.  There  are  only  about  a  dozen  mills  in  the  business : 
these  are  chiefly  in  the  P^ast.  Shoddy  is  not  much  used  in  this 
country  ;  but  it  is  somewhat.  Respectable  manufa<  turers  are  very 
careful  about  putting  it  into  their  cloths,  because,  if  they  gained 
a  reputation  for  using  shoddy,  it  would  injure  their  goods.  Wiien- 
ever  the  price  of  wool  goes  up,  however,  shoddy  comes  into  demand.  'Ihe 
material  is  employed  also  openly  in  the  manufacture  of  certain  classes  of 
goods.  In  druggets,  table-covers,  heavy  over-coatings,  and  various  felted 
goods,  it  is  regularly  present,  its  utilization  being  justified  on  the  ground  that 
it  saves  expense  to  the  human  race,  and  is  a  means  of  turning  to  use  what 
would  otherwise  be  utterly  valueless.  The  buyer  must,  however,  always  judge 
for  himself  whether  the  fine  coatings  he  is  looking  over  in  the  shop  have  not 
shoddy  in  them  also  ;  for  some  manufacturers  think  a  certain  percentage  of  it  in 
their  cassimeres  does  no  harm,  but  too  often  they  outstep  the  bounds  of  safety 
in  the  proportion  used.  Shoddy  costs  usually  about  ten  cents  a  pound,  and 
wool  fifty.     The  temptation  to  use  the  former  is,  therefore,  strong. 

Woollen-rags  are  reduced  to  shoddy  by  a  cylinder  three  feet  in  diame- 
ter, the  surface  of  which  is  studded,  like  the  club  of  a  giant  of  fable,  witii  steel 
teeth  an  inch  long,  and  half  an  inch  apart.  The  cylinder  makes  about  five 
himdred  revolutions  a  minute.  The  rags  fed  down  upon  it  are  torn  ajiart  by 
the  speed  of  the  teeth ;  all  rags  which  are  not  reduced  to  fibre  falling  back 
by  their  own  weight,  to  be  caught  and  buffeted  again. 

During  the  war,  and  up  to  1868,  slioddy  was  iinported  at  the  rate  of  from 
five  million  to  eight  million  pounds  a  year.  The  importation  is  now  a  few 
hundred  thousand  pounds  only.  The  consumption  in  the  United  States  has 
been  as  high  as  twenty-five  million  pounds  a  year. 


CLOTHING. 

The  manufacture  of  clothing  grew  up  from  the  very  humble  beginning  of 
shops  in  the  cities  strung  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  for  providing  sailors  with 
"  Slop-  their  outfit  for  voyages.    They  were  called  "  slop-shops."    They 

•hops."  ^ere  part  of  a  very  bad  system  for  plundering  the  tar  of  the 
earnings  of  his  voyage  while  he  was  on  shore,  still  practised  to  a  very  great 
extent  in  commercial  cities  by  the  sailor  boarding-house  keepers.  Tne  idea 
was  atid  is  to  lay  hold  of  Jack  the  moment  he  comes  ashore,  board  him, 
lead  him  into  extravagances,  supply  him  with  an  outfit  for  the  new  voy- 
age, get  from  the  ship-master  an  advance  of  a  month's  wages,  and,  if  the 
tar  is  not  enough  in  the  landlord's  debt  to  consume  all  the  money,  then 
to  get  him  drunk,  and  put  him  aboard  the  ship,  with  enough  "  slops,"  or 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


399 


d  nol 

nvule 

iincss ; 
in  tliis 
re  very 

gained 

When- 
l.     'Hie 
isses  of 
,8  felted 
,\nd  tlui 
use  wlvat 

have  not 
[te  of  it  in 
of  safety 
ound,  and 

in  diame- 
,  with  steel 
about  five 
apart  by 
\xy<  back 


ite 


of  from 
now  a  few 
Slates  has 


ginning  of 
sailors  with 
pps."    'Hiey 
tar  of  the 
a  very  great 
Tne  idea 
board  him. 
new  voy- 
and,  if  the 
loney, 


then 


'  slops, 


ready-made  clothing,  charged  for  at  enormous  rates,  to  wipe  off  the  balance. 
(){  courbe,  ready-made  clothing  had  to  be  kei)t  on  hand  in  ortler  to  carry  out 
the  system.  From  this  humble  origin  has  sprung  a  trade  in  ready-made 
clothing  which  has  led  to  the  erection  of  such  palaces  of  industry  and 
fasiiion  as  may  be  seen  now  in  every  large  city  in  the  country,  inland  and 
commercial,  for  supplying  the  masses  of  the  peoi)le  with  the  woollen  clothing 
they  wear  during  the  varying  seasons  and  upon  all  the  different  sorts  of  social 
occasions. 

The  second  step  in  the  clothing-business  was  taken  by  the  Jews  of  New- 

Vork  City.     These  industrious  people,  who  possess  in  a  remarkable  degree  the 

instinct  and  faculty  of  trade,  congregated  on  that  queer,  crooked,  ciothei- 

ancient   street  which   runs   down   hill   northward   from   City-hall   cie«niingby 

Park,  and  then  up  hill  again  to  the  Bowery,  which  is  known  the  ^*^*' 

country  over  as  Chatham'  Street  and  the  resort  of  old  clothes-dealers  and 

pawn-shop  keepers.     These  people  bought  clothing  partly  worn,  and  cleaned 

and  renovated  it,  and  sold  it  as  new ;  and  afterwards  added  to  their  business 

that  of  fabricating  new  clothing  from  half-spoiled  goods,  such  as  those  rescued 

in  a  wet  and  heated  condition  from  burning  buildings,  &c.     The  customers  of 

the  Chatham-street  stores  were  poor  people.     The  well-to-do  had  their  clothes 

made  either  at  home  by  their  own  families  or  by  employed  seamstresses,  or 

had  them  cut  and  made  to  order  at  tailor-shops  established  solely  to  secure 

the  patronage  of  prosperous  people.     Farmers  generally  had  their  clothing 

made  at  home,  often  from  the  strong  thougli  rough  goods  spun  and  woven  by 

tlie  girls  and  women  of  the  family.     In  the  cities,  large  and  small,  cutting  and 

making  were  generally  done  at  the  tailor-shops.     Coats  were  made  of  blue  or 

black  goods,  waistcoats  of  flaming  red,  of  buff,  and  of  white  or  black,  and 

trousers  of  black  generally,  though  grays  and  browns  were  liked.     In    1834 

and  1835  the  wholesale  manufacture  of  ready-made  clothing  for  well-to-do 

and  fashionable  people  began  in  New  York  on  a  small  scale  ;  and  since  then 

the  business  has  extended  step  by  step,  the  manufacturers  catering  to  every 

class  of  society,  until  now  the  home-manufacture   of  men's   garments   has 

virtually  ceased,  and  every  one,  from  ploughman  to  railroad-president,  goes  to 

the  store  for  his  goods,  and  can  be  suited,  if  he  chooses,  from  the  shelves  of 

the  store  at  once.     For  a  long  time  there  was  a  prejudice  among  the  more 

fashionable  buyers  against  ready-made  goods.     They  did  not  always  fit ;  and 

tailors  did  much  to  deepen  the  prejudice  by  their  tricks  in  trying  to  sell  to 

indiscriminating  customers  garments  which  did  not  become  them,  in  order  not 

to  lose  a  bargain.     How  often  has  not  the  tailor  drawn  up  before  the  mirror  a 

man  whose  mind  runs  ordinarily  on  better  themes  than  his  clothes, — and  who, 

therefore,  is  not  a  judge  of  a  fit, — and  shown  him  with  one  hand  how  beautifully 

a  coat  fitted  across  the  chest,  while  with  the  other  hand  he  took  a  large  reef  in 

the  bagging  back  so  as  to  produce  the  particular  phenomenon  to  which  he 

drew  attention  1    It  used  to  be  said  of  an  unpopular  man,  as  a  parting  shot, 


400 


INDUSTRIAL    It  I  STORY 


after  the  vocabulary  of  vituperation  had  been  exhausted,  "  and  \\vs  clothes 
don't  fit."  For  fear  that  his  own  clothes  wouldn't  fit,  everybody  clung  to  the 
habit  of  having  his  suits  made  to  order,  liut  either  tailors  have  grown  nuirc 
honest  with  the  civilizing  influences  of  the  age,  or  their  assortment  of  goods  is 
now  made  in  greater  variety  ;  for  every  one  can  secure  an  excellent  fit  at 
any  ready-made  clothing-store  ;  and  the  majority  of  mankind  depend  upon 
the  shelf  and  the  counter  for  their  suits  and  overcoats,  rather  than  upon  the 
measuring-tape  and  shears.  A  good  fit  can  be  obtained  even  for  dress-suits. 
The  manufacturers  have  founil  it  to  their  advantage  to  increase  the  resources 
of  their  establishments ;  and  great  fortunes  have  been  made  from  ready-made 
clothing  within  the  last  twenty  years  in  Boston,  New  York,  l'hiladcl])hia, 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Daltimore,  and  elsewhere.  The  slop-shops  slill 
exist :  Chatham  Street  still  preserves  its  distinctive  reputation.  Kvery  city  of 
any  size  has  its  second-hand  clothing-stores.  Hut  the  business  has  grown  so 
far  beyond  those  pioneer  institutions,  that  one  wonders,  with  the  arrogant 
turkey-gobbler  of  mature  years,  how  it  coulil  ever  have  been  hatched  from  so 
insignificant  a  shell. 

The  census  of  1870  showed  that  the  establishments  for  manufacturing  the 
clothing  of  men  and  boys  had  increased  to  7,858;  they  employed  108,1 2.S 
Magnitude  hands,  cousuuied  ;»86, 794,000  worth  of  materials,  paid  out 
of  buiinest.  $^0,745,000  for  wages,  and  created  clothing  worth,  at  market- 
prices,  the  large  sum  of  $148,660,000,  The  invention  of  llie  sewing-mat  i)ine 
about  1850,  and  its  subsecpient  sale  by  the  tens  of  thousands,  gave  a  great 
impulse  to  this  business  by  cheapening  the  goods  and  imparting  rapidity  to  the 
manufacture.  The  clothing-establishments  and  their  operatives  have  been  the 
best  customers  of  the  sewing-machine  factories.  The  war,  also,  gave  an  inii)ulse 
to  the  business.  The  uniforms  for  the  troops  were  bought  from  the  ready- 
made  clothiers  chiefly.  They,  having  the  facilities  and  experience  needed  for 
the  production  of  large  quantities  of  clothing,  obtained  most  of  the  contiacib 
for  the  purpose. 

HOSIERY. 

This  term  includes  not  only  stockings,  but  knit  goods  for  underwear.  This 
is  one  of  the  classes  of  goods  consumed  by  the  great  masses  of  the  people,  — 
consumed,  in  fact,  by  all,  —  for  which  the  country  was  formerly 
almost  entirely  dependent  upon  England,  but  in  regard  to  wiiicii  it 
is  now  independent  of  all  foreign  countries.  Parliament  forbade  the  exi^orta- 
tion  of  knitting-frames  to  the  colonies  of  America  in  order  to  secure  the 
exportation  of  the  manufactured  goods.  Nearly  all  the  knit  caps,  hose, 
doublets,  &c.,  which  were  sold  in  the  general  market  in  that  era,  were  conse- 
quendy  imported.  The  ladies  knit  for  their  own  families ;  but  few  could  knit 
for  the  general  market.  The  enterprising  State  of  Virginia  offered  a  premium 
of  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  in  1662  for  every  dozen  pairs  of  v.oollen  or  worsted 


Knit  Koodt. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


401 


st()(  kings  ;  but  this  device  did  little  toward  supplying  the  general  market  with 
Aiiurican-made  goods.     Little  was  achieved  in  tluU  particular  ilirection  i:ntil 
tlic  stocking-ioom  was  imported,  which  was  fKuliy  accomplished  in  spite  of  the 
Cerberus  of  the  Hritish  custom-house. 
About   1723  stockings  were  woven  in 
Chester  County,  I'cnnsylvania,  by  John 
Cauim,  antl  they  obtained  some  repute. 
The  loom  itself  made  little  progress, 
liowever,  until  the  Revolution,  when  a 
larger  supply  of  hose  was  neeilcd,  and 
\vlii':i  direct  encouragement  was  given, 
in  the  shape  of  premiums  and  grants, 
for  the  establishment  of  stocking-fac- 
tories in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  New 
York.     Then   several   stocking-looms 
were  started  here  anil  there.     After 
the    Revolution,  weaving   continued ; 
l)ut  it  was  a  hand-process,  and  there- 
fore slow,   and   the   imported   goods 
were  cheaper.     The  business,  though 
foitered  in  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Connecticut,  where  it  was  principally 
carried  on,  did   not   expand   rapidly 
until   I  S3 1,  when  Timothy  Bailey  of 
Albany  applied   power  to  the  hand- 
loom,    and    made   it   a   power-loom. 
Then   American    hosiery    became    a 
factory  rather  than  a  household  product,  and  began  to  hold  its  own  in  the 
market.     Up  to  this  time,  all  the  knitting  by  machinery  resulted  in  the  pro- 
diictiun  of  a  flat  web  only.     The  stocking  was  made  from  the  web  by  being 
tut  out  in  the  right  pattern  and  sewed  together.     About  twenty  years  ago 
the  machine  to  knit  a  circular  and  seamless  webb  was  invented,  by  whom  is 
not  known.     This  gave  a  new  impetus  to  American  hosiery,  and  resulted 
in  the  entire  defeat  of  foreign   hosiery,  and   the   stoppage  of  importations 
except  for  the  consumption  of  people  who  have  the  silly  idea  that  foreign 
goods  are  necessarily  more  beautiful,  aristocratic,  and  exclusive  than  those 
made  by  their  own  more  intelligent  and  enterprising  countrymen.     But  the 
importations  have  become  very  small. 

On  hosiery  and  knit  goods  there  are  engaged  now  about  a  hundred  and 
fifty  mills,  almost  wholly  supplying  the  market.     Some  of  the  de-   progress  in 
partments  of  manufacture  are  new  since  1867,  and  a  large  share  business. 
are  since   1864.     The    progress   made   in   this    branch    of  manufacture    is 
astonishing,  as  the  United  States  now  make  almost  all  the  under-goods, 


I.AMD   KNITT1NG-MACHINB. 


402 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


stockings,  hosiery,  scarfs,  neck- comforts,  opera-hoods,  &c.,  which  they  consume, 

amounting   to    about    forty    million 
*^^  dollars  annually.     Not  only  are  the 

^^^^pBV^  goods  woven   circular,    but    within 

^f^^^      V^^  ten   or  fifteen   years   the  manufac- 

turers have  succeeded  in  makiii'' 
goods  which  are  fitted  to  the  form, 
and  in  making  them,  not  by  hand, 
but  by  machinery,  and  surpassing 
in  quality  the  goads  made  abroad. 
American  wool,  with  its  long,  glossy 
staple,  is  well  fitted  to  the  produc- 
tion of  this  class  of  Avbrics ;  aiul 
American  competition  has  not  only 
succeeded  in  taking  possession  of 
the  home-market  for  American  prod- 
uct.s,  but  in  cutting  down  priros 
from  ten  dollars  to  six  dollars  a 
dozen.  Thus  they  are  put  within 
the  reach  of  persons  having  only 
very  small  means ;  but,  alas  fur 
our  grandmothers  !  their  occupation 
has  been  sadly  interrupted.  Tliey 
ought  to  get  consolation  in  thinking 
that  their  loss  is  the  people's  gain  ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  many  of  them 
are  too  unreasoning  to  consider  the  subject  in  this  comfortable  light.  Few, 
who  can  afford  better,  will  prefer  the  unevenly  stitched  grandmother  stocking 
to  the  precisely  made  fabric  of  the  machine  :  so  that,  complain  as  bitterly 
as  the  grandmothers  may,  the  day  of  home-made  stockings  is  rapidly  goiii;; 
by.  The  principal  centres  of  the  industry  are  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  and 
Cohoes,  N.Y. 


BICKFORD  KNITTING-MACHINE. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


403 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   MANUFACTURE   OF   COTTON. 


ning  and 
weaving. 


TT  is  not  known  when  cotton  spinning  and  weaving  began  in  the  world  ;  but 
1  the  record  of  it  goes  back  to  the  earliest  ages  of  which  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge. Probably  no  better  illustration  of  the  antiquity  of  the  ^^^.  ^^^  . 
industry  can  be  given  than  the  interesting  legend  of  the  voyage  of  cotton  spin- 
Jason  and  the  Argonauts  in  search  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  Like 
all  those  ancient  fables,  the  story  about  the  voyage  of  Jason  rests 
upon  a  basis  of  fact  •  but  this  fable  differs  from  some  of  the  others  in  the  cir- 
cumstance that  we  kn^.  "  what  the  basis  of  fact  probably  is.  Jason's  expedition 
was  simply  an  attempt  to  reach  India,  by  way  of  the  Black  Sea  and  some 
overland  route  thence,  to  obtain  a  quantity  of  cotton,  —  a  beautiful  fleece  grow- 
ing on  a  tree,  which  it  was  reported  that  India  was  cultivating,  and  which 
produced  garments  far  superior  in  softness  and  beauty  to  those  of  wool  then 
exclusively  worn  in  the  West.  The  Greeks  of  that  age,  with  all  their  intelli- 
gence, were  more  than  half  pirates  ;  and  Jason's  voyage  was  simply  a  search 
for  plunder.  The  cotton-manufacture  attained  perfection  in  India  at  a  very 
early  date.  The  cotton  was  spun  by  hand,  and  woven  by  hand :  but  the 
people  were  inventive,  and  the  mild  and  moist  climate  of  the  region  was 
favoralile  to  the  production  of  delicate  fabrics ;  and,  when  Europeans  began 
to  trade  with  India  actively,  the  natives  were  already  making  textures  so  fairy- 
like, that  they  resembled  cobwebs  when  spread  upon  the  grass,  and  were 
invisible  when  wet  with  the  dew. 

From  India  the  cotton-manufacture  spread  in  both  directions  around  the 
world.  Thick  cotton-cloths  began  to  be  used  for  tents  and  awnings  in 
Southern  Europe  about  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  The  spread  of 
cotton-plant  spread  slowly  along  through  the  countries  in  the  cotton-m«n. 
soutli  of  Asia  until  it  finally  reached  Egypt.  The  fibre  was  "'■"=*""• 
imported  to  Italy  in  the  middle  ages,  and  shipments  of  it  reached  England 
about  1640.  The  fibre  was  greatly  admired  in  Europe,  and  all  the  industrial 
nations  of  that  part  of  the  world  fell  to  manufacturing  it  upon  as  large  a  scale 
as  was  consistent  with  the  small  supply  of  the  raw  material.    The  process  of 


404 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


manufacture  was  greatly  improved  by  the  invention  of  a  large  number  of 
machines.  From  Europe  the  manufocture  extended  west  to  America.  The 
plant,  however,  was  found  growing  wild  here  when  the  Europeans  landed. 
They  did  not  bring  the  plant,  bui  only  the  processes  of  manufacture.  The 
Indians  were  already  working  it  up  into  rude  cloths,  and  pieces  of  armor, 
before  they  came.  In  America  the  manufacture  reached  a  perfection  never 
before  attained,  as  far  as  the  production  of  the  classes  of  goods  consumed  in 
large  quantides  by  the  population  of  the  continent  is  concerned.  In  the  year 
of  (.'ir  Lord  1878  we  find  the  art,  which  has  come  down  to  us  from  at  least 
thirty  centuries  ago,  practised  on  this  continent  —  the  farthest  point  westward 
it  can  go  —  upon  a  scale  of  which  the  ancients  of  the  land  of  its  birth  never 
dreamed  in  their  most  exalted  moments.  A  thousand  great  factories  are 
engaged  in  the  business,  many  of  them  employing  600  operatives,  and  all 
of  them  performing  all  the  processes  of  spinning,  weaving,  finishing,  dyeing, 
and  decorating,  by  the  aid  of  ingenious  machines  which  are  driven  by  tlie 
forces  of  nature,  and  which  work  so  fast,  that,  whereas  there  are  only  about 
136,000  operatives  employed  in  those  thousand  factories,  the  product  of 
cloth  and  hosiery  every  year  is  equal  to  the  product  of  the  labor  of  40,- 
000,000  people  working  with  the  simple  appliances  of  the  birthplace  of  the 
cotton-industry.  Such  is  the  development  which  the  manufacture  has  reached 
in  its  journey  westward  round  the  world ;  and  it  seems  destined  to  reach  a 
yet  greater  development. 

The  industry  started  upon  the  journey  eastward  around  the  world  at  an 
earlier  date.  It  was  introduced  to  China,  by  a  ruler  who  presided  over  botli 
China  and  India,  before  the  Christian  era.  A  native  of  India  reached  Jai)an, 
the  utmost  limit  of  its  progress  in  that  direction,  as  early  as  799  A.l).  The 
manufacture  began  actively  in  Japan  as  early  as  1558  A.D.,  —  at  least  a  century 
earlier  than  it  did  in  England.  It  is  striking  to  notice  the  differences  of  its 
subsequent  development  in  the  two  quarters  of  the  earth,  —  the  East  and  the 
West.  In  1878  Japan  has  few  if  any  native  cotton-factories  which  emi)loy 
more  than  thirty  or  forty  workmen.  There  has  been  no  invention  of  ma- 
chinery, and  no  progress.  The  fibre  is  spun  by  hand,  and  woven  by  hand.  It 
is  ginned,  one  pod  at  a  time,  by  passing  it  between  a  pair  of  wooden  rollers 
an  inch  in  diaineter.  It  is  prepared  for  spinning,  not  by  carding,  but  by 
gathering  it  before  the  workman,  and  applying  to  it  the  twanging-string  of  a 
large  bow,  which  causes  the  fibres  to  fly  up,  and  arrange  themselves  in  falling 
in  a  lap.  The  whole  industry  stands  just  where  it  did  a  thousand  years  ago ; 
and  the  only  symptoms  of  a  new  order  of  things  in  that  ancient  realm  are  pre- 
sented by  the  erection  of  a  very  few  American  and  European  cotton-factories, 
with  machinery  and  power,  within  the  past  few  year?;.  The  older  nation 
borrows  from  the  younger  ones  the  ideas  which  are  necessary  to  her  progress 
ana  regeneration.  Could  there  be  a  more  interesting  illustration  of  how 
much  farther  the  sons  of  Japhet  have  run  in  the  race  of  civilization  than  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


405 


sons  of  Shem  since  they  parted  company  on  the  plains  of  Asia  Minor  in  the 
dawn  of  history? 

Ancient  as  is  the  origin  of  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  the  active  develop- 
ment of  the  industry  in  Europe  and  America  is  of  very  recent  date.     In  1770 
the  consumption  of  raw  cotton  in  France  was  only  sixteen  hundred   ^^jj^^  ^ 
tons  a  year:    in  England  it  was  only  twenty-five  hundred  tons  a  veiopmcntof 
year.     In  that  year  America  sent  to  Europe  her  first  venture  in   •"'^"**''y  °' 

•'  •'  '  recent  date. 

cotton :  it  was  only  a  ton.  In.  1 784  eight  bales  shipped  from 
Charleston,  S.C.,  were  seized  in  England  by  the  custom-house  authorities  on 
the  ground  that  so  large  a  quantity  of  cotton  could  not  have  been  produced 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  since  1770  that  this  industry,  now  of  such  mag- 
nificent proportions,  employing  so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  human 
beings,  has  attained  its  stature. 

The  cotton-plant  being  native  to  the  soil  of  this  continent,  and  the  fleece 
being  desirable  for  spinning,  the  plant  was  cultivated  somewhat  in  the  Southern 
States  during  the  few  years  immediately  preceding  the  Revolutionary  war.     It 
was  raised  as  a  door-yard  plant  at  first.     A  great  deal  of  attention  was  paid  to 
the  capabilities  of  cotton  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  wool,  of  which  there 
was  a  very  inadequate  supply  in  this  country ;  and  the   fibre  was  spun  to  a 
very  considerable  extent  by  the  maids   and    matrons   of  the   Revolutionary 
period  North  and  South.     In  1787  a  first  timid  venture  at  a  regular  manufac- 
ture was  made  in  New  F^ngland  at  the  village  of  Ikverly,  Mass., 
where  a  small  concern  v.-as  started  to  weave  corduroys  and  bed- 
ticks.     The  machinery  was  of  a  very  rude  descrii)tion.     The  fac-   cotton  in 
tory  iiad  ^9,000  capital,  and  it  received  a  grant  of  ;^i,ooo  from      '^    "^" 
the  State  of  Massachusetts.     It  managed  to  thrive  for  fifteen  years, 
when  it  suddenly  failed,  owing  to  the  building  of  better  mills,  with  which 
it  could  not  compete  on  account  of  their  better  machinery.     Another  small 
factory  was  started  about  the  same  time  at  East  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  the  State 
making  a  grant  of  ^200  pounds  to  help  it  along.     In  1 7S8  IJrown  &  Almy 
started  a  small  factory  at  Providence  for  making  homespun  cloth.     In   1 790 
a  venture  was  made  by  Samuel  Slater,  an  Englishman  who  had   samuei 
come  to  the  United  States  for  the  sake  of  finding  a  field  wherein   Slater. 
to  practise  his  chosen  employment  of  spinning  and  weaving  to  better  advan- 
tage than  in  England.     Slater  was  an  apprentice  of  Strutt.  the  partner  of  Ark- 
wright,  who  in   1 769  had  invented  the  drawing-frame  for  drawing  out  the  rolls 
or  slivers  of  cotton   in  order  to  lay  the  fibres  ]:)arallel.     That  quarter  of  a 
century  was  a  time  of  great  excitement  in  the  cotton-trade  in  England,  owing 
to  the  rapid  succession  of  important  inventions  for  spinning  and  weaving  which 
were  Cjming  into  use.     In  1767  James  Hargrcaves  had  improved  james 
til"  spinning-wheel  employed  in  his  own  house  by  making  one   Hargreaves. 
w'lied  drive  eight  spindles  instead  of  one.     In  i  769  .Arkwright  had  invented 
tlie  drawing-frame.     In   1784  Crompton  had  invented  the  mule-spinner,  in 


First  manu- 
facture of 


4o6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


which  the  spindles  were  mounted  upon  a  movable  frame,  which  would  run  out 
five  or  six  feet  and  stretch  the  thread  as  it  was  twisting,  and  would  run  in 
again  in  order  to  permit  the  thread  to  be  wound  upon  the  spindles.  The 
mule-spinner  was  able  to  carry  a  hundred  and  thirty  spindles  instead  of  eight ; 
and  in  1 790,  when  water-power  was  apphed  to  it,  it  carried  four  hundred  spin- 
dles.    Improvements  were  made  in  carding  in  that  era  also,  and 

Cftrtwriffht*  o  7 

in  1 785  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cartwright  invented  the  power-loom.  It  was 
just  at  this  time  that  the  steam-engine  was  being  invented.  England  was 
greatly  agitated  by  this  remarkable  machine,*  and  the  business  of  the  cotton- 
manufacture  at  once  assumed  a  vast  importance  in  the  eyes  of  English  states- 
men. The  various  discoveries  were  kept  as  secret  as  possible.  None  of  the 
new  machines  were  allowed  to  go  out  of  the  country,  especially  to  America ; 
and  England  tried  in  every  way  to  maintain  a  monopoly  of  her  discoveries. 
It  is  due  to  that  fact  that  the  Beverly  mill,  started  in  Massachusetts  in  1787, 
contained  none  of  the  improved  machinery  in  use  in  England.  Samuel  Slater 
was  the  first  man  that  brought  to  America  a  knowledge  of  that  machinery  and 
its  use.  In  partnership  with  Almy  &  Brown,  Slater  put  up  at  Providence,  in 
1 790,  the  whole  set  of  new  machines  used  and  invented  by  Arkwright  for  the 
spinning  of  cotton,  which  he  made  from  recollection  with  his  own  hands.  This 
was  the  real  beginning  of  the  cotton-manufacture,  in  the  United  States.  In 
1 793  the  three  men  built  a  new  mill  at  Pawtucket.  Neither  of  the  two  mills 
had  more  than  seventy-two  spindles. 

The  beginnings  of  an  attempt  to  practise  so  important  an  industry  in 
regular  factories  could  not  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  when  that  body  organized  under  the  Constitution.  In  order 
that  Congress  might  be  fully  informed  in  regard  to  this  subject,  Alexander 
Hamilton  obtained  the  facts  of  the  situation  as  it  then  existed,  and  in  Decem- 
ber, 1 791,  made  the  following  mention  of  the  industry  in  his  famous  report  to 
Congress  on  manufactures  :  — 

"  Manufactories  of  cotton-goods  not  long  since  established  at  Beveriy, 
Mass.,  and  at  Providence  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  conducted  with  a 
perseverance  corresponding  with  the  patriotic  motives  which  began  them,  seem 
Early  goods  to  have  overcome  the  first  obstacles  to  success,  producing  cordu- 
produced.  roys,  velverets,  fustians,  jeans,  and  other  similar  articles,  of  a  quality 
which  will  bear  a  comparison  with  the  like  articles  brought  from  Manchester. 
The  one  at  Providence  has  the  merit  of  being  the  first  in  introducing  into  the 
United  States  the  celebrated  cotton-mill  [meaning  the  spinning-mule],  which 
not  only  furnishes  materials  for  that  manufactory  itself,  but  for  the  supply  of 
l)rivate  families  for  household  manufacture.  Other  manufactories  of  the  same 
material,  as  regular  businesses,  have  also  been  begun  at  different  places  in  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  but  all  upon  a  smaller  scale  than  those  above  mentioned. 
Some  essays  are  also  making  in  the  printing  and  staining  of  cotton-goods. 
There  are  several  small  establishments  of  this  kind  already  on  foot." 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


407 


out 
I  in 

The 
5lit ; 
ipin- 
and 
t  was 
I  was 
)tton- 
itates- 
3f  ihe 
erica ; 
veries. 

1787. 
1  Slatei 

;ry  and 
;nce,  in 
for  the 
5.    This 
tes.    In 
vo  mills 

ustry  in 

of  the 

order 

exander 

Decem- 

report  to 

Beverly, 
d  with  a 
em,  seem 
ig  cordu- 

a  (laality 

^nchcsler. 

into  the 

;],  which 

supply  of 
the  same 


in 


hes  m 


the 


lientumeu. 


In  another  part  of  the  report  Hamilton  says,  — 

"  rhere  is  something  in  the  textuie  of  this  material  [cotton]  which  adapts 
it  in  a  peculiar  degree  to  the  application  of  machines.  .  .  .  This  very  im- 
portant circumstance  reconimpnda  the  fabrics  of  cotton  in  a  more   n«miiton'» 
particular  manner  to  a  country  in  which  a  defect  of  hands  con-  report  on 
stitutes  the  greatest  obstacle  to  success.     The  variety  and  extent  c""""-""*"- 
of  the  uses  to  which  the  manufactures  of  this  article  are  applica- 
ble is  another  powerful  argument  in  its  favor.     And  the  faculty  of  the  United 
States  to  produce  the  raw  material  in  abundance,  and  of  a  quality,  which, 
though  alleged  to  be  inferior  to  some  that  is  produced  in  other  quarters,  is, 
nevertheless,  capable  of  bemg  used  with  advantage  in  many  fabrics,  and  is 
prol)ably  susceptible  of  being  carried,  by  a  more  experienced  culture,  to  a 
much  greater  perfection,  suggests  an  additional  and   a  very  cogent  induce- 
ment to  the  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  cotton  branch  in  its  several  subdivisions. 
How  much  has  been  already  done  has  been  stated  in  a  preceding  part  of  this 
report.     In  addition  to  this,  it  may  be  announced  that  a  society  is  forming 
with  a  capital  which  is  expected  to  be  extended  to  at  least  half  a  million  of 
dollars ;  on  behalf  of  which  measures  are  already  in  train  for  prosecuting,  on 
a  large  scale,  the  making  and  printing  of  cotton-goods." 

Hamilton  advocated  protection  for  the  new  industry.  He  thought  the 
duty  of  three  cents  a  pound  on  the  raw  material  should  be  repealed,  because 
very  little  cotton  was  being  raised  in  this  country.  Hamilton 
believed,  evidently,  that  very  little  would  ever  be  raised  here. 
He  thought  hemp-raising  should  be  protected,  but  said,  "  Cotton 
has  not  the  same  pretensions  with  hemp  to  form  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  Not  being,  like  hemp,  a  universal  production  of  the  country,  it  affords 
less  assurance  of  an  adequate  internal  supply ;  but  the  chief  objection  arises 
from  the  doubts  which  are  entertained  concerning  the  quality  of  the  national 
cotton."  Hamilton  advised  a  bounty  of  one  cent  a  pound  on  cloth  exported, 
and  one  cent  more  if  the  cotton  used  was  American  grown.  The  suggestions 
of  the  secretary  were  not,  liowever,  carried  out.  The  duty  on  raw  cotton  was 
retained,  as  also  a  duty  of  seven  per  cent  and  a  half  on  manufactures, 
enacted  in  1 790.  The  American  cotton  was  a  great  deal  better  than  Hamilton 
was  aware  of,  and  there  was  no  need  of  following  his  suggestions. 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  Slater's  original  enterprise  was  for  the 
spinning  of  cotton  merely.  The  Beverly  mill  wove ;  but  Slater's  did  not. 
riie  weaving  of  that  day  was  done  with  sufficient  speed  and  character  of 
'-couomy  in  jjrivate  families.  The  household  was  the  factory  Slater's 
-f  1790.  No  i)ublic  need  really  existed  for  setting  up  factories  '"^^''P""- 
!or  performing  what  could  as  well  be  done  by  the  family  fireside ;  and  the 
only  thing  for  which  there  existed  a  positive  want  was  the  means  for  pro- 
•lucini;,  on  a  large  scale,  a  cheap  and  abimdant  supply  of  yarn.  Slater's 
venture  went  no  farther,  therefore,  at  first,  than  the  spinning  of  cotton-yarn 


Hamilton's 
advocacy  of 
protection. 


408 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


for  distribution  to  the  families  of  the  neighborhood,  to  be  woven  by  them  into 
the  cloth  they  needed  for  themselves,  or  which  they  desired  to  sell. 

Within  four  years  from  the  time  of  building  Samuel  Slater's  little  old 
wooden  mill,  however,  the  cotton-business  took  a  tremendous  start.  England 
had  done  much  for  the  business  by  originating  machines  for  working  \\\i  tin' 
fleece  of  the  cotton-plant  into  yarn  and  cloth.  The  United  States  were  now  ui 
do  more  for  the  cotton-manufacture  than  Arkwright  or  Crompton  ever  dre;um(l 
Whitney's  of,  and  all  by  one  simple  invention.  In  1792  Kii  Whitney  df 
cotton-gin.  Massachusetts,  who  had  gone  to  Georgia  as  a  private  tutor,  was 
one  day  a  guest  in  the  family  of  Mrs.  (len.  (Ireene.  During  the  day  mciiiidii 
was  made  of  the  desirableness  of  the  creation  of  some  machine  for  sepa- 
rating from  the  fleece  of  the  cotton-plant  the  seed  which  filled  it.  Wiiitncy 
was  an  inventive  fellow  ;  and,  with  true  Yankee  zeal,  he  undertook  pri\atcly 
to  solve  the  i)rol)lem  of  ginning  cotton.  He  obtained  some  cotton  from 
Savannah,  and  had  soon  invented  his  famous  saw-gin.  The  first  gin  was  a 
cylinder  studded  with  rows  of  stout  wire  teeth,  which  caught  the  cotton,  and 
drew  it  through  a  wire  grating.  The  lint  passed  through  the  grating ;  but  ihe 
seeds,  being  too  large  to  go  through,  were  torn  off,  and  separated  from  tlie 
fibre.  Whitney  soon  afterwards  employed  circular  saws  instead  of  wire  tciili. 
as  being  stronger  and  more  serviceable.  Even  his  first  imperfect  gin  did  j^oud 
service,  and  satisfied  the  planters  of  Georgia,  who  were  invited  in  to  sec  it 
work  ;  and  his  later  one  brought  with  it  the  assurance  that  cotton-planting  miuht 
now  becone  one  of  the  most  profitable  branches  of  agriculture  into  whicli  the 
planters  of  the  South  could  go.  Whitney  took  out  his  patent  in  1793.  and 
began  the  manufacture  of  gins  with  a  partner  by  the  name  of  Miller.  He  had 
bad  luck,  however.  He  was  taken  ill  in  1794,  and  in  1795  his  sho]>  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  Furthermore,  his  gin  was  too  important  to  the  puhli(  to 
permit  the  latter  to  wait  for  the  inventor  to  build  on  a  scale  large  enou^li  to 
supply  the  general  market ;  and,  almost  from  the  beginning,  a  large  numlier  of 
mechanics  in  New  luigland  and  elsewhere  made  the  gins  in  large  nuniliers. 
and  sold  them  in  competition  with  the  patentee.  Wliitney  had  great  trinil.Ie 
in  the  courts  with  these  infringers  ui)on  his  rights,  and  about  all  he  got  for  his 
invention  was  a  grant  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  from  the  State  of  South  ( 'iro- 
lina  as  a  reward  for  his  discovery.  But  if  Whitney  gained  only  the  eiiipty 
fame  of  his  invention,  without  the  substantial  rewards  to  which  he  was  entitleii. 
the  United  States  at  any  rate  profited  by  it  exceedingly,  A  furore  of  cotton- 
planting  took  place ;  and  so  great  was  the  increase  of  production  resiiltiiii; 
from  the  introduction  of  the  gin,  that,  whereas  only  138,328  pounds  of  cotton 
were  exported  from  the  United  States  in  1792,  the  amount  exported  in  1795 
was  more  than  6,000,000  potmds.  A  proportionate  increase  took  place  in  the 
(Quantity  of  cotton  sent  to  the  Northern  States  for  manufacture. 

Samuel  Salter's  good  luck,  and  the  cheapening  of  cotton  by  the  invention 
of  the  gin,  led  to  a  great  extension  of  factory-spinning  in  the  Northern  States 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


409 


h. 
id 
it 
.ht 
he 
ml 

ill 

lad 

1         '^   \\. 

■         '^'   ' 

was 

1         '    \\ 

to 

1 

1  to 

V  of 

1 

icrs, 

1 

ulile 

1 

•his 

1 

aro- 

1 

iiptv 

1 

tied. 

1 

it>>ii- 

1 

Uiiig 

1 

)ltOll 

I 

1 7')5 

1 

,  tlic 

1 

iition 

1 

^tatc3 

H 

410 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Rapid  exten 
tion  of  cot- 
ton-manu- 
factures in 
the  North. 


immediately.  Factories  were  built  on  the  large  and  powerful  mill-streams  of 
Eastern  Connecticut,  at  different  places  in  Massachusetts,  and 
elsewhere  in  New  England  and  the  Middle  States,  They  were 
for  the  spinning  of  cotton-yarn,  and  were  neighborhood  affairs, 
designed  to  supply  the  farmers  and  citizens  of  their  respective 
counties  with  their  material  for  the  weaving  of  cloth.  The  girls 
and  young  men  who  found  employment  in  these  factories  were  of  the  best  bloucl 
of  New  England.  From  a  report  made  by  Mr.  Albert  Gallatin,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  in  1810,  it  appears,  that,  at  the  close  of  1809,  there  had  been  erected 
Condition  of  '"  ^^  United  States  eighty-seven  cotton-factories,  sixty-two  of 
industry  in  which  were  in  operation,  and  twenty-five  of  which  would  probably 
'  '"■  be  completed  and  ready  to  go  to  work  in  18 10.     Of  the  sixty-two, 

forty-eight  were  driven  by  the  power  of  waterfalls,  and  fourteen  by  horse-power. 
They  employed  thirty-one  thousand  spindles :  the  whole  eighty-seven  would 
employ  eighty  thousand  spindles. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  as  we  have  seen,  that,  before  the  cotton-gin  was 
invented,  hemp  was  considered  in  the  United  States  a  more  important  plant 
than  cotton.  Hemp  was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  supply  of  the  shipping 
with  cordage ;  and  so  great  was  the  interest  felt  in  it,  that  the  protection 
accorded  to  textile  agriculture  by  Congress  was  extended  more  to  hemp  than 
to  cotton.  By  1790  the  superior  importance  of  cotton  was  realized,  and 
Congress  gave  to  that  plant  and  its  manufactures  new  and  zealous  attention. 
There  was  little  need  of  recognizing  raw  cotton  itself  in  the  tariff,  as  none 
Congret-  °^  ^^  ''^^  material  was  at  all  likely  to  be  imported,  notwith- 
■ionai  legis-  Standing  Hamilton's  alarm  :  yet  Congress  gave  it  a  protection  of 
lation.  three  cents  a  pound,  which  was  increased  to  six  cents  in  181 2; 

and,  in  order  to  secure  the  largest-home  market  for  it  possible,  the  manutac- 
ture  of  the  fleece  was  encouraged  by  a  duty  of  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent  in 
1794,  which  was  increased  to  seventeen  and  a  half  in  1804,  and  to  thirty  five 
per  cent  in  181 2.  This  high  duty  on  the  manufactured  cloth  was  needed, 
because  England  was  now  sending  to  the  United  States  large  quantities  of  the 
cotton-cloth  made  from  our  own  fleeces  by  steam-power ;  and  it  was  held,  that, 
if  cotton-cloth  was  to  be  consumed  in  large  quantity  in  the  United  States,  it 
would  be  better  to  encourage  its  manufacture  here,  in  order  that  our  own 
people  might  derive  the  profits  of  manufacture,  and  save  the  transportation- 
charges  to  and  from  Europe.  If  the  tariff  increased  the  selling-prices  ol 
cotton  and  cotton-goods  in  the  United  States,  it  probably  did  not  <\o  so  to 
any  greater  extent  than  those  jirices  would  be  enhanced  under  a  lower  tarill 
by  transportation-charges  to  and  from  Europe ;  and  the  tariff,  at  an\  rate. 
secured  the  profits  of  a  large  portion  of  the  manufacture  to  our  own 
countrymen. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  war  of  181 2   there  had  been  no  factories  in  thj 
United   States   for  weaving   cotton-cloth,   except   the  pioneer  enterprise  a: 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


411 


i-gin  was 
ant  plant 

shipping 
protection 
emp  tlian 
lized,  and 
attention. 
;,  as  none 
,  notwitli- 
tection  of 
in  1812; 
manufac- 
)er  cent  in 
thirty- five 
IS  needed, 
ties  of  tlie 
held,  that, 
d  States,  it 
»t  our  own 
isportalion- 
prices  ot 

ao  so  t" 
lower  tarilT 
any  rate 
ovu-  o\vn 


Beverly,  Mass.,  ':hen  defunct.  The  factories  were  all  for  spinning  yarn.  Mr. 
Francis  C.  Lowell  of  Boston  now  conceived  the  plan  of  starting  Francis  c. 
a  tactory  for  weaving,  in  which  the  work  should  not  be  done  Lowell. 
slowly  and  laboriously  by  hantl  as  in  the  household  manufacture,  but  by 
water-power.  Mr.  Lowell  got  back  to  the  United  States  from  a  visit  to  Eu- 
rope—  which  he  had  spent  largely  in  inspecting  the  cotton-factories — just 
as  this  country  was  going  to  war  with  England  for  the  protection  of  the 
freedom  of  our  commerce  and  of  the  rights  of  nationality.  Mr.  Lowell  had 
neither  models  nor  machines  to  start  his  factory  with,  —  nothing,  in  fact, 
except  his  recollection  and  Yankee  wit.  He  formed  a  partnership  with 
Patrick  S.  Jackson,  his  brother-in-law ;  and  the  two  men  went  to  work  to  devise 
a  power-loom.  They  made  a  number  of  experiments,  and  finally  hit  upon  a 
machine  which  they  thought  would  work.  Paul  Moody,  an  expert  mechanic 
whom  they  took  into  their  employ,  built  a  loom  for  them  from  their  plans  ;  and 
in  1813  the  firm  put  up  a  little  mill  at  Waltham,  Mass.,  and  began  manufactur- 
ing. They  had  a  full  set  of  machinery  for  spinning  and  weaving.  The 
niniiber  of  spindles  was  1,700.  This  mill  is  claimed  and  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  cotton -factory  in  the  world  which  performed  all  the  operations 
of  converting  the  covton-lint  intp  cloth  under  the  same  roof.  Hitherto,  both 
in  Kngland  and  America,  spinning  and  weaving  had  been  carried  on  in  sepa- 
rate establishments.  Mr.  Lowell  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  at  first  with  his 
looms.  They  were  right  in  principle,  but  crude  in  detail ;  and  it  was  several 
years  before  Moody,  Jackson,  and  himself  could  devise  and  find  out  the 
various  contrivances  ^etded  to  perfect  their  plan  of  manufacturing,  and  make 
it  a  success.  Their  pemeverance  overcame  all  obstacles,  however ;  and  they 
prospered  in  their  enterprise.  The  concern  enlapged  its  business  in  1822  by 
buying  tiie  whole  power  of  the  Merrimack  River  at  the  place  where  the  city  of 
Lowell  now  stands,  and  by  building  there  a  large  mill,  for  which  a  joint-stock 
comi)any  was  formed  among  the  capitalists  of  the  State.  This  act  gave  birth 
both  to  the  city  of  Lowell  and  to  the  magnificent  development  of  the  cotton- 
manufacture  by  power  to  which  this  country  has  since  attained.  The  building 
of  cotton-factories  became  one  of  the  i)assions  of  the  age.  There  was  a  great 
(leal  of  idle  capital  in  the  country ;  and  the  success  of  Slater,  Lowell,  and 
others,  stimulated  its  investment  in  this  industry.  An  immense  impetus  was 
given  to  the  manufacture ;  and,  in  twenty  years  from  the  beginning  of  the  war 
of  1812,  the  cotton-industry  had  grown  to  four  times  its  previous  stature. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  new  factories  built  were  put  up  in  New  England,  New 
Vork,  and  Pennsylvania.      That  was  not  the  i)art  of  the  United   Factories 
i'tatcs  in  which  the  manufacture  coukl  have  been  carried  on  to  the  i'"''' '"  ^ew 
best  advantage.     The  climate  was  dry  and  cold,  entailing  a  large   New  York, 
txpeiiLc  in  warming  and  steaming  the  air  of  the  mills.     Wages    and  Penn. 
were  hi^Ii  in  that  part  of  the  country.     The  factories  were  situated   "^  vama. 
many  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  the  cotton-growing  regions,  entailing  anothci 


419 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTONY 


large  expense  for  baling,  pressing,  hooping,  and  transporting  the  cotton  to 
the  mill,  anil  for  unpacking  it,  freeing  it  from  its  hoops  and  bagging,  and 
picking  it  up  loose  again,  after  it  had  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  mill. 
The  distance  of  the  factories  from  the  cotton-fields  also  brought  loss  of 
interest,  and  waste  of  the  cotton  in  transportation  and  handling.  'I'iie  hitter 
place  for  the  factories  would  have  been  in  tlic  Southern  States  themselves. 
There  the  climate  was  mild,  the  wages  of  free  labor  were  low,  baling,  hooj)- 
ing,  and  pressing  wotdd  have  been  almost  entirely  avoided,  and  transporta- 
tion would  have  been  only  a  nominal  charge.  The  water-j)ower  of  the  South 
was   as   abundant   ;uid    cheap,  too.  as   that   of  the    North.     In    the    North, 


."."I 


CARDING-.MACIIlNli.      MASON   MACHINE-WORKS. 


however,  the  population  was  denser,  the  climate  was  more  invigorating, 
and  the  spirit  of  industry  hail  taken  possession  of  the  peojjle.  The  .States 
of  the  North  were  under  the  necessity  of  undertaking  to  carry  on  niamirai- 
tures,  because  agriculture  was  less  remunerative  with  them  than  in  the  South. 
and  the  genius  of  the  people  was  favorable  to  emi)loyments  which  called 
for  the  exercise  of  great  ingenuity,  technical  skill,  and  executive  ability.  The 
South  preferred  the  charms  and  independence  of  the  agreeable  agricultural 
life.  Accordingly,  in  1831,  of  the  795  cotton-mills  which  had  then  been  Iniilt 
in  the  United  States,  and  were  in  acti\-e  and  profitable  operation,  508  were  in 
New  England  alone,  and  738  of  the  whole  number  were  in  New  England  and 
the  Middle  States.     The  situation  in  1831  was  as  follows  :  — 

NO.   OK   FA<  TORIES. 

Maine S 

New  Hampshire 40 

Massachusetts      .        .* 250 


OF    THE  UNITED    STATES. 


413 


ton  to 

g.  and 
ic  mill, 
loss  of 
I  better 
ii-iMelvL'S. 
f,  hoop- 
nsjtorta- 
le  South 
;   North, 


I 


!M 


nvigorating. 
The  States 
n  niaiiutac- 
the  South, 
hich  called 

bihty.    'l'h<-' 

•uUural 
mill 


agru'i 
1  been 


508  were  m 
l^nglanil  awl 


I,,,.-    F.MTORIES. 

S 

•1° 


Rhode  Island 116 

Connecticut 94 

New  York 112 

Pennsylvania 67 

New  Jersey 51 


Maryland 
Delaware 
Virginia 
Other  States 


Total 


23 
10 

7 
'7 

795 


The  largest  actual  development  of  the  industry  since  1831  has  still  been 
in  the  Northern  and  I'^astern  States.     The  largest  jiropurtionate  building  of 
factories,  however,  has  been  in  the  South,  whose  future  as  a  great   _ 
cotton-manufacturing  ilistrict  is  now  well  assured.  ment  of 

The  growth  of  the  cotton-factories  in  number,  after  the  war  '"<i"s*''>' 

111  <•     1  ■       •  1  .       I  .        since  1831, 

of  1.S12,  would  be  one  of  the  most  marvellous  mcidents  m  his- 
tory, were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  their  multiplication  ilid  not  really  represent 
an  ac  tiial  growth  in  cotton  spinning  and  weaving  in  this  country.     It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  cotton-manufacture  was  being  carried  on  upon  a 
consitlerable  scale  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land   _    ,, 

°  °  Continuation 

in  the  homes  of  the  people  when  factory-weaving  was  introduced   of  domestic 
to  the  country  by  Mr.  Lowell.     It  was  estimated  by  Mr.  Gallatin,   «"<>""'"<=- 
that,  ill  1810,  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  clothing  and  of  the  house 
and  table  cloths  consumed  in   the  United  States  were  still  the  product  of 
family  manufactures,  which  were   then   in   a   flourishing   state.     During  the 
next  twenty  years  the  principal  part  of  this  family  weaving  and  spinning  was 
transferred  to  the  factories,  and  this  transfer  was  of  itself  sufificient  to  create  a 
great  flictory-industry.     The  growth  from  18 10  to  1831  was  chiefly  due  to  the 
factory  and  the  power-loom  taking  the  place  of  the  home-manufacture  and 
the  hand-loom.     The  growth  after   1831  was  the  legitimate  product  of  the 
increase  of  population  in  the  United  Slates  in  numbers  and  wealth,  and  the 
larger  consumption  of  cotton-goods  which  followed  their  reduction  in  price. 
The  following  are  the  statistics  of  growth  :  — 


NUMBERS. 

SPINDLES. 

OPERATIVES. 

COTTON   eSED, 
I.N   POUNDS. 

! 
YDS.  CLOTH   MADE.'          CAPITAL. 

IS09  . 

'"'.0     . 

62 
168 

795 
1,240 

1.074 

1,091 

956 

31,000 

90,800 

250,572 

1,246,503 

2,284,631 

4,052,000 

.235.727 

7.132.415 

4,000 

57,466 
72,119 

97.956 
122,028 

135.369 

3,600,000 

iS:o   . 

9,945,609 

77.7S7.3'6 
132.835.856 
276,074,100 
437.905.036 
409,900,806 

■S3.    .       . 
1840   . 
'S50   .       . 
i860   . 
"870   . 

230,461,990 

398,5-^7.568 

828,222,300 

1,148,252,406 

i.'37.Si8,330 

540,614,984 
5'.«02,359 
76,032,57s 
98,585,269 

140,706,291 

414 


INDUSTRIAL    H! STORY 


Of  course  it  is  understood,  that,  like  all  statistics  which  cover  so  vast  a 
field  as  this,  these  figures,  though  compiled  by  the  government,  do  not  aspire 
to  absolute  accuracy.  They  are  simply  remarkably  close  approximatiuiis  to 
the  truth,  and  arc  to  be  taken  as  valuable  indications  of  it.  The  nianuladurc 
is  doubtlesu,  in  each  year  referred  to,  somewhat  larger  than  above  set  <"'^'-'li. 

The  f:ill  in  the  price  of  cotton-cloth  after  factory-weaving  began  \  ne- 

tiling  remarkable.  In  1815,  when  cotton-cloth  was  still  woven  c.  tly  by 
Dedinain  liand,  —  the  family  weaver  making  only  twenty-five  throws  of  the 
price  of  shuttle  per  minute,  and  finishing  only  four  yards  of  cloth  a  day, — 

ons.  jj^^  price  of  ordinary  cloth  for  sheetings  was  forty  cents  a  yard.     In 

1822  it  had  fallen  to  twenty-two  cents,  and  in  1S29  to  cigln  cents  and  a  lialt". 
In  1850,  when  the  factory-manufacture  had  completely  abolished  the  old-time 
system,  when  the  power-loom  was  in  full  operation,  —  throwing  the  shuttle 
from  a  hundred  aud  forty  to  two  hundred  times  a  minute,  and  one  pcisoii, 
lending  three  or  four  looms,  would  weave  from  ninety  to  a  hundred  and  sixty 
yards  of  cloth  a  day,  —  the  price  of  cloth  for  sheetings  was  reduced  to  seven 
cents  a  yard  as  the  result  of  maciiinc-labor.  This  reduction  of  price  was 
interrupted  by  the  war  and  the  inflation  of  the  currency  resulting  tVor.i  the 
war ;  but  market-values  have  again  fallen  to  where  they  were  before  "  war, 
so  that  the  reduction  of  price  is  seen  to  be  permanent.     That  tb  inge 

of  price  is  due  chiefly  to  the  employment  of  marhinery,  and  not  sc  u  to 

a  fall  in  the  price  of  cotton,  is  evident  by  a  comparison  of  the  prices  of  cotton 
and  of  cloth.     The  following  figures  will  illustrate  the  point :  — 


I 

»'R1CE  (iP  HEAVY  •    TRICE  OP  PRINT-  |     TRICE  OP  RAW 

SHEETINGS  A      ,    ED  CALICOES  A     COTTON  A  flHSD, 
YARD,  IN  CENTS.     YARD,  IN  CENTS,  j  IN  CENTS. 


IS16 
1819 
IS26 
1829 

1843 
184s 
1850 

•sss 
i860 
1870 
1872 
1878 


30 

21 

'3 
Si 
61 

7 
7l 

.o| 
•3j 


17 
12 
II 
9i 


6 


30 

'3  A 

•of 
7* 
6 

12* 

loj 

I3i 

I4i 

19 
II 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  prices  of  cloth  fell  faster  than  that  of  cotton, 
and  that  at  the  present  time,  while  cloth  is  substantially  as  cheap  as  before  the 
war,  cotton  commands  a  slightly  better  price.  The  reduction  from  the  prices 
of  1 81 6  has  made  the  United  States  one  of  the  greatest  cotton-consuming 
countries  in  the  world.  


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


4t5 


By  iS6otho  cotton-manufacture  had  reached  an  interesting  and  satisfactory 
stage  of  (Icvolopnient.     Nearly  all  the  branches  of  manufacture  were  practised 
here,  and  six-sevenths  of  the  cloth  and  cotton-goods  bought  by  our   production 
people  were  made  in  our  own  mills.     The  production  was  $i  15,-   '"«•*»• 
000,000  worth  of  goods   yearly.     The  importation   was   about   $25,000,000. 
The  latter  consisted  almost  entirely  of  the  finer  classes  of  sheetings,  calicoes, 


CINCHAM-LOOM. 


lawns,  kc.  The  American  cloths,  of  such  kinds  as  were  made,  excelled  those 
produced  by  English  mills  on  account  of  their  heavier  quality  and  their  freedom 
from  starch.  They  contained  more  honest  cotton  to  the  pound  of  cloth  than 
the  English  goods.  They  were,  for  this  reason,  in  great  demand  in  China, 
India,  and  Japan ;  and  there  was  an  exportation  of  them  amounting  to  S6,ooo,- 
000  and  §7,000,000  yearly.    There  was  every  prospect  that  the  American 


4i6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


mills  would  soon  be  able  completely  to  supply  the  home-market  with  our  own 
manufactures  of  cotton,  and  in  a  itya  years  more  would  be  ready  to  undertake 
to  work  up  for  the  world  at  large  the  enormous  quantities  of  cotton  which 
were  sent  abroad  yearly  in  a  raw  state,  amounting  to  five-sixths  of  the  whole 
crop. 

The  war  which  broke  out  in  1861  affected  the  cotton-interests  of  tlie 
country  in  an  extraordinary  manner.  The  cotton-growing  region  and  the 
Effect  of  cotton-manufacturing  region  were  separated  from  each  other,  and 
war  upon  the  former  of  the  two  was  also  substantially  cut  off  from  the  world 
ustry,  ^^  large.  The  South  could  with  difficulty  dispose  of  its  cotton : 
it  could  send  little  North,  and  scarce  any  abroad.  The  result  was,  that  the 
acreage  of  cotton  planted  in  the  South  fell  off  enormously.  The  planters 
began  to  raise  food-crops  instead.  The  cotton-manufactures  of  the  South 
increased  somewhat  j  but  the  factories  were  by  no  means  able  to  stay  the 
decline  of  cotton-planting.  The  North,  on  the  other  hand,  deprived  of  its 
suppl;  of  fibre,  was  at  its  wits'  ends  to  know  what  to  do  for  raw  material.  .\ 
cotton-famine  set  in,  during  which  the  price  of  the  raw  material  rose  from 
eleven  cents  to  a  dollar  and  seventy-six  cents  a  pound.  A  large  proportion  of 
the  mills  were  obliged  to  discontinue  operations  :  the  remainder  were  oljliged 
to  resort  to  the  unprecedented  measure  of  importing  raw  cotton  from  foreign 
countries  J  and  they  did,  for  four  years,  import  an  average  of  25,000,000 
pounds  a  year  from  India,  Egypt,  and  Brazil.  This  raw  material  they  made  to 
go  as  far  as  possible  by  mixing  in  with  it  flax  and  other  vegetable  fibres,  and 
by  producing  to  a  larger  extent  than  before  goods  whereof  part  of  the  material 
entering  into  them  was  wool.  A  great  many  of  the  factories  transferred  their 
attention  entirely  from  cotton-goods  to  woollen-goods.  Were  it  not  for  the  fact 
that  the  South,  which  had  been  one  of  the  largest  markets  in  this  country  for 
imported  cotton-goods,  was  cut  off  from  receiving  regular  importations  during 
this  period,  the  cotton-famine  in  the  North  would  have  led  to  the  importation 
of  at  least  $50,000,000  worth  of  cotton-goods  a  year  while  the  war  was  pending. 
What  the  importations  into  the  South  actually  were  cannot  be  stated  ;  but  into 
the  North  they  were  only  $60,000,000  during  the  whole  four  years  of  the  war. 
Besides  the  embarrassment  and  loss  which  the  war  inflicted  upon  the  Victories 
of  the  North,  it  brought  a  still  greater  disaster,  with  reference  to  cotton,  upon 
the  South.  It  not  only  cut  off  the  sale  of  $190,000,000  of  raw  cotton  yearly 
to  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  of  $40,000,000  to  the  North,  but  it  developed 
the  cotton- growing  of  rival  regions  of  the  earth.  India,  Egyjit,  and  Dra/Jl 
reaped  a  rich  harvest  from  the  failure  ot  the  American  cotton-crops  from  1861 
to  1865.  At  the  end  of  the  war  the  South  found  itself  both  with  little  cotton 
to  sell,  and  with  a  powerful  competition  on  its  hands  with  the  other  cotton- 
countries.  The  cotton-interests  of  the  South  have  recuperated  since  the  war, 
however,  in  the  most  marvellous  and  unexpected  manner,  considering  the  utter 
prostration  and  ruin  which  had  overtaken  them.    The  crop  of  1865-66  w.is 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


4«7 


already  half  a  crop ;  and  so  much  progress  was  made  in  replanting,  that,  in 
1875--76,  the  crop  was  us  large  as  it  ever  had  been  in  the  most  favorable  year 
before  the  war.     The  competition  of  Brazil,  Egypt,  and  India,  vanished  like 
the  (lew  before  the  sun ;  and  ten  years  have  placed  the  pbnters  of  the  South  in 
exactly  the  same  position  in  reference  to  the  world's  supply  that  they  oxupied 
bef(MC  the  war.     Part  of  this  result  was  doubtless  due  to  the  ready  demands  of 
ihc  N'orthern  mills,  which  were  the  first  to  extend  to  the  South  the  helping  hand 
which  lifted  that  section  to  its  feet  again,     'i'he  North  itself  has  also  regained 
all  it  lust  during  the  war  :  it  has  more  than  regained  it.     By  1870   production 
its  product  of  cotton-manufactures  was  larger  than  ever  before   '"  '^'*- 
known  in  history.     It  was  manufacturing  more  cotton-goods  than  were  pro- 
duced in   the  whole  country  in  i860;   that  is  to  say,  $160,000,000  worth  as 
against  5115,000,000 
worth    in    the   whole 
United  States  in  i860. 
It  had  again  exported 
S6,ooo,ooo   worth   of 
goods  in  a  year.     It 
was   making   a   large 
variety  of  fine  goods 
which  iiad  never  been 
attempted  before  the 
war ;  and,  while  it  had 
reduced    the    impor- 
tations to  only  $18,- 
000,000  a  year,  it  was 
doing  so  well,  that  it 
had   almost    reached 
the    point    of    being 
able    to    repay     the 
llivors  of  England  by 
sending    American 
cotton-goods   to  her. 
This  extraordinary  re- 
cuperation is  one  of 

tlie  marvels  of  the  age.  It  is  an  indication  of  the  inherent  vigor  and 
vitality  of  the  American  people,  which  promises  well  for  the  future  of  oiu- 
nationality. 

The  extent  and  distribution  of  the  cotton-manufacture  in  1870  are  described 
in  the  following  table,  taken  from  the  census-report  of  that  year.    Extent  and 
Massachusetts  was  far  ahead  of  every  other  State.     Rhode  Island  <ii»tribution. 
came  next ;  yet  only  two-fifths  as  many  spindles  were  in  operation  in  the  latter 
State  as  in  the  former.    ■ 


LOOM.      MASON   MACHiNE-WOKKS. 


4x8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


NUMBER  OP 

SPINDLES. 

OPERATIVES. 

VALUE  OF 

FACTORIES. 

PRODUCTS. 

Alabama 

13 

28,046 

1,032 

$1,088,767 

Arkansas . 

3 

1,125 

'7 

22,562 

Connecticut 

III 

597, '42 

i2,oS6 

14,026,334 

Delaware 

6 

29.534 

726 

1,060,898 

Georgia    . 

34 

85,602 

2,846 

3.648.973 

Illinois     . 

S 

1,856 

98 

279,000 

Indiana    . 

4 

17.360 

503 

778,047 

I»wa 

I 

6 

7,000 

Kentucky 

S 

7.734 

269 

49S.96O 

Louisiana 

4 

13,084 

246 

25'. 550 

Maine 

23 

459.772 

9,439 

11,844,181 

Maryland . 

22 

89,112 

2,860 

4,852,808 

Massachusetts . 

191 

2,619,541 

43-5 '2 

59.493. '53 

Mississippi 

5 

3.526 

26s 

234.445 

Missouri  . 

3 

16,715 

36. 

798,050 

New  Hampshire 

36 

749.843 

12,542 

16,999,672 

New  Jersey 

27 

200,580 

3, '54 

4,015,768 

New  York 

Si 

492,573 

9, '44 

I :, 178,211 

North  Carolina 

l-i 

39.877 

1,453 

'.345.052 

Ohio 

7 

23,240 

462 

681.835 

Pennsylvania    . 

'33 

434,246 

12,730 

17,490,080 

Rhode  Island   . 

'39 

1,043,242 

16,745 

22,049,203 

South  Carolina 

12 

34,940 

1,123 

1.529.937 

Tennessee 

28 

27.923 

S90 

941,542 

Texas 

4 

8,878 

291 

374.598 

Utah 

3 

1,020 

16 

16,803 

Vermont  . 

8 

28,768 

45' 

546,510 

Virginia    . 

II 

77,116 

',74' 

1,435,800 

Totals 

956 

7.132,415 

135,369 

$177,489,739 

The  relation   of  wages  and  materials   to  product,  &c.,  in   1870,  was  as 
follows :  — 

Raw  materials    ■ $100,826,264 

Mill-supplies 10,910,672 

• $  n  1 ,736,936 

Wages 39,044,132 

Product 177,489,739 

Capital  invested 140,706,291 

The  characteristic  staple  products  of  the  American  mills  are  now  heavy 
Character  of  sheetings,  fine  sheetings,  serviceable  drillings,  shirtings  (espe- 
productof  cially  the  blue-striped  kind),  and  domestic  flannels.  Jeans  were 
American  amon^  the  earliest  goods  made.  The  strong  drillings  are  said  to 
have  been  introduced  in  1827,  and  the  substantial  and  blue-striped 
shirtings  in  1828.     The  drillings  have  not  varied  a  thread  since  they  were 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


419 


LUE  OF 
)DLCTS. 


,088,767 

22,562 

1.026,334 
1,060,898 

3.648,973 

279,000 

778,047 

7,000 

498,960 

25''550 
[1,844,181 
4,852,808 

59.493.' 53 
234.445 
798,050 

16,999,672 
4,015,768 

11.178,211 

1.345.052 

681.835 

17,490,080 

I  22,049,203 

1.529.937 

941-542 

374,598 

16.803 

546,510 

1.435.8°^ 

177.489.739 


70 


was  as 


H)36 

I132 

1/39 

■291 

Blow  lieavy 

Igs    (espc- 

Reans  were 

Hre  said  to 

■lue-striped 

■  they  were 

first  introduced.  All  these  heavy  cottons  were  soon  made  in  superior  style, 
and  were  heavily  exported.  One  of  the  native  cloths  of  the  United  States  was 
invented  in  1835  by  Mr.  James  Johnson,  and  took  the  name  of  the  domett 
flannel.  Mr.  Johnson  was  under  the  necessity  of  using  up  a  lot  of  cotton 
warp  which  had  been  made  for  a  satinet-mill  which  had  proved  unremunera- 
tive.  He  produced  a  cloth  from  this  warp,  by  using  a  filling  of  wool,  which 
met  with  favor ;  and  its  manufacture  has  since  been  carried  on  upon  a  very 
large  scale.  Calicoes  are  also  a  characteristic  American  product,  and  were  one 
of  the  earliest  attempted  :  they  were  being  made  in  1824  at  the  rate  of  sixty 
thousand  yards  a  week.  Sail-duck  was  also  made  at  a  very  early  date.  Recent 
progress  had  added  to  the  list  a  large  number  of  the  finer  goods  and  fabrics, 
such  as  delaines,  alpacas,  the  finer  prints  and  ginghams,  cambrics,  &c.  The 
weights  of  some  of  the  standard  fabrics  are  as  follows :  coarse  shirting  and 
sheeting,  two  yards  and  eight-tenths  to  the  pound  ;  fine  bleached  shirting  and 
sheeting,  ti  "ee  yards  and  four-tenths  to  six  yards  to  the  pound  ;  standard  drill- 
ings, two  yards  and  three-fourths  to  the  pound  ;  fine  drillings,  three  yards  and 
four-ten».)is  to  six  yards  to  the  pound ;  print-cloths,  seven  yards  to  the  pound ; 
flannels  (yard  wide),  four  to  seven  yards  to  the  pound  ;  and  ginghams  (thirty- 
two  inches  wide),  three  to  six  yards  to  the  pound.  Cottonades  weigh  from 
four  to  twelve  ounces  to  the  yard  ;  cassimeres,  from  six  to  fourteen  ounces  to 
the  yard ;  and  jeans,  from  three  to  six  ounces.  Every  mill  makes  many 
different  styles  of  its  goods :  sometimes  the  number  ranges  as  high  as  two 
hundred  and  three  hundred. 

In  regard  to  the  machinery  in  use  in  the  American  cotton-factories,  and 
the  processes  of  spinning  and  weaving,  it  may  be  said  that  the  mills  in  the 
older  States  are  organized  upon  the  most  approved  principles  of  ,j,„j  ^^ 
the  art,  and  are  supplied  with  the  best  machinery  in  the  world,  machinery 
Spinning  machines  and  looms  are  frequently  of  English  pattern,  ""''  °^^  ' 
and  sometiries  of  English  make.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  machinery  is 
generally  of  American  patterns  and  make.  The  manufacturers  have  found  it 
desirable  to  buy  American  looms  and  mules,  because  of  the  fact  th?t  they  were 
lightly  built.  American  iron  is  better  than  the  English,  and  tougher.  The 
Croinpton,  Knowles,  and  other  looms  made  in  tiiis  country,  are  so  much 
lighter,  in  consequence  of  the  quality  of  the  iron,  that  they  are  frequently  run 
at  a  saving  of  fifty  per  cent  of  the  power,  —  an  important  consideration,  whether 
the  port'er  be  water  or  steam.  In  the  spinning-frames  there  have  been  many 
imponant  American  improvements.  One  of  them,  the  ring-spindle,  was 
inwntcd  by  a  pupi'  of  Slater  named  Jenks,  and  has  now  nearly  superseded  all 
other  kinds  of  spindles  in  this  country.  The  use  of  it  has  increased  the 
capacity  of  tlie  mills,  and  led  to  the  production  of  better  yarn.  The  Excelsior 
spindle,  invented  by  Mr.  Sawyer  at  Lowell,  is  an  improvement  upon  Jenks's. 
It  is  used  with  a  ring ;  but  it  is  lighter,  saves  a  great  deal  of  power,  and  works 
at  a  remarkable  velocity.     The  machinery  of  the  American  mills,  in  fact,  is 


420 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


considered,  on  the  whole,  to  be  better  now  than  that  of  the  English  mills.  All 
the  improvements  are  American,  showing  the  intelligence  of  our  workmen, 
and  possibly,  also,  the  beneficial  effect  of  our  patent-law  system. 

Raw  cotton  is  divided  into  three  classes.  The  long-staple  (or  Sea- 
Island)  cotton  is  remarkable  for  the  length  and  beauty  of  its  fibre,  and  the 
ciassiflca-  delicacy  of  the  thread  which  can  be  spun  from  it.  This  long 
tion  of  staple  is  generally  used  for  the  warp  of  the  cloth  ;  that  is,  for  the 

cotton.  threads  which  run  lengthwise  of  it.     The  medium  staple,  which 

comprises  the  vast  bulk  of  the  cotton  raised  in  the  United  States,  is  shorter, 
but  softer  and  silkier.  It  is  used  for  the  weft,  or  threads  which  run  cross- 
wise of  the  cloth,  because  it  fills  up  the  cloth  better.  The  short  staple,  which 
generally  comes  from  India,  is  harder,  and  is  only  used  mixed  with  a  propor- 
tion of  the  medium  staple.     For  sewing-thread,  only  the  long  staple  is  used. 


-■^■J3t:.S.  -^C^}  ^::Sg^fefc=^^ 


KITSON  S  COTTOM-PICKER. 


I 


When  a  bale  of  cotton  reaches  the  mill,  the  first  thing  done  with  it  is 
to  open  it,  and  clean  and  loosen  the  fibres.  Machines  are  necessary  for  this, 
Process  of  because  the  circumstance  that  the  cotton-factories  have  been  in 
cotton-man-  the  past  SO  far  from  the  cotton-fields  has  made  necessary  the 
u  acture.  baling  and  packing  of  the  cotton  under  enormous  pressino  for 
convenient  transportation  ;  and  it  therefore  comes  to  the  mill  too  matted  to 
Cleaning,  go  at  once  to  the  carding-machine.  The  cotton  is  cleaned  and 
picking,  &c.  picked  up  loose  in  an  opener  and  a  spreader.  These  were  for- 
merly separate  machines ;  but  the  tendency  is  now  to  have  the  two  processes 
performed  in  one  operation.  Tlie  cotton  is  either  pulled  apart  by  toothed 
cylinders,  or  beaten  with  blunt  knives,  while  a  current  of  air  blows  through 
it,  and  it  comes  from  the  spreader  in  the  form  of  a  lap,  or  great,  thick, 
fluffy  sheet  of  fibre,  cleaned,  and  in  good  condition  for  carding.  The  hip  is 
wound  upon  a  large  roller  as  it  comes  slowly  forth  from  the  spreader,  and  is 
then  carried  to  the  carding-room. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


421 


Carding. 


The  card,  as  has  already  been  explained  in  the  chapter  on  "Woollen 
Manufactures,"  is  a  broad  cylinder,  every  inch  of  the  surface  of  which  is 
covered  with  wire  teeth,  and  which  revolves  in  contact  with  two 
smaller  cards.  The  lap,  being  delivered  to  the  card,  is  taken 
up  by  the  large  cylinder,  and  slowly  combed  out,  between  it  and  the  small 
cylinders,  into  a  gauzy  film,  which  is  then  combed  from  the  card  by  the 
action  of  the  doffer.  The  cotton  leaves  the  card  in  a  roll,  and  flows  on 
to  a  pair  of  rollers,  which  press  and  stretch  the  roll  slightly,  and  let  it  drop 
into  a  tin  can.  The  cotton  then  forms  what  is  called  a  "  sliver."  Sometimes 
the  cotton  is  carded  twice.  There  is  more  or  less  variety  in  the  forms  of  the 
carding-niachines,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  product  of  the  mill.  A 
thread-mill,  for  instance,  has  a  different  style  of  cards  from  the  print-cloth 
mill.  The  cards  are  almost  exclusively  of  American  make,  and  are  lighter 
built,  can  run  faster  and  cheaper,  and  do  better  work,  than  the  English  cards. 

The  slivers,  when  they  come  from  the  cards,  are  taken  to  the  drawing- 
frames.  Two  or  three  of  them  are  fed  between  a  pair  of  rollers  together, 
and  pass  thence  on  to  a  second  and  a  third  pair,  and  sometimes 
to  a  fourth  jjair,  each  pair  revolving  faster  than  its  predecessor. 
The  slivers  are,  by  this  process,  united  and  stretched  out  into  a  new  sliver 
one-third  or  one-fourth  the  size  of  the  united  three.  This  drawing-process 
arranges  the  fibres  of  the  cotton,  and  lays  them  parallel  with  each  other.  The 
process  is  repeated  a  great  number  of  times,  the  certainty  of  a  perfect  thread 
or  yarn  increasing  with  each  doubling  and  drawing  of  the  slivers.  One  of 
the  original  slivers,  as  it  comes  from  the  cards,  is  frequently  elongated,  in 
drawing,  to  thirty-two  thousand  times  its  length.  The  delicate  sliver  resulting 
from  this  continual  stretching  is  finally  taken  to  the  roving-frame,  and  drawn 
once  more,  and  given  a  slight  twist.  The  natural  interlocking  of  the  fibres 
would  not  be  sufficient  now  to  make  the  loose  yarn  hold  together  without 
assistance  ;  and  the  sliver  is  accordingly  slightly  spun,  and  then  forms  what 
is  called  a  "  roving."  The  roving,  being  wound  upon  a  bobbin,  is  then  spun 
into  yarn  for  weaving,  or  thread  for  sewing. 

In  the  household  manufacture  of  our  forefathers  the  spinning-appara'tus 
was  a  wheel,  which  drove  a  single  horizontal  spindle  mounted  on  a  standard  at 


Drawing. 


Spinning. 


about  the  height  of  the  elbow.  A  cord,  passing  from  around  the 
circumference  of  the  big  fly-wheel,  drove  the  spindle  at  a  great 
velo(  ity.  The  end  of  the  roll  of  wool,  flax,  or  cotton,  was  attached  to  the 
spindle  by  simply  tying  it  around,  and  the  big  wheel  was  started.  Simulta- 
neously with  the  starting  of  the  wheel,  the  spinner  brought  back  her  hand 
holding  the  roll  of  fibre,  so  as  to  stretch  it  at  the  same  time  that  the  spindle, 
on  its  longitudinal  axis,  was  giving  the  roll  the  twist ;  then,  without  stopping 
the  wheel,  the  spinner  suddenly  relaxed  the  strain  on  the  yarn,  and  let  her 
hand  come  quickly  up  to  the  end  of  the  spindle,  by  which  means  the  yarn 
wound  itself  up  on  the  spindle  instantaneously,  instead  of  continuing  to  twist. 


422 


INDUHTKIAL    HISTORY 


As  soon  as  this  process  had  been  repeated  enough  times  to  secure  a  spindle- 
ful  of  yarn,  the  wheel  was  stopped,  and  the  yarn  reeled  off  upon  a  wooden 
reel  into  hanks,  for  knitting,  weaving,  or  sewing.  It  was  the  slowness  of  this 
method  of  producing  yarn  which  led  the  early  manufacturers  to  think,  that,  if 
they  could  perform  this  process  by  machinery,  they  would  have  made  for  a 
while  a  great  and  sufficient  advance.  Hargreaves,  who  invented  the  spinning- 
jenny  in  1767,  used  eight  spindles.  Invention  has  now  gone  so  far,  that,  in 
the  American  factories,  spinning  is  done  upon  frames  or  mules  which  carry 
three  hundred  and  sixty  spindles.  The  spindles  themselves  have  undergone 
a  change  also.  They  are  arranged  vertically,  instead  of  horizontally,  in  one  or 
more  rows.  The  yarn  is  no  longer  wound  on  the  spindle  itself,  but  upon  a 
spool,  or  bobbin,  through  which  the  iron  spindle  passes,  and  which  has  a  play 
up  and  down  the  spindle  equal  to  its  own  length.  Several  forms  of  spindles 
are  used.     One  style  has  a  little  steel  fly  at  the  top,  through  which  the  thread 


II 


SOUTHERN   COTTON-MILL. 


passes :  another  has  a  little  steel  cap.  Jenks's  spindle  carries  a  little  steel 
ring,  and  is  called  the  ring-spindle  in  consequence.  The  latter  is  the  popular 
spindle  in  American  mills.  Sawyer,  who  made  it  lighter,  and  called  it  the 
Excelsior  spindle,  secured  for  it  a  speed  of  ten  thousand  revolutions.  A  self- 
oiling  bolster  allows  the  spindle  to  run  at  a  minimum  of  power.  It  carries  the 
bobbin  with  it  in  spinning ;  and  the  bobbin  turns  independently  in  winding  up 
the  thread  when  the  spindle-frame  or  mule  is  run  back  for  the  purpose.  One 
girl  will  tend  thirteen  hundred  spindles.  The  Sawyer  spindle  saves  one-halt 
of  the  power  consumed  in  spinning  by  previous  processes,  or  one-sixth  of 
the  power  of  the  whole  mill. 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


4^3 


Weaving. 


There  is  as  yet  no  machine  for  continuous  spinning ;  but  several  experi- 
ments are  in  progress  in  New  England  looking  to  the  perfection  of  some  such 

device. 

The  yam,  when  spun,  is  reeled  off  from  the  bobbins  into  hanks  of  ^ight 
hiiiulred  and  forty  yards.     The  yarn  is  numbered  according  to  the  number  of 
hanks  to  the  i:)ound.     No.  2  is  very  coarse :   No.  300  is  very  fine.     No.  600 
lias  been  made,  however,  and  No.  350  woven.     The  yarn  for  the  weft  of  the 
cli)th  is  wound  upon  bobbins  for  placing  in  the  shuttles :   the  yam  for  the 
4  warp  reijuires  treatment  before  it  goes  to  the  loom.     It  is  taken  to  the  proper 
department  of  the  mill,  and  stiffened  with  sizing,  and  is  then  wound  upon 
beams  for  the  loom.     The  weaving  is  done  upon  American  looms  generally. 
.  All  the  fancy  weaving  is  done  upon  the  American   Crompton. 
The  print-looms  work  up  to  a  hundred  and  eighty  and  two  hun- 
dred "i)icks,"  or  throws  of  the  shuttle,  a  minute.     The  fancy  looms  run  on 
ginghams,  shawls,  &c., 
with  the  six-shuttle  box, 
from   a   hundred    and 
iliirt\  -live  to  a  Inmdred 
and  forty-five  picks  a 
minute.       The     older 
looms    make    about   a 
hundred  and  five  picks 
a  minute.    The  average 
of  production  per  loom 
is  from  thirty  yards  to 
forty-five  yards  a    day 
of  ten  hours  and  a  half. 
One  girl  will  tend  three 
or  four  looms.     They 
are  perfectly  automatic, 
and  recpiire  only  occa- 
sional  care.       In    the 
.\nierican     mills      the 
looms  are   run    slower 
than  in  England,  and 
one  person  attends  a 
ijreater  number  of  them. 

For  calico-printing  the  cloth  is  taken  from  the  loom  to  the  singeing-room. 
llie  cloth  when  it  comes  from  the  loom  is  covered  with  a  fine  nap,  which 
\TOuld  interfere  with  the  perfection  of  the   printing,  and  which  is   caiico- 
atcordingly  removed  by  running  the   cloth    rapidly  over  a  half  ?""»'"«• 
cylinder  of  copper  heated  red-hot.     The  cloth  is  sometimes,  thougii  rarely, 
passed  through  a  gas-flame.     The   singeing   is  a   remarkable   process,   the 


ROIARV  CLOTH-PRESS. 


424 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


wonder  being  why  the  cloth  does  not  burn  when  in  contact  with  the  fiery 
cylinder.  It  does  not  burn,  however  :  it  flows  past  too  quickly  ;  and  it  comes 
from  the  ordeal  to  which  it  is  subjected  as  white  as  though  it  had  never 
smelled  the  fire.  The  cloth  is  now  carefully  bleached  by  boiling,  steeping  in 
alkali  solutions,  washing,  squeezing,  drying,  &c.,  until  it  is  perfectly  white. 
Calico-printing  was  formerly  an  expensive  process.  Invented  in  India,  and 
carried  to  perfection  in  France,  it  was  introduced  into  England  in  1696,  and 
into  the  United  States  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  Printing  first  took 
place  by  the  use  of  wooden  blocks  applied  by  hand  or  by  machine.  Cylin- 
der-printing was  then  invented,  in  which  the  design  was  engraved  on  a  copper 
cylinder,  and  the  pattern  impressed  upon  the  cloth  continuously.  It  was  very 
costly,  however,  to  use  these  cylinders.     The  engraving  of  them  was  laborious. 


BAG-LOOM,   MASON  MACHINE-WORKS, 


and  they  soon  wore  out.  Mr.  Perkins  of  Newburyport  gave  the  business  a 
vastly  improved  position  by  inventing  the  steel  die.  The  pattern  is  engraved 
upon  a  steel  roller,  which  is  then  hardened  as  much  as  possible.  The  pattern 
is  then  transferred  to  a  soft  steel  roller  by  pressure,  and  thence  to  the  copper 
roller  by  the  same  means.  In  this  manner,  a  design  once  engraved  can  be 
multiplied  upon  copper  rollers  inexpensively  to  any  extent.  Before  1845  only 
a  few  colors  were  employed  in  printing.  Four  was  the  usual  number.  Ma- 
chines are  now  in  use  which  apply  twenty  colors.  Each  roller  prints  one 
color  ;  and  the  cloth  passes  slowly  through  the  big  machine  in  which  they  are 
placed,  going  from  one  to  the  other  until  it  has  received  the  whole  of  the 
design.     The  printing  is  effected  at  the  rate  of  12,000  to  16,000  yards  a 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


425 


fiery 
::onies 
never 
ing  in 
white, 
ia,  anil 
)6,  and 
St  took 

Cylin- 

copper 

as  very 

borious, 


jusincss  a 
engraved 
Ihe  pattern 
I  lie  copper 
jd  can  be 
1 1 845  only 
Iber.    Ma- 
Iprints  one 
%  they  are 
[ole  oftlie 
)0  yards  a 


day.  The  colors  are  fixed  by  mordants.  Of  the  total  number  of  cotton- 
factories  in  operation  in  the  United  States  in  1870,  forty-two  were  print-works. 
These  factories  had  240  printing-machines,  employed  8,894  hands,  and  pro- 
duced 453,809,000  yards  of  calicoes  and  27,710,000  yards  of  delaines,  worth 
$53,800,000.  The  works  were  distributed  as  follows :  Iowa,  one ;  Maine, 
one ;  Massachusetts,  eleven ;  New  Hampshire,  three ;  New  Jersey,  five ; 
New  York,  four ;  Pennsylvania,  seven ;  Rhode  Island,  nine ;  West  Virginia, 
one.    ' '  !  ■    ,  • 

In  the  thread-mills,  particularly  in  the  great  concern  at  Willimantic,  Conn., 
the  long-staple  cotton  finds  its  most  cordial  customers.  So  much  are  the  long 
fibres  of  the  long  staple  valued  for  thread-making,  that  they  are  Thread- 
subjected  to  a  special  combing-process  in  the  thread-mills  to  free  """king. 
them  from  the  shorter  staple,  of  which  there  is  always  a  certain  quantity  in  the 
fleece.  Cotton-thread  was  first  spun  in  1 794.  Previous  to  that  date,  sewing- 
thread  was  made  of  flax.  It  is  said  that  Mrs.  Samuel  Slater,  noticing  the  fine- 
ness and  evenness  of  some  yarn  which  she  was  s})inning  from  Sea-Island  cotton, 
suggested  the  idea  that  this  staple  would  do  for  sewing-thread.  The  idea  was 
taken  up  by  Mr.  Slater,  and  the  first  cotton-thread  was  made  in  his  pioneer- 
mill  at  Pawtucket.  In  thread -making,  the  slivers  of  cotton  are  "drawn"  to 
several  billion  times  their  original  length. 

A  great  deal  of  the  cotton-yarn  made  in  the  United  States  is  now  con- 
verted into  hosiery  by  the  aid  of  machinery.  There  are  now  in  the  United 
States  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  mills  devoted  to  the  fabrication  of  hosiery. 
Of  the  total  number,  sixty  arc  in  New  York,  seventy-five  in  Pennsylvania,  thirty 
in  New  Hampshire,  thirty-five  in  Massachusetts,  and  fifteen  in  Connecticut. 
Their  product  is  in  cotton  and  woollen  hose  (plain  and  striped),  shirts,  drawers, 
jackets,  opera-hoods,  scarfs,  and  shawls.  There  is  little  hand-knitting  in  the 
hosiery-business  now,  except  in  Nev/  Hampshire.  The  Shakers  at  Enfield  knit 
the  legs  and  feet  of  their  hose  upon  circular  machines,  and  send  out  the  hose 
to  have  the  heels  and  toes  knit  in  by  hand  with  stronger  and  more  serviceable 
yarn.  In  consequence  of  the  extent  to  which  their  business  has  grown,  it  is 
said  that  there  is  more  hand-knitting  in  New  Hampshire  now  than  there  was 
sixty  years  ago. 

In  the  United  States  it  is  usual  to  build  houses  for  the  working-people  of 
the  mills  in  the  vicinity  of  the  several  establishments,  which  are  turned  over  to 
them  for  occupancy  at  a  low  rent.     This  circumstance  has  given   Homes  of 
birth  to  a  vast  number  of  pretty  villages  in  New  England  and  the   the  opera- 
North,  deriving  their  existence  solely  from  the    mills  of  the  place      ^"" 
and  the  waterfalls  which  drive  them.     The  occupants  of  these  villages  were 
originally  people  from  the  farms  in  the  adjacent  townships,  —  intelligent,  cheer- 
ful, and  excellent  people.     At  the  present  time,  the  population  of  the  factory- 
villages  is  more  largely  composed  of  people  of  foreign  birth.     During  and  just 
after  the  late  war,  when  skilled  operatives  were  so  scarce  as  almost  to  be  worth 


4a6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


their  weight  in  gold,  manufacturers  who  put  up  new  mills  were  obliged  to  send 
to  Canada  or  Europe,  and  bring  their  operatives  over  in  cargoes  or  train-loads ; 
and  thus  the  cluster  of  houses  erected  near  the  mill  became  almost  a  foreign 
village  from  its  origin,  in  every  thing  except  location  and  ownership.  The 
operatives  have  in  most  instances,  however,  taken  kindly  to  American  ways 
and  American  ideas,  and  joined  heartily  in  the  sentiments  and  principles  of 
the  country  of  their  adoption.  They  are  stimulated  by  freedom  of  opinion 
and  equality  of  political  condition,  and  in  almost  every  instance  have  percep- 
tibly brightened  up  mentally,  and  improved  their  condition  materially,  under 
the  shadow  of  the  new  banner  beneath  which  they  have  taken  up  their  resi- 
dence. The  villages  still  wear  the  contented,  orderly,  and  self-respecting 
appearance  of  yore. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


427 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SILK-MANUFACTURE. 


SILK  is  the  softest,  most  beautiful,  and  strongest  of  all  textile  fibres.  While 
as  stout  as  steel,  it  is,  by  virtue  of  its  other  cjualities  and  its  costliness, 
the  symbol  and  accompaniment  of  luxury.  It  was  first  used  by  Ancient  cui- 
the  jjcople  of  China  and  Northern  India :  gradually  it  extended  *""■" "'  ■'"'• 
into  Japan  and  Persia,  and  so  into  Europe.  Tradition  carries  the  date  of  its 
first  manufacture  back  twenty-five  hundred  years  before  the  time  of  Christ ; 
but  better  authenticated  history  lessens  the  distance  by  eight  centuries,  credit- 
ing Hoang-ti,  contemporaneous  with  Joseph,  the  son  of  Jacob,  with  being  the 
first  silk-culturist  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  As  the  word  "  silk  "  occurs  but 
twice  in  the  Bible,  and  in  those  cases  is  thought  by  some  to  have  been  trans- 
lated wrongly,  it  is  very  doubtfiil  whether  the  Jews  knew  what  the  substance 
was  prior  to  Christ's  time.  Aristotle,  who  liveil  nearly  four  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  says  that  those  who  accompanied  Alexander  the  Great  into 
India  saw  silk-worms,  which  he  describes  accurately  ;  yet  he  does  not  seem 
to  have  understood  how  they  produced  silk,  or  even  that  they  did  produce  it. 
Yet,  even  before  Aristotle's  time,  there  had  been  a  heavy  importation  of  raw 
and  manufactured  silk  into  Greece,  by  way  of  Persia ;  and  this  continued  in 
the  days  of  the  Roman  republic  and  empire.  Even  Pliny,  the  Roman 
historian,  who  lived  at  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  described 
silk  as  a  fine  woolly  substance  combed  from  the  leaves  of  trees.  Not  until 
A.D.  555,  when  two  Nestorian  monks  who  were  particularly  grateful  to  the 
Emperor  Justinian,  and  who  had  travelled  in  Chitta  at  the  peril  of  their  lives, 
brought  a  quantity  of  silk-worm  eggs  in  the  hollow  of  their  staves  to  Byzan- 
tium, was  it  known  in  Europe  that  the  highly-prized  fibre  was  excreted,  like 
the  web  of  a  spider,  by  a  worm,  which  formed  therewith  a  chrysalis  like  a 
caterpillar's.  At  the  same  time,  the  monks  gave  the  Roman  emperor  a  full 
description  of  the  processes  of  silk-culture,  and  imparted  the  fact  that  the 
principal  food  of  the  worms  is  the  leaf  of  the  mulberry-tree  ;  although  it  is 
known  that  these  insects  do  subsist  upon  other  kinds  of  foliage,  but  yield,  in 
consequence,  an  inferior  quality  of  silk. 


4t8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Gradually  the  culture  and  manufacture  of  silk  extended  through  Asia 
Minor  and  Europe,  although  confined  for  many  centuries  to  the  Byzantine 
Progreiiof  Empire.  The  products  of  Damascus  soon  became  famous.  The 
the  induitry.  industry  attained  jjrominence  in  Northern  Italy  in  about  the  thir- 
teenth century  of  the  Christian  era,  the  velvets  of  (ienoa  having  a  world- 
wide reputation.  Silk  growing,  spinning,  and  weaving  obtained  a  very  little 
foothold  in  P'rance  until  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  now  the 
greatest  silk-manufacturing  coimtry  of  the  civilized  world,  its  products  heiny 
choicer,  if  not  more  copious,  than  those  of  China,  Japan,  and  India.  The  raw 
silk  of  China,  howe  r.  is  scarcely  surpassed  by  any  grown  in  Europe.  From 
■  France,  within  the  past  two  or  three  centuries,  silk-culture  has  extended  into 
England  and  Germany  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  to  America. 


SII.K-WORM, 


Two  of  the  best-known  hobbies  of  James  Stuart,  the  first  of  that  Scottish 
royal  family  wlio  sat  on  the  F'.nglisi-i  throne,  were  his  intense  detestation  of 
Colonial  silk-  tobacco,  and  his  desire  to  build  up  the  infant  silk-manufactures  of 
culture.  Great  Britain.     Accordingly,  no  sooner  was  the  first  colony  estab- 

lished in  Virginia  than  he  employed  his  administration  to  promote  the  cul- 
ture of  silk  in  America,  and  uproot  that  of  the  Nicotian  weed.  He  did  not 
care  to  develop  the  manufacturing-industry  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but 
merely  to  secure  a  supply  of  cocoons,  to  be  soaked,  reeled,  spun,  and  woven 
by  British  industry.  As  early  as  1608  he  sent  over  mulberry-trees  and  silk- 
worm eggs,  and  required  of  the  London  Company,  which  managed  the  nKnir^^ 
of  the  colony,  that  it  force  the  planters  to  engage  in  this  new  t  .. 

fine  of  a  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  was  in  1623  exacted  <.-  ex 
did  not  cultivate  at  least  ten  mulberry- trees  to  ever  -  01 

estate.     Under  these  influences   some  headway  was  m  Bui  1      as  raiucr 

unprofitable  business,  and  not  to  be  compared  with  tobaci  .  raisim  and,  when 
Cromwell  succeeded  James  II..  the  interest  of  Virginians  in  silk-(  'turc  relaxed 
even  more.  In  1656  and  1657  the  industry  was  in  n  feeble  condition,  and 
the  colonial  authorities  deemed  encouragement  desirable.  A  bounty  of  ten 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  was  offered  any  one  who  would  export  two  hun- 
dred pounds'  worth  of  cocoons  in  a  single  year,  five  thousand  poinds  of 
tobacco  to  the  producer  of  a  thousand  pounds  of  raw  silk,  and  four  thou- 
sand pounds  of  tobacco  to  any  planter  who  would  remain  in  the  colony  and 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


439 


devote  himself  exclusively  to  silk-growing.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  one 
ever  took  advantage  of  these  proffers,  which  were  withdrawn  in  1666;  and 
thoiigli  the  industry  still  lingered  along  for  many  years,  —  and  it  is  even  said 
that  silk  was  sent  from  Virginia  to  Kngland,  from  which  Charles  I.  or  Charles 
II.  had  a  robe  made, — yet  by  degrees  the  business  died  out.  Waistcoats, 
hamlkcrchiefs,  and  even  gowns,  of  native  silk,  were  known  in  the  colony  until 
near  liie  time  of  the  Revolution  ;  but  they  were  rare,  anil,  whatever  sentiment 
there  may  have  been  clinging  to  them,  of  inferior  (juality.  They  were  fuzzy 
and  lustreless. 

(Juitc  a  specialty  was  made  of  silk-culture  in  the  much  younger  colony  of 
Georgia.  In  1732  the  colonial  government  started  a  large  nursery-plantation 
of  muibcrry-trees,  and  granted  land  to  settlers  on  condition  that  a  himdred 
of  those  should  be  planted  to  every  ten  acres  cleared.  Trees,  seed,  and  eggs 
were  sent  over  by  the  colonial  trustees  ;  anil  in  other  ways  the  industry  was  fos- 
tered. The  Hritish  Parliament,  in  1  749,  exempted  raw  silk  from  Georgia  and 
Carolina  from  duty,  and  a  bounty  was  offered  for  its  production.  An  Episco- 
ixil  clergyman  versed  in  the  delicate  and  difficult  operation  of  reeling  the  silk 
from  cocoons,  and  a  native  of  Piedmont,  Italy,  was  sent  over  to  teach  the 
peoi)lc  of  this  colony  how  to  perform  it ;  and  Signor  Urtolengi,  an  Italian 
gentleman,  was  likewise  engaged  in  i  749  to  teach  the  Georgians  silk-culture. 
Subsequently  the  London  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts,  Manufac- 
tures, and  Commerce,  offered  a  premium  of  threepence  a  piece  on  cocoons 
(or  about  three  shillings  a  pound)  for  all  that  were  taken  to  Ortolengi's 
"filature"  at  Savannah.  .As  early  as  1735  silk  was  exported  ;  the  amount  not 
exceeding  eight  pounds,  however.  In  1 759,  the  culminating  year  of  the 
Georgia  silk-industry,  ten  thousand  pounds  were  cxjiorted  ;  which  is  about  as 
much  as  was  produced  in  this  whole  country  in  1850  and  i860,  and  more  than 
ttto  and  a  half  times  as  much  as  the  product  of  1870.  .\  fire  in  the  Savannah 
filature  destroyed  eight  thousand  pounds  in  1758.  The  production  and  expor- 
tation thereafter  decreased.  In  1790  the  only  shipment  subsequent  to  the 
Revolution  was  made,  and  this  amounted  to  only  two  hundred  pounds.  For 
the  next  forty  years  very  little  silk  was  grown  in  that  State. 

Nearly  as  much  attention  was  given  to  this  industry  in  South  Carolina  as  in 
Georgia  in  that  early  day.  The  quantity  produced  was  much  less,  but  the 
quality  excellent,  —  equal  even  to  the  best  Italian  silk.  In  1755  a  distin- 
guished lady,  named  Mrs.  Pinckney,  took  with  her  from  this  colony  to  England 
silk  which  she  had  manufactured  into  three  dresses,  one  of  which  was  pre- 
sented to  the  mother  of  the  infant  King  George  III.,  and  another  to  Lord 
'liesterfield :  she  reserved  to  herself  the  third.  The  Carolinian  silk-business 
)egan  to  decline  simultaneously  with  the  Georgian ;  but  in  the  settlement  of 
New  Bordeaux,  on  the  Savannah  River,  seventy  miles  above  Augusta,  much 
sewing-silk  was  manufactured  and  sold  in  the  neighboring  counties,  during  the 
Revolution,  by  the  French  residents. 


430 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  fourth  colony  to  engage  in  silk-culture,  and  about  the  only  one  to 
any  notable  extent  in  New  England,  was  Connecticut.  Mulberry-trees  from 
Cultivation  Long  Island  were  planted  in  1755  at  New  Haven  and  Mansfield 
of  Bilk  in  (the  latter  then  in  Windham  County,  but  now  of  Tolland  County), 
Connecticut,  ^^^  silk-worm  eggs  were  introduced  in  1762.  The  following  year, 
Dr.  Stiles,  afterwards  president  of  Yale  College,  secured  an  act  of  the  Assem- 
bly granting  a  bounty  of  ten  shillings  on  every  hundred  mulberry-trees 
planted,  and  of  threepence  per  ounce  on  raw  silk.  These  bounties  resulted 
in  developing  the  culture  of  the  trees  very  substantially,  and  the  offer  was 
withdrawn  some  years  later.  A  small  bounty  on  manufactures  of  home-raised 
raw  silk  was  then  granted.  In  1 763  a  half-ounce  of  mulberry-seed  was  sent 
to  every  town  in  the  colony  for  distribution.  Dr.  Stiles  was  a  great  enthusiast 
on  the  subject  of  silk-growing,  and  made  many  valuable  experiments  and 
observations  from  1763  to  1790,  which  he  recorded  in  a  huge  manuscript 
diar;',  bound  with  a  silken  cord,  and  still  preserved  at  Yale  College.  Tiie 
domestic  culture  of  silk  became  quite  general  in  the  colony  prior  to  the 
Revolution,  and  still  existed  in  some  sections  until  1825.  Small  groves  of 
white  mulberry-trees,  and  rude  cocricneries,  cared  for  by  women,  are  remem- 
bered by  persons  even  now  living.  It  is  especially  notable,  however,  that  the 
town  of  Mansfield  was  the  great  centre  of  silk-production  in  this  colony; 
and  Mr.  A.  T.  Lilly  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  tha,":  "  Mansfield  seems  to  have 
been  the  only  place  where  raising  silk  became  a  fixed  industry."  This  applies 
more  particularly,  however,  to  the  period  between  18 10  and  1844.  Mans- 
field, nevertheless,  deserves  the  credit  of  being  the  first  silk- manufacturing 
centre  of  this  country,  —  a  fact  to  which  we  shall  presently  recur.  Mr.  Lilly 
estimates  that  the  people  of  Mansfield  received  as  much  as  fifty  thousand 
dollars  a  year  in  barter  for  their  silk  from  1820  to  1830. 

Dr.  Aspinwall  of  New  Haven,  who  was  the  first  to  import  mulberry-trees 
and  silk-worms  into  Connecticut,  introduced  them  into  Pennsylvania  in  1767 
or  1768.  In  1770  Susanna  Wright  of  Columbia,  Lancaster  County,  made 
Pennsyi-  a  piect  of  mantua  sixty  yards  long  from  home-raised  cocoons; 
vania,  ^nd  this  cloth  was  afterwards  worn  as  a  court-dress  by  the  Queen 

of  Great  Britain.  A  piece  of  similar  goods,  made  by  Grace  Fisher,  was  sub- 
sequently presented  by  Gov.  Dickinson  to  the  celebrated  Catherine  Macaulay. 
A  filature  was  erected  in  Philadelphia  in  1769,  and  twenty-three  hundred 
pounds  of  cocoons  were  brought  there  the  next  year  to  be  reeled.  The 
filature  was  built  by  subscription  and  at  the  inspiration  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  which  was  aroused  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  then  the 
colony's  agent  in  London. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  in  the  early  part  of  this,  silic- 
culture  was  undertaken  to  a  limited  extent  in  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  near  Baltimore,  Maryland,  Illinois,  Massachu- 
setts, Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine,  with  but  little  s';ccess 
in  the  three  States  last  named. 


New  York, 
and  other 
States. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


431 


The  Revolution  nearly  annihilated  the  production  in  this  country  by 
cutting  off  the  export  trade.     But  private  domestic  manufacture  g^^^j  ^^  ^j,, 
still  created  a  demand ;  and  after  the  war  was  over  a  slight  re-   Revolution 
vival  and  expansion  were  experienced  in  the  production,  Ohio,  "jj'j" 'J'" 
Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  also  engaging  therein.     However,  the 
general  decline  which  had  been  discernible  before  the  war  now  continued 
slowly,  and  by  1825  silk-culture  had  almost  entirely  died  out  in  the  United' 
States. 

A  famous  period  in  this  industry  was  the  so-called  Mortis  tnulticaiiU^ 
mania.  The  favorite  variety  of  the  mulberry-tree  among  European  silk- 
growers  is  the  white,  or  Morus  alba,  American  experimenters,  Morus 
however,  among  the  first  of  whom  was  Gideon  B.  Smith,  who  muiticauiig 
imported  a  specimen  in  1826,  began  to  advocate  the  marvellous  ""•"*• 
merits  of  the  Morus  multicaulis,  and  to  instigate  a  revival  of  silk-growing. 
Clearly  the  most  important  preliminary  step  in  this  direction  was  the  cultiva- 
tion of  mulberry-trees,  which  were  propagated  by  slips.  So  successful  were 
the  agitators,  that  the  agricultural  classes  of  nearly  the  whole  country,  espe- 
cially of  the  North,  were  excited  on  the  subject;  and  by  1834  or  1835  a 
demand  was  created  for  young  trees  or  slips,  which  soon  rose  in  value  from 
three  or  four  dollars  a  hundred  to  twenty-five,  fifty,  a  hundred,  two  hundred, 
and  even  five  hundred  dollars  per  hundred.  One  enthusiast  bought  a  dozen 
cuttings,  not  more  than  two  feet  long,  nor  thicke'  than  a  pipe-stem,  for  twenty- 
five  dollars,  and  said  he  valued  them  at  sixty  dollars.  In  the  furore  that 
ensued,  nurserymen  and  unscrupulous  agents  even  went  so  far  as  to  sell  slips  of 
entirely  different  stock  for  mulberry,  and  at  fabulous  prices.  A  story  is  told 
of  a  Long- Island  nurservman  who  resorted  to  a  bold  and  shrewd  artifice  to 
build  up  his  trade.  He  drove  to  New  York,  and  took  the  steamer  to  New- 
port. He  drove  to  the  first  nursery  there,  and  asked  eagerly,  "  Have  you 
any  multicaidis  trees?"  —  "A  few,"  was  the  reply.  "I  will  give  you  fifty 
cents  apiece   for  all  you  have,"  said   the  Long-Islander.     The  nurseryman 

thought  a  minute  :  "  If  Mr. is  willing  to  give  that  price  for  them,  it  is 

because  he  thinks  they  are  worth  more."  So  he  answered,  "  I  don't  think  I 
want  to  sell  what  few  I  have."  —  "  Very  well,"  was  the  reply:  "I  presume  I 
can  get   them  for  that."     Off  he  Went,  and  visited  every  other  nurseryman 


who  was  known  to  have  mulberry  -  trees  in  Newport,  Providence,  Boston, 
Worcester,  Springfield,  Northampton,  and  elsewhere.  He  did  not  buy  a 
single  tree  ;  but  he  forced  the  price  up  from  twenty-five  cents  to  over  a  dbllar 
in  a  single  week,  and  thus  improved  his  own  market  wonderfully.  So  enor- 
mous were  his  sales,  that  the  utmost  art  could  not  propagate  trees  fast  enough 
for  the  trade;  and  in  1838-39  he  sent  an  agent  with  eighty  thousand 
dollars  cash  in  hand  to  France  to  buy  young  trees  for  him.  But,  before  the 
s^upply  could  be  had,  the  speculative  bubble  burst.  Excitement  throughout 
the  country  became  over-strained  in  1839,  and  a  sudden  re-action  took  place. 


43» 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


There  was  no  further  demand  for  the  multicaulis ;  and,  when  the  enterprising 
Long- Islander's  supply  came  from  France,  he  was  obliged  to  sell  it  for  pea- 
brush  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  a  hundred.  Numerous  other  speculators  were 
bankrupted  in  the  same  way. 

This  spirit  of  speculation  proved 
hurtful  to  those  sections  where  silk- 
growing  had  been  already  carried  on 
successfully ;  for  it  created  such 
a  demand  for  the  trees,  that  raisers 
could  not  afford  to  feed  their  worms. 
A  single  tree  was  often  worth  more 
than  the  whole  probable  product  of 
silk  that  season  to  the  owner.  Mr. 
Lilly  mentions  two  trees  of  only  a 
single  year's  growth,  in  North  Wind- 
ham, Conn.,  that  sold  at  auction,  in 
August,  1 84 2,  for  a  hundred  and  six 
and  a  hundreil  dollars  respectively ; 
and  the  rest  were  withdrawn  from 
sale  because  the  bidding  was  not 
sufficiently  spirited.  The  iniiltiiaiilis 
mania  completely  checked  the  aciual 
silk-producliun  for  a  time  ;  and  then 
in  1844  a  general  blight  killed  most 
of  the  trees  in  the  country,  and 
very  effectually  ])ut  an  end  to  the 
business. 

There  were,  however,  prior  to 
this  time,  a  few  gentlemen  of  single- 
hearted  devotion  to  the  country's 
industrial  interests,  who  had  active- 
ly engaged  in  and  encouraged  a  re- 
vival of  silk-culture.  Among  these 
was  the  Hon.  Peter  S.  Duponccau 
of  Philadelphia.  After  much  agita- 
tion of  the  subject,  and  having  employed  a  Frenchman  named  D'Homei  I'le, 
Duponce«u  '^^^  versed  both  in  producing  and  manufacturing  raw  silk,  ho 
nearly  obtained  an  appropriation  from  Congress  of  forty  thousand 
dollars  wherewith  to  found  a  normal  filature,  or  school  for 
teaching  the  delicate  and  difficult  art  of  reeling  silk.  Failing  in  this,  he 
founded  such  an  institution  at  private  expense,  built  cocooneries,  went  into 
the  business  to  considerable  extent,  carried  on  extensive  correspondence  with 
other  parts  of  the  country  on  the  subject,  and  did   much  to  disseminata 


COCOONS    COMPLETED. 


Of-  PhiU 
delphU. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


433 


valuable  information.  His  efforts  resulted  in  financial  failure  in  1837.  Mr. 
Dnponceau  is  on  record  as  having  expressed  the  very  decided  opinion,  that 
we  Americans  should  keep  on  trying  to  make  silk -growing  a  success  before 
trying  to  manufacture,  even  if  we  had  to  wait  twenty  years.  But  the  country 
has  not  followed  his  advice. 

Another  gentleman  distinguished  by  his  earnest  efforts  and  wide  influence 
in  this  realm  of  industry  was  the  late  Jonathan  H.  Cobb  of  Dedham,  Mass. 
Though  not  as  wealthy  as  Mr.  Duponceau,  he  was  nearly  as  Jonathan  h. 
active.  Interest  having  become  aroused  afresh  in  Massachusetts  '-°''''- 
in  1S30,  the  legislature  authorized  the  governor  to  appoint  him  to  prepare  a 
manual  on  silk-growing  for  distribution  among  the  agricultural  classes.  He 
dill  the  work  ably,  and  the  book  ran  through  many  editions.  He  engaged, 
too,  extensively  in  the  culture  himself,  and  in  lecturing  thereupon.  In  1835 
he  engaged  in  an  enterprise  for  manufacturing  at  Dedham,  and  his  mill  turned 
out  two  hundred  pounds  of  sewing-silk  a  week.  He  also  co-operated  with 
Christopiier  Colt  of  Hartford,  and  others  in  the  Connecticut  Silk  Company, 
whose  works  were  in  the  latter  city.  This  latter  failed  in  1840.  His  losses 
paralyzed  his  activity  a  while  :  but  in  1843  he  started  up  his  old  mill  at  Ded- 
ham. under  the  management  of  C.  Colt,  jun.  ;  but  a  fire  destroyed  the  estab- 
lishment in  1845,  and  thereafter  Judge  Cobb  had  no  more  to  do  with  the 
business  with  which  he  had  been  more  or  less  identified  for  forty  years. 

For  more  than  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  bursting  of  the  multicaulis 
bubble,  little  raw  silk  was  produced  in  the  United  States.  The  census-returns 
put  down  the  yield  of  1850  at  a  trifle  over  10,000  pounds, —  Decline  in 
'.•(|uivalent  to  about  120,000  cocoons,  and  worth,  perhaps.  ;f)40,ooo.  siik-cuiture. 
The  yield  of  i860  is  returned  at  about  11,000  pounds,  and  that  of  1870  at  less 
than  4,000.  Within  a  few  years,  however,  there  has  been  something  of  a 
revival  in  the  production,  to  a  slight  extent  in  Louisiana,  but  very  conspicu- 
ously in  Southern  California. 

In  the  South  there  has  been  no  ability  manifested  to  reel  the  little  silk 
produced,  and  no  market  for  the  cocoons.  New  Orleans  abounds  in  mul- 
lierry-trces  planted  nearly  a  century  ago  by  the  French,  and  the  siik-industry 
trees  arc  haunted  by  a  wild  insect  whose  cocoons  are  plentiful.  '"  *'^=  South. 
From  1S71  to  1874  an  Italian  named  Roca  made  a  business  of  rearing  silk- 
worms in  that  city,  and  shipping  eggs  and  cocoons  to  Italy.  For  the  last- 
mentioned  year  his  invoices  amounted  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  his  silk 
was  adjudged  at  Milan  superior  to  any  produced  thereabouts.  Besides,  three 
crops  of  cocoons  were  obtained  from  the  American  market,  and  but  two  from 
j  the  ItaHan.  It  is  thus  demonstrated,  that,  though  the  climate  there  is  a  trifle 
damp,  Louisiana  might  make  a  great  success  of  silk-culture. 

California  soon  developed  wonderful  agricultural  excellence  after  her 
annexation  to  the  United  States.  Louis  Prevost  of  Normandy,  France, 
;)lantcd  mulberry-trees  at  San  Josd  in  1856,  but  could  not  procure  silk-worm 


434 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


California. 


J !  \ 


Kansas. 


eggs  until  1861.  He  grows  three  kinds  of  mulberries,  —  the  alba,  multi- 
caulis,  and  morelta,  but  gives  the  white  {alba)  the  preference, 
as  do  most  other  Californians.  A.  M.  Muller  of  San  Jose'  went 
into  business  with  M.  Prevost  in  1861.  Joseph  Neumann,  a  German  silk- 
weaver,  started  a  similar  enterprise  near  San  Francisco  in  1866;  and  Felix 
Gillet  did  the  same  soon  after  at  Nevada  City.  These  California  pioneers 
raised  little  silk  during  the  first  decade  that  followed  Provost's  beginnings. 
That  little  they  sent  to  Europe  as  samples  to  make  a  market  for  their  eggs, 
In  1869  Neumann  raised  a  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  of  silk,  which  he  had 
made  up  into  two  national  flags,  and  presented  them  to  the  governments  of 
the  State  of  California  and  the  United  States.  For  the  last  ten  years  the 
business  has  grown  very  rapidly.  Silk-mills  have  been  built  in  the  State,  and 
are  supplied  entirely  with  raw  silk  of  domestic  production  ;  and  thousands  of 
dollars'  worth  of  eggs  are  annually  sent  to  Europe. 

The  only  other  point  at  which  silk  is  produced  in  this  country  to  any 
notable  extent  is  Silkville,  Franklin  County,  Kan.,  where  E.  de  Boissiere,  a 
French  gentleman  of  means,  has  founded  a  small  colony  which 
is  engaged  in  both  growing  and  manufacturing  silk.  In  1870  he 
planted  a  large  quantity  of  mulberry-seed,  and  in  the  following  spring  set  out 
ten  thousand  young  trees  from  France.  His  experiments  with  French  eggs 
have  not  been  very  successful ;  but  he  is  doing  nicely  with  Japanese  impor- 
tations. 

Thus  far  we  have  recounted  at  considerable  length  the  history  of  silk- 
culture  :  we  now  propose  to  give  the  story  of  silk-manufacturing  in  this 
country. 

Prior  to  the  Revolution,  nearly  all  the  silk  grown  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  was  exported.  From  17S0  to  1825  most  of  our  product  was  worked 
Domestic  "P  ^'^  home.  Reeling,  spinning,  and  even  weaving  silk,  came  to 
manufacture  be  a  household  pursuit,  like  hatchelling  and  spinning  flax,  or  card- 
°'  ""'■  ing  and  spinning  wool,  though  by  no  means  so  common.     Still  it 

was  a  domestic  manufacture.  Usually  it  got  no  farther  than  the  form  of  sew- 
ing-silk ;  although  it  was  sometimes  woven  into  dress-goods,  which  compared 
with  our  modern  machine-made  silks  about  as  the  old-fashioned  "homespun" 
would  with  fine  broadcloth,  ^he  processes  were  very  rude  and  defective: 
especially  so  was  the  reeling.  But  the  spinning  and  weaving  were  generally 
jierformed  on  the  same  wheel  and  in  the  same  loom  used  for  wool,  and  the 
apparatus  was  poorly  adapted  to  their  use.  It  might  be  here  remarked,  that, 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  Eastern  Connecticut  was  the 
principal  centre  of  even  this  rude  industry.  The  sewing-silk  and  raw  silk 
made  in  Tolland,  Windham,  and  New-London  Counties,  in  1810,  were  valued 
at  $28,503  ;  while  the  fabrics  made  of  refuse  silk  mingled  with  wool  were  esti- 
mated at  half  as  much.  In  some  other  parts  of  the  country,  however,  the 
business  was  carried  on,  but  to  a  much  more  limited  extent. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


435 


The  first  organized  efforts  at  silk-manufacture  in  this  country  were  those 
of  tlie  brothers  Rodney  and  Horatio  Hanks  of  Mansfield,  Conn. ;  the  latter 
of  whom,  prior  to  the  building  of  their  mill  in  1810,  had  invented   _,„ 
a  double  wheel-head  which   greatly  facilitated   the   spinning  of  factureat 
cotton,  wool,  or  silk.      This  first  mill,  run  by  water-power,  was  J!|'""»'*«w> 

Conn> 

devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  sewing-silk  by  machinery.  The 
edifice  measured  bui  twelve  feet  each  way  ;  but  the  enterprise  was  successful. 
In  1S14  the  two  brothers  associated  with  themselves  Harrison  Holland  and 
John  Gilbert,  and  built  a  new  and  larger  mill  at  Clurleyville,  near  by.  This 
venture  was  a  virtual  failure.  In  1821  Rodney  Hanks  built  still  another  mill 
at  Mansfield,  and  associated  his  son  George  with  him  in  the  business.  This 
mill  was  operated  until  1828,  when  the  improvement  cf  machinery  by  others, 
and  the  ruinous  competition  that  ensued,  drove  the  Hankses  out  of  the  field. 
Wc  shall  presently  recur,  however,  to  the  progress  of  the  industry  in  this  his- 
toric town  of  Mansfield. 

The  second  pioneer  in  silk-manufacturing  in  the  United  States  was  William 
H.  Horstmann,  who  came  from  Germany  to  Philadelphia  in  181 5.  He  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  business  of  making  all  sorts  of  trimmings,  wiuiam  h. 
into  the  composition  of  which  silk  partially  entered.  He  had  H<""stmann. 
learned  the  art  of  silk-weaving  in  France,  imported  several  machines  for  his 
use,  and  invented  others.  His  products  were  dress-trimmings,  belt  and  other 
ribbons,  plaited  and  braided  goods,  fringes,  sashes,  epaulets,  &o. ;  and  his 
business  steadily  developed.  He  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  Jacquard  loom 
into  this  country,  which  he  did  in  1824.  His  son,  William  J.  Horstmann. 
manufactured  power-looms  of  his  own  designing  in  1837-38,  simultaneously 
with  their  adoption  in  Switzerland.  He  succeeded  his  father,  on  the  latter's 
death  in  1852.  The  elder  Horstmann's  father-in-law,  Hoeckley,  was  estab- 
lished in  Philadelphia  in  the  business  of  making  coach  lace,  fringe,  and  tassels. 
The  Horstmann  Sons  combined  all  these  departments,  and  have  developed  the 
business  greatly,  continuing  it  to  the  present  day,  having  taken  premiums  at 
many  local  and  national  exhibitions. 

The  high  tariffs  of  1824  and  1 328,  and  other  influences  which  stimulated 
manufacturing  of  all  sorts,  induced  further  effort  with  silk.  In  1829  a  ribbon- 
manufactory  was  started  in  Baltimore  ;  but  it  was  a  short-lived  affair. 

The  next  enterprise  was  in  Mansfield,  Conn.,  again.     This  started  as  early 
as  1827-28,  when  a  corporation  was  organized  called  "The  Mansfield  Silk 
Company."     The  partners  were  Alfred  Lilly,  Joseph  Conant,  Wil-   Mansfield 
liam  /\.  Fisk,  William  .Atwood,  Storrs  Hovey,  and  Jesse  Bingham,   suk  Com- 
These  names  have  since  figured  very  prominently  in  connection   ''*"^' 
with  silk-manufacturing.     The  organization  was  formally  incorporated  by  the 
legislature  in  1829.     It  gave  attention  to  the  encouragement  of  production. 
but  aimed  especially  to  improve  the  quality  of  sewing-silk  by  improving  the 
processes    of   reeling    and   "throwing,"   or  doubling.      Its    first  successful 


436 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


w 


machinery  was  designed  by  Edward  Golding,  a  young  English  throwster 
Their  reels  were  greatly  improved  a  year  or  two  later  (at  the  suggestion  of  a 
Mr.  Brown,  an  English  silk-manufacturer  who  had  settled  in  Jioston),  and 
operated  by  water  power  instead  of  hand.  Their  business  now  developed,  aiid 
they  attained  cjuite  a  reputation,  American  sewing-silk,  though  not  yet  [Per- 
fect in  color  or  evenness,  came  largely  into  use.  The  company  offered  to  buy 
all  the  cocoons  offered  it :  it  went  even  farther,  and  undertook  silk-growing 
itself  on  a  large  scale.  Large  tracts  of  land  were  leased,  and  planteil  with 
mulberry-trees;  and  the  legislature  was  induced  in  1832  to  grant  bounties  on 
tree-raising  and  reeling.  They  then  made  another  venture ;  namely,  an  at- 
tempt at  weaving  :  but  th«  ir  apparatus  was  poorly  adapted  to  the  end.  A  third 
influence  operated  hurtfully  upon  the  enterprise.  Nathan  Rixford  of  Mans- 
field invented  improvements  in  winding,  doubling,  and  spinning,  which  put  the 
Mansfield  Company's  machinery  behind  the  times,  just  as  theirs  had  eclipsed 
that  of  the  orignal  Hankses.  In  1835  Mr.  Lilly  withdrew  from  the  concern; 
three  others  did  in  1839;  and  th^n  the  company  suspended,  although  for  a 
time  it  let  its  m  11  to  other  parties.  This  factory,  however,  deserves  the  credit 
of  being  the  first  in  this  country  where  silk-manufacture  was  successfully 
carried  on  to  any  extent. 

The  early  endeavors  of  the  Hanks  family,  and  the  operations  of  the  Horst- 
manns,  had  widely  advertised  the  possibilities  of  silk-manufacture  in  this  coun- 
try. The  imposition  of  a  protective  tariff,  the  efforts  of  public-spirited  men  to 
promote  silk-growing,  the  application  of  Yankee  ingenuity  to  the  improvement 
of  machinery,  the  marked  success  of  these  mechanical  endeavors,  and  the 
practical  achievements  of  the  Mansfield  f>mpany,  awakened  wide  interest  in 
the  fabrication  of  the  silk  fibre,  and  drew  1  ien  and  capital  into  such  enterprises, 
to  a  great  extent,  from  1830  to  1830,  — a  period  the  reader  will  identify  with 
that  of  the  famous  multicaulis  mania.  The  critical  year  1839 
blasted  nearly  all  these  many  young  and  promising  enterprises,  and 
marked  a  dividing-line,  beyond  which  few  of  the  earlier  ones  passed  ;  although 
several  of  the  most  successful  manufactures  of  later  days  were  built  upon  the 
ruins  of  that  fatal  period,  and  by  men  intimately  associated  therewith.  This 
will  the  more  clearly  appear  from  the  history  of  three  or  four  of  the  leading 
undertakings  of  that  day  and  this. 

In  the  village  of  Florence,  near  Northampton,  Mass.,  on  the  stream  known 
as  Mill  River,  where  the  historic  bursting  of  a  dam  occurred  in  1874.  there 
Northamp.  '^^^^  erected,  over  a  hundred  years  ago,  what  was  long  known  ns 
ton  Silk  the  "old  oil-mill."     About  1830  Samuel  Whitmarsh  of  New  York, 

Company.  ^^j^^  j^^j  accumulated  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  the  tailoring- 
business,  went  to  Northampton,  bought  the  mansion  now  owned  by  Edward 
Lyman,  erected  two  hothouses  for  raising  mulberry-trees,  and  in  183a  caused 
the  old  oil-mill  to  be  put  in  order  for  silk-manufacturing.  Machinery-  was 
constructed  after  designs  by  Nathan  Rixford,  the  Mansfield  inventor.    Mr- 


1839. 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


437 


Whitmarsh,  by  his  enthusiasm  and  activity,  not  only  excited  the  neighborhood, 
but  secured  the  co-operation  of  several  gentlemen  from  Middletown,  Conn., 
in  his  enterprise,  among  them  Augustus  and  Samuel  Russell,  who  had  founded 
a  l.irge  American  shipping-house  in  China.  These  gentlemen  now  organized 
the  Nurtiiampton  Silk  Company,  and  in  1834  built  a  new  brick  mill  in 
a.ichtion  to  the  old  oil-mill.  They  laid  out  large  mulberry-plantations,  and 
proceeded  with  the  manufacture  of  watch-ribbons,  vestings,  and  other  goods. 
Ik-iiry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  and  other  public  men,  were  presented  with  heavy 
black-silk  vest-patterns  from  this  establishment.  But  the  supply  of  raw  silk  was 
small,  and  headway  slight.  In  1835  Mr.  Whitmarsh,  president  of  the  com- 
pany, went  to  France  to  obtain  information  on  silk-culture.  The  result  of  his 
observations  was  published  in  a  valuable  book  in  1839.  That  summer  he 
remarked  to  John  Ryle,  then  in  his  employ  as  a  weaver,  "  I  shall  make  this 
year  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  before  next  winter."  The  col- 
lapse of  the  multicaulis  bubble  ruined  the  company ;  and,  when  winter  came. 
Mr.  Whitmarsh  had  neither  cash  nor  credit  enough  to  buy  a  barrel  of  flour. 
The  company  eventually  paid  all  its  debts,  amounting  to  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars ;  and  Mr.  Whitmarsh  went  to  Jamaica,  where  he  made  fresh  ventures, 
that  were  but  partially  successful.  Shortly  before  his  death,  in  1875,  he 
seriously  contemplated  undertaking  new  ones  in  California. 

When  Mr.  Whitmarsh  left,  the  Northampton  Company  secured  '.he  services 
of  ("apt.  Joseph  Conant,  who  had  been  associated  with  se\  sral  Mansfield 
enterprises  since  1827;  but,  when  bankruptcy  ensued  in  1840,  the  company 
sold  out.  Capt.  Conant,  S.  L.  Hill,  George  W.  Benson,  and  William  Adams, 
were  the  purchasers.  The  new  corporation  took  the  Florence  property,  and 
organized  a  "  community  "  of  interest  and  participation  in  work.  This  proved 
a  fliilure ;  and  in  1844  the  property  again  changed  hands,  and  Mr.  Hill,  who 
had  secured  the  partnership  of  a  Northampton  capitalist,  S.  L.  Hinckley, 
obtained  control.  The  establishment  was  now  denominated  the  "  Nonotuck 
Steam-Mill,"  and  has  done  a  prosperous  business  in  sewing-silk  and  twist  ever 
since.     Their  "  Corticelli  "  brand  is  widely  famous.     Conant  built 

,,       ^  .  II,,-      Conantville. 

the  (Sonant  Mill  at  Conantville,  Conn.,  m  1852;    and  he  and  his 
flimily  were  instrumental   in  founding    several    other  enterprises.     New  and 
successful  ventures  have  since   been  made  at  Florence,   Northampton,  and 
Holyoke,  Mass.     This  brief  narration  gives  one  an  idea  of  the  vicissitudes 
that  ha\e  attended  the  progress  of  the  silk-industry  in  this  country. 

Another  similar  story  is  that  of  the  Connecticut  Silk-Manufacturing  Compa- 
ny, incorporated  at  Hartford  in  1835,  which  received  a  l)onus  of  al)out  eleven 
thousand  dollars  net  from  a  bank  charter.  It  was  managed  by  Christopher 
(uh  and  J.  H.  Hayden.  It  collapsed  in  1838,  after  sinking  its  entire  cajjital. 
The  latter  gentleman  then  went  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Haskell,  who 
furnished  the  capital ;  and  they  established,  under  the  firm-name  of  J.  H. 
Hayden  &  Company,  a  silk-mill  at  Windsor  Locks,  near  Hartfyrd,  which  con- 
tinues prosperous  to  this  day. 


438 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


South  Man- 
chester. 


One  of  the  most  successful  undertakings  in  this  department  of  industry  is 
that  of  the  Cheney  Brothers  of  South  Manchester,  Conn.  The  family  was 
Cheney  °"^  °^  l^^ght,  industrious,  enterprising  farmer-boys.      Seth  and 

Brother!,  John  became  artists,  and  left  home ;  so  did  two  others,  who 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  in  Providence.  All  of  them  had 
been  more  less  familiar  with  the  culture  of  mulberry-trees  during 
their  boyhood;  and  in  January,  1838,  Ward,  Rush,  Frank,  and  Ralph  started 
the  Mount-Nebo  Silk-Mills  in  their  native  town,  where  for  four  or  five  yuars 
past  they  had  been  raising  silk-worms  and  producing  some  silk.  The  mills 
soon  closed  for  a  brief  period,  during  which  Ward,  Rush,  and  Frank  went 
to  Burlington,  N.J.,  to  engage  in  the  nursery  and  cocoonery  business.  They 
also  published  a  magazine,  called  "The  Silk-Grower's  Manual,"  from  July, 
1838,  to  July,  1840.  Other  members  of  the  family  cultivated  mulberry-trees 
in  Florida,  Georgia,  and  Ohio.  The  multicaulis  collapse  hurt  them  financially ; 
and  so  the  brothers  went  back  to  South  Manchester  in  1841,  and  re-opened 
the  mill.  Putting  in  new  machinery,  they  began  with  the  manufacture  of 
sewing-silk,  gradually  extending  their  business  to  ribbons  and  handkerchiefs. 
They  used  imported  raw  silk  almost  exclusively,  as  the  American  silk  was  too 
poorly  reeled  to  be  serviceable,  and  too  scanty  in  supply.  Soon  an  attempt 
was  made  to  manufacture  broad  goods,  or  dress-goods ;  their  first  experiments 
being  made  with  pierced  cocoons,  floss,  silk-waste,  and  such  material  as  could 
not  be  reeled.  This  was  carded  and  spun,  and  used  for  filling,  by  machinery 
made  expressly  for  the  purpose.  The  product  was  a  substantial  but  lustreless 
goods,  which  found  a  good  market.  Five  years  of  patient  ingenuity  and 
perseverance  were  needed  to  perfect  this  apparatus  and  insure  success.  This 
spun  silk  was  woven  into  pongees  and  handkerchiefs  at  first,  and  then  into 
foulards,  ribbons,  and  broad  goods.  In  1854  a  new  mill  was  built  at  Hartford, 
and  put  in  charge  of  Charles  Cheney,  who  had  come  home  from  Ohio  in 
1847. 

Until  the  breaking-out  of  the  late  civil  war,  and  the  imposition  of  the 
heavy  tariff  of  i86i  upon  foreign  silk-goods,  the  Cheney  Brothers  could  not 
compete  successfully  with  imported  articles.  The  acts  of  1831 
and  1846  had  left  the  silk-industry  in  this  country  with  too  little 
protection.  But,  with  the  re-imposition  of  a  stiff  tariff,  the  business  ra])idly 
grew  ;  and  the  Cheney  silks  have  now  acquired  a  wide  and  enviable  reputation. 
The  Cheneys  have  been  public-spirited  and  philanthropic  employers.  Not 
only  do  they  pay  their  help  well,  but  they  have  beautified  the  village-homes 
of  their  operatives,  provided  commodious  boarding-houses,  erected  and  fur- 
nished a  fine  public  hall,  a  reading-room,  and  library,  and  contributed  lari^aly 
to  the  erection  of  church,  school,  and  armory.  Meantime  they  have  i)ros- 
l)ered  in  business,  and  accjuired  wide  reputation  and  influence  in  their  state 
and  nation. 

The   largest   silk-manufacturing  centre  in  the   country  is   Paterson,  NJ. 


Tariff. 


Hithe 

manu 

invent 

Christ 

in  M;i 

iiig  ru 

a  i)istt 

the 

scale 

Ryle. 

nianut' 
a  shor 
ani|itoi 
mechai 
proved 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


439 


John  Ryle. 


Hither,  in  1839,  came  Christopher  Colt,  jun.,  son  of  the  Connecticut  silk- 
maiuifacturing  company's  president,  and  brother  of  Samuel  Colt,  patenon, 
inventor  and  maker  of  the  revolver  which  bears  his  name.  Young  ^■•'■ 
Christopher  had  been  connected  more  or  less  with  the  unsuccessful  venture 
in  Hartford  with  which  his  father  was  connected ;  but,  foreseeing  the  impend- 
ing ruin  tliere,  he  removed  to  Paterson,  where  his  brother  had  already  built 
a  pistol-factory.  Samuel  gave  the  use  of  the  fourth  story  of  his  building  to 
the  younger  Christopher,  who  there  began  silk-manufacturing  on  a  small 
scale;  but  in  1840,  amid  the  very  general  depression,  he  sold  out  to  John 
Ryle. 

Ryle  was  a  native  of  England,  and  a  member  of  a  family  engaged  in  silk- 
manufacturing.  He  was  drawn  to  this  country  by  the  multicaulis  fever.  For 
a  short  time  he  was  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  Whitmarsh  at  North- 
ampton, and  later  he  visited  tiie  Hartford  factory.  He  noted  the 
nieciianical  defects  of  these  two  establishments,  and  saw  how  they  could  be  im- 
proved. He  possessed  not  only  practical  ingenuity,  but  business  shrewdness. 
During  his  visit  to  Northampton  he  had  come  in  contact  with  G.  W.  Murray, 
and  subsequently  met  that  gentleman  in  New  York.  He  impressed  so  strongly 
upon  Murray's  mind  the  idea,  that,  at  the  time  of  tiie  great  depression  in 
1840,  one  could  most  i)rofitably  invest,  that  he  persuaded  that  capitalist  to 
advance  thirty-two  hundred  dollars  wherewith  to  buy  out  Christopher  Colt, 
jun.  Murray  put  Ryle  in  charge,  and  three  years  later  took  him  into  j)artner- 
ship.  In  1846  Ryle  received  enough  assistance  from  his  brothers  in  England 
to  purchase  the  full  ownership,  and  the  following  year  he  extended  the 
business  so  as  to  include  the  manufacture  of  broad  goods.  In  1846  he  had 
set  a  few  looms  at  work,  and  made  several  pieces  of  dress-silk  a  thousand 
yards  in  length.  In  1847  the  facilities  were  increased,  and  in  1850  he  went 
to  France  to  visit  the  principal  silk-factories  of  that  country.  A  fair  specimen 
of  his  work  at  this  period  was  the  large  silk  flag  which  waved  over  the  Crystal- 
Palace  Exhibition  in  New  York  in  1852.  Since  then  his  business  has  in- 
creased, prospered,  and  excited  lively  competition.  In  1857-58  he  was 
employing  four  hundred  or  five  hundred  operatives,  and  consuming  two 
thousand  pounds  of  raw  silk  a  week,  —  an  amount  then  unprecedented  in 
America. 

This  is  the  foundation  of  the  Paterson  silk-industry.  In  1840  Paterson 
ivas  but  a  village  of  seven  thousand  inhabitants  :  now  it  is  a  large,  beautiful, 
and  flourishing  city.  Then  John  Ryle  was  a  poor  mechanic,  with  Ryie's 
scarcely  a  friend  :  he  has  since  won  a  national  reputation.  In  s"<==^s*- 
1852  he  bought  a  large  piece  of  property  near  Passaic  Falls,  greatly  beautified 
it  by  the  arts  of  landscape-gardening  and  architecture,  and  presented  it  to  the 
IK'ople  of  the  town  as  a  free  public  park.  Shortly  afterward  he  was  elected 
minor  of  Paterson.  In  1854  he  built  the  Murray  Mill,  then  one  of  the  largest 
and  l)est-equippcd  establishments  in  the  country. 


'^iiiijiiiilaii 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


441 


For  nearly  twelve  years  Ryle  was  without  local  competition.  In  1851-52 
John  IJcnson,  formerly  a  cotton-manufacturer,  started  a  small  silk-mill  in 
TatLTson.  Three  years  later,  Hamil  iS:  booth  began  business  with  twenty 
operatives,  and  gradually  developed  their  business  (their  establisliment,  the 
Passaic  Silk-Works,  confining  itself  for  fifteen  years  simply  to  "  throwing " 
silk )  ;  anil  soon  otlier  small  factories  were  started,  some  of  which  were  the 
foundations  of  great  enterprises. 

Having  thus  sketched  the  foundations  of  the  silk-intlustry,  we  pause  to 
consider  some  of  the  causes  that  gave  it  development,  and  hastily  to  outline 
its  fuller  dimensions. 

One  agency  that  stimulated   manufacture  from    18 10   to    1S40  was   the 
culture  of  the  raw  material  in  this  country ;  but  since  the  last-named  ilate  we 
have  been  depemlent  chielly  upon  the  foreign  supply,     .\nother 
agency   was    the   invention   of  machinery   by    .Americans.      The   vvhyn^anu- 
Hanks   brothers   used   rude    maciiinery  with    their  water  power,   facture  hai 
Nathan  Rixford  invented  many  useful  devices,  the  most  valuable   »"="«'''='['" 

•'  tiiis  country. 

of  which  was  that  for  reeling  silk.  Hefore  the  processes  of 
doubling,  spinning,  or  dyeing,  are  performed,  the  fibre  from  half  a  dozen 
cocoons  neeils  to  be  combined  in  a  single  thread.  .As  some  cocoons  contain 
but  three  hundred  and  others  thirteen  hundred  feet  of  filament,  and  as  this  is 
of  spider-web  delicacy,  the  work  of  combining  jjarallel  fibres,  and  attaching 
the  successive  ones  smoothly  and  perfectly,  is  a  very  ilifificult  one.  Rixford'* 
Rixford's  reels  were  a  great  advance  on  our  old  ones,  and  were  inventions. 
sent  to  China,  with  samples  of  thread,  for  use  and  imitation  by  the  natives  who 
supplied  our  manufacturers  with  raw  material  after  1840;  and,  though  it  was 
hard  work  to  secure  their  introduction,  they  finally  came  into  wide  use,  and 
facilitated  .American  manufacture.  Mention  has  been  made  already  of 
Horstniann's  application  of  the  power-loom  to  silk-weaving  at  Philadelphia  in 
1837,  and  to  the  Cheney  Brothers'  apparatus  for  carding  and  spinning  silk  for 
filling  which  could  not  be  reeled.  This  latter  was  an  important  advance  in 
the  business.  Rixford  also  invented  for  Ralph  Cheney,  in  1838,  a  friction- 
roller  for  use  in  spinning,  which  was  of  great  value  and  extended  use.  Mr. 
M.  Heminway,  who  began  the  manufocture  of  silk  at  Midilletown,  Conn.,  in 
1S49.  was  the  first  to  substitute  spool  for  skein  silk.  L.  1).  Hrown,  formerly 
of  (iurleyville.  but  afterwards  of  Conantville  anil  Middletown,  invented  valua- 
ble apparatus  for  spooling  silk  and  weighing  it  ;  so  that  the  thread  was  cut 
when  tiie  spool  contained  an  ounce.  For  many  years  past  the  l)anf(jrth 
Loromotive  and  Machine  Comi)any  of  Paterson  has  been  making  a  machine 
for '•  throwing '■  or  spinning  silk,  which  is  more  usefiil  and  valuable  than  is 
manufactured  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Messrs.  Atwood  tJv:  Holland  of 
Williniantic  use  a  stretching-machine,  whicii  reduces  the  unevennesses  in 
knotty  Chinese  silk  to  the  smoothness  of  the  finest  Italian  product. 

The  enthusiasm,  far-sightedness,  persevering  energy,  and  business-tact  of 


443 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  pioneers  in  the  silk-business,  in  the  face  of  failure,  ridicule,  and  many  other 
adversities,  have  done  every  thing  to  estal)lish  the  industry,  and  win  others 
thereto.  Dr.  Henjamin  Franklin,  Dr.  Stiles  of  New  Haven,  Dr.  .Aspinwall  of 
that  city,  Mr.  Duponceau  of  Philadelphia,  Judge  Cobb  of  Dedham,  Rodiuv 
and  Horatio  Hunks,  the  .Atwoods  and  C'onants,  the  Lillys  and  others  of  Mans- 
field, Samuel  Whitmarsh,  Christopher  Colt,  J.  H.  Hayden,  and  John  Ryle,  an- 
among  the  individuals  to  whom  the  success  of  silk-manufacture  in  America  is 
chiefly  due.  Association  for  the  exchange  of  information  and  ideas,  and  for 
co-operation  in  promoting  the  common  interest,  has  proved  helpful  in  tiiis  as 
in  other  industries.  I'aterson  had  a  local  organization  of  this  sort  in  i<S5S, 
re-organized  in  1872  ;  and  in  the  last-named  year  a  national  organization  was 
effected,  which  has  since  had  an  annual  meeting  every  spring.  The  protective 
tariffs  which  were  enacted  shortly  after  the  war  of  1812-15  did  something  to 
encourage  manufactuiing  ;  but  they  were  nearly  all  removed  in  1831.  I'he 
threats  of  civil  war  in  1859  depressed  the  business  considerably;  but  the 
imposition  of  the  tariff  of  1861  gave  fresh  encouragement  by  checking  the 
importation  of  foreign  goods.  Within  the  past  three  or  /our  years  the  law  has 
been  so  evaded,  that  large  (piantities  of  dress-goods  have  been  put  on  the 
market  in  New  York  which  had  escaped  payment  of  the  duty ;  and  no  little 
embarrassment  has  ensued. 

By  1830  there  had  been  only  three  or  four  short-lived  ventures  in  Mans- 
field, Conn.,  one  in  Baltimore,  and  one  successful  one  in  Philadelphia.  This  latter 
Progress  and  the  Mansfield  Company's  were  the  only  ones  in  operation  in 
until  1830.  jhjjt  yejir.  During  the  next  decade,  besides  the  Hartford,  Wind- 
sor-Locks, Northampton,  Florence,  and  Paterson  undertakings,  there  were 
])erhaps  a  dozen  others  started  ;  among  them  the  Atlantic  Silk  Company  of 
Nantucket,  the  Poughkeepsie  Silk  Company,  Mr.  Cobb's  silk-mill  at  Dediiam, 
the  Morodendron  Silk  Company  of  Philadelphia,  and  two  or  three  organizations 
at  Mansfield.  These  and  a  few  others  failed  altogether,  or  changed  hands, 
about  1840.  One  of  the  successful  enterprises  was  that  of  B.  B.  Tilt  of  Boston. 
who  began  making  silk  trimmings  for  dresses  in  1834,  and,  after  doing  a  good 
business  many  years,  went  to  Paterson  in  1862,  where  he  organized  the 
Pha'nix  Silk  Manufacturing  Company. 

From  1 840  to  1861,  besides  the  three  or  four  surviving  organizations  and  the 

three  or  four  more  built  upon  the  ruins  of  old  ones  already  named,  there  wore 

ui)wards  of  a  hundred  new  enterprises  undertaken  in  Boston,  the 

1840  to  1B61. 

Connecticut  Valley,  various  small  villages  of  Eastern  Connecti(  ut. 
New- York  City,  Paterson,  and  Philadelphia.  Many  of  these  were  smal!,  ami 
for  the  manufacture  of  only  sewing-silk  and  twist.  Several,  especially  in  the 
cities,  made  dress,  coach,  upholsterers',  and  undertakers'  trimmings.  The 
Cheneys  and  Ryle  were  almost  the  only  ones  that  made  broad  goods. 

Since  1861  there  have  been  a  large  number  of  new  establishments  started  ; 
but  a  larger  number  of  old  ones  have  suspended.     In  i860  there  were  139 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


443 


il  the 


1(1  the 

e  were 

n,  the 

L-ticut. 

;,  and 

n  tlie 

The 

irted ; 

e  1 39 

returned  in  the  censtis,  employing  5,435  hands  and  j?2,926,98o  capital,  with 

.111  aggregate  proihiction  of  ;S6,6o7,7ii.     In   1870  there  were  but 

1801  to  1870* 
eighty-nine  returned  (principally  in  Connecticut,  New  York,  and 

New  Jersey),  employing  6,649  hands  and  $6,231,130  capital,  with  a  total 
|)ii)iluriiun  of  ;iSi 2,2 10,662.  It  was  during  this  era  that  some  of  the  men 
now  most  prominent  in  tiie  business  —  the  Dales,  the  Beldens,  and  others  — 
establislicd  themselves. 

Since  1870  the  industry  has  developed  still  farther.  Our  total  production 
has  increased  to  upwards  of  525,000,000  a  year.  From  1850  to  i860  our 
imports  of  silk-goods  averaged  ^2 7,000,000  a  year,  and  in  i860  Progret* 
amounted  to  ;rt34, 330, 32 1.  During  the  next  decade,  owing  to  the  »"""  «>7o- 
hi^'h  tariff,  they  averaged  but  5 17,500,000  a  year;  but  in  1871  they  rose  to 
Sj.'v'^^'^Q.yo-  Since  then  they  have  steadily  fallen  o(T,  In  1875  they  aggre- 
gated but  $23,168,118,  and  in  1877  about  $21,000,000.  Thus  it  will  be  .seen 
that  we  are  gradually  driving  the  foreign  product  from  our  markets.  More 
than  that,  we  are  now  exporting  nearly  $100,000  worth  of  sewing-silk  a 
year.  Our  proilucts  have  taken  many  premiums,  and  receiveil  high  en- 
comiums from  the  juries  of  fairs,  —  local,  state,  national,  and  international, — ■ 
within  the  past  few  years ;  and,  except  in  the  quality  of  a  few  dress-silks  and 
ve!\  ets,  they  equal  any  thing  produced  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe. 


444 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER   VII. 


SHOE   AND    LEATHER    MANUFACTURES. 

WHEN  one  realizes  that  more  i)ersoiis  are  employed  in  the  United  States 
in  preparing  an<l  iiianufacturint,  leather  than  are  engaged  in  making 
cotton,  linen,  and  woollen  goods,  and  that  the  total  value  of  t!"e  former  prod- 
M^gnitudeof  ucts  excecds  t)ie  latter,  he  appreciates  more  fully  than  before  the 
the  industry,  importance  of  this  class  of  industries.  The  census-returns  >jf  1870 
set  down  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  tannmg,  dressing  skins,  and  mak- 
ing boots  and  shoes,  saddles  and 
harnesses,  trunks,  valises,  satchels, 
pocket-books,  gloves,  belting,  and 
hose,  at  over  202,000.  To  these 
should  be  added  at  least  50,000 
cobblers  and  small  shoemakers,  who 
are  excluded  from  the  above  figures ; 
and  an  allowance  should  be  made 
also  for  tl'ose  who  use  leather  in 
book-binding,  carriage-building,  ami 
making  "■  cards "  for  textile  I'lbrcs. 
The  total  value  of  the  direct  lealher- 
]irodu(ts  above  enumerated  was 
0386.000,000  ;  and  $64,000. joo 
would  not  be  an  extravagant  c-11- 
mate  of  the  value  of  the  leaiiui 
element  in  the  goods  of  whii  ii  it 
'■"'.jrm.s  but  a  part.  The  same  ceii-us- 
r.'turns  put  down  the  numlur  nt 
operatives  engaged  in  cotton.  lirAii. 
silk,  and  woollen  manufacture,  at 
about  250.000.  .and  their  proil';<t> 
at  ,*^39o. 000.000.  Since  tha>  tnni.' 
the  leather-industry  lias,  if  any  thing,  gained  the  advantage  over  those  with 


IIMATING-OUT   MACHINE. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


445 


which  we  here  make  comparison.  It  is  safe  to  say,  thit,  in  point  of  value, 
it  constitutes  over  one-tenth  of  the  whole  manufacturing-industry  of  the 
country,  and,  in  employment,  surpasses  the  combined  manufacture  of  textile 
fabrics. 

Unless  we  except  the  primitive  fig-leaf,  the  skins  of  wild  and  domestic 
animals  may  be  said  to  have  constituted  the  earliest  clothing  of  mankind. 
The  spinning  and  weaving  of  flax  and  wool  was  of  later  date  than  skinsthe 
the  first  use  of  skins.  Egyptian  pictorial  inscriptions  of  an  age  earliest  kind 
anterior  to  the  Jewish  captivity  show  the  familiarity  of  the  denizens  °  ^  °*'  '"^" 
of  the  Nile  country  with  tanning  and  the  uses  of  leather.  The  art  of  making 
"  ranis'  skins  dyed  red,"  with  which  the  mosaic  tabernacle  was  covered,  waii 
doubtless  learned  in  Egypt.  It  is  o.w  interesting  fact,  that  bronze  leather- 
slicers,  similar  to  those  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  have  been  found  in  old 
Mexican  sepulchres,  indicating  that  the  arts  of  making  and  using  leather  were 
understood  by  the  founders  of  the  early  civilization  of  that  country. 

I'iie  'iborigines  of  the  United  States  whom  the  Europeans  found  here, 
doubtles  jf  a  later  stock  than  the  ancient  Toltecs  and  .Aztecs,  understood  the 
art  of  tlrcssing  the  skins  of  buffalo,  elk,  deer,  moose,  and  other    ..... 

°  >  >  •  I  Aboriginal 

wild  animals.     They  employed   smoke   in  their  curing-processes,   mode  of 
but  evidentlv  did  not  understand  the  properties  of  oak  and  hem-   '''■^^''"K 

■    ^  ^       '  skinB. 

li)(:k  bark.     The  moccasons,  leggings,  and   hunting-shirts  of  the 
Indians  were  generally  well  curried,  and  sometimes  well  dyed ;   and  these, 
as  well  as  their  robes,  were  often  adorned  with  pictorial  and  symbolical  de- 
signs of  considerable  intricacy,  if  not  beauty. 

Before  the  early  settlers  could  do  any  thing  of  consequence  in  the  way 
of  making  leather,  it  was  necessary  that  their  stock  of  imported  domestic 
cattle  should  increase;  which  it  did  rapidly.     Accordingly,  as  early  as  1620, 
a  list  enumerating  the  kinds  of  tradesmen  needed  in  the  colony  of  Virginia 
contained   tanners,  leather-dressers,  and   shoemakers.      We  hear 
little   of  actual   shoemaking,  however,  before    1649,  when   Capt.   oMndustry 
•Matthews,  an  old  sctUer,  received  legislative  commendation  for   among  the 
the  various   industries   he    had   inaugurated.     .Among    his  other  ^^['^^ 
achievements  were  the  erection  of  a  tan-house,  the  manufacture 
K.i  leather,  and  the  employment  of  eight  shoemakers.     The  jiroduction  of 
leather  and  shoes  was  very  slight,  though,  for  many  years  ;    and,  individual 
cpt.'rprisd  not  being  alone  sufficient   to  develop  the  business,  resort  was  had 
to  legislative  encouragement.     In  1662   the  Virginia  Assembly  required  that 
tan-iiouses  be  erected  in  every  county  at  the  county  charge  ;  and  provision 
was  to  be  made  for  the  employment  of  tanners,  curriers,  and   shoemakers. 
All  allowance  was  to  be  made  every  one  for  dry  hides  at  the  r.'.te  of  two 
pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  pound  of  hide,  and  .shoes  were  to  be  sold  for 
thirty  and  thirty -five  pounds  of  tobacco  per  pair  for  the  la  , 'jest  sixes.     The 
exportation  of  hides  was  prohibited  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  a  thousand 


ii 


446 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORV 


I: 


|i»»' 


pounds   of  tobacco.     The   low  price   of  tobacco  afforded  an  incentive  for 
building  up  new  varieties  of  industry,  and  the  carelessness  and  neglect  with 

which  cattle  were  treated  made  some  steps 
for  their  protection  almost  necessary.  Just 
how  effectual  these  enactments  in  Virginia 
were  does  not  appear  ;  but  they  were  fol- 
lowed in  Maryland,  in  1681,  with  similar 
ones  as  regards  exporting  hides.  Bevcrlv, 
writing  a  few  years  afterwards,  says  that 
a  few  hides  were,  "  with  much  ado,  tanned 
and  made  into  servants'  shoes,  but  at  so 
careless  a  rate,  that  the  planters  don't  tare 
to  try  them  if  they  can  get  others ;  and 
sometimes  a  better  manager  than  ordinary 
will  vouchsafe  to  make  a  pair  of  breeciies 
of  a  deer-skin."  Hence  it  would  appear, 
that,  until  some  time  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  Virginia  and  Maryland  imported 
mos.  of  their  shoes,  of  all  grades,  from 
Europe. 

New  England,  however,  engr.gcd  in 
the  shoe  and  leather  business  at  that 
early  day  more  extensively.  Cattle  were 
extensively  bred  there  between  1620  and 
1649  for  food,  and  for  the  exportation  of  meat  and  live-stock.  In  the  last- 
Orowth  (  named  year  the  stoppage  of  emigration  greatly  depressed  the 
Industry  in  cattle-market ;  yet  stock  was  always  plenty,  and  tolerably  well 
cared  for.  As  early  as  1630  Mr.  Higginson  mentions  the  abun- 
dance of  "  sumacke-trees,  good  for  dying  and  tanning  leather," 
near  Salem.  The  first  tannery  in  New  England,  however,  was  at  the  village 
of  Swampscott,  in  the  town  of  Lynn,  destined  ftom  that  time  on  to  be  famous 
for  its  shoe- factories.  It  was  built  by  Francis  Ingalls  on  Humphrey's  Brook, 
Francis  and  his  brother  Edmund  being  among  the  first  settlers  in  the  town, 
The  first  shoemaker  in  I-ynn  was  Philip  Kertland,  who  came  there  from  Eng- 
land in  1635  •  3"^  Jobn  Herbert,  another  shoemaker,  settled  in  Salem  the 
same  j-ear.  In  1629  the  company'"  letter  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts 
Colony  commends  to  him  a  shoemaker  na  aed  Thomas  Beard,  who  was  sent 
out  to  be  maintained  at  the  colony's  expense,  and  work  under  the  governor's 
direction.  A  supply  of  hides  accompanied  him  on  "The  Mayflower,"  on 
which  he  was  to  pay  freight  at  the  late  of  <bur  pounds  per  ton.  It  was 
ordered  that  fifty  acres  of  land  be  allotted  him  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  \\  iieie 
he  located.  Records  exist  of  other  individuals  who  wr  re  either  tanners  or 
shoemakers  in  Mabsuchuiietts  prior  to  1640.     In  that  year  a  law  was  passed 


POWER  SOLE-MOULDER. 


New  Eng- 
land. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


447 


piinisliing  such  persons  as  slaughtered  cattle  and  neglected  to  save  the  hides 
and  send  them  to  be  tanned  ;  from  which  it  is  probable  that  all  the  towns  then 
organized  had  tanneries.  Searchers  and  sealers  of  leatlicr  had  already  been 
appointed  in  certain  towns;  but  in  1642  a  general  law  was  passed  regulating 
the  manufacture  of  leather  more  particularly.  Butchers,  curriers,  and  shoe- 
makers were  forbidden  to  tan,  it  being  regarded  desirable  to  make  tanning  a 
distinct  occupation.  No  one  was  allowed  to  buy 
a  hide  but  a  tanner.  Tanners  were  required  to 
avoiil  hot  "  moors,"  or  processes  that  would  burn 
or  scald  their  leather.  They  were  punishable 
also  for  selling  imperfectly-tanned  leather.  Cur- 
riers were  minutely  instructed  wliat  preparations 
thev  sliould  use  and  should  not  use.  Scalers 
were  to  mark  good  leather  upon  examination, 
and  only  scaled  leather  should  be  used  by  shoe- 
makers. The  exportation  of  raw  hides  or  un- 
wrotight  leather  was  proliibited  in  1646.  In 
1648  the  shoemakers  iiad  so  increased  in  num- 
ber, that  they  were  incorporate',  as  a  guild  by 
the  legislature.  These  were  more  numerous  at 
Lynn  than  elsewhere. 

Says  Bishop,  "  The  fisheries  of  New  England 
furnished  abundance  of  oil  at  a  cheap  rate  for 
the  leather-manufacture.  From  the  coasts  of 
Labrac,  jr  and  Newfoundland  were  also  obtained, 
before  the  Revolution,  considerable  quantities 
of  seal-skins.  On  account  of  the  high  duty 
upon  them  in  England,  many  which  would  otherwise  have  gone  there  were 
senr  to  New  England,  where  they  were  tanned,  and  made  into  shoes,  boots, 
&c.,  and  returned  to  supply  the  fishermen  on  the  north-cast  coast.  Otiiers 
were  dressed  in  the  hair,  and  were  variously  employed  in  making  trunks, 
caps,  coats,  &;c.  The  manufacture  of  leather  in  Massachusetts  in  early  times 
was  chiefly  confined  to  the  old  maritime  counties  —  Essex,  Middlesex,  and 
Suffolk  —  around  Boston  Bay.  Since  the  Revolution,  tanning,  like  shoe- 
making,  for  which  Massachusetts  has  become  famous,  has  developed  largely 
in  Worcester  County." 

It  should  be  remarked  in  this  connection,  that  the  shoes  most  worn  by  the 
ladies  were  stuff  choes  :    the  gentlemen  wore  leather  boots  and  shoes,  few  if 
any  of  which  were  made  of  calf-skin  until  after  the  Revolution,   nescription 
Cow  hide   was   used    almost   exclusively  for  foot-gear,   although   of  shoes 
buck-skins  were 'argely  wrought  up  into  servants' clothing.    Glovers  ^"''■ 
and  furriers  are  enumerated  among  the  artisans  ot  165 1.     We  find  further  but 
unimportant  legislation  in  Massachusetts  relative  to  shoe  a.nd  leather  production 
subsequent  to  that  just  mentioned. 


FOOT-POWER    SOLE-MOULDER. 


f 


448 


IND  US  TRIAL    HIS  7  OR  Y 


Connecticut  was   a  decidedly   agricultural   colony,    and   cattle  were  ex- 
tensively raised  in  its  earliest  days;    and  wo  find  between   1640  and    1656 
Early  legis-    ^ '^"•"X   '""'-'l''  t'l^    samc   legislation  there   as  had  l)een  enacted  in 
lation  on  the    Massachusetts  relative  to  the  preservation,  tanning,  and  exporta- 
^"^  ■  lion  of  hides,  and  the  separation  of  the  tanner's  from  the  currier's, 

butcher's,  and  shoemaker's  trade.  We  also  find  the  General  Assembly  fixing 
the  prices  of  different-sized  shoes,  and  ordering  size-sticks  to  be  made  as  a 
standard  in  the  colony.  Rhode  Island,  and  that  part  of  Massachusetts  whicli 
was  subsequently  set  off  as  Maine,  had  tanneries  before  the  close  of  the 
century ;  but  nearly  a  hundred  years  more  elapsed  before  New  Hampshire  did 
any  tanning. 

Cattle  were  imported  into  the  Dutch  colony  of  New  Netherlands  in  1625. 
The  first  tanner  in  the  province  was  one  of  four  brothers  named  Evertsen,  who 
Industry  in  Settled  either  at  Pavonia  or  Manhattan  in  1638.  Tanners  soon 
New  York,  became  numerous  and  prosperous  in  and  about  the  city  of  New- 
York,  and,  despite  the  laws,  combined  the  shoemaker's  trade  w  ai  their  other, 
A  large  tract  of  land  on  the  west  side  of  Broad  Street,  above  Beaver,  became 
conspicuous  for  its  tanneries  as  early  as  1653.     The  English  governor  Andres 

and  his  council  were  very  strict 
in  their  exclusion  of  tanners  from 
the  city  in  1676,  granting  a  mo- 
nopoly to  only  two.  A  number 
of  wealthy  and  prominent  ICng- 
lish  and  Dutch  tanners,  therefore, 
moved  outside  the  city  walls  to 
a  region  east  of  Broadway,  and 
between  Maiden  Lane  and  Ann 
Street,  where  they  settled.  They 
called  the  place  "  Shoemakers' 
Land."  Subsequently  they  were 
forced  still  farther  up  town,  —  to 
the  borders  of  Fresh-water  Pond 
and  Beekman's  Swamp ;  and  in 
that  locality,  known  as  "  The 
Swamp,"  many  of  the  craft  linger  to  the  present  day. 

New  Jersey  received  her  first  tanner  in  1660,  he  locating  at  Elizabethtown ; 
and  her  first  shoemaker  located  there  in  1676.  Stock-raising  for  the  New- 
York  markets  gave  her  plenty  of  hides.  Tan-bark  abounded  in  ihe 
colony ;  and  judicious  legisladon  so  developed  the  produce  ot 
bather  there,  that  New  York  was  obliged  tc  buy  of  her  for  a  long  time.  ^\'est 
Psnnsyi-  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  were  even  more  tardy  in  developing  the 
vania.  tanning  and  shocmaking  industries.     In  the  early  part  of  the  ciiih- 

teenth  century,  however,  wc  find  tanning  extensively  carried  on  in  Pennsylvania ; 


FOOT-rOWER  STRlrPER. 


New  Jersey, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


449 


and  leather  was  exported  thence  to  Europe  in  173 1.  In  that  colony,  too, 
mut'h  was  made  of  deer-skin  for  clothing ;  and  Logan,  the  famous  Mingo 
chief,  was  long  actively  engaged  in  dressing  them  for  sale  to  the  whites. 
Down  in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  cattle  were  exceedingly  abundant, 
especially  a  small  breed  which  were  allowed  to  run  wild.  But  little  attempt 
was  made  to  utilize  their  hides.  Live  cattle  were  shipped  to  the  West  Inilies 
and  to  Pennsylvania  :  raw  hides  were  likewise  sent.  Until  very  near  the  tiir.o 
of  the  Revolution  few  attempts  were  made  to  manufacture  shoes,  a  pair  of 
which  were  worth  as  much  as  an  ox.  A  little  leather  was  made  in  the  coast- 
region  ;  but  it  was  exported.  Indeed,  from  1 745  to  1 760,  the  two  Carolinas 
exjjorted  quite  a  large  amount  of  tanned  leather  and  dressed  deer-skins.  In 
the  back  country,  where  tan-bark  was  plenty  and  imported  goods  rare,  the 
colonists  made  some  few  shoes  for  themselves.  The  greater  number  of  the 
inhabitants  of  those  colonies  obtained  their  shoes  either  from  those  farther 
north  and  east,  or  from  Great  Britain. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  north  of  Virginia,  every  new 
town  had  its  tannery  almost  immediately  after  the  first  settlement ;  and  shoe- 
makers and  saddlers  soon  followed.    In  1731,  when,  at  the  solicita- 
tions of  jealous  London  manufacturers  and  merchants,  Parliament  in°d"  st*ry  by' 
ordered  the  British  Board  of  Trade  to  inquire  into  the  condition   middle  of 
of  manufacturers  in  this  country,  they  found  the  .Americans  almost  "'ehteenth 

^  '  century. 

completely  supplied  with  shoes  of  their  own  manufacture.  The 
local  shoemakers  in  most  towns  did  something  toward  meeting  the  home 
demand.  Itinerant  shoemakers  sometimes  went  from  house  to  house,  working 
lip  into  shoes  the  family  stock  of  leather  that  had  been  tanned  by  the  local 
tanner.  Itinerant  cobblers  also  went  from  house  to  house.  Massachusetts 
manufactured  a  surplus  of  shoes,  which  went  to  the  other  colonies  and  to  the 
West  Indies.  When,  in  i  764,  England  attempted  to  levy  duties  on  American 
imports,  and  the  colonists  resented  it  by  refusing  to  buy  British  goods  as  far 
as  possible,  a  special  stimulus  was  given  to  shoe  and  leather  production  where 
before  less  attention  had  been  given  thereto. 

During  the  Revolution  the  supply  of  hides  was  greatly  reduced,  and  the 
amount  of  labor  that  was  free  to  tan  them  and  make  shoes  was  also  lessened 
'oy  the  demands  of  the  military  service  :  consequently  a  great  Effect  of 
scarcity  of  both  leather  and  shoes  characterized  that  period.  The  Revolution, 
army  suffered  great  privations.  When  the  British  forces  landed  at  West  Ches- 
ter, N'.Y.,  in  October  of  1776,  the  Colonial  Government  caused  such  hides  as 
could  be  collected  to  be  removed  to  places  of  concealment  in  the  Highlands. 
Tiie  commissary  department  of  the  Continental  army,  partly  from  incompe- 
tence antl  pardy  from  limited  resources,  found  it  impossible  to  obtain  shoes 
enough  for  the  soldiers.  It  was  stated  to  Congress,  in  December  of  1776, 
that  one-third  of  the  army  at  Ticonderoga  had  to  perform  duty  without  shoes. 
Only  nine  hundred  pairs  were  sent  thither  on  a  rec|uisition  to  supply  over  twelve 


45° 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


storing  the 
industry. 


Principal 
seats  of 
industry 
during  the 
last  century 


thousand  men.  The  army  was  then  authorized  to  impress  shoes  and  otlier 
supplies  where  they  could  be  found.  During  the  operations  in  New  Jersey 
that  winter,  many  of  our  soldiers  "  were  without  shoes,  marching  over  frozen 
ground,  which  so  gashed  their  naked  feet,  that  each  step  was  marked  with 
blood."  The  following  autumn  it  was  discovered,  that  near  Lancaster,  Penn., 
greater  quantities  of  leather  than  were  ever  before  known  there  were  in  store. 
Much  leather  was  to  be  had  at  Yorktown  in  exchange  for  green  hides ;  but 
shoemakers  to  manufacture  it  were  exceedingly  scarce. 

On  the  restoration  of  peace,  tanning  and  shoemaking  rapidly  revived  ;  but 
Effect  of  ^^  immediate  influx  of  foreign  goods  soon  depressed  them  again 
peace  in  re-  Until  a  tariff  could  be  imposed.  Virginia  resorted  to  such  protec- 
tion in  1788,  and  Congress,  under  the  new  Constitution,  in  1 789, 
The  principal  seats  of  shoe  and  leather  manufacture,  says  Bishop. 
in  the  last  century  and  beginning  of  this,  were  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticiit, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pcnnsyhania,  though  Maryland  and  Delaware 
also  made  a  consitlerable  amotmt.  South  Carolina  had  tanned 
some  excellent  leather  before  the  Revolution  ;  but  after  the  war 
the  Southern  States  gave  little  attention  thereto,  or  to  sho'making. 
buying  from  the  North.  As  the  Western  country  was  gradually 
settled,  cattle-raising,  tanning,  and  a  small  amount  of  shoemaking,  kept  i)ace 
with  the  movement ;  and  though  that  section  has  been  dependent  on  New 
England  and  the  Middle  States,  to  some  extent,  for  shoes,  it  has  not  callei  \  for 
more  unmanufactured  leather  than  it  could  itself  produce,  inasmuch  as  cattlj- 
raising  has  been  a  prominent  industry  of  that  section. 

It  is  asserted  that  Morocco  leather  of  fair  quality  was  made  in  Cliarles- 
town,  Mass.,  as  early  as  1770,  by  the  subsecjuently  famous  Lord  Timotliy 
Manufacture  Dexter  and  others ;  and  the  manufacture  was  resumed  there  in 
of  morocco,  j  ^^(^  ^\^\^q  gj-^  of  makip^r  Turkey  and  Morocco  leathers  from  goat 
and  sheep  skins  was  not  understood  in  London  until  about  1783,  —  the  year 
of  peace.  The  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Manufactures 
and  Useful  Arts  instituted  an  inquiry  in  1787,  and  found  that  two  persons  m 
Philadelphia  had  attempted  the  imitation  with  tolerable  success.  Shcep-^kina 
have  been  rendered  less  valuable  for  the  past  fifty  years  by  the  introduction  ot 
merino  breeds,  in  which  impio\'ed  fleeces  are  offset  by  poorer  pelts.  The 
morocco-business,  however,  has  been  a  specialty  of  the  Philadelphia  leather- 
business  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  has  in  any  other  part  of  the  Union.  In 
i860  it  employed  over  thirty  large  factories,  1,600  hands,  and  more  than 
$500,000  of  capital,  with  sales  to  the  amount  of  S2, 000,000.  These  figures 
might  now  be  safely  increased  fifty  per  cent.  Indeed,  our  exports  alone  ot 
this  class  of  leather  exceed  $1,000,000  annually. 

Within  the  present  century,  too,  calf  or  kip  skins  ha\e  come 
into  general  use  ;  whereas  in  Revolutionary  and  pre-Revolutiunar} 
days  they  were  unknown  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 


Calf-skins. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


451 


S  )on  after  the  Revolution,  our  domestic  stipply  of  hides  proved  insufficient 
for  our  tanners'  needs,  and  importation  began  chiefly  from  South  America  and 
the  i British  Kast  Indies.  The  immense  development  of  cattle-  importation 
breeding  in  this  country,  and  the  annexation  of  Te.vas,  have  not  °'  ''"'"• 
kept  pace  with  our  demamls  ;  and  the  importation  of  hitles  has  steadily  in- 
creased, with  but  slight  fluctuations.  In  1858  we  imported  $9,719,083  worth, 
or  about  1,075,000  liivlcs.  \\\  lii-jj  our 
importations,  exceeding  those  of  the  pre- 
vious year  by  a  half,  amounted  to  over 
3.000.000  hides,  valued  at  about  Si 8,000,- 
000.  Thirty  years  ago,  when  the  Plrie  Rail- 
road was  opened,  most  of  these  hides  came 
to  Ni'w-Vork  City,  and  were  sent  out  along 
the  southern  tier  of  counties  in  that  State 
for  tanning  ;  then  they  came  back  in  the 
form  of  leather,  and  were  mostly  sent  to 
New  IJigland. 

The  imported  hides,  it  will  be  borne  in 
mind,  form  only  a  portion  of  the  whole 
leather-product.      Thus,    in     1839,    when 

3.463.61 1  sides  or  half  hides  were  tanned 

as  sole-leather,  and  3.781,868  skins  were 

tanned  and  curried  for  upper  leather,  our 

importation  was  probably  less  than   1,000,- 

Oivj  sides  and  skins.     In  1870  there  were 

S.7SS.752    hides    (17,577.404    sides)    and 

9,664.148  skins  tanned,  of  which  less  than 

3,000.000  hides  and  skins  were  imported. 

riie  following  table  will  give  some  idea  of 

the  growth  of  the  leather-producing  industry  in  the  United  Slates  ui  laic  )ears. 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  has  been  a  tendency  H)wartl  centralizing  the 

Imsiness,  the  big  establishments  driving  the  little  ones  '"at  of  business  as  the 

improvements  in  the  art   increased.      It   should  be  noted,  also,  that  certain 

kinds  of  leather  are  estimated  twice  over  in  the  census-returns,  from  which 

tlie  t'ollowing  figures  are  taken.     The  dressers  of  skins,  the  morocco-makers, 

'ind  the  manufacturers  of  patent-leather,  are  included  in  the  tal)le. 


KliiT-DII-    '1  \l.HINE, 


m 


1840, 
1S50. 
1S60. 

iS-o, 


NO.  OF 
ESTATES, 


8,229 

6,686 
5,188 
7.569 


KO,  OF  HANDS 
EMl'l-OYED, 


25.595 
26,246 

3S.-43 


CAPITAL 
INVESTED. 


VAI.rE  OF 
PRODICTIOS. 


$15,650,929  $20,010,110 

22,774,-95  43,4s:,.S9S 

39,025,020  75,098,747 

61,124,812  157,237.597 


r'M 


452 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


manufacture 
ol  leather. 


'riie  improvements  \\  the  manufacture  of  leather,  says  Bishop,  have  been 
very  numerous,  and  mostly  originated  within  the  present  century.  They  jiavc 
,  been  both  mechanical  and  chemical,  of  foreign  and  native  oriuin. 

Improve-  '  "  '^ 

ments  in  Their  adoption  has  been  attended  by  a  marked  influence  in  the  i)ro- 
gressive  improvement  of  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  product, 
in  the  enlargement  of  the  operations  individually  and  in  the  aggre- 
gate, and  in  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  profits  ;  while  the  price  of  leatiier, 
compared  with  the  raw  material,  has  been  reduced.  The  principal  of  these 
are  the  several  mechanical  ai)i)liances  for  softening,  fulling,  rolling,  and  split- 
ting' skins  and  hides,  and  for  grinding  bark  (some  of  which  were  very  earh- 
introduced),  and  others  for  washing,  glazing,  and  finishing  leather.  The  a])p]i- 
cation  of  water-power,  and  especially  of  steam,  in  many  of  the  operations,  ;uu[ 
of  hot  water  in  others ;  the  extraction  and  application  of  tannin  in  concen- 
trated solutions  and  by  hydraulic  pressure  ;  the  greater  subdivision  of  lalwr  in 
large  establishments,  attended  by  more  skilful  manipulation  in  the  processes  of 
tanning,  currying,  and  finishing  leather,  —  have  all  greatly  intiuenced  the  econo- 
my of  leather-manufacture.  Its  profits  have  been  much  augmented  by  tiie 
"  sweating  "  and  other  operations,  whereby  the  gelatine  and  muscular  fibre 
of  the  skin  is  more  comjjletely  exposed  to  the  tannic  acid,  and  the  weight  of 
leather  increased,  and  also  by  the  various  utilizing  inventions  which  h;ne 
appropriated  all  the  refuse  materials  to  some  useful  purpose  in  the  arts. 

The  manufactures  of  articles  from  leather  in  this  country,  including  boots 

and  shoes,  saddlery  and  harness,  trunks,  valises,  and  satchels,  belting  and  hose, 

gloves  and  pocket-books,   and   omitting  whips,  carriages,  cauls, 

manufac-        and  book-biudiug,  aggregated  over  $230,000,000 ;    and   of  that 

amount  $181,644,090  represents  the  Ixoot  and  shoe  industry,  and 

$32,709,981  the  saddlery  and  harness  business.     Thus  it  will  be 

seen  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  leather-manufacture  is  in  boots  and 

shoes. 

As  we  have  already  pointed  out,  and  as  the  reader  is  aware,  the  knight  of 
St.  Crispin  who  makes  boots  and  shoes  for  local  custom,  and  who  generally 
Knights  of  Combines  with  that  branch  of  the  trade  the  more  ignoble  depart- 
st.  Crispin,  nient  of  repairing,  is  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  town  and  \illage 
in  the  country.  More  frecpiently  than  not,  his  establishment  is  combined  with 
a  shop  for  the  sale  of  shoes  purchased  ready  made  from  some  large  manu- 
facturer. This  class  of  shoemakers  require  no  further  mention.  Our  chief 
interest  centres  in  the  wholesale  manufacturers.  The  census-return  of  23.420 
establishments  and  $181,644,090  of  products  in  1870  includes  some  of  the 
little  establishments.  Those  making  over  $5,000  worth  of  goods  ai)iece  are 
set  down  as  3.15 1,  and  producing  $146,704,000  worth  of  boots  and  shoes.  It 
is  with  them  that  we  are  concerned  chiefly. 

From  the  very  first,  Massachusetts  has  had  the  lead  in  this  great  industry. 

•  Thick  hides  .ire  sometimes  split  into  as  ir..iny  as  five  layers,  each  of  which  is  dressed  for  upper  le:iihtr. 


tured 
articles. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


453 


Tlie  towns  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston  attracted  masons,  carpenters,  and 
other   workmen,    in    tiie  winter-season,   when  work   was   dull,  to   M^sgachu- 
piirsue  shoemaking,  which  was   ahvays  a  resource.     As  early  as   setts  leads 
1635  Lynn  had  a  shoemaker.     Fifteen  years  later  she  made  more  **"*'"''"»- 
shoes  than  any  other  town  in  the  colony,  or  even  in  the  country. 
She  made  a  specialty  of  women's  shoes,  most  of  which  were  n\i(le  of  cloth  ; 
Imt,  in  all  the  kinds  manufactured,  the  work  was  ([uite  rude  for  a  hundred  years 
or  more.     Shoemakers  were  quite  unskilled,  and  had  little  caj)ital  or  general 
kiKJwledge.     In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  they  would  send  to 
Kngland  for  well-made  shoes,  and  take  them  apart  to  study  the  mechanism. 
1)V  1750  there  was  a  surplus  for  ex- 
Ijortatiun.     New  Englainl  was  sup- 
plied chiefly  from  this  one  centre ; 
and  shoes  were    also   sent  to  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  even  flirther 
South.      In  the  year  just  named,  a 
Welsh  shoemaker,  named  John  Adam 
Dagyr,  setded  in  Lynn,  and  ^y  his 
superior  skill   soon  became   known 
throughout  the  surrounding  country 
as  the  celebrated  shoemaker  of  ICssex 
(County).     Many  persons  in  Lynn 
and  the  neighboring  towns  acquired 
from  him  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
art,  and    obtained    the    reward    of     . 
superiority  in  the   increase  of  their    ij 
l)usincss.     A  Boston  correspondent     \ 
of   "The    London    Chronicle,"    in 
1764.  wrote  that  shoes  for  women  p.lffer. 

were   made  at  Lynn   exceeding   in 

strength  and  beauty  any  that  were  usually  imported  from  London.  During 
the  Revolution  the  towns  of  liastern  Massachusetts  provided  the  army  with 
most  of  its  shoes.  Immediately  after  the  war  ended,  the  business  rapidly 
developed.  In  1788  Lynn  alone  exported  100,000  pairs  of  shoes;  in  1795 
her  export  was  300,000  pairs.  In  1877  her  product  was  not  less  than 
14,000,000  pairs  of  boots  and  shoes.  The  wonderful  facility  with  which  shoes 
were  turned  out  in  those  early  days  led  to  the  legend,  that  the  materials,  being 
stuek  to  the  wall  by  an  awl,  were  combined  i'l  the  i)roper  manner  by  a  blow  of 
the  lapstone  skilfully  aimed  at  them.  There  were  those  who  asserted  that 
hoots  and  shoes  grew  there  spontaneously.  Thus,  for  over  two  centuries,  Lynn 
has  had  the  ascendency  in  the  American  shoe-manufacture. 

Marblehead,  which  makes,  ])erhaps,  four  million  pairs  of  shoes  yearly,  was 
led  into  the  business,  after  *he  Revolution,  by  the  decline  of  her  fisheries. 


454 


IND  US  TKIA  L    HIS  TDK  Y 


Merblehead, 


I);iiivcrs,  Havcrliill,  and  other  places  in  Kssex,  were  early  engaged  in  liic 
niantifaclure  of  women's  siioes  ;  and  there  was  in  1 7.S<S  a  con- 
siderable mannfacture  of  men's  shoes  at  Reading,  near  Lvnn. 
Boston,  Quincy,  and  many  other  towns  in  the  vicinity,  engaged  in  the  shoc- 
inaniitacture  after  the  Revolution,  as  did  also  \\'oriester  and  other  towns  of 
that  county. 

Philadelphia  and  New-Vork  cities  have  also  heen  famous  for  neailv  a 
century  for  the  (luality  of  their  shoes,  and  the  States  of  which  tiiey  are  the 
Phiiadei-  business  capitals  have  also  ileveloped  the  wholesale  manufacture 
P"^'^'  in  other  towns.     The  following  table  gives  the  distril)Ution  of  the 

industr),  showing  only  establishments  whose  annual  jiroduct  exceeds  five 
thousand  dollars,  and  only  those  States  being  named  particularly  which  have 
over  a  himdred  such  establishments  :  — 


STATE. 

NUMIIER   OF 
ESTATES. 

Nl'MIlER    OF 
HANDS. 

CAIMTAI. 
INVHSIEI), 

VAI.I'K  OF 

l'KliI)li.TlllN. 

Massachusetts  .... 
New  York         .... 
Pennsylvania    .... 
New  Hampshire 

Maine 

New  Jersey      .... 

Ohio 

Missouri 

Illinois 

Other  States     .... 

I.I23 
341 

335 
78 
85 
67 

164 

1S2 
SS 

688 

51,167 
11,409 

8,330 
2.777 
2,105 

1,990 

2,026 

960 

1.274 
9,664 

5i9.'48,64S 
4,872,966 

4,240,523 

9' 9.435 
677,300 
777,900 
790,025 
505,200 
1,527,448 

4,059.577 

$86,565,441; 

17,813,048 

11,002,587 

4,780,020 

3.1  55.221 
2,830,322 

2,8(')6,8oj 

2,3f>j.70i 

2,21)8,136 

13,028,717 

Total          .... 

3.'5i 

91,702 

?37.5'9.0'9 

j!  1 46,704,000 

It  might  be  added  to  this,  that  Connecticut  with  only  thirty-eight  establish- 
Connecticut  "i^'its,  and  Maryland  with  sixty-eight,  each  produced  very  nc;uiy 
and  other  $2,000,000  in  1870;  California  i)roduced  over  5 1,5 00,000  ;  ami 
States.  Wisconsin  and  Indiana,  each  a  trifle  over  $1,000,000. 

Thirty  years  ago  the  sales  of  Massachusetts'  enormous  surplus  to  the 
other  sections  of  the  Union  and  for  the  foreign  trade  were  mostly  in  tlie 
..  ,     ,  hands  of  New- York  merchants,  to  whom  the  New-England   yw- 

Mode  of  -.       1      ,1         1  ■ 

manufactur-    ducers    either   sold   or   consigned    their   goods.      Ciradually  this 
ing  and  svstem  changed,  pardy  owing  to  a  change  in  the  system  of  manu- 

selling.  •  b       ^  \  }  t<  tt  r  i  I 

facture.  The  number  of  skilled  workmen  that  came  from  abroad 
became  so  great  as  to  fill  most  of  the  cepartments  into  which  the  boot-trade 
became  divided,  —  as  crimijing,  bottoming,  heeling,  and  finishing:  and  the 
pay  of  the  work-people  by  the  piece  or  the  pair  enables  each  to  control  his 
own  time,  working  when  he  plfeases.  These  sometimes  club  their  work,  and 
appoint  an  agent  to  sell :   others,  by  economy,  save  their  pay,  and  employ  a 


OF    THE    iW'ITED    STATES. 


455 


few  men  whose  work  they  direct.  These,  in  tlic  cities,  arc  called  "  garret 
bosses."  When  they  succeed  in  establishing  a  trade,  they  conduct  the  inanti- 
fartory  by  a  foreman,  and  open  an  office  in  the  ( ity,  where  they  sell  their 
wares,  and  purchase  stock  for  manufacture.  'The  materials  are  in  this  manner 
JK'tter  pun  liased  ;  and  as  tiie  seller  is  himself  the  manufacturer,  coming  in 
(i)iitai  t  with  buyers  from  all  sections,  he  becomes  conversant  with  the  styles 
adapted  to  all  localities,  and  the  manufacture  is  l)y  far  the  better  conducted 
for  it.  The  advantages  of  this  system  have  made  Boston,  of  late  years,  the 
grand  centre  of  such  operations,  and  have  drawn  thither  the  jolibers  from 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Haltimore,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  &c.,  until  IJoston 
has  become  the  largest  shoe-market  of  the  world. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  improvements  in  the  beauty  and  other 
(nullities  of  American  shoes  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Thev  continued  to  be  manifest  from  that  time  on,  and  were,  in    , 

Improve- 
later  years,  due  to  Yankee  ingenuity  and  taste,  and  not  to  mere   ments  in 

imitation.     A  few  fancv  boots  are  even  vet  imported  from  Paris,   sty'eo'man- 

'  ■  '  ufacture. 

and  our  exports  arc  chieny  of  the  plainer  grades  ;  yet  as  dainty 
and  durable  a  boot  can  be  made  in  this  country  as  anywhere  on  the  globe. 
The  improvement  m  the  (juality  of  our  shoes  is  in  a  large  measure  due  to 
the  new  methods  o*"  splitting  and  currying  leather,  thus  affording  softer  and 
finer  material  for  uppers. 

I'lilly  as  marked  as  the  advance  in  the  quality  of  our  work  is  the  startling 
progress  made  in  the  methods  of  manufacture.  In  the  old  days  the  shoes 
were  sewed,  and  by  hand, — a  slow  and  laborious  ])rocess.      Hut  in    „ 

•^  _  '  Progress  in 

iSiS   a   Yankee,   named   Joseph    Walker,   of   Hopkinton,    Mass.,   mode  of 
invented  the  shoe-iieg.     This  wrought  (luite   a   revolution   in  the    '""""- 

'  o  i  facture. 

business.  At  first  the  pegs  were  worked  out  b)'  hand  ;  but  when 
they  were  found  efficacious,  and  cheai)er  than  sewing,  mac:hines  were  invented 
for  iheir  manufacture,  and  they  were  sold  in  larger  or  smaller  (quantities  to 
shoemakers  all  over  the  country.  There  are  now  some  thirty  establishments 
who^^e  exclusive  business  it  is  to  make  sh()e-])egs.  The  tradition  is  current 
in  New  England,  that  at  one  time  shoe-pegs  became  so  jjleuty  and  (heap, 
that  artful  speculators  tried  to  sell  them  to  farmers  as  a  new  variety  of  large 
oats  for  seed. 

iUit  two  more  important  strides  were  to  l)e  taken  in  the  art.  Probably 
none  of  our  industries  has  l)een  more  extensivel)-  developetl  than  the  boot 
and  shoe  business  by  the  ai^plication  of  labor-saving  machinerv.    .     ,. 

^  '  '  o  .        Application 

When  the  sewing-machine  was  reduced  to  jn-actice  some   thirty   of  labor- 
vcars    ago,    the    utilization    of    the   device    for   shoemaking    was   ^*^'"f 

"  machinery. 

il'ii(  kly  thought  of.     It  was  several  years,  however,  before  it  was 
pni|ieriy  adai)ted  to  this  use.     Now,  however,  machines  made  expressly  for 
this  industry  (quite  different  in  details  from  those  used  on  cloth),  and  operated 
in  large  numbers  by  steam  like  the  looms  of  a  woollen-mill,  are  in  use  in  about 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


11.25 


US  no 


lA.  ill  1.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


'o-  ^  -<^  *;> 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  USSO 

(716)  872-4S03 


^f^' 

> 


'«^' 


% 


:^ 


4^0 


4S6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I'OWEK-KOl.LEK. 


half  the  large  shoe-factories  of  the  country.     In  the  other  half  the  shoes  are 
pegged  by  machinery.      There  are,  however,  some  establishments  which  use 

both  kinds  of  machinery ;  but  tlie 
business  is  so  divided  up,  tliat 
most  manufacturers  make  either  one 
kind  or  the  other  exclusively.  It  is 
almost  incredible,  to  one  who  has 
ncit  seen  it  done,  that  shoes  can  be 
sewed  by  machines  ;  but  the  idea  of 
a  machine  which  both  makes  and 
drives  pegs  instantaneously,  and  so 
rapidly  that  a  whole  shoe  can  be 
pegged  inside  of  ten  seconds,  is 
still  more  mar\ellous.  The  idea  has 
been  realized,  nevertheless,  ami  lias 
been  in  successful  operation  for  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  years.  'I'hc  charac- 
teristic feature  of  it  is  a  narrow  rib- 
bon of  white  wood,  a  hun<lred  or 
more  feet  long,  reeled  upon  the 
machine.  This  "'bbon  is  of  the  thickness  of  a  i)eg :  its  width  is  just  the 
length  of  a  peg.  One  edge  has,  by  machinery,  been  pared  sharp :  and 
the  grain  of  the  wood  runs  straight  across  the  ribbon.  The  operator  ol"  the 
l)egging-machine  has  a  basketful  of  shoes  or  boots  brought  him,  each  witli  the 
ui)pers  and  soles  properly  adjusted,  and  tacked  to  a  last.  Upon  ajjplying 
them,  one  at  a  time,  to  the  machine,  he  causes  a  strong  awl,  kept  just  so 
liir  from  the  edge  of  the  sole  by  an  adjustable  gauge,  to  pferce  a  series  of 
holes  in  the  leather :  simultaneously  a  sharp  knife  splits  enough  wood  from 
the  end  of  die  ribbon  for  a  peg  j  the  point  of  the  peg  is  guided  to  the  hole 
just  made  by  the  awl ;  and,  while  that  instrument  is  making  its  next  i)unc- 
ture,  the  new-made  peg  beside  it  is  forced  down  into  place.  Both  ojjerations 
go  on  with  the  rapidity  of  a  sewing-machine  needle,  and  the  shoe  has  only 
to  be  guided  and  turned  while  the  process  goes  on. 

Machines  ha\e  been  invented  for  smoothing  the  rough  soles  after  pegging, 
for  making  lasts,  and  for  other  departments  of  the  shoe-manufacture,  doing 
away  with  the  necessity  of  any  particular  skill  on  the  part  of  the  workmen, 
lessening  the  cost  of  labor,  but  immensely  magnifying  the  total  produ(  tion. 
That  our  shoe-manufactures  have  increased  from  554,000.000  in  1.S50  to 
;S>92,ooo,ooo  in  iTiGo,  ami  Si8i,ooo,ooo  in  1870,  is  chiefly  attributable  to  the 
application  of  new  labor-saving  machinery  to  the  business.  It  should  be  re- 
membered too,  that,  owing  to  the  lessened  cost  of  production,  some  kinds  ot 
shoes  are  now  even  cheaper  than  before  the  war,  and  that  the  increase  in 
quantity  since  1850  is  quite  proportionate  to  the  total  values  above  expressed. 


01'    THE    UNITED   STATES, 


457 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


PAPER  AND   PAPER-HANGINGS. 


THE  philosophers  and  historians  of  Europe  have  been  accustomed  to  claim 
tliat  all  the  progress  of  the  modern  world  is  due  to  the  races  which  have 
luul  white  skins.     They  take  the  world  as  they  find  it  to-day,  or  as 
it  was  in  the  u  y    if  the  (Jreeks,  and  i)oint  to  the  difference  in  mak'n'gfint 
greatness  in  Wut,  .c n-  -e,  ir.dustry,  art,  and  business,  between  the  pr«cti»edby 
races  of  Europe  anu  »  ose  of  Asia  and  Africa  ;  the  one  quarter  of  sp'^jn"""** 
the  world  being  progressive  in  all  things,  the  other  passive  or 
retrogressive.     Heeren  tries  to  account  for  this  difference  by  calling  attention 
to  the  fact  upon  which  he  says  physiology  throws  no  light,  and  which  piiiloso 
phy  scarce  dares  to  touch  ;  namely,  that  the  great  races  of  the  modern  world 
have  fair  skins,  and  the  backward  nations  dark  skins.     He  intimates  that 
herein  is  to  be  fountl  the  cause,  or  a  part  of  the  cause,  of  the  difference  in  the 
development  of  the  two  great  branches  of  the  family.     The  assertion  is  flat- 
tering to  Anglo-Saxons ;  but  Heeren  seems  to  have  overlooked  the  Moors  of 
Spain  and  the  ancient  Hindoos  of   India,  to  whom   the   modern  world  is 
indebted  for  nearly  all  of  its  great  arts  and  industries.     The  working  of  iron, 
the  spinning  and  weaving  of  cotton,  silk,  and  wool,  the  practice  of  decoration 
and  of  graving,  and  many  other  important  occupations,  took  their  rise  among 
those  two  peoples;  and  Si)ain  gained  all  its  early  reputation  fur  industry  from 
the  swarthy  race  which  planted  the  arts  and  sciences  on  her  soil,  and  left  them 
there  to  flourish  after  it  had  itself  been  driven  back  to  Africa.     The  Moors 
and  Hindoos  may  have  lacked  the  vigor  in   politics  and  affairs  wliii  h   the 
Kuropean  races  have  ever  shown  ;  but,  at  any  rate,  they  are  the  authors  of  the 
arts  which  have  ameliorated  society,  and  made  the  world  a  comfortable  abiding- 
place  for  man.     Paper-making  is  one  of  these  arts.     It  took  its  rise  among  the 
Moors  of  Spain  ;  and  though  it  spread  from  Spain  to  Italy,  and  to  France, 
Holland,  England,  and  (Jermany,  and,  in  the  end,  attained  greater  eminence 
ill  those  countries  than  in  Spain,  there  is  no  doubt  about  its  birthpla<e  and  the 
people  to  whom  the  world  is  indebterl  for  its  invention.     The  lCgyi)tians  made 
paper  from  the  papyrus-plant  in  early  times  j  but  the  product  was  not  paper 


458 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


in  the  modem  sense  of  the  term.  The  modern  article  was  first  made  by  the 
Moors  in  Spain  about  eif'ht  hundred  years  ago.  Paper-mills  were  in  operation 
at  Toledo  as  early  as  1085. 

The  manufacture  of  paper  was  introduced  into  France  about  13 14.  It 
Introduction  was  begun  in  Italy  about  1367,  and  in  (iermany  in  1390.  The 
into  France.    jj,.jjj  paper-mill  in  England  was  started  in  Hertfordshire  in  1496. 

The  invention  of  modern  paper  anteiiated  the  printing-press  by  about  four 
hundred  years.  It  was  not  until  1455  that  (liitenberg  and  Faust  began  print- 
invention  of  '"y  *'^^  Hibles  and  Psalters  which  initiated  the  era  of  printing, 
modern  while   i)aper  had  been  made  from   1085.     The  consuni|)tion  of 

paper.  paper  was  small  until  the  printing-press  v as  introduced,  and  c\cn 

then  books  were  too  costly  and  rare  to  create  much  of  a  demand  for  the 
material.  The  real  growth  of  the  industry  began  .^tlxjut  simultaneously  wiili 
the  planting  of  the  English  colonies  in  .\merica.  In  1622  the  first  newspaper 
was  i)rinted  in  England ;  anil  this  application  of  the  art  of  printing  gave  a 
spur  to  thought  and  the  employment  of  the  pen,  so  that  paper  came  iiuo 
demand,  and  the  world  was  soon  filled  with  a  flood  of  newspapers,  pamplilets, 
and  books,  as  a  consequence  of  it.  Paper-mills  started  up  everywiiere  in 
Europe,  and  the  manufacture  soon  became  very  large. 

Vegetable  fibre  was  first  used  for  the  manufacture  of  paper  by  the  early 
makers,  direct  from  the  plant ;  and  a  wide  variety  of  fibres  was  use<l.  tliat 
u»eof  vege-  of  fla.\  being  |)referred.  Along  in  the  fourteenth  century  linen  rai;s 
table  fibres,  canie  into  vogue  for  paper-making,  as  being  just  as  good,  anil  mm  h 
cheaper.  The  clothing  worn  in  Italy,  Spain,  I'ortugal,  and  France,  was  Jari^cly 
composed  of  linen,  especially  among  the  peasantry,  who  wore  scarcely  any 
thing  else.  There  was  in  all  those  countries,  therefore,  an  immense  supply  of 
cast-off  clothing  which  might  be  utilized  in  paper-making,  if  engines  coulil  he 
maile  to  reduce  the  cloth  to  fibre.  Such  engines  were  invented ;  and  alter 
1600  Spain,  Italy,  France,  and  Holland  employed  rags  only,  and  attained 
a  great  reputation  for  their  linen  papers.  The  first  three  of  the  countries 
named  produced  fine  pajjers.  The  linen  rags  of  Holland  were  coarser  and 
darker,  and  the  paper  correspondingly  coarse.  In  making  the  paper  it  was 
customary  at  first  to  i)ile  the  rags  in  large  stone  vats,  and  allow  them  to  fer- 
ment and  soften  in  water.  They  were  then  reduced  to  pulp  by  stamping,  were 
bleached,  washed,  and  felted  into  i)aper.  In  Holland  the  process  was  im- 
proved, at  least  in  rapidity,  by  employing  a  machine  which  beat  the  rags  with 
long  steel  knives,  and  reduced  them  to  fibre  with  great  celerity.  The  niai  liinc 
took  the  name  of  the  Hollander,  and  has  always  retained  it.  -When  cotton- 
clothing  came  into  use,  cotton-rags  were  employed  for  |)aper.  They  have 
since  nearly  superseded  linen-rags,  just  as  cotton-cloth  has  linen. 

The  English  colonies  in  America  were  largo  consumers  of  paper  from  the 
beginning  of  their  career.  "Oiled  ])aper  for  the  windows  "  was  one  of  the 
first  things  the  emigrants  were  exhorted  to  bring  with  them  here  by  those  >vh3 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


459 


hnd  preceded  them  to  the  new  continent.  Printing  was  introduced  at  a  very 
carlv  date  ;  and  newspapers,  pamphlets,  sermons,  l)ooks,  and  Hibles  were 
brought  out  on  a  large  scale.  F'ranklin's  first  work  was  a  pamphlet,  comump- 
and  for  a  long  time  the  product  of  his  presses  belonged  chiefly  tion  of  paper 
10  tliat  class  of  publications.  Sermons  were  extensively  printed  '"=°'°"'«»- 
at  tluit  day  :  the  prominence  they  occupied  among  early  American  i)ul)li(a- 
tion-  can  easily  Ik;  recognized  by  any  one  who  chooses  to  rumiuage  in  the 
prrtt  where  the  relics  of  the  early  days  of  his  family  are  stored  away.  .After 
1704  newspapers  were  started  in  all  the  cities  of  the  different  colonies,  and 
papir  became  one  of  the  regular  and  profitable  commodities  in  which  every 
iniporter  to  this  country  traded. 

The  Parliament  of  Kngland  did  not  care  to  see  paper  manufactured  in  the 
colDiiies:    enactments  were  accordingly  made  against  it.     Pasteboard  for  the 
lircssing  of  cloth  was  alone  permitted.     Nevertheless,  a  paper-mill 
was  >tarted  among  the  Americans  as  early  as  1693  in  a  little  village   opposed'to 
luar  Philadelphia   named    Roxl)orough,  where    writing,  printing,   manufacture 
ami  wra])i)ing  papers  were  prosperously  made,  until  an  untimely   fhe'coi'n'" 
freslut  broke  loose  one  day,  and  executed  the  will  of  Parliament 
in  a  summary  manner  by  carrj'ing  away  the  mill,  rags,  vats,  machiner)-,  an«l 
all.     Ill  the  next  generation  after  the  starting  of  this  original  mill   Growth  of 
three  other  factories  were  put   up,  —  one  near  Hoston,  one  upon   industry  in 
Chester  Creek  in  Delaware  County,  Penn.,  and  the  third  in  Kliza-   ^^e  coionie.. 
hetlitown,  N.J.     'i'he   newspajH-'r  j)rinters  of  the   colonies   were   very  much 
interested  in  the  growth  of  this  industry.     They  were  good  customers  of  the 
mills,  and  an  ample  supply  of  paper  at   low  prices  was    essential   to  their 
prosperity.     Hradford,  the  famous   printer  at  New  York,  owned  the  mill  at 
Kli/ahethtown  himself;  and  Franklin  assisted  to  build  no  less  than  eighteen 
others  in  the  course  of   his   life.     IJy    1 769  there  were  forty  paper-making 
cstalilisiinients  in   I'ennsylvania.  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware.     The  pa|)er  was 
niaile  by  these  early  makers  from  rags  of  cotton  or  linen.     The  ])ulp  when 
obtained  was  taken  by  ladling  or  dijiping  into  a  hancl-sieve  or  moulil  made 
suitable  to  the  purpose,  and  by  a  rapid  shaking  motion  spread  evenly  over  the 
whole  bottom  of  the  sieve.     The  w;.ter  draining  through  the  cloth  left  the 
iml|i  in  a  sheet,  which  was  then  removed,  and  pressed  in  a  ])ile  with  other 
sheets  (a  piece  of  felt  lying  between  each  sheet),  dried,  and  finished.     The 
jmx  ess  was  slow,  and  the  product  of  each  mill  small.     After  the  Revolution- 
.ir\  war  broke  out.  the   imjKmations  of  paper  stopped,  and  the   Effect  of 
munlier  of  mills  in  the  colonies,  and  the  variety  of  their  product.   Revoiution- 
imreaseil.     Mr.  Willcox  on  Chester  Creek.  Penn.,  made  the  i)ai)er  "'^  ^"■• 
tor  the  Continental  money  issued  by  Congress,     lly  1787  there  were  sixty- 
three  mills  in  the  States,  forty-eight  being  in  Pennsylvania;  and  in  1791  .Alex- 
ander Hamilton  reported  the  business  as  being  amon]c:  the  "  considerable  " 
manufactures   of   the  period.    The   qualities    made   were   printing,   writing, 


460 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


sheathing,  and  >^apping  paper,  pasteboard,  fuller's  or  press  paper,  and  paper 
for  hangings.  Congress  tlid  what  it  could  for  the  manufacture  by  laying  a 
duty  of  seven  and  a  half  per  cent  on  j)aper  in  1 789,  and  making  rags  Irte. 
It  has  never  changed  this  jwlicy,  except  at  different  times,  when,  to  give  the 
finished  product  more  protection,  it  raised  the  duty.  The  duty  has  at  times 
been  as  high  as  thirty-five  per  cent,  and  is  still  at  that  rate. 

The  principal  hinderance  of  the  early  American  manufacture  was  the  short 
supply  of  tile  raw  material.  'I'he  makers  could,  of  course,  have  used  raw  cotton 
Lack  of  raw  and  raw  fiax,  both  of  which  were  abundant,  and  would  have  made 
material.  remarkably  good  papers,  owing  to  the  length  of  the  fibres;  but 
the  excessive  price  of  the  paper  woukl  either  have  caused  a  literary  (limine  in  the 
land,  or  given  the  Europeans  absolute  control  of  our  markets.  Shortly  after  the 
panic  of  1837,  when  prices  were  down  and  the  cotton-crop  large,  the  raw  filire 
of  cotton  was  usetl  to  some  extent,  but  not  much  ;  and  manufacturers  liave 
never,  as  a  rule,  considered  bale  cotton  one  of  their  available  resources  for  raw 
material.  Their  main  dependence  has  always  been  upon  cotton  and  linen 
rags.  In  1804,  in  onler  to  encourage  invention  to  pay  some  attention  to  tlie 
subject  of  raw  fibres  suitable  for  paper-making,  the  American  Company  of 
Booksellers  offered  gold  and  silver  medals  for  the  greatest  quantities  and  liest 
qualities  of  paper  made  from  materials  other  than  cotton  and  linen  rags  ;  l)ut  at 
the  same  time  the  company  used  its  best  efforts  to  promote  the  saving  of  rags 
among  the  families  of  the  country,  as  being  more  likely  to  be  i)rodti(  tive  of 
good.  The  ncwspajjcrs  seconded  the  effort  to  induce  people  to  sa\c  rays  hy 
frecpient  agitation  of  the  subject.  The  Yankee  peddler  ilid  more 
in  this  direction,  however,  than  all  other  agencies  combined,  by 
carrying  about  the  country  in  his  big  wagon  a  temj)ting  array  of  bright  new- 
tinware,  now  brooms,  &c.,  anil  offering  to  exchange  them  for  good  rat;s,  wliieh 
he,  on  the  return  from  his  expedition,  sold  for  casli  to  the  paper-manufa<  turers. 
In  the  very  large  cities  the  demand  for  paper  material  afterwarils  gave  rise  to  a 
distinct  race  of  people  called  rag-women  and  rag-men,  who  went  about  the 
streets  from  early  dawn  to  simset  with  iron  hooks,  collecting  all  the  raji>  and 
scraps  of  papers  they  could  find  in  the  ash-barrels  and  gutters,  and  selling  them 
to  paper-makers.  The  ready  market  for  rags  soon  led  every  |)rudent  huti-.ewife 
to  keep  a  rag-bag,  into  which  all  the  thippings  and  worn-out  cottons  antl  hiiens 
might  go ;  antl  the  system  of  collecting  the  rags  was  soon  well  organized. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  consumption  of  paper  in  the  Uniteil  States  was 
enormously  in  excess  of  the  production  of  rags,  and  always  has  been.  Tlie  war 
of  1 86 1  promoted  the  consumption  enormously.  The  conse(|uence  has  been. 
that  the  United  States  has  always  had  to  imix)rt  rags.  In  1845  the  importa- 
tion had  grown  to  9,000,000  pounds  a  year  ;  in  1855  it  was  40.000.000  pounds ; 
in  1872  it  was  over  150,000,000  ])ounds.  It  is  only  since  1873  that  the  impor- 
tation has  begim  to  fall  off.  owing  to  the  discovery  of  other  raw  mati rials; 
but  the  cpiantity  of  foreign  rags  consumed  is  still  75,000,000  pounds  a  year. 


Rag-saving. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


461 


terialt  for 
ragt. 


The  imported  rags  come  mainly  from  Italy.    The  governments  in  the 
north  of  Knrope  do  not  favor  the  exiwrtation  of  rags,  especially  those  of 
linen.     .\t  various  times,  France,  Holland,  Spain,  Portugal,  and   importation 
Iteljjium  have  absolutely  prohibited  it.    'I'hose  from  the  south  of  *•'  '•«•• 
Kiirope  have  been  held  to  be  the  best,  however,  being  whiter  anil  finer. 

Tiie  great  scarcity  and  growing  price  of  rags  have  led  to  numerous  experi- 
ments during  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years,  with  a  view  to  utilizing  other 
raw  materials.  Just  before  our  Revolutionary  war  there  was  great  sui„,j,u,io„ 
anxiety  in  Europe  in  respect  to  the  supply  of  rags ;  and  nearly  of  other  ma- 
every  grass,  plant,  and  tree,  which  showed  its  h-'ad  al)Ove  the  sur- 
fa(  e  of  the  earth,  was  maile  a  subject  of  the  devouring  attention 
of  n.ituralists  and  manufacturers,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  its  capabilities  for 
l)ai)er-making.  In  1772  a  book  was  printed  in  Germany  containing  leaves  of 
paper  made  out  of  sixty  different  materials,  among  which  were  shavings,  saw- 
dust, thistles,  cabbage-stalks,  nettles,  the  cones  of  'Mne-trees,  and  the  bark  of 
several  trees.  About  1 780  paper  was  made  from  wood  in  Germany.  None 
of  the  vegetable  fibres  of  Europe  were,  however,  found  to  be  available,  —  either 
because  of  their  scarcity,  or  the  lack  of  a  proper  knowledge  of  how  to  reduce 
them.  —  except  the  esparto-grass  of  Spain.  This  grass,  so  fibrous  as  to  be 
available  for  other  purposes  than  paper-inaking,  produced  an  excellent  pulp, 
and  was  easily  reduced.  It  became  a  valuable  addition  to  the  resources  of  the 
industry.  Its  quantity  being  limited,  experiments  continued  with  other  fibres. 
Straw  was  tried,  and  wood  again;  and  at  length,  in  1854,  Mellier  invented  a 
plan  for  treating  straw,  under  a  pressure  of  eighty  degrees,  with  caustic  alkali, 
whi(  li  cleared  the  fibre  of  silica  and  gum,  and  brought  it  into  the  industry  as 
an  available  material  for  the  cheaper  qualities  of  news  and  printing  paper.  A 
chemical  process  for  treating  wood  made  that  material  available  the  same  year. 
The  manufacture  of  paper  from  wood,  straw,  and  hemp,  began  in  the  United 
States,  in  consequence  of  these  discoveries,  about  the  year  1861,  at  San 
Lorenzo,  Cal..  and  in  1865  at  Manayunk,  Penn.  The  three  materials  are 
now  very  largely  used,  straw  most  of  all.  It  may  be  mentioned  as  a  curious 
circumstance,  that,  about  fifty  years  ago,  the  idea  was  started  of  using  the 
cotton  or  linen  wrappers  for  paper-making  in  which  the  mummies  of  Egypt 
are  swatheil.  The  export  of  these  cloths  actually  began  for  this  purpose, 
and  would  have  continued,  except  that  Mehemet  .Ali  wished  to  monopolize 
them  for  his  own  use  in  paper-making  in  Egypt. 

A  great  change  has  been  wrought  in  the  manufacture  of  paper  by  the 
employment  of  inachinery  in  place  of  the  old  hand-processes.     The  principal 
machine  now  used  in  paper-making  is  the  Fourdrinier  invention,   improve- 
Ihe  world  is  indebted  to  Louis  Robert  of  France  for  this  remarka-   """* "' "•' 
l>le  apparatus.      It  was   brought   into  use  in   1799,  and  Robert  making 
recei\ed  both  a  patent  and  a  premium  of  eight  thousand  francs  p«p«r. 
from  the  French  Government.     Leger  Didot  carried  it  to  England  in  iSoa, 


463 


INDVSTHIAI.    HISTORY 


and  the  Founlriniors  {perfected  it.  After  1820  some  of  these  machines 
were  brought  to  tlie  United  States;  and  about  1830  I'helps  &  SpofTonl  of 
Windham,  Conn.,  began  'o  make  a  rival  machine,  (jlleil  the  *' Cylinder 
Machine,"  for  the  trade.  Not  long  afterward,  Howe  ^:  (iodilard  of  Wort  ester, 
Mass,  began  to  make  the  Fourdrinier  machine.  'I  he  application  of  power  to 
the  manufacture  was  a  welcome  idea  to  .Americans,  l^bor  was  high  here  ami 
the  cost  of  hand-moukleil  paper  excessive,  'i'he  idea  of  employing  macliincs 
was  taken  uj)  joyfully.  The  machinists  perfected  the  cylinder  and  Fourdrinier 
inventions,  and  contrived  a  large  variety  of  other  mechanical  expedient-,  tor 
use  in  the  mills  ;  and  the  improved  processes  made  more  rapid  progrc^^  here 
than  they  ilid  in  either  France  or  Kngland,  which  originated  them.  U'lule 
tiiose  two  countries  continued  to  use  the  hand-moulds  on  an  immense  scale, 
and  still  do  employ  them,  the  United  States  directed  their  whole  effort  to  devel- 
oping machinery  which  should  make  the  best  (pialities  of  paper  autom.uicaiiy 
as  well  as  they  were  made  in  Furojje  by  the  other  jirocess.  The  greatest 
strides  have  been  made  since  1861.  The  success  has  been  so  great,  that 
.American  machine-made  papers  are  competing  successfully  at  home  ami 
abroad  with  those  cast  in  the  hand-moulds. 

Under  the  oUl  system,  a  pile  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  sheets  of  paper. 
formed  by  hand,  consumed  two  weeks  in  the  making  anil  finishing :  now 
Paper-  ''^'-'  ^^'"'''*  '^  ^''  '\o\.z  in  less  than  four  minutes.     The  milky  pulp. 

making  prepared  by  grinding,  bleaching,  and  washing,  flows  from  a  ci>- 

'""  '  ■  tern  down  upon  one  end  of  a  long  machine  strct(  hing  ai  rov 
a  large  room,  wiiich  is  a  combination  of  endless  aprons,  gangs  of  heaw 
rollers  arranged  perDcndicularly  one  over  the  other,  cog-wheels,  ami  >ttaiii 
healing-pipes.  The  pulp  falls  ui)on  a  leather  apron,  and  flows  in  a  little 
ciscade  upon  an  endless  wire-cloth,  over  which  the  web  of  paper  i>  furmeil. 
The  size  of  the  stream  is  regiilateil  accoidin*,  to  the  thickness  of  the  piiier. 
The  wire-cloth  is  constantly  vibrating  from  side  to  side.  The  motion  sjireads 
the  pulp  e\eiily  over  the  cloth  as  it  woukl  be  done  by  the  shaking  motimi  in 
the  hand-i)rocess  :  it  also  aids  the  felting  of  the  particles  of  fibre,  and  the 
drainage  bi  the  water  through  the  wire-(  loth.  The  greater  part  of  the  water 
having  ilisappeared,  and  left  a  moist  web  on  the  cloth  as  it  slowly  travels 
away  from  the  leather  apron,  the  web  is  taken  up  through  a  \mx  of  lullcri 
covered  with  flannel,  which  give  it  a  slight  pressure,  sijueezing  out  some  01' 
the  remaining  moisture,  and  conflensing  the  web.  The  web  goes  through 
between  a  second  pair  of  wet  press-rolls,  and  is  then  taken  up  by  an  eixilev 
felt  apron,  which  carries  it  to  a  fresh  set  of  rolls,  which  squeeze  it  more 
severely,  and  leave  the  paper  strong  and  dry  enough  to  go  on  without  the 
support  of  the  aprons.  It  travels  along  now  between  ])ressing-rolls  ami  over 
the  surface  of  steel  cylinders  heated  by  steam,  and,  after  passing  over  about 
thirty  or  forty  feet  of  heated  surface,  reaches  the  end  of  its  journey,  .uid  i» 
wound  up  tightly  on  a  largs  roller,  —  an  endless  sheet  of  paper.    The  machine 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


4iS 


moves  at  the  rate  of  from  twenty-five  to  forty  feet  a  mintitc.  'Iho  paper  is 
made  at  the  rate  of  from  three  to  five  miles  a  day.  From  tlie  pai)cr-making 
machine  the  roll  goes  to  the  calendering  and  cutting  machinery  ;  though 
sometimes  the  cutting  is  done  at  the  eiul  of  the  first  process  by  the  action 
ul  a  pair  of  shears,  the  paper  coming  fr»)m  the  Kounlrinicr  ma(  !iine  in  sheets 
iiistcail  of  in  a  web.  Calendering  is  done  by  passing  the  jiaper  between  two 
rollers,  one  of  polished  copper,  the  other  covered  with  paper.  The  pressure 
of  the  rolls  is  enormous,  and  the  paper  comes  from  between  them  compacted 
ami  with  a  beautiful  surface.  Lelter-paper  receives  its  power  to  lake  ink 
wiiiiout  blotting,  not  only  by  good  calendering,  but  by  sizing  the  paper,  the 
latter  being  the  more  essential. 


IIULVUKE    I'Al'KK    CUMIANV,    HOLVOkK,    MAS>. 


Ever  since  the  application  of  machinery,  about  the  year  1S30,  the  impor- 
tation of  foreign  papers  to  the  United  States  has  fallen  off.     The  imporiaiions 
previous  to  that  date  were  heavy,  and  were  carried  to  such  an  uecreaie  in 
extent,  that,  for  a  long  time  previous  to  1825,  the  United-States  importation 
Senate  actually  used  paper  which  was  not  only  of  foreign  maim-   p',p°'^|'*" 
facture,  but  which  bore  the  water-mark  (remarkably  out  of  place 
in  a  republic  like  this)  of  "  Napoldon,  Empereur  et  Roi,  1813."     During  the 
late  war,  and  for  a  few  years  afterwards,  the  amount  of  the  importations  was 
from  one  to  three  million  dollars'  worth  a  year.    This  was  an  ajjparent  in- 
crease ;  but  it  only  took  place  because  there  was  a  demand  for  elegant  writing- 
papers  consequent  upon  the  demands  of  fashion,  and  the  percentage  of 


4«4 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


foreign  papers  to  the  total  amount  consumed  was  really  smaller  than  ever. 
The  importations  soon  fell  away  again.  Belgium  ceased  to  send  us  her  cheap 
news  and  book  papers,  which  had  been  consumed  in  New  \'ork  to  a  laryc 
extent.  The  orders  for  the  French  and  Englisii  writing,  ledger,  fancy,  and 
tissue  |)apers,  began  to  stop;  and  after  1871,  the  year  of  greatest  importation, 
consumption  of  foreign  papers  dwindled  rapidly  away,  until  it  reached  the 
very  insignificant  figure  of  <i  1,1 78. 13  in  the  whole  year  of  1877,  tiie 
total  production  of  this  country  being  about  S6o.ooo,ooo  worth  a  year. 
One  Lontlon  house,  which  ten  years  ago  sent  ;^3o.ooo  worth  of  paper 
to  this  country,  had  ceased  to  pay  any  attention  to  this  trade.  Whiic  tliis 
extraordinary  change  was  taking  place,  an  export  of  American  papers  sprang 
up.  Before  the  war  there  had  been  an  exjrart  to  South  America ;  but 
it  was  discontinued  in  1861.  It  was  resumed  after  the  war.  It  grew  so 
Exportation  fast,  that  it  rosc  from  §3,777  in  1869  to  $938,000  in  1877. 
of  paper.  American  manufacturers  discovered  in  1869,  *^'i^'  th^-T  h'i'l  "i^t 
really  been  consciously  aware  of  before,  that  their  machine-made  papers 
were  of  as  good  a  quality  as  the  foreign  hand-made,  and  that  they  could 
coiTipete  in  foreign  markets  for  their  sale.  They  organized  in  1877  for  con- 
certed action  in  pushing  the  export  of  paper.  Forty-one  firms  united  in  a 
movement  to  send  agents  to  England  and  to  South  America  to  see  what  coulil 
be  done ;  and  they  succeeded,  not  only  in  selling  their  papers  of  all  kinds  in 
South  America,  but  also  in  England,  in  competition  with  the  local  manufai  - 
turers  of  that  kingdom.  Their  writing-papers  were  found  to  withstaiul  the 
moist  climate  of  England  better  than  the  English-made.  American  bank-note, 
bond,  news,  book,  and  writing  papers  now  go  to  South  America  freely.  Tiie 
writing,  ledger,  and  plate  papers  go  to -England.  The  thin  manilas  go  all 
over  the  world.  Wrapping-papers  go  to  the  West  Indies.  The  range  and 
amount  of  the  sales  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  the  United  States  is  now  fairly 
in  the  field  for  producing  a  part  of  the  world's  supply  of  paper. 

In  1S72  there  were  812  paper-mills  in  the  United  States,  principallv  in 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania.  They  employed  22,000  i)eo|)!e, 
Number  of  and  produced  317,637  tons  of  paper,  or  a  little  over  1,000  tons  a 
miiu.  (lay^  the  value  of  the  same  being  566,500,000.     Of  the  total  prod- 

uct Massachusetts  made  one-third.  Since  1872  about  eighty  mills  have  been 
added.  It  is  believed  that  there  are  now  no  hand-made  paper  establishments 
in  the  country.  Machinery  drove  them  all  out  of  existence.  Two  lingered 
along  until  within  a  very  few  years,  —  one  in  Massachusetts,  and  one  in  Penn- 
sylvania, —  when  they,  too,  "  folded  their  tents,  and  silently  stole  away." 
B  1  una  of  Paper-hangings  were  first  offered  for  sale  in  America  in  1737; 
paper-hang.  but  they  were  little  used,  except  in  families  of  wealth,  before  1 750. 
Their  use  was  regarded  as  sinful  luxury  and  ostentation.  \\  liite- 
washed  walls  began  to  be  regarded  as  something  less  than  of  the 
highest  beauty  and  moral  worth  only  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution :  tiiose 


ingt  in  the 
ColonUi 


OF  THE   UXITED  STATES. 


465 


who  could  afford  them  then  bought  the  English  .ind  French  hangings,  and  put 
them  in  their  houses,     'i'liey  were  so  costly,  that  they  were  not  pasted  u|X)n 
the  walls,  but  were  merely  hung  upon  them,  or  placed  against  them,  attached 
to  frames.     They  were   freipiently  movcil  from  house  to  house,   importtd 
Their  manufacture  was  begun  upon  a  small  scale  in  1 763  ;  and   'rom 
by  1787  there  were  small  factories  in  Boston,  New  Jersey,  and      "«'■"'•• 
Pennsylvania.     The   jiaper  for  them  was   fabricated   from   the  coarsest  and 
cheapest  rags,  and  even  from  woollen  stuff.      It  was  made  in  slieets  thirty 
inches   long,  which   were   pasted   together   neatly  in  strips  long   _. 
enough  to  reach  from  floor  to  ceiling  ;  and  the  pattern  was  stamped   (actum  in 
upon  them  with  wooden  blocks  by  hand.      In  i  789  John  Carnes  ^"'"'' 
of  I  )elaware,  who  had  been  consul  at  Lyons,  resolved  to  enter  upon 
the  manufacture  of  paper-hangings  on  a  larger  scale  than  had  been  common  in 
the  country.     He  associated  himself  with  Hurrell  Carnes  and  two  French  work- 
men by  the  names  of  Le  Collay  and  Chardon,  and  they  went  into  business  at 
Philadelphia  extensively.     The  hangings  produced  by  these  early  makers  were 
of  a  very  cheap  description  ;  but  they  sufficed  to  introduce  color  and  form 
into  the  decoration  of  houses,  and  were  very  extensively  bought  by  the  people. 
Boston  was  producing  24,000  jjieces  yearly  by  1794.     Hy  18 10  four  establish- 
ments in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia  were  producing  140,000  pieces  yearly, 
vvortli  S97.41 7  ;  and  Providence  was  making  8,000  pieces,  worth  ;J8,ooo,  yearly. 
The  best  paj)ers  were,  of  course,  importeil  from   I-'rance  anil   Kngland, 
where  the  arts  of  design  and  decoration  found  rich  patrons,  and  had  been 
practised  for  generations.     Peoi)le  of  fashion  were  in  the  habit  of  jmporta. 
putting  none  except  French  an<l  Knglish  papers  on  their  walls,  at  tiom 
least  in  their  best  rooms.     The  American  makers,  for  fifty  years 
after  the  Revolution,  aspired  to  do  little  exce|)t  to  supply  the  mass  of  the 
people  with  cheap  hangings.     The  prettiest  of  the  papers  they  made  were  in 
imitation  of  the  foreign  styles ;  but  a  part  of  their  goods  were  in  original  styles, 
and  were  frequently  extremely  unitpie.     'Phe  writer  has  a  sample  of  a  paper 
made  at  Albany  in  181 2  by  Barnard  &  Steele,  which  was  called   ..  xhc  battle 
"  the  battle  of  Lake  F>ie  "  paper.     It  had  pictures  in  b'ack  and  of  Lake 
gray,  on  a  white  ground,  representing  in  a  vague  and  ideal  sort  of     ' '    ?■?«••• 
way  three  scenes  in  that  famous  naval  conflict.     The  pictures  were  about  two 
feet  apart,  and  a  wall  papered  with  the  hanging  must  have  been  a  bewildering 
object  to  look  at.     Patriotic  scenes  were  common,  the  pattern  deriving  its 
interest  solely  from  association  of  ideas,  and  not  from  its  material  beauty. 
•Another  queer  paper  much  in  use  in  those  early  days  was   the    "  rainlxJw 
paper,"  invented  about  1830  by  the  sons  of  John  B.  Howell  at  Philadelphia. 
Enormous  fern-leaves  covered  the  surface  of  the  paper,  the  hues  of  which 
shaded  from  dark  brown  at  one  end  to  light  yellow  at  the  other,  while  the 
grounds  shaded  from  light  blue  to  dark  blue.    This  shading  of  grounds  and 
patterns  soon  became  very  common. 


continued. 


466 


IXD  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOK  Y 


All  tlic  printing  was  done  by  han<l,  witli  a  wooden  block  twenty  inrhes 
square  an«l  three  inc  lies  thick.  'I'he  color  was  first  spread  upon  a  hlaukel. 
Mcde  of  riie  block  was  laid  on  the  blanket  to  receive  its.  color,  and  was 

printing.  (1,^.^,  applied  to  the  strip  of  wall  jjaper,  metal  pins  at  the  corner 
marking  places  on  the  strip  to  guide  the  printer  in  applying  future  colors. 
Pressure  was  applied  to  the  block  by  a  treadle  operated  by  the  printer's  foot. 
After  each  impression  the  strip  of  paper  was  ])ushed  along,  and  ;  new  impres- 
sion matie,  until  the  hanging  had  received  its  printing  from  one  end  to  the 
other.  If  the  pattern  was  in  more  than  one  color,  the  paper  was  hung  up  in 
dry  after  receiving  each  <olor,  and  then  taken  down  and  subjected  to  the  same 
jmjcess,  each  tint  being  put  on  separately  and  by  a  different  block.  'This  w.is 
a  tedious  process,  and  one  man  and  one  boy  could  print  only  a  hundred  rolls 
of  one-coloreil  |)aper  a  day.  If  six  colors  had  to  go  on,  it  would  take  a  week. 
The  process  was  identical  with  that  for  printing  calicoes  and  dress-goods. 
The  grounds  of  these  old  i)apers  were  generally  white,  and  in  the  patteru^i  a 
great  deal  of  retl,  yellow,  and  brown  was  used.  The  fashionable  I'reiK  li 
papers  were  generally  horrible  combinations  of  yellow,  gilt,  brown,  and  white, 
the  floral  and  leaf  patterns  being  of  enormous  si/e,  anil  the  borders  twelve  or 
eighteen  inches  wide.  Oftentimes,  however,  the  imported  papers  representcil 
scenes  in  a  garden,  classic  legends,  i\:c..  the  room  pa|)ered  with  them  resem- 
bling a  panorama.  .\  paper  exhibited  at  one  of  the  world's  fairs,  representing 
a  chase  in  the  forest,  reijuired  the  aid  of  twelve  thousand  blocks  in  the  ]iiint- 
ing.     In  1S24  glazed  grounds  began  to  be  introduced. 

After  1.S20  the  business  grew  very  rapidly.  The  Fourdrinier  paper-ma(  hiiic 
enabled  the  material  for  the  hanging  to  be  produced  in  rolls,  obviating  the 
Qrowthof  costly  old  i)rocess  of  justing  the  thirty-inch  sheets  together  by 
butineis  hand,  and  chea|)ening  the  expense  of  the  finished  hangings  iin- 
a  ten  20.  nunselv.  Then  in  184;^  a  machine  for  jmnting  two  colors  was 
introduced  into  the  business,  and,  within  ten  years  afterwards,  one  wliicii  would 
print  in  six  colors.  This  machine  soon  .superseded  all  the  hand-printmj;  of 
ordinary  papers  in  this  country,  '"'his  still  further  cheapened  the  cost,  ami 
increased  the  sale  of  hangings.  Other  machinery  was  soon  invented,  for- 
merly, whenever  the  ground  of  the  hanging  was  colored,  the  stain  was  laid  on 
by  hand.  .A  mac  hiiie  was  now  constructed  to  brush  on  the  color  automatically. 
Others  were  contrived  for  cutting  up  the  long  rolls  of  paper  into  strips  ol 
proper  length  for  sale,  for  rolling  up  the  strips,  for  brushing  the  ])apcr  to 
])roduce  the  satin  finish,  for  cmibossing  the  i)aper,  and  for  other  purinises. 
The  i)rinting-macliine  was  still  further  improved.  The  manufacturers  did  m>t 
stop  with  six  colors,  but  put  roller  after  roller  into  the  machine  until  it» 
capacity  had  been  increased  to  twenty  colors.  Each  color  was  laid  on  l)y  a 
separate  roller,  and  the  long  web  of  paper  passed  from  one  to  the  other  until 
it  had  taken  them  all ;  and  it  then  passed  off  to  a  frame,  which  caught  it  up  in 
a  succession  of  long  folds,  and  carried  it  slowly  across  the  room  to  dr).    Oik 


OF    THE    U,\ITED    STATES. 


4«f 


roll  applied  varnish  to  tlu*  pa|H.'r,  and  to  this  ^ilMinn  was  aftcrwanls  apphcd  hy 
duilinj,'  it  on.  Hy  our  proscnt  pro«  ess  one  ina(  hint-  ran  turn  out  in  one  day 
from  three  tiiousand  to  live  thousand  rolls  of  hangings  |)rinted  in  any  number 
of  colors  from  one  to  twenty  :  by  the  old  protess  this  work  would  have  em- 
plovcd  a  man  and  a  lH)y  for  a  year  and  a  iialf.  I'he  In-'auty  of  the  papers  and 
their  t  hea|)ness  <-ontinually  improved  with  this  applii  ation  «)f  ina(  hinery. 
(  olored  groimds  were  generally  introdiued  in  place  of  the  cold  white  grounds, 
and  ri(  her,  darker,  and  prettier  patterns.  Some  hand  printing  of  the  more 
costly  papers  has  still  continued  to  be  done  ;  but  American  machinery  is 
steadily  en«roa(  hing  on  the  territory  of  hand-work,  and,  for  all  except  the 
papers  (osting  from  three  dollars  to  eight  dollars  a  roll,  the  work  is  so  well 
(lone,  that  experienced  judges  cannot  tell  which  is  mat  hine-made  and  which 
handmade.  In  France  and  Kngland  the  manufacturers  cling  to  the  hand- 
|)r()(  essL-s :  they  regard  the  product  as  «learer  in  print.  Vet.  within  the  last 
three  years,  .American  makers  have  taken  luiglish  patterns  and  printed  them 
hy  machine,  and  sent  the  jjapers  back  to  l!ngland,  where  tliey  defied  tlis- 
crimination  from  the  others  by  the  most  exjjerienced  eye. 

The  fact  that  the  large  cities  of  the  United  States  are  the  best  customers 
of  the  i)aper-hanging  makers  has  led  them  to  assemble  their  factories  of  late 
years  near  those  « entres  of  population.  Formerly  the  factories  Location  o! 
were  scattered  through  New  luigland  and  the  Middle  States  in  '■='«>"«»• 
tile  rural  cities  and  villages,  where  water-power  was  plenty,  or  taxes  light : 
now  tlie  concern  of  J.  R.  IJigelow  &  Company  at  I'oston  is  the  only  one  in 
New  Fngland  ;  and  the  most  prosperous  and  largest  concerns  in  addition  to 
Itigelow's  are  centred  in  New  York,  I5rooklyn,  and  Philadelphia.  One  advan- 
tage of  having  large  factories  in  a  city  is,  that  the  people  of  the  place  can  go 
to  tlie  factory,  select  a  oattcrn,  and  have  enough  of  the  hanging  made  in  any 
special  color  or  tone  to  v.iatch  their  carpets  and  furniture.  In  1.S60  there 
wiTL'  twenty-six  pa]»er-ivuiging  factories  in  the  I  nited  Slates,  making  S  1,037, - 
600  worth  of  hangings  a  year.  The  business  has  increased  in  amount  ;  but 
tile  number  of  factories  has  decreased.  There  were  in  1S70  only  fifteen  fac- 
tories; but  they  produced  ;>2, 200,000  worth  of  hangings:  since  then  the 
production  has  increased  nnrly  Si, 000,000  worth. 

There  is  in  i)a]jer-hangings,  as  in  silver  and  gold  ware,  architecture,  and 
•ie(  oration  generally,  a  need  of  distinctive  .American  styles.  American  tlowers 
and  leaves  are  largely  used  in  the  cheaper  paper  ;  but  in  the  costly  style  in 
kinds,  by  which  the  art  of  decorating  pajier-hangings  must  be  P»pe"- 
jii'i.ued,  there  is  still  the  same  imitation  of  foreign  patterns  which  was  common 
a  iuindred  years  ago.  Manufacturers  copy  the  l'"rench  and  iMiglish  ideas 
habitually.  Two  manufacturers  in  New  York  are  trying  to  introduce  their  own 
designs  in  expensive  paper;  but  their  inspiration  is  still  the  foreign  decora- 
tions. One  concern,  that  of  Leissner  &  Louis,  devotes  itself  brgely  to  making 
patterns  in  the  antique  styles,  producing  papers  in  the   I'^gyptian,   Persian, 


468 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Greek,  Pompeiian,  or  any  other  style  to  order.  There  is  great  need  of  eman- 
cipation from  the  influence  of  the  ideas  of  the  Old  World,  and  the  con- 
trivance of  designs  in  a  pure  American  spirit. 

Not  only  -ire  the  styles  of  paper  constantly  changing,  but  the  tastes  of 
people  also  change  concerning  their  use.  Only  a  few  years  ago  it  was  gener- 
ally believed  that  many  kinds  of  wall-paper  were  unhealthy,  because  of  the 
Pminted  vi.  poisonous  ingredients  put  into  the  coloring-materials ;  wliilc  tiie 
paper  wmUt.  pastg  M%it\\.  in  Sticking  papers  to  the  wall  attracted  moisture,  making 
rooms  damper  than  they  would  otherwise  be.  Accordingly,  a  period  of  gen- 
eral wall-scraping  was  inaugurated.  Having  been  thoroughly  cleaned  of  old 
paper  and  paste,  walls  were  painted ;  it  being  everywhere  admitted  tliat  the 
colors  adopted  were  healthy,  as  well  as  more  pleasing  to  the  eye.  lint,  now 
taste  is  setting  once  more  in  the  opposite  direction,  colored  walls  are  being 
re-covered  with  jiaper,  the  most  stylish  mode  of  putting  it  on  being  to  use 
three  shades,  —  the  lightest  shade  for  the  middle  or  body  of  the  wall,  a  darker 
shade  for  the  top,  and  a  still  darker  for  the  bottom.  By  and  by  we  sliall 
doubtless  hear  of  another  change,  made  as  suddenly  as  this ;  and  perliai)s 
wall-papers  may  be  discarded  altogether. 

The  importation  of  foreign  hangings  has  been  at  times  very  large,  Imt 
never  so  large  as  since  the  war.  In  1872  it  amounted  to  $982,000  worth : 
since  then  it  has  fallen  to  almost  nothing.  A  large  export  has  sprung  up  in 
its  place,  especially  to  South  America,  Canada,  and  the  West  Indies. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


469 


CHAPTER   IX. 


GUNPOWDER  AND   FIREWORKS. 


Dupont. 


WHEN  old  Putnam  stormed  and  fumed  alx>ut  the  earthworks  on  the 
hills  overlooking  Boston,  and  cried,  "  Powder,  powder !   O  ye  gods, 
give  us  powder  !  "  the  quality  of  the  article  he  then  sighed  for  so  ardently  was 
extremely  poor.    This  inflammable  material  had  been  in  use  for  four  hundred 
years  ;  but  the  smoke,  flame,  and  ashes  it  made  were  out  of  all  proper  propor- 
tion to  its  power.    The  quantity  then  made  in  the  United  States  _  ^. 
was  not  so  large  per  annum  as  woulil  be  consumed  in  one  of  works  during 
our  modern    mining-regions   in  a  week,  or  in   one  lively  battle.   **"  Revoiu- 
The  government  started  powder-works  during  the  Revolution  to 
insure  a  supply  of  that  necessary  munition  of  war;  but  it  was  not  until  1802 

—  when   a   Frenchman   by   the   name   of  Eleuthere   Irene   Du- 
pont started  a  factory  on  the  Brandywine,  near  Wilmington,  Del. 

—  that  powder  of  any  great  excellence  was  made  upon  our  soil.  Dupont 
had  had  a  chemical  education,  and,  noticing  the  poor  (]uality  of  American 
powder,  resolved  to  supply  the  rising  young  republic  with  an  article  which 
would  obviate  the  inconveniences  of  an  explosive  which  fouled  tlie  musket 
badly,  and  which  would  make  the  country  more  formidable  in  war  and  peace. 
The  demands  of  the  people  of  the  several  States  for  sporting-powder  and  for 
military  powder  with  which  to  fight  Indians,  and  the  hostilities  with  England 
which  began  in  181 2,  gave  Dupont  all  he  could  do  in  the  way  of  manufacture. 
He  repeatedly  enlarged  his  factory  ;  and  when  he  died,  in  1834,  his  establish- 
ment was  the  largest  of  the  kind  in  the  country :  it  has  since  then  become 
the  largest  in  the  world.  The  war  of  181 2  led  to  the  establishment  of  other 
factories  of  powder,  especially  in  Pennsylvania,  which  has  always  been  a  large 
consumer  of  powder,  and,  by  all  odds,  the  largest  manufacturer.  The  factories 
were  generally  small,  and  were  located  in  places  remote  from  other 

,  ,  ,r  J  •     .   .  ...       Manufacture 

property,  m  order  not  to  endanger  life  and  capital  by  a  iwssible  of  powder 
explosion.     During  the  war  of   1861  the  quantities  of  powder  «iuring recent 
consumed  in  the  United  States  were  enormous.     The  resources  of 
the  existing  factories  were  taxed  to  supply  the  market  which  was  so  suddenly 


470 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  >' 


^11 


and  uiifxifcctedly  created.  It  was  necessary  to  start  new  factories  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  times.  Hy  1870  there  were  thirty-three  jjowder-factorics 
in  full  operation  in  the  United  States,  fifteen  of  tiiem  being  in  Pennsylvania. 
Factories  f've  in  New  York,  three  in  California,  two  in  Connecticut,  and  two 
in  1870.  ill  Ohio.     One  of  those  in  Connecticut  was  that  of  the  Hazard 

Powder  Company  of  Hazardville,  a  celebrated  concern :  another  was  the 
Laflin  &  Rand  concern  of  New- York  City. 

In  a  country  like  the  United  States  there  must  always  l)e  a  great  demand 
for  powerful  explosives.  We  have  few  or  no  wars  of  jealousy  and  con(inest 
Nerd  of  to  fight ;  but  we  have  a  million  railroads,  canals,  and  streets  whii  h 

powder.  niust  be  laid  out  on  direct  and  level  routes,  regardless  of  rucks 

and  mountains ;  and  they  could  never  be  laid  out  and  built,  with  any  regard 
to  levels  and  straight  lines,  without  the  aid  of  powerful  explosives  to  shatter 
the  rocks,  and  remove  them  from  the  way.  We  have  a  million  mines  of 
gold,  silver,  copper,  and  iron,  and  quarries  of  stone,  to  work,  whose  treasures 
would  be  almost  inaccessible,  except  for  the  agency  of  gunpowder  and  nitro- 
glycerine. There  are  reefs  and  rocks  to  be  cleared  out  of  the  harbors  ;  there 
are  guns  to  be  fired  on  occasions  of  pul)lic  holiday ;  there  are  fireworks  to 
be  burned  at  festivals,  and  rockets  and  mortars  to  be  fired  by  life-saving  crews. 
Leaving  aside  the  whole  subject  of  the  demands  of  the  army  anil  navy  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  regiments  of  the  several  States,  the 
legitimate  demands  of  the  engineering  works,  the  mines,  and  amusements  of 
our  people,  are  still  sufificient  of  themselves  to  create  a  necessity  for  a  large 
manufacture  of  gunjiowder  and  explosives.  Not  long  since,  a  blast  was  fired 
in  a  limestone  quarry  of  the  (Mention  Iron  Company,  at  F^aston,  Penn.,  wiiich 
contained  a  charge  of  twelve  thousand  pounds  of  mortar-powder,  displacing 
sixty  thousand  tons  of  rock.  The  legitimate  demands  of  the  United  States 
now  amount  to  over  twenty  million  pounds  of  powder  annually.  The  manu- 
facture is  larger  than  that,  however,  because  there  is  an  export  of  gun- 
powder to  luirope  and  South  .America  constantly,  both  in  the  form  of 
cartridges,  and  loose  in  kegs.  Tiie  export  trade  is  irregular,  and  deiicnds 
largely  on  the  progress  of  hostilities  abroad  :  but,  wlienever  there  is  war,  tliere 
is  always  a  demand  for  .American  powder ;  and,  as  the  monarchies  of  Kurojic 
or  the  nations  of  Asia  are  in  a  f[uarrel  about  half  of  the  time,  there  is  very 
seldom  a  year  in  which  more  or  less  of  our  powder  does  not  go  abroad. 
.About  half  the  powder  used  in  the  Crimean  war  is  said  to  have  been 
bought  in  America :  a  great  deal  of  that  which  the  Turks  used  in  the  late 
war  was  certainly  bought  here. 

Gunpowder  is  made  of  three  ingredients, — charcoal,  nitre,  and  sulphur, — 
Powder,  in  proportions  which  vary  slightly,  according  to  the  use  to  wiiii  h 
how  made,  (j^g  powder  is  to  be  devoted.  The  ingredients  art  combined  by 
weight.  The  following  are  tour  of  the  more  common  proportions,  the  recipes 
being  for  a  hundred  pounds  of  powder  each  :  — 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


47« 


Atomic  theory 
L'liitcd-States  military 
Sporting  . 
Blasting  . 


7464 

76 

7S 


CHAKCDAL.         ' 


'351 
14 
12 
18 


I.. 85 
10 
10 
20 


The  nitre  is  reduced  in  (luantity  fur  blasting-powder  in  order  to  cheapen 
tiic  cost  and  lessen  the  rapiilily  of  combustion.  For  most  purposes  of  blast- 
ing, a  sustained  and  increasing  push  is  better  than  a  sudden  and  terrific  shock. 
A  strong  and  cheap  blasting-powder  is  also  made  by  using  nitrate  of  soda 
instead  of  nitrate  of  potassa  or  nitre.  The  ingredients  are  mixed  in  the 
very  iiighest  state  of  purity.  The  suljihur  and  nitre  are  carefully  and  con- 
scientiously refined  before  the  mixing  takes  place.  It  is  desired  that  the 
powder  shall  burn  away  completely,  without  residuum  or  ash  ;  and  it  will  not 
ilo  tiiis  if  impurities  are  present.  The  charcoal  is  obtained  from  slender 
willow-shoots,  or  from  poplar,  in  the  United  States.  The  trees  are  generally 
cultivated  by  the  owners  of  the  factories.  In  I'.uropc  the  alder  is  used,  and 
in  Russia  the  white-birch.  The  wood  is  charred  in  red-hot  iron  cjlinders, 
and  grountl  when  cold  by  rolling  in  a  barrel  with  zinc  balls.  The  ingredients 
arc  al!  reduced  to  powder :  they  are  then  mixed  in  the  proper  t[uantities, 
and  sent  to  the  grinding-mill  in  (luantitics  of  about  fifty  pounds  at  a  time. 
The  incorporation  of  the  ingredients  is  a  very  important  matter,  and  the 
grinding,  is  therefore,  very  carefully  attended  to.  It  takes  place  in  a  circular 
trough  of  cast-iron,  in  which  cast-iron  wheels  of  three  or  four  tons'  weight 
follow  each  other  slowly  around  in  a  circle,  crushing  the  powder  under  them 
as  they  pass  along.  The  powtler  is  kept  moistened  throughout  the  operation. 
After  grinding,  the  powder  is  subjected  to  heavy  piessure  between  copper 
l>lates,  and  is  thus  reduced  to  a  cake.  It  is  then  broken  up  into  grains,  either 
l)y  mallets  or  toothed  rollers,  glazed  by  rolling  in  barrels  so  as  to  enable  the 
grains  the  better  to  resist  moisture,  dried,  sifted,  and  cleaned  of  dust. 

The   relative   proportion   of  the  ingredients  causes  the  powder  to  burn 
slowly  or  rapidly.     This  idea  was  taken  advantage   of  by  Gen.   j  ^i^^^^n  of 
Rodman,  U.S..A.,  in    1856,  in  order  to  produce  a  powder  suited   powder, 
to  la  ge  cannon.     He  conducted  a   series   of  experiments  with   ^°^  deter- 

°  '  .         mined. 

powders,  and  was  the  first  in  the  world  to  produce  an  explosive 

suited  to  modern   artillery.     His   powders  were  made   in  two  forms.     One, 

called  the  "  mammoth,"  was  in  irregular  grains,  from  six-tenths  to 

'^  °  Rodman. 

nine-tenths  ot  an  mch  in  diameter :    the  other,  called  the  "  per- 
forated cake,"  was  in  hexagonal  or  cylindrical  grains,  perforated  with  six  or 
ten  holes.     Gen.  Rodman  gained  slow  combustion  by  these  varieties  of  pow- 
der, and  consequently  greater  initial  velocity  at  the  mouth  of  the  gun,  with 


472 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


mWDER-EXrLOSION. 


OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


473 


less  recoil.  The  heavy  guns  used  in  the  war  of  1861  were  supplied  with 
tlie  Rodman  powder.  It  is  relatetl,  that  in  many  cases,  when  light  bat- 
teries or  infantry  regiments  were  deployed  in  front  of  the  heavy  guns,  on 
lower  ground,  but  close  to  them,  the  men  of  the  latter  were  sometimes 
hit  and  wouniled  with  kernels  of  the  powder  which  had  not  been  burned. 
Rodman's  iilca  was  ailopted  in  Kurojie  as  soon  as  it  became  known.  The 
Knglish  pebble  and  pellet  powders,  and  the  Russian  prismatic,  are  the  out- 
growth of  it. 

The  power  of  gimpowder  is  enormous.  Water  expands  seventeen  hundred 
times  in  l)ecoming  steam  ;  but  gunpowder  expands  into  a  greater  volume  of 
gases,  and  its  tension  is  enormously  ])romoted  by  the  heat  gener-  Power  of 
ateil  in  combustion.  One  early  experimenter  in  this  country  con-  gunpowder. 
fined  twenty-eight  grains  of  powder  in  a  cylindrical  space  which  it  exactly 
filled :  when  fireil.  it  burst  a  piece  of  iron  which  would  have  resisted  a  strain 
of  four  hundred  thousand  pounds.  A  mortar  loaded  with  one-twentieth  of  an 
ounce  of  powtler,  and  having  a  twenty-four-pounder  cannon  laid  on  top  of  it, 
was  hurst  by  the  exjjlosion,  and  the  cannon  lifted.  Various  experimenters  have 
arrived  at  different  results  in  testing  the  pressure  of  gunpowder  before  being 
relieved  by  expansion,  the  jjroduct  of  force  ranging  from  seven  to  662  tons' 
pressure  to  the  sijuare  inch.  The  average  force  of  gunpowder  is  rated  at  forty 
tons  to  the  square  inch. 

Within  the  last  sixty  years  a  number  of  other  explosives  have  been  added 
to  the  list  with  gunpowder,  some  of  which  have  been  extremely  useful  in 
engineering.  The  first  was  discovered  in  1832  in  Europe  by  other  expio- 
Braconnet,  who  found  that  starch  dissolved  in  nitric  acid,  and  pre-  •'^"• 
cipitated  with  water,  becomes  explosive  by  concussion.  Braconnet  called  his 
new  i)owder  xyloidine.  Shortly  afterward  Pelouse  treated  paper  and  cotton 
and  linen  fabrics  with  nitric  acid,  and  got  an  equally  explosive  product,  which 
he  called  pyroxvline.     The  new  substance  was  so  destructive,  that 

Pyroxyline. 

a  peaceful  old  stocking  treated  with  nitric  acid  became  so  incen- 
diary and  energetic  as  to  be  able  to  blow  up  a  house.     In  1846  Schonbein 
made  gun-cotton  by  the  use  of  nitric  and  sulphuric  acid,  and  great  attention 
was  paid  to  the  new  product  all  over  the  world.     Gun-cotton  has  since  been 
made  to  some  extent  in  two  forms.     In  one,  long-staple  cotton  is 

,  •  ,  ,  r  r      •     •  ,    .        ^       ,    ,       .      Oun-cotton. 

sul)jected  to  the  action  of  one  part  of  nitric  and  three  of  sulphuric 
acid,  and  put  through  a  long  series  of  washings  in  water  and  dryings,  and  boil- 
ing in  alkaline  solutions.  The  staple  is  twisted  into  ropes,  or  woven  into  cloth, 
for  use.  In  the  other,  or  English  process,  the  staple  is  beaten  into  pulp,  as  in 
paper-making,  after  being  treated  with  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids,  and  is  com- 
pressed into  small  white  cubes  or  cylinders,  while  moist,  under  a  pressure  of 
four  or  five  tons.  Gun-cotton  for  experimental  purposes  has  been  made  on 
a  very  small  scale  in  this  country.  It  was  tried  at  the  government  engineer- 
ing-works at  Hell  Gate,  in  New- York  harbor,  previous  to  the  demolition  of  the 


474 


liXD  US  TNI  A  L    ins  TOR  Y 


Dynamite. 


reef  there  ;  l)Ut  it  has  ahvays  been  found  too  violent  and  uncertain  in  its  action. 
and  too  expensive,  for  practical  use. 

A  whole  worlil  of  explosives  has  grown  out  of  the  discovery  of  gun-cotton. 
Schuitze-powdcr  was  soon  invented ;  which  was  nothing  'nore  than  wood 
Nitro-  reduced  to  large  grains,  and  treated  with  acids.     Niiro-glyt  crinc 

glycerine.  ^y^^  discovered  in  1847,  and  first  applied  to  engineering  in  1S64. 
in  Sweden,  'ihe  simplicity  of  manufacture  and  extr-iorilinary  power  of  this 
agent  soon  made  it  popular.  It  is  prepared  by  intro<'.ucing  glycerine,  drop  hv 
drop,  into  nitric  and  sulphuric  aciils.  It  is  ';  terrible  ex])k)sive,  prodiu  in<,' 
three  and  a  half  times  as  much  gas,  and  twice  as  much  heat,  as  gunpowder,  and 
is  never  safe  to  handle  except  when  frozen.  It  congeals  at  forty  or  forty-five 
degrees,  and  is  then  perfectly  safe  ;  but,  when  li(|uid.  it  explodes  with  slight 
concussion  ;  and  its  power  is  so  great,  that  a  can  whicii  has  contained  it,  but 
has  been  emptied,  will,  when  thrown  on  the  ground,  exi)lode  with  violence 
sufficient  to  destroy  life.  When  not  confined,  it  burns  with  difficulty  on  tlie 
application  of  a  match.  Since  1865  it  has  been  extensively  used  in  the  Uniii-d 
States  for  blasting  in  the  excavation  of  railroad  tunnels,  reefs,  &c.  It  is  easily 
made  in  the  vicinity  of  the  works.  Dynamite,  or  giant-powder, 
dualine,  Vulcan-powder,  lithofractem,  and  other  explosives,  arc 
produced  by  causing  nitro-glycerine  to  be  absorbed  by  some  inert  and  porous 
solid.  The  silicious  infusorial  earth  found  in  Hanover,  called  "  kieselguhr," 
is  the  best  which  has  been  found  for  the  i)urpose.  It  is  not  so  dangerous  to 
handle  in  this  form,  and  is  yet  slightly  slower  in  combustion,  and  hence  more 
serviceable.  Nitro-glycerine  and  all  of  its  compounds  are  exploded  in  blasting 
by  a  fulminate  of  mercury  contained  in  a  copper  capsule,  and  usually  ignited 
by  an  electric  spark  from  a  battery  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  mine.  One  of 
the  explosives  with  which  the  United-States  engineers  experimented  at  Hell 
Gate  was  called  "  \  igorite."  It  was  made  of  coal-tar  bv  the  action  of  nitric 
and  sulphuric  acids.  The  idea  was  to  get  a  cheaper  explosive  than  nitro- 
glycerine, if  possible ;  the  cost  of  blowing  up  the  reef  there  being  large,  and 
a  reduction  of  expense  being  desirable.  The  engineers  had  to  fall  hack, 
however,  on  nitro-glycerine  —  that  is  to  say,  its  compounds  —  at  last,  as  being, 
all  things  considered,  preferable  to  all  other  agents.  Twenty-six  tons  of 
the  material  were  used,  distributed  in  cartridges  in  4,462  holes  in  the  rotk. 
Dynamite  was  principally  used ;  but  some  of  the  cartridges  were  of  dualine 
and  Vulcan-powder  also. 

The  brilliant  effects  produced  by  the  burning  of  gunpowder  at  night,  es- 
pecially in  conjunction  with  the  metals,  and  other  substances  having  a  colored 
Fireworks      flame,  caused  the  new  combustible  to  be  seized  upon  at  once  in 
and  colored     Europe  to  add  to  the  attractions  of  the  royal  fetes.     In  Portugal. 
*  *'■  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and   England,  in  the  ages  succeeding  the 

invention  of  gunpowder,  public  carnivals  for  the  entertainment  of  the  peoiile. 
or  royal  festivities  in  honor  of  distinguished  guests,  were  extremely  cominon, 


OF    THE    UXITF.D    STATES. 


475 


anil  were  of  the  most  extraordinary  description.  The  travels  of  the  kings 
through  their  own  realms  were  also  attended  by  public  displays,  and  a  regular 
feature  of  the  night  performances  soon  came  to  be  the  burning  of  fireworks  anil 
colored  lights.  In  America,  cannon-firing,  bonfires,  the  ringing  of  the  bells,  and 
jMiblic  parades  and  speec  hes,  were,  for  a  long  time,  the  sole  elements  of  a  public 
festival,  especially  of  those  of  a  political  character.  John  Adams  predicted 
that  tlie  Fourth  of  July  would  always  be  celebrated  with  demonstrations  of  that 
character.  Fireworks  were  not  greatly  used  in  the  republic  for  some  time 
after  the  Fourth-of-July  celebrations  began.  Shiji-masters  disliked  to  take 
them  on  shipl)oard  in  Kuroi)e  and  bring  tiiem  here,  owing  to  their  dangerous 
character ;  and  they  were  too  costly,  antl  in  too  little  tlemand,  to  be  manu- 
factured here.  After  iSi6  they  were  manufactured  on  a  small  scale;  and 
they  are  now  made  in  moderate  (juantities  every  year,  as  Fourth  of  July 
approaches,  in  response  to  the  demand  for  them  for  the  festivities  on  that 
occasion.  'Iheir  public  use  is  confined  entirely  to  that  anniversary,  the  custom 
being  to  have  the  display  on  the  niglit  of  July  3  along  with  the  bonfires,  the 
parades  and  speeches  coming  on  tiie  day  after.  Fifty  years  ago,  when  fire- 
works were  first  coming  into  general  use,  the  displays  were  conducted  by 
private  enter[)rise.  'I'hey  were  either  Me  patriotic  demonstration  of  private 
citi/cns.  or  were  the  speculation  of  some  ingenious  business-man,  who  would 
put  up  a  high  board  fence  around  the  garden  adjoining  his  public-house,  and 
exhibit  his  wheels  and  snakes  and  Roman  candles  and  rockets  to  the  admir- 
iiiL;  gaze  of  the  people  at  a  shilling  or  twenty-five  cents  a  head.  .-Xs  the  cities 
of  the  country  have  grown  in  size,  it  has  been  deemed  fit  that  the  celebration 
of  so  important  an  event  as  the  anniversary  of  national  independence  should  in 
ail  respects  be  carried  on  by  the  community  at  large.  So,  for  twenty  years  or 
more,  the  annual  dis])lays  of  fireworks  have  taken  place  at  the  i)ublic  expense 
in  the  various  cities  of  the  country,  except  here  and  there  where  demagogues 
and  two-cent  politicians  in  the  city  councils  have  refiised  to  vote  the  necessary 
funds  on  the  plea  of  economy  for  the  sake  of  the  dear  people.  There  is  an 
obvious  propriety  in  having  the  displays  take  place  under  official  supervision. 
Not  only  are  they  likely  to  be  more  splendid,  but  they  are  certain  to  be  less 
productive  of  accident,  and  damage  to  property.  The  great  accumulations  of 
weallii  in  cities,  in  the  form  of  buildings,  have  made  caution  and  official  super- 
vision desirable. 

The  materials  useil  in  pyrotechny  are  gunpowder  (or  various  mixtures  of 
nitre,  charcoal,  and  sulphur),  and  various  metals,  sahs,  and  substances  for  pro- 
ducing brilliant  colors.  The  powder  used  is  of  a  low  grade  of  Manufacture 
explosive  power,  anil  is  intended  merely  to  burn  with  brilliant  "'  fireworks. 
sparks,  instead  of  exploding.  In  rockets  alone  is  there  any  explosion.  In 
wheels,  rockets,  and  Roman  candles,  the  powder  is  so  confined  as  to  give 
pro]jelling  power.  Rockets  were  originally  used  in  war.  The  Congreves 
tornicd  a  great  feature  at  the  siege  of  Copenhagen  in  1807,  and  at  the  battle 


476 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


of  Leipsic.     The  French  were  routed  on  the  latter  field  by  a  volley  of  Con- 
greves.     Rockets  are  now  used  on  the  sea  as  a  signal  of  distress,  and  a  heavy 

variety  is  employed  on  shore  to  carry  a  line 
to  a  stranded  ship.  They  are  good  for  a  dis- 
tance of  eigiu  hunilrcd  yards,  or  nearly  half  a 
mile.  The  rockets  of  the  i)resent  day  for  festival 
use  are  often  very  powerful,  and  ascend  in  the 
air  from  a  thousand  to  twelve  hundred  feet :  at 
their  highest  point  they  burst,  and  throw  out  a 
volley  of  colored  stars,  or  a  duster  of  snakes. 
Within  two  or  three  years  the  jiarachute-roc  ket 
has  been  invented,  which  throws  out  one,  two. 
or  three  large  stars,  each  with  a  i)arachtite, 
which  sustains  them  while  they  float  off  slowly 
on  the  breeze,  burning  red,  then  white,  tiien 
blue,  and  oftentimes  other  colors.  .An  immense 
variety  of  wheels  is  made,  with  showers  of 
sparks  of  different  forms,  and  flames  of  the 
different  colors  of  the  rainbow  :  they  range  fro.. 
the  little  whizzing  pin-wheel  three  inches  in 
diameter,  a  boy's  plaything,  up  to  the  huge 
wheel  six  feet  across,  which  flings  out  a  circle 
of  flame  and  scintillations  twenty 
feet  in  diameter.  Roman  can- 
dles have  been  in  use  from  the  beginning,  throwing  anywhere 
from  two  to  eight  balls,  one  after  the  other.  Within  the  last 
few  years  volcanoes  have  been  introduced,  shooting  out  a  tor- 
rent of  balls  for  several  seconds ;  and  quite  recently  the 
bomb,  which,  being  set  upon  the  ground,  throws  up  a  hollow 
ball  straight  into  the  air  to  the  height  of  five  hundred  feet, 
which,  exploding,  also  throws  out  a  shower  of  balls.  The  fire- 
cracker, the  delight  of  the  boys,  introduced  to  this  country 
from  China,  forms  no  part  of  the  public  displays ;  but  it  does 
form  a  considerable  feature  in  the  sales  of  the  dealers  in  fire- 
works. Its  use  has  been  regulated  by  law  since  the  disastrous 
Eviiconse-  ten-million-dollar  fire  at  Portland,  Me.,  and  the 
quencesof  large  number  of  small  fires,  which  resulted  from 
firework!.  ^j^^  carcless  use  of  this  noisy  plaything.  Fourth 
of  July,  though,  is  a  hollow  mockery  to  the  boys  without  the 
fire-cracker ;  and  they  still  consume  it  enormously.  A  great 
feature  of  the  public  shows  is  the  set  pieces,  in  which  a  spread 
eagle,  or  a  portrait  of  Washington,  or  "  Independence,"  or  some  other  motto, 
is  depicted  in  lines  of  fire.    The  fancy  of  the  makers  has  free  play  in  the  con- 


ROCKETS. 


ROMAN  CANT5LS. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


477 


stnution  of  these  pieces,  and  they  bear  names  of  the  most  poetical  (k'scrip- 
tion.  Among  those  produced  for  the  Centennial  displays  in  1876  were  the 
Star  of  America,  the  Yankee  Windmill,  the  Japanese  (ilory,  the  Fairies'  Frolic, 
tiic  Persian  Rose,  the  Hate-Tree  of  the  Desert,  the  Scroll  Quadrille,  the 
Kaleidoscope,  the  Star  of  Independence,  Washington,  the  'iVibute  to  Ceres, 
the  I'olka  Dance,  the  Shield  of  the  I'nion,  the  Hald-headed  Kagle  of  Liberty, 
tlic  rriiiting- Press,  anil  the  Tribute  to  America.  Their  names  sufficiently 
(lc.s(  ribe  them. 

In  the  diversification  of  the  various  fires,  lampblack,  or  strontia  nitrate  or 
carbonate,  is  used  to  produce  a  very  reil  color,  such  as  is  employed  in  the 
theatres  at  times,  or  for  a  simple  coloreil  fire  Different 
ill  street-processions,  as  well  as  for  fireworks,  color*,  how 
U  iih  nitre  in  excess,  these  substances  produc  e  '""  ""  ' 
a  pink.  Nitre  and  sulphur  make  a  white  fire.  Yellow 
can  he  made  by  common  salt,  resin,  or  amber.  A  violet 
is  produced  by  potassa  salts,  chlorate,  and  carbonate 
mixed  ;  a  blue,  by  potassa  salts  anil  ammonia,  copjier 
sulphate  and  antimony  sulphide,  or  copper  carbonate  and 
alum  ;  a  green-blue,  by  /inc-filings,  or  copper  sulphate 
an<l  sal  ammoniac.  .'\  good  green  is  obtained  from  ba- 
rium carbonate,  or  verdigris  with  copper  sulphate  and 
sal-ammoniac.  Iron -filings  give  bright  sparks;  and 
steel-filings  and  cast-iron-borings,  having  more  carbon, 
afford  a  more  brilliant  scintillation  with  wavy  radiations. 
Lycoi)odium  burns  with  a  rose-iolor  and  a  magnificent 
flame :  it  is,  therefore,  largely  used  for  tlambeaux  in 
street-processions,  and  in  theatres  to  represent  lightning, 
or  flames  in  a  burning  building. 

Chemistry  has  thus  greatly  increased  the  resources  of 
the  pyrotechnic   art.     The   modern   fireworks  are   very 
much  more  brilliant  than  those  of  the  middle   ages ;    and   the   citizens   of 
republican  America  are  entertained  every  F'ourth  of  July,  when  the   improve- 
cities  bestir  themselves,  with  more   beautifiil   displays  than  any   mentin  fire- 
which  ever  glorified  the  pomps  of  the    kings  of   lOurope.     The   ^°'  *" 
brilliant    spectacles    of    the    late   war    during    the    night    bombardments    of 
Sumter   and   of  the  works    before    Richmonil    and    I'etersburgh,  which  will 
never  be   forgotten   by  those  who  saw  them,  were  the   most   extraordinary 
scenes  ever  witnessed   upon   this   continent   at   the   time   they  took   ]ilace. 
They  have  been  surpassed  since  the  war,  however,  just  as  the  royal  fetes  of 
Kurope  in  the  middle  ages  have  been,  by  the  splendors  of  recent  pyrotei  hny. 
The  scene  in  the  city  of  New  York  at  night,  for  instance,  from  any  tower  which 
overlooks  that  vast  community,  spreading  over  the  country  for  miles,  —  into 
Long  Island  on  the  one  side,  and  New  Jersey  on  the  other,  —  during  the 


478 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


discharge  of  anniversary  fireworks,  is  something  which  surpasses  the  spec 
tacular  effects  of  the  late  war.  The  thousands  of  rockets  ascentUng  into  the 
air  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  the  parachute-stars  floating  away  softly  on 
the  wings  of  the  breeze,  the  volleys  of  Rmnan  candle-balls  in  every  (liredion, 
the  flash  of  colored  fires,  and  the  inevitable  conflagration  of  a  building  litre 
and  there,  —  all  these,  outlined  against  the  night,  are  the  elenients  of  a 
strange  and  impressive  picture.         ■  .. 


;"■» 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


479 


CHAPTER  X. 


INDIA-RUBBER    MANUFACTURES. 


CAOU  rCHOUC  appears  to  liave  been  one  of  the  valual)le  products  of  the 
I')ast  Indies  wliich  the  ancients  entirely  overlooked.  It  was  not  until 
this  substance  was  discovered  in  practical  use  among  the  savages  of  the  conti- 
nent of  America  that  the  civilized  world  took  cognizance  of  it,  and  turned  to 
arco'tnt  the  magnifu  ent  rubber-trees  of  India.  Caoutchouc  was  unknown  to 
St  icnce  until  1735.  In  that  year  an  observing  Frenchman  who  had  just  come 
down  the  Amazon,  and  who  had  noticed  that  the  natives  were  Discovery  of 
making  boots,  bottles,  and  water-proof  cloth,  of  the  gum  of  a  c»«>"tchouc. 
strange  and  magnificent  tree,  related  the  facts  to  the  French  Academy  of 
Sciences.  The  natives  of  South  America  called  the  gum  cahuchu  ;  and  Con- 
(laniine  brought  the  sound  of  the  name  to  France,  and  introduced  the  new 
gum  to  the  world  as  caoutchouc.  In  i  75 1  Condamine  again  called  attention 
to  this  "elastic  resin,"  and  announced  that  it  had  been  found  in  the  trees  of 
tlie  French  province  of  Cayenne.  Public  curiosity  was  then  excited  about  the 
new  substance.  Small  quantities  of  it  were  obtained  from  the  ICast  Indies  and 
South  .America  ;  and  the  chemists,  who  alone  for  a  long  period  were  interested 
in  it,  began  a  series  of  experiments  to  find  out  what  it  could  be  made  useful 
for.  Herissant  and  Macquer  published  the  result  of  tiicir  investigations  in 
1763  to  show  that  caoutchouc  could  be  dissolved.  Priestley  mentioned  the 
gum  in  1770  as  very  meritorious  for  the  ])urpose  of  erasing  lead-pencil  marks. 
\  cube  of  it  aboiU  half  an  inch  on  the  side  cost  three  shillings  at  that  time,  or 
about  as  much  as  two  poiuids  of  the  cruile  gum  costs  now.  A  great  many 
experiments  were  made  with  this  interesting  gum  during  the  next  fifty  years ; 
i)Ut  not  until  the  end  of  that  period  was  it  used  for  any  thing,  except  to  erase 
lead-pencil  marks.  In  1823  Mackintosh  made  the  first  practical  ai)])lication 
of  it  to  industrial  objects  by  starting  a  factory  at  (jlasgow  for  the  water-proof- 
ing of  cloth  with  caoutchouc,  the  gum  being  dissolved  for  the  purpose  in  oil 
of  turpentine  and  alcohol,  or  coal-tar  naphtha. 

From  this  small  beginning  caoutchouc  has  risen  in  fifty  years  to  occupy  a 
position  in  the  arts  second  hardly  to  that  of  rosin  and  of  glass.     It  is  now  so 


4So 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


important,  that  it  seems  strange  how  the  world  could  ever  have  got  along  with- 
importanc*  out  it.  It  performs  a  hundred  offices  which  no  other  known  sul)- 
of  discovery,  stance  could  fulfil.  Its  elasticity,  adhesiveness,  and  imper\  iousntss 
to  water,  are  absolutely  iuii<|ue.  .Such  are  its  <|ualities,  that  it  is  now  cxti-n- 
sively  woven  into  tapes  antl  elastic  tissues.  It  is  applied  to  cloth  as  a  water- 
proof varnish ;    and  It  cements  any  number  of  pieces  of  cloth  together  into 

•  thick  plates,  so  that 

it  can  be  used  for 
valves  of  i)uin|)s 
and  steam-engiiHs, 
and  for  pa(  kin};, 
belting,  fire  -  hose. 
tubing,  lifei)rt.'scrv- 
ers,  overshoes, 
boots,  gas-bags. 
gloves,  and  scores 
of  other  kindred 
purposes.  As  a 
marine  cement,  it 
joins  wood  so  tight- 
ly, that  a  mast  or 
yard  will  break  in 
a  new  place  rather 
than  where  cement- 
ed. Such  are  its 
powers  in  this  di- 
rection, that  it  was 
once  i)ropose<l  to 
dispense  with  iron 
bolts,  and  use  this 
extraordinary  ii.ate- 
rial  for  fastenings  instead.  It  is  an  insulator  and  protector  of  telegrapli-wire  ; 
and  it  can  be  fashioned  into  light  and  serviceable  objects  for  every-day  use, 
such  as  inkstands,  buttons,  combs,  penholders,  rulers,  jewelry,  syringes,  canes, 
cups,  toys,  bottles,  pails,  &c.  A  patent  has  actually  been  taken  out  for  em- 
ploying this  substance  for  railroad-rails.  The  visitor  at  Philadelphia  in  ICS76 
would  have  discovered  rails  of  this  description  on  exhibition  there  by  a  live 
Pennsylvanian,  who  was  expecting  to  make  his  many  millions  by  the  gen- 
eral adoption  of  his  ingenious  idea ;  the  merit  of  it  residing  in  the  fact,  that 
the  wheels  of  the  locomotive  will  not  slip  on  a  track  made  of  rul)ber, 
and  the  whole  power  of  the  engine  will  therefore  be  saved,  —  a  considera- 
tion of  immediate  importance  to  every  railroad-manager  in  the  world. 
The  fact  that  so   many  uses  could   have   been   found  for  India-rubber  in 


GUTTA-PERCHA  TRBB. 


OF    THE    Uf^ITED    STATES. 


481 


the  short  space  of  fifty  years  indicates  great  possibilities  in  reference  to  its 
future  application.  When  the  chemistry  of  the  gum  is  l)etter  understood, 
it  is  believed  that  its  applications  can  be  more  than  doubled  in  number  and 
value. 

The  India-rubber-tree  grows  only  in  the  hottest  regions  under  the  equator. 
In  India  it  is  called  the  Ficus  eUistica.  It  is  a  colossal  tree  in  that  country. 
In  Assam  there  is  a  forest  of  these  trees,  containing  forty-three  india-rub- 
thousand  in  a  tract  thirty  miles  long  by  eight  broad.  The  diameter  »»er.tr««. 
of  one  tree  has  been  found  to  be  twenty-four  feet,  and  its  height  a  hundred 
feet.  The  tree  is  a  sort  of  banyan,  and  grows  by  the  rooting  of  the  branches. 
In  South  America  it  is  called  the  Siphonia  e/astica,  or  Siphonia  cahuchu.  It 
grows  in  the  provinces  of  Pard  and  Amazonas  chiefly,  lying  along  the  Amazon, 
anil  is  found  all  the  way  from  the  seaboard  to  a  point  nineteen  hundred  miles 
in  the  interior.  Its  regular  cultivation  has  not  yet  been  undertaken.  The 
natives  merely  hunt  up  the  trees  where  they  happen  to  grow  in  the  forests, 
and  tap  them  at  the  proper  seasons.  The  extent  of  the  area  covered  by  these 
priceless  trees,  and  the  ready  response  the  soil  and  vegetation  of  Brazil  make 
to  cultivators,  are  a  guaranty  that  the  supply  of  rubber  is  practically  inex- 
haustible. Nothing  except  some  such  extraordinary  demand  for  it  as  would 
be  created  by  its  general  introduction  for  the  tracks  of  railroads  (should  such 
an  event  ever  take  place)  would  ever  severely  tax  the  resources  of  Brazil  for 
the  gum.  The  gum  is  taken  from  the  trees  in  the  East  Indies  by  making  a 
number  of  cuts  through  the  bark  to  the  wood  all  over  the  trunk  and  branches 
and  exposed  roots.  The  juice  is  richer  the  higher  the  cut.  A  thick  sap 
resembling  cream  flows  from  the  wounds  of  the  tree,  and  in  twenty-four  hours 
about  forty  pounds  are  obtained.  The  tree  can  safely  be  tapped  once  a 
fortnight.  The  cold  season  is  usually  chosen  for  these  operations,  because 
the  juice  is  richer,  and  the  tree  less  liable  to  be  injured.  In  South  America 
tlie  natives  make  a  perpendicular  cut  in  the  bark  of  the  tree,  and  lateral 
cuts  leading  to  it.  The  thick,  white,  creamy  sap  flows  into  the  central  cut. 
and  at  the  bottom  of  it  is  conducted  by  a  banana-leaf  into  a  vesst'  placed  to 
receive  it. 

When  examined  under  the  microscope,  caoutchouc  is  seen  to  consi:t  of 
a  clear  liquid,  in  which  float  a  large  number  of  spherical  globules   Appe«r«nc.' 
of  from  -^TshTSTs  to  ^rsh^sis  of  an  inch  in  diameter.     Water  produces  under  the 
no  change  on  the  juice,  and  can  be  used  to  wash  it  without  dimin-   '"'*"'•'=•'?'• 
ishing  its  volume.     .Alcohol  does  not  change  the  globules,  but  causes  groups 
of  needle-shaped  crystals  to  appear.    The  juice  is  dried  by  the  natives  of 
South  Amer'T'  over  a  fire,  when  it  becomes  black  with  the  smoke,  proceit  of 
It  is  dried  Oi.  moulds  of  clay,  in  the  shape  of  boots  or  bottles,  coUectinB  it. 
on  wooden  lasts  (imported  for  the  purpose  from  the  United  States,  and 
mounted  on  the  end  of  sticks),  and  on  paddles.    The  moulds,  or  paddles, 
are  dippped  into  the  juice  and  dried,  and  dipped  again  and  again,  until  the 


482 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


required  thickness  is  obtained.  The  clay  mould  is  broken  or  washed  out 
after  use.  Sometimes  the  gum  is  coagulated  by  solar  heat.  A  film  forms 
over  the  surface,  which  is  removed  as  fast  as  it  forms,  until  the  whole  of  the 
juice  has  hardened.  The  several  sheets  are  then  pressed  together  with  the 
hands  into  rolls  and  masses.  The  gum  is  then  light  colored.  In  Nicaragua 
the  caoutchouc  is  coagulated  with  the  juice  of  the  bejuca-vine.  The  mass 
is  pressed  into  cakes  by  hand,  and  rolled  into  a  sheet  with  a  wooden  roller. 
The  sheets  are  called  "  tortillas,"  and  are  two  feet  wide  by  two  inches  thick. 
When  once  coagulated,  the  caoutchouc  can  never  be  restored  to  its  original 
condition  of  a  sap.  The  purest  rubber  of  commerce  comes  from  Para  and 
Amazonas.  It  is  in  bottles  and  thick  plates.  The  gum  from  Carthagena  is 
in  large  black  lumps  or  sheets  weighing  a  hundred  pounds.  The  East- India 
gum  is  in  light  and  dark  reddish  masses,  and  is  mingled  with  bits  of  wood 
and  bark,  leaves,  gravel,  &:c. 

India-rubber  was  first  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  the  form  of  erasers  of  pencil-marks  (brought  from  England),  and 
First  use  of  ^°°"  after^vard  in  the  form  of  clumsy  water-proof  shoes,  which  the 
India-rubber  traders  imported  from  Para  along  with  the  other  produce  of  that 
in  United  tropical  region.  These  shoes  continued  to  be  imported  down  to 
within  thirty  years  ago.  The  substance  did  not  fail  to  attract 
attention.  A  /n"eat  many  experiments  were  made  to  determine  what  could 
be  done  with  it.  Shortly  after  Mackintosh  got  started  in  Scotland,  some 
water-proofing  of  cloth  was  done  here  with  rubber,  the  solvents  used  being 
turpentine,  naphtha,  benzole,  and  caoutchoucine ;  the  latter  being  iirocluced 
by  evaporating  rubber  at  a  heat  of  600°,  and  condensing  the  vapor.  Means 
were  also  found  to  work  rubber  into  a  thread ;  in  which  form  it  was  spun 
into  tissues  of  extraordinary  elasticity  with  silk,  cotton,  wool,  and  flax,  and  be- 
came rapidly  the  universal  material  for  suspenders,  garters,  &c.  In  those  early 
years  of  the  manufacture,  however,  only  pure  rubber  was  used ;  and  in  this 
form  the  material  was  found  liable  to  rapid  deterioration.  It  became  rigid 
and  inflexible  in  cold  weather,  and  soft  and  inert  in  hot  weather.  It  was 
very  soluble.  Whenever  it  was  touched  by  oil  or  grease  it  would  dissolve, 
and  it  could  not  even  resist  perspiration.  Though  useful  for  ovorshues,  it 
was  so  soft  as  to  soon  wear  out.  It  lost  its  elasticity  by  use,  had  an  unpleas- 
ant odor,  and  was  so  adhesive,  that  two  surfaces  of  nibber  applied  to  each 
other  were  always  sure  to  stick.  Time  would  fail  to  tell  the  tribulations  which 
befell  the  early  manufacturers  of  India-rubber  in  the  United  States  in  their 
efforts  to  cure  the  defects  of  this  valuable  but  then  intractable  material. 
They  could  not  master  the  substance.  The  public  at  length  acquired  a 
distaste  for  its  use ;  and  several  factories  which  had  been  started  in  Boston. 
South  Boston,  Chelsea,  Woburn,  and  Framingham,  Mass.,  and  on  Staten 
Island  and  at  Troy,  N.Y.,  with  capitals  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  failed  in  the  business.    In  1840  it  looked  decidedly 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


483 


as  though  the  applications  of  India-rubber  were  destined  to  be  confined  to 
water- proof  cloth  and  erasers.  The  exportation  of  the  gum  from  Para  at  that 
time  amounted  to  only  800,000  pounils  a  year,  owing  to  the  small  demand 
for  it ;  and  nearly  all  of  that  went  to  (ireat  Britain.  It  has  since  risen  to  about 
15.000,000  pounds  annually  from  Para  alone. 

Just  at  the  moment  of  supreni';  despair  in  the  industry,  two  Americans 
iiit  upon  separate  though  kindred  discoveries,  which  completely  changed  the 
whole  aspect  of  affairs,  and  made  the  manufacture  of  India-rubber  one  of  the 
great  pursuits  of  the  age.     In  1838  Charles  Goodyear  of  Massa-   ooodyear 
chusetts  became  acquainted  with  Nathaniel  Hayward,  who  had  and  Hay- 
been  the  foreman  of  the  Eagle  Company  at  Woburn,  where  the  ^" 
latter  had  made  use  of  sulphur  by  impregnating  the  solvent  with  it.     From 
iiim  Mr.  Goodyear  first  became  acquainted  with  the  properties  of  sulphur  as 
a  drier  of  gum-elastic.     Goodyear  bought   Hayward's  claim  for  the  use  of 
sulphur,  anil  made  it  the  basis  of  his  patent  of  Feb.  24,  1S39,  by  which  he 
hoped  to  make  the  manufacture  of  rubber-goods  successful.     He  made  a  lot 
of  goods  with  sulphur,  but  found,  alas  I  that  they,  too,  soon  decomposed,  just 
as  all  the  manufactures  of  rubber  had  done  before  them.     Goodyear,  who  had 
sjieut  nearly  twenty  year?  in  a  diligent  study  of  the  properties  of  rubber,  was 
at  his  wits'  end  to  know  what  to  do.     But  he  did  not  give  up  the  battle. 
While  experimenting  one  day,  the  idea  occurred  to  him  to  try  the  effect  of 
extreme  heat  upon  India-rubber.     The  stuff  woukl  melt  at  a  low  heat :  what 
woukl  it  do  at  a  high  heat?     He  touched  a  piece  of  it  containing  sulphur  to 
the  stove.     To  his  surprise,  he  found  that  it  c'larred  like  leather.     This  was 
something  new.     He  trietl  it  again,  with  the  same  result ;  ami  the  inference 
came  like  a  flash,  that,  if  the  heat  was  stopped  at  the  right  point,  the  rubber 
might  be  divested  of  its  adhesive  (pialities,  antl  liability  to  rapid  deterioration, 
and  made  hard  and  dry.     He  put  some  rubber  into  boiling  sulphur,  and  found 
that  it  did  not  melt,  as  it  would  have  done  when  exposed  to  a  low  heat,  but 
that  it  again  charred  like  leather.     On  heating  another  piece  before  the  fire, 
he  found,  between  the  i)art  which  charred  and  the  jiart  unaffected  by  the  fire, 
a  jiortion  which  was  liard,  but  not  charred.     The  discovery  was  complete.     It 
only  remained  to  perfect  a  few  details  ;   and  Goodyear  soon  introtluced  to 
the  public  his  elastic,  non-adhesive,  vulcanized  India-rubber,  —  a  substance  as 
(lifterent  from  the  pure  gum  as  gold  from  copper.     This  was  the  foundation  of 
the  modern  industry.     In  his  subsequent  manufacture  Goodye:;r  soon  learned 
to  incorporate  a  variety  of  substances  with  his  raw  material  in  order  to  save 
the  latter  as  much  as  possible  ;  and,  as  now  made,  his  rubber  is  prepared  with 
one  part  of  sulphur,  fourteen  of  whiting,  two  and  a  half  of  white-lead,  and 
two  of  litharge,  to  sixteen  of  rubber,  and  exposed  to  a  temperature  from  265" 
to  2-0'  Fahrenheit  for  several  hours. 

The  next  step  in  the  line  of  progress  was  the  invention  of  hard  rubber,  or 
vulcanite.    There  is  some  dispute  about  priority  in  this  discovery ;  but  Professor 


484 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


C.  F.  Chandler  awards  the  palm  to  Austin  G.  Day  of  Connecticut.  The  dis- 
invention  of  covery  is  claimed  by  Nelson  (joodyear,  who  filed  a  caveat  Dec.  31, 
vulcanite.  1 849,  and  obtained  a  patent  May  6,  1851,  for  a  hard,  inflexible 
compound  composed  of  rubber,  sulphur,  magnesia,  &c.  The  material  obtained 
by  this  process  was  useful  for  certain  purposes  ;  but  it  was  too  brittle  to  l)e  of 
great  value.  Day  obtained  his  patent,  Aug.  10, 1 858",  for  a  compound  composed 
of  two  parts  of  rubber  to  one  of  sulphur,  which,  when  heated  from  275°  to 
300°  Fahrenheit,  became  hard,  flexible,  and  elastic.  This  product  superseded 
the  other,  and  is  the  vulcanite  of  commerce.  It  came  into  rapid  and  extensive 
use,  and  is  one  of  the  valuable  materials  of  the  modern  arts.  Day  afterwards 
invented  a  modification  of  vulcanite,  which  he  called  "  kesite,"  and  applied  it 
to  the  coating  of  telegraph-wires. 

These  discoveries  made  a  great  change  in  the  India-rubber  manufacture  of 
the  United  States.  It  having  become  apparent  that  there  was  now  some  hope 
Effect  of  ^°''  ^'^  industry.  Congress  took  cognizance  of  it  in  1842  for  the 
these  first  time,  and  gave  it  the  protection  of  a  thirty-per-cent  duty  on 

scover  es.  importations  of  manufactures  in  the  comprehensive  Clay  tariff.  A 
number  of  companies  were  soon  formed  under  (ioodyear's  patents  in"  Con- 
necticut, New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  elsewhere.  The  progress  was  very  rapid, 
and  in  1850  rubber-goods  were  made  in  the  United  States  to  the  value  ot 
$3,024,335.  In  i860  the  manufacture  had  become  centred  in  fewer  and 
larger  establishments,  and  the  product  was  $5,642,700.  In  1870  there  were 
fifty-six  factories  in  operation,  employing  6,025  people,  and  making  $14,566,- 
374  worth  of  goods  annually.  Of  the  fifty-six  factories,  ten  were  in  New  York. 
twelve  in  New  Jersey,  thirteen  in  Connecticut,  and  sixteen  in  Massachusetts. 
Since  that  time  there  has  been  a  large  increase.  The  extent  of  it  cannot  be 
accurately  stated ;  but  it  is  somewhere  about  fifty  per  cent.  The  import  of 
gum,  mostly  from  South  America,  is  now  from  10,000,000  to  12,000,000 
pound?  a  year.  The  ability  of  the  United  States  to  import  and  manufacture 
the  crude  article  seems  limited  only  by  the  capacity  of  the  natives  of  the 
Amazon  to  collect  and  export  it.  The  crude  gum  costs  us  at  this  time  forty 
cents  a  pound.  During  the  first  twenty  years  after  Goodyear's  discovery  the 
export  of  rubber-goods  from  the  United  States  was  considerable,  amounting  to 
$1,000,000  worth  a  year  on  the  average.  Since  i860  Europe  has  gone  into 
the  manufacture  very  largely  upon  Goodyear's  plan,  and  the  exportations  since 
then  have  only  been  $200,000  or  $300,000  worth  a  year.  If  the  exports  are 
ever  increased  again,  it  will  only  be  by  means  of  superior  and  cheaper  processes 
of  manufacture  and  new  inventions. 

The  processes  of  manufacture  are  peculiar.  The  gum  in  its  crude  state  is 
extraordinarily  elastic  and  tenacious  ;  and  it  can  only  be  worked,  therefore,  with 
the  most  powerful  machinery.  The  cakes  and  sheets  are  first  cleaned  by 
being  cut  up  in  a  mill  into  small  pieces,  under  water,  by  means  of  knives  and 
iron  teeth.    The  resistance  of  the  rubber  generates  heat  enough  to  make  tiie 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


485 


water  boil.     It  is  then  again  ground,  cut,  pressed,  and  treated  in  various 
ways,  and  finally  compressed  into  a  cake  by  being  subjected  to   p,oce„  ^j 


manufac- 
ture. 


enormous  pressure  in  cast-iron  moulds  under  a  screw.  Its  adhe- 
siveness asserts  itself,  and  unites  the  mass  perfectly.  It  is  left  in 
the  mould  for  several  days.  In  some  mills  the  cleaned  pieces  of  gum  are  rolled 
by  machinery  into  sheets,  in  which  shape  the  gum  is  conveniently  adapted 
for  conversion  into  thread  for  weaving.  The  sheets  are  sliced  into  thread 
by  means  of  sharp  knives,  which  are  kept  constantly  wet  to  prevent  them 
from  sticking.  The  machine  for  this  purpose  was  invented  in  Europe  by 
Ratlier  in  1826.  The  fibres  of  thread,  as  they  are  reeled  off,  are  stretched 
to  six  or  eight  times  their  original  length  by  hand.  Being  moistened  and 
cooled  in  the  operation,  they  are  deprived  of  elasticity,  and  can  then  be 
woven  readily  into  webs  and  tissues  of  any  degree  of  fineness.  This  stretch- 
ing of  the  rubber-threads  has  been  carried  so  far,  that  they  have  been  elon- 
gated to  16.625  times  their  original  length.  A  poimd  of  caoutchouc  makes 
from  eight  thousand  to  thirty-two  thousand  yards  of  thread.  When  the  woven 
tissue  is  finished  it  is  pressed  with  a  hot  iron,  and  the  rubber  immediately 
regains  its  elasticity.  Threads  are  sometimes  made  from  vulcanized  rubber. 
They  constitute  the  warp  of  vhe  tissue,  and  are  kept  stretched  by  weights. 
Sometimes  thread  is  made  by  reducing  the  gum  to  a  paste  by  maceration 
with  some  solvent,  and  by  forcing  it  through  a  line  of  small  holes.  The 
threads  are  carried  off  through  the  air  six  hundred  or  seven  hundred  feet  by 
a  wel),  during  which  process  the  solvent  evaporates,  and  the  thread  becomes 
dry  and  hard.     The  threads  are  then  deposited  in  a  receiving-cup. 

The  thick  sheets  into  which  the  gum  is  rolled  after  the  process  of  cleansing 
are  usually  laid  away  in  the  warehouse  for  several  months  to  come.  Being 
then  brought  back  to  the  factory,  the  rubber  is  mixed  with  various  materials 
which  the  manufacturers  find  they  can  advantageously  incorporate  into  it. 
The  mixing-machines  are  very  powerful.  They  are  great  hollow  revolving 
cylinders  heated  by  steain.  The  sheets  are  rolled  slowly  between  them,  and, 
as  they  soften  with  the  heat,  are  supplied  with  the  white-lead,  sulphur,  and 
other  materials,  by  means  of  a  brush.  The  cylinders  knead  these  substances 
together,  the  rubber  giving  out  a  series  of  pistol-shot  explosions  meanwhile, 
owing  to  the  bursting-out  of  the  heated  air  confined  in  the  sheets.  Pieces  of 
refuse  rubber  or  of  fabrics  of  rubber  and  cloth  can  be  kneaded  into  the  mass 
(luring  this  process.  The  rubber  comes  from  this  machine  in  a  thick,  soft, 
sticky  sheet.  It  then  goes  to  the  calendering-machine,  where  the  process  is 
-iilistantially  repeated,  and  the  sheet  rolled  out  into  a  thin  mat.  The  mixture 
urn  then  be  incorporated  into  cloth  or  canvas  by  rolling,  or  by  the  aid  of 
solvents.  In  the  manufacture  of  belting,  cotton-duck  of  double  strength  is 
impregnated  with  the  soft,  sticky  rubber  fresh  from  the  mixing-rolls,  and  is 
then  (  alendered  into  perfectly  smooth  sheets.  The  cloth  is  then  taken  to  the 
Ijelting-room,  where  it  is  laid  out  on  tables,  and  cut  into  strips  of  the  proper 


486 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


widths.  If  extra  strength  is  desired,  two  or  more  strips  are  placed  together, 
and  united  by  rolling.  The  belting  is  then  sent  to  be  steamed  in  a  chamber 
made  for  the  purpose,  and  in  eight  or  ten  hours  is  thoroughly  vulcanized. 
Belting  thus  made  has  greater  strength  than  leather,  and  adheres  to  the  drum 
with  a  tenacity  which  prevents  slipping.  In  the  making  of  hose  a  different 
process  is  employed.  A  long  iron  tube  of  the  right  diameter  is  covered 
with  a  sheet  of  rubber :  this  is  then  covered  with  webs  of  stout  cloth  woven 
for  the  purpose.  When  a  sufficient  number  of  folds  have  been  applied,  an 
outside  covering  of  pure  nibber  is  put  on,  cementing  the  whole  fa])ric. 
The  pipes,  with  the  hose  still  on  them,  are  then  placed  in  the  steam-licater, 
and  the  hose  is  vulcanized.  Very  stout  hose  is  thus  made :  it  is  far  supe- 
rior to  leather,  and  will  stand  a  pressure  from  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  pounds  to  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds  to  the  square  inch. 
The  cloth  can  be  preserved  from  the  re-action  of  the  rubber  by  means  of 
carbolic  acid. 

In  the  making  of  overshoes  the  cloth  is  first  prepared  by  mixing,  rolling, 
and  calendering,  and  is  then  cut  up  and  fashioned  into  shoes  of  the  desired 
Overshoes,  patterns.  The  joints  are  united  by  means  of  rubber;  and  the 
how  made,  sticky  shoe,  being  lined  with  flannel,  stamped,  and  otherwise 
finished,  is  then  sent  off  to  be  vulcanized.  The  manufacture  of  shoes  and 
boots  is  one  of  the  largest  branches  of  the  business. 

One  of  the  useful  applications  is  for  the  valves  of  steam-engines  and  for 
steam-packing.  Rubber  preserves  its  elasticity  when  exposed  to  steam,  and 
consequently  follows  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  cylinder 
and  metal  parts  of  the  engine  perfectly ;  so  that  the  fitting  is  always 
exact.  Valves  of  five  feet  in  diameter  are  often  made  from  rubber. 
Car-springs,  and  springs  for  coaches  and  carriages,  are  now  made 
of  rubber  very  largely  intleed.  The  substance  never  loses  its  elas- 
ticity (thanks  to  Goodyear),  and  the  springs  last  a  long  time.  It  answers 
also  for  door-mats,  for  paving,  and  for  bed-springs. 

The  hardened  rubber,  or  vulcanite,  is  fast  supplanting  bone,  shell,  and 
ivory  for  its  greater  beauty,  and  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be 

Supremacy  jo  ji 

of  rubber  moulded  into  any  form.  Its  only  rival  is  gutta-percha,  a  kindred 
product  of  the  creamy  sap  of  another  tropical  tree.  This  latter 
substance  was  discovered  in  1842,  and  it  is  now  largely  imported 
from  South  America  and  other  tropical  regions  for  the  same  uses  to  whicii 
Outta-  vulcanite   is  applied.      It  is  very  serviceable  for  speaking-tubes, 

percha.  {ax\<:y  articles,  dentists'  tools,  &c.,  and  for  the  insulation  of  tele- 

graph-wire. Gutta-percha  was  first  applied  to  the  purposes  of  insulation  by 
Samuel  J.  Armstong  of  New  York.  Machinery  was  built  to  coat  wires  with  it 
in  1848;  and  the  first  wire  in  the  world  thus  prepared  was  laid  across  the 
Hudson  River  in  1849,  at  Fort  Lee.  The  idea  was  carried  to  England,  and 
used  in  the  construction  of  the  Atlantic  cables.     It  is  said  that  this  original 


Application 
of  India-rub- 
ber to  valve* 
of  steam- 
engines. 


over  bone, 
■hell,  &c. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


487 


machinery  was  also  carried  over  then.     Gutta-percha  and  vulcanite  are  both 
prepared  by  the  same  process  for  use  in  the  arts. 

There  has  been  a  vast  amount  of  litigation  among  the  inventors  and  manu- 
facturers of  India-rubber  and  gutta-percha.     An  invention  which  clearly  works 
for  the  good  of  mankind  is  eagerly  seized  upon  by  those  who  have  ^..     j 
capital,  as  likely  to  be  the  source  of  great  fortunes  to  those  who  over  india- 
employ  it  in  the  manufacture.     Those  who  have  experimented  in  a  ''"'''•*•■  '"- 
certain  direction,  and  invested  their  all  in  mills,  machinery,  and 
goods,  are  strongly  tempted  to  the  piracy  of  inventions  when  they  obsen'e  a 
more  fortunate  contemporary  hit  upon  a  better  way  than  that  they  have  them- 
selves followed ;  and  the  consequence  of  it  all  is,  that  a  lucky  inventor  often 
finds  himself  obliged  to  fight  long  and  hard  to  maintain  his  right  to  profit 
by  the  property  created  by  the  activity  and  ingenuity  of  his  own  brain.     Good- 
year was  one  of  these  men.     The  litigation  in  which  he  became  involved  was 
enormous.     It  is  gratifying  to  record  the  fact  that  the  inventor  of  this  priceless 
product  of  vulcanized  rubber  was  able  to  maintain  his  rights,  and  to  profit  by 
them ;  and  that  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  all  inventors. 


488 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  XI. 


CHEMICAL  MANUFACTURES. 


THE  mechanical  department  of  manufacture  is  the  one  which  alone 
catches  the  attention  of  the  untechnical  observer.  To  his  eye  ninety- 
Application  "''^^  hundredths  of  all  the  processes  of  industry  appear  to  be 
of  chemistry  the  mechanical  manipulation  of  raw  materials,  and  the  applica- 
to  manufac-    ^j^j^  ^f  j^^^^  ^^^  force  to  effect  changes  of  form  and  condition. 

tures.  ° 

But  furnaces  and  machinery  do  not  cover  the  ground  so  exclu- 
sively as  that.  Chemistry  plays  a  more  important  part  in  industry  than  ap- 
pears upon  the  surface  of  things.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  very  atmosphere  of  life  in 
which  industry  breathes  and  exists  :  it  is  at  least  the  twin-brother  of  machinery. 
Not  a  metal  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  not  a  mineral  (except  common  clay), 
not  a  textile  fibre,  and  scarce  a  vegetable  or  animal  substance,  which  is  fabri- 
cated for  any  human  purpose,  reaches  its  final  state  of  a  perfected  product 
without  having  been  subjected  to  one  or  more  chemical  processes  which  are 
absolutely  necessary  for  its  manufacture.  Every  metal  must  be  prepared  for 
working  up  by  being  first  refined.  Cotton,  wool,  silk,  flax,  and  hemp  must  be 
bleached,  fermented,  purified,  or  stained,  or  subjected  to  all  four  processes. 
Leather,  rubber,  soap,  and  various  kinds  of  food,  must  be  deprived  of  the 
liability  to  decay.  Wooden  buildings,  ships,  carriages,  and  cars  must  be  pro- 
tected from  the  corrosion  of  the  elements.  Salt  and  sugar  must  be  purified. 
Sand  and  clay  are  required  to  be  converted  into  durable  and  serviceable  dishes. 
None  of  these  things  can  be  accomplished  by  mechanical  means  alone.  Chem- 
istry is  called  in  to  participate  in  the  achievement  of  them  all ;  and  crude  and 
barbaric  indeed  would  the  triumphs  of  man  over  the  forces  of  nature  still  be, 
were  it  not  for  the  help  of  this  powerful  art  to  second  his  efforts.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  to  take  away  chemistry  from  industry  would  be  like  taking  away 
gravitation  from  the  universe.     The  result  would  be  chaos. 

The  manufacture  of  chemicals  in  the  United  States  began  as  early  as  1 793, 
when  John  Harrison  started  his  factory  of  sulpluiric  acid  and  lead-paint  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia.  It  was  carried  on,  liowever,  to  a  very  limited  extent  in- 
deed, for  more  than  sixty  years.    The  genius  of  our  civilization  was  not  favor- 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


489 


Manufac- 
ture of  tuU 
phuric  acid 
byjohn  Har- 
rison. 


able  to  the  patient  study,  and  quiet,  persistent  experiment  in  the  laboratory, 
which  are  required  of  those  who  engage  in  this  department  of 
effort.  The  taste  of  Americans  was  for  mechanical  invention,  and 
for  the  bustle  and  excitement  of  active  pursuits.  Neither  science 
nor  literature  could  flourish  in  a  marked  degree  among  a  people 
with  such  propensities ;  and  accordingly,  during  the  last  and  for 
the  first  half  of  the  present  century,  the  chemical  industry  made  slow  progress. 
Lead  and  zinc  paints,  sulphuric  and  nitric  acids,  dyes  and  saleratus,  the  most 
ordinary  and  necessary  of  chemical  materials,  were  made  here  and  there  in 
Eastern  cities  on  a  small  scale  ;  and  they  comprised  about  all  the  manufactures 
of  this  class  which  were  produced.  Congress  endeavored  at  times  to  encour- 
age the  industry  by  imposing  a  duty  on  manufactured  chemicals,  and  by 
providing  that  the  raw  materials  —  sulphur,  nitrate  of  soda,  dye-woods,  crude 
saltpetre,  argols,  &c.  —  should  be  admitted  free.  The  professors  in  charge  of 
the  scientific  departments  at  Yale,  Harvard,  Columbia,  Hamilton,  and  other 
Eastern  colleges,  did  something  towards  turning  attention  to  the  matter  also 
l)y  their  researches  in  regard  to  the  minerals,  alkalies,  and  salts  progress 
of  the  different  portions  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  It  within 
has  only  been  within  the  last  thirty  years,  however,  that  the  manu-  "^^  year*. 
facture  of  chemicals  can  be  said  to  have  attained  any  eminence  whatever  in 
the  United  States ;  and  probably  one-half,  if  not  more,  of  the  establishments 
now  in  existence,  or  at  least  of  the  branches  of  the  industry  now  pursued,  are 
the  creation  of  the  tariff  of  1861. 

Industrial  chemistry  has  had  its  largest  development  in  France  and  Eng- 
land, where  general  manufacturing  has  also  attained  its  largest  growth ;  and 
Germany  has  also  made  marvellous  strides  in  this  field  of  progress,    oeveiop- 
In  France  alone  the  annual   production   of  chemicals   has   now   ment  of  in- 
reached  the  great  value  of  ^250,000,000.     By  the  side  of  this   chemistry  in 
giant  development  the  chemical  manufacture  of  the  United  States   France  and 
seems  mere   boy's  play,  amounting,  as    it  did   in   1870,  only   to      "8"" 
§19,417,000  of  chemicals,    dyes,   and    drugs,   and  $5,800,000   of  fertilizers. 
Nevertheless,  the  j)rogress  of  the  last  twenty  years  in  the  United  States  has 
been  striking.     The   manufacturers   have  ventured   to    undertake   something 
besides  the  staple  products  of  sulphuric  acid,  soda,  vegetable  dies,  and  medi- 
cines ;  and  they  have,  within  the  period  named,  entered  upon  the  production 
of  a  large  variety  of  the  rarer  chemicals,  and  have  evidently  planted  the  founda- 
tions of  a  great  industry.     In  1870  there  were  301  chemical  factories  in  the 
United  States,  concentrated  chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  the  large  Eastern  cities, 
and  125  factories  of  fertilizers,  these  latter  being  largely  in  the  Southern  States. 

A  large  part  of  the  raw  materials  consumed  by  the  American  chemical 
factories  is  imported  from  Europe  and  South  America,  although  it  is  a  fact 
that  they  might  be  obtained  from  our  own  soil.  There  are  enormous  supplies 
of  alkalies,  for  instance,  on  the  plains  and  in  the  mountains  of  the  Far  West, 


490 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTOKY 


of  raw 
material!. 


and  all  the  materials  that  a  chemist  could  wish  for  the  production  of  sul- 
importation  phuric  acid  (that  most  necessary  and  extensively  made  of  chemi- 
cals) in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Salt  and  lime  exist  in  tlie 
United  States  in  unparalleled  abundance  ;  sour  oranges  go  to  waste 
in  Florida  every  year  by  the  thousands  of  bushels :  yet  the  crude  cliemicals 
which  are  obtained  from  these  things,  and  large  quantities  of  the  nianufai  turcd. 
as  well  as  a  great  quantity  of  these  very  raw  materials  besides,  are  imported 
yearly  from  abroad.  The  extent  to  which  this  importation  has  grown  may  lie 
seen  by  the  statistics  of  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1877.  The  impuri^s 
were  as  follows  :  — 


Argols,  lbs 

Medicinal  barks,  lbs. 

Camphor  (crude),  lbs. 

Chloride  of  lime,  or  bleaching-powder,  lbs, 

Cochineal,  lbs.         .... 

Cutch  and  terra-japonica,  lbs. 

Dye-woods,  cwt 

Glims,  lbs 

Indigo,  lbs 

Madder,  lbs 

Sulphur  (crude),  tons 

"        (refined),  cwt.     . 

Salt,  lbs 

Nitrate  of  potash  (saltpetre),  lbs.   . 
Soda,  nitrate  of,  lbs. 

"      bicarbonate,  lbs.    . 

"      carbonate,  lbs. 

"      caustic,  lbs 

"      other  salts  of,  lbs. . 
Chemicals,  dyes,  drugs,  and  medicines,  n.  e.  s.,  dols 


9,0:5,542 
1,976,016 
1,022.565 

47,642,133 
1. 3-4. '65 

22,992,973 
1,195,079 

9.873.5' S 

1.504.783 
3,178,988 

43.443 

29.039 

901,209,894 

13,846,670 

54,208,334 

4,298,906 

217,360,808 

36,000,895 

507.3S' 
8,816,804 


t,  In  all,  our  purchases  amounted  to  about  $25,000,000  worth  of  drugs, 
dyes,  and  chemicals ;  and  yet  $20,000,000  could  have  been  produced  from 
the  materials  which  exist  in  unlimited  abundance  in  our  own  soil.  This  fact 
points  to  the  possibilities  of  the  increase  of  the  industry  in  the  United  States. 
when  the  manner  of  extracting  the  acids,  alkalies,  and  salts  of  commerce, 
from  American  minerals,  is  better  understood. 

The  most  important  of  the  products  of  the  chemical  factories  is  sulplniric 
acid.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  of  acids,  having  been  in  use  among 
Sulphuric  the  proto-chemists  of  ancient  Arabia.  Professor  Chandler  calls 
■***•  it  one  of  the  pillars  of  science,  on  account  of  the  number  ;iml 

the  value  of  the  uses  to  which  it  is  now  applied.  It  is  used  to  convert  com- 
mon salt  into  soda,  and  hence  lies  at  the  foimdation  of  the  glass  and  soap 
industries.  It  is  the  necessary  agent  by  means  of  which  nitric  and  li\(lro- 
chloric  acids  are  obtained,  the  two  solvents  upon  which  the  refining  of  {,'olil 
and  silver,  and  electro-plating  and  photography,  depend.     It  is  employctl  in 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


49t 


tlie  production  of  alum,  ammonia,  nearly  all  the  vegetable  acids  and  alkaloids, 
the  aniline  colors,  ultramarine,  the  chrome  compounds,  bleaching-powder, 
ihluroform,  ether,  phosphorus,  and  fertilizers,  and  is  a  constant  resource  of 
the  laboratory ;  and  hence  is  tnily  the  pillar  of  a  thousand  great  industries 
and  occupations.  This  substance  was  anciently  made  by  distilling  iron  sul- 
])hate.  In  1720  Dr.  Roebuck  of  Kngland  suggested  that  it  could  Dr, 
he  made  by  burning  sulphur,  either  in  the  form  of  i)ure  brim-  '*<"''*»'=•'. 
stone,  or  as  metallic  pyrites.  The  manufacture  has  ever  since  been  conducted 
upon  the  plan  thus  suggested.  In  the  United  States  brimstone  is  used.  The 
sulphur  is  burned  in  a  draught  of  air,  which  carries  the  fumes  into  a  large 
chamber  completely  lined  with  lead,  where  they  are  precipitated  by  a  pecul- 
iar process  in  the  form  of  acid.  The  acid  enters  the  chamber  in  the  form 
of  sulphurous  oxide  gas :  it  is  there  mixed  with  steam  and  nitrous  fumes 
evolved  from  saltpetre  with  sulphuric  acid.  The  oxygen  of  the  nitrous  fumes 
combines  with  the  sulphurous  oxide  to  make  sulphuric  acid  ;  while  the  nitrous 
oxide  gas  left  in  the  air  absorbs  oxygen  afresh  from  the  atmosphere,  and  trans- 
mits it  again  to  the  sulphurous  oxide  in  a  process  of  unbroken  contmuity.  A 
limited  quantity  of  the  nitrous  fumes  is  sufficient  to  keep  up  a  constant  pre- 
cipitation of  oil  of  vitroil  upon  the  leaden  sides  and  bottom  of  the  chamber. 
The  acid,  being  diluted  with  water  from  the  steam  jjresent  in  the  air,  must 
now  be  condensed.  This  is  done  by  boiling  in  lead  pans.  When  the  acid 
becomes  sufficiently  concentrated  to  attack  the  lead,  it  is  transferred  to 
platinum  stills,  and  there  given  a  final  condensation.  In  England  the  more 
common  raw  material  is  the  pyrites  of  iron  or  copper.  It  seems,  that,  in  1 838, 
the  King  of  Naples  gave  a  monopoly  of  the  sulphur-trade  to  Taix  ii:  Com- 
pany of  Marseilles,  as  a  result  of  which  sulphur  rose  in  London  from  twenty- 
five  dollars  to  seventy  dollars  a  ton.  The  Englishmen  immediately  patented 
fifteen  different  processes  for  making  sulphuric  acid  from  pyrites  within  a  year 
afterward,  and  have  ever  since  largely  employed  the  material.  They  make 
over  a  hundred  thousand  tons  of  vitriol  a  year.  The  only  drawback  of  the 
acid  obtained  in  England  from  pyrites  is,  that  it  contains  arsenic,  and  is  con- 
seijuently  unfit  for  fertilizers,  the  making  of  which  is  one  of  its  most  extensive 
applications.  In  the  United  States  the  utilization  of  the  mineral  sulphides  has 
made  little  or  no  headway.  Professor  Chandler  has,  however,  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  a  marked  feature  of  the  quality  of  the  American  sidphides  is 
the  absence  of  arsenic  ;  and  he  has  declared  for  many  years,  that  the  highly  sul- 
phurous coal-seams  of  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Monongahela,  in  West  Virginia, 
alone  would  supply  the  whole  Mississippi  Valley  with  sulphuric  acid  for  agri- 
t  iltural  purposes  for  centuries  to  come.  Professor  Sterry  Hunt  has  also  urged 
the  utilization  of  the  enormous  beds  of  pyrites  in  the  Carolinas  and  East 
1  emiessee,  which  are  useless  for  any  other  purpose.  The  suggestions  of  these 
eminent  genUemen  will  no  doubt  yet  be  heeded.  The  mechanical  power  of 
sulphuric  acid  as  a  solvent  and  re-agent  is  something  enormous,  and  is  the 


493 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Nitric  and 

muriatic 

acids. 

exists  in 
ground. 


cause  of  its  great  value.  It  iias  a  great  appetite  for  water,  absorbing  it  rapidly 
from  the  air ;  and  an  illustration  of  its  power  can  be  given  by  remarking  that 
the  acid  causes  the  water  which  is  pouretl  into  it  to  shrink  in  volume  from  i8 
to  1 1.4.  When  one  reflects  upon  the  tremendous  mechanical  force  which 
it  would  require  to  compress  water  to  that  extent,  the  power  of  sulphuric 
acid  will  be  understood. 

Nitric  and  muriatic  or  hydrochloric  acids  are  made  with  the  aid  of  the 
sulphuric.  The  former  is  made  by  distilling  saltpetre  with  sulphuric  acid. 
The  salt  used  is  now,  however,  more  generally  nitrate  of  soda  from 
South  America,  as  being  cheaper,  and  richer  in  nitre.  This  salt 
comes  chiefly  from  the  province  of  Tarapaca  in  Peru,  where  it 
a  natural  state  in  beds  which  cover  hunflrrds  of  scjuare  miles  of 
It  is  by  some  misnomer  popularly  called  "  Chilian  saltpetre."  Hy- 
drochloric acid  is  made  by  treating  common  salt  (chloride  of  sodium)  with 
sulphuric  acid.  The  chloride  of  hydrogen  which  passes  off  is  conducted 
into  water,  where  it  is  eagerly  absorbed.  The  water  takes  up  460  times  its 
own  volume  of  the  gas,  and  increases  one-third  in  bulk,  and  seventy-five  jier 
cent  in  weight,  in  the  operation.  Some  very  large  factories  of  these  acids  have 
been  established  in  Philadelphia ;  that  city  being,  by  the  way,  the  principal 
chemical  centre  of  the  country,  manufacturing  nearly  half  of  the  dyes,  drugs, 
acids,  salts,  and  medicines  i)roduced  in  the  United  States. 

The  different  manufactures  of  salts  of  soda  are  very  numerous,  but  not  so 
extensive  as  the  industrial  development  of  the  United  States  demands.  Nearly 
Salts  of  all  the  carbonate  of  soda,  for  instance,  —  a  material  used  in  glass- 
*°^^-  making,  in  the  production  of  caustic  soda  for  soap-making,  and 

for  other  purposes,  —  comes  from  England.  It  is  easily  made  from  common 
salt  by  converting  the  latter  into  a  sulphate  with  sulphuric  acid,  and  then 
treating  it  in  a  furnace  with  charcoal  and  carbonate  of  lime,  which  produces 
carbonate  of  soda  mixed  with  sulphide  of  calcium,  the  former  being  then 
separated  from  the  ash  by  leaching  with  hot  water.  All  the  materials  exist 
in  unlimited  abundance  in  this  country  for  the  extensive  manufacture  of 
carbonate  of  soda ;  but  the  American  chemists  ai)i)ear  to  have  been  afraid  to 
compete  with  the  cheap  labor  and  large  capital  of  F2ngland  in  any  consid- 
erable production  of  it.  Caustic  soda  is  now  largely  made  at  Philadeli)hia 
and  elsewhere,  although  the  importation  is  still  very  large.  It  is  prepared 
from  three  parts  of  the  crystallized  carbonate  of  soda,  dissolved  in  water,  and 
one  part  of  quick-lime,  slaked,  and  mixed  with  water  to  the  consistency  of 
cream.  The  caustic  solution  is  then  decanted,  and  boiled  down  rapidl\. 
melted,  cast  into  sticks,  and  preserved  in  bottles.  The  purest  caustic  soda  is 
dissolved  from  the  residue  obtained  by  boiling  down  with  alcohol,  the  latter 
being  then  driven  off  by  heat.  Soda  for  baking-powder  is  also  largely  inaile 
at  the  American  factories.  One  concern  in  California  has  been  making  it 
since  1875,  in  San  Francisco,  from  native  salts  obtained  at  the  warm  springs 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


493 


in  Churchill  County,  Nevada.  This  factory  is  the  pioneer  in  the  attempt  to 
use  the  alkaline  treasures  of  the  Far  West ;  and  it  is  making  such  progress  in 
the  production  of  carbonate,  bicarbonate,  and  other  salts  of  soda,  that  prob- 
ably, in  a  few  years,  it  will  begin  to  supply  tne  eastern  part  of  the  republic  with 
its  goods.  Soda  is  now  made  to  a  limited  extent  in  Philadelphia  from  cryolite, 
—  a  mineral  found  in  Oreenland,  containing  sodium,  aluminum,  and  fluorine. 

One  of  the  new  manufactures  is  that  of  citric  acid,  —  a  chemical  used  by 
the  silk-dyers  to  heighten  the  colors  of  cochineal  and  safflower,  and  by  the 
calico-printers  to  discharge  mordants  from  the  cloth.  The  industry  began  in 
Philadelphia  in  1874.  .At  present  the  crude  material  is  obtained  from  abroad, 
mainly  from  Sicily.  It  consists  of  the  juice  of  limes,  lemons,  and  sour  oranges. 
The  sour  oranges  of  Florida  will,  in  the  future,  be  utilized  in  this  manufacture  j 
but  they  do  not  yet  enter  into  it  largely.  'Phe  acid  is  obtained  by  fermenting 
the  sour  juice.  Chalk  is  added,  and  citrate  of  lime  precipitated.  This  is 
treated  with  sulphuric  acid,  which  forms  sulphate  of  lime,  leaving  the  acid  in 
solution. 

One  of  the  large  features  of  the  imports  of  crude  materials  is  called  argols. 
This  substance  is  not  yet  produced  in  the  United  States  to  any  extent.  It  is 
the  salt  deposited  in  crystalline  crusts  on  the  sides  and  bottoms  of  importation 
wine-barrels.  Being  less  soluble  in  alcohol  than  in  water,  it  leaves  "^  ■'"Bou. 
the  wine  as  the  proportion  of  alcohol  increases.  Chemically  this  deposit  con- 
sists of  potassic  bitartrate,  with  a  small  intermixture  of  calcic  tartrate  and  of 
coloring  and  mucilaginous  matters.  Commercially  it  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance. The  lees  of  the  wine  are  dissolved  in  hot  water,  and  clarified  by 
means  of  clay,  and  then  recrystallized.  The  process  is  repeated ;  and  the 
result  is  a  white  crystalline  substance  called  cream  of  tartar,  which  is  sold  with 
bicarbonate  of  soda  for  bread-making.  The  high  cost  of  the  article  has  led 
dealers  to  practise  the  most  shameful  adulteration  of  cream  of  tartar ;  and  half 
of  that  found  in  the  market  contains  flour,  gypsum,  &c.,  exceeding  two-thirds 
of  its  bulk.  From  argols  are  also  made  Rochelle  salts,  tartaric  acid,  and 
salt  of  tartar.  The  wine-producing  regions  of  the  United  States  promise  in 
the  future  to  be  the  means  of  creating  a  partial  supply  of  argols  at  home. 

Among  the  very  recent  branches  of  chemical  manufacture  in  the  United 
States  is  that  of  the  aniline  colors.  The  discovery  of  these  intense  and  bril- 
liant dyes  has  completely  revolutionized  the  art  of  dyeing  and  print-  Aniline 
ing  textile  fabrics  within  the  short  space  of  twenty  years :  it  has  c°'o"- 
increased  the  resources  of  the  dyer  immensely,  and  has  made  the  processes  of 
dyeing  more  complicated  and  elaborate.  Aniline,  so  called  from  anil,  indigo, 
was  discovered  in  1826  by  a  German  chemist  by  the  name  of  Unverdorben, 
who  got  it  by  distilling  indigo.  It  crystallized  readily  ;  and  he  called  it,  accord- 
ingly, crystalline.  It  attracted  much  attention  in  laboratories.  A  great  deal 
of  study  was  given  to  it,  and  the  range  of  chemical  knowledge  gready  increased 
in  the  course  of  the  researches  of  those  interested  in  it.    No  commercial 


494 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOK  Y 


Roianiline. 


importance  was  attached  to  it  until  1856,  wlien  \V,  H.  I'crkin  produreil  from 
it  the  beautiful  purple  dye  called  mauve.  That  set  dyers  aiul  chemists  in  a 
flame,  and  the  whole  series  of  remarkable  tints  which  aniline  is  capable  of 
producing  were  soon  discovered.  The  presence  of  tiie  article  itself  was  also 
soon  detected  in  other  things  than  indigo.  Aniline,  like  many  other  chemical 
Manufac  products  of  value,  is  obtained  commercially  from  refuse  or  worth- 
turtanduie.  less  substanccs.  It  is  among  the  products  of  distillation  of  (oil- 
tar,  peat,  bones,  &c.  It  is  usually  made  for  the  trade  from  benzole,  one  of  the 
elements  of  coal-tar,  the  process  being  as  follows  :  Benzole  is  treated  with  nitrii 
acid  to  form  nitro-benzole,  and  this  is  changed  by  the  action  of  ferrous  acetate 
(made  from  iron-filings  and  acetic  acid)  into  a  compound  from  which  impuri' 
aniline  is  obtained  by  distillation.  .\  second  distillation,  with  a  slight  excess  of 
lime  or  soda,  gives  crude  aniline.  The  product  is  a  colorless,  mobile,  oily,  and 
very  poisonous  licjuid,  boiling  at  182°,  and  possessing  an  aromatic,  burning  taste. 
For  the  trade  it  is  generally  converted  into  what  is  called  rusani- 
line,  which  is  itself  a  dye,  and  from  which  nearly  all  the  other 
dyes  can  be  made.  One  part  of  aniline  oil  is  treated  with  one  and  a  half  itarts 
of  a  seventy-five-per-cent  arsenic  acid  in  a  closed  iron  still.  The  product  is 
boiled  with  water,  and  filtered.  Upon  adding  common  salt  in  excess,  ( riuic 
hydrochlorate  of  rosaniline  is  precipitated.  This  is  dissolved  in  boiling  water, 
filtered,  and  allowed  to  crystallize  ;  and  the  salt  thus  obtained  is  called  rosani- 
line. The  dye  is  also  prepared  in  other  ways,  by  treatment  and  (listillation. 
It  varies  in  color  from  a  beautiful  cherry-red  to  a  rich  crimson.  Rosanaline  is 
known  by  the  names  of  aniline-red,  magenta,  solferino,  fuchsine,  roseine, 
azaleine,  (S:c.  :  it  is  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol.  \  great  deal  of  the  aniline 
in  the  general  market  appears  there  first  in  tlie  form  of  this  salt.  In  the 
United  States,  although  coal-tar  is  distilled  here,  and  benzole  is  one  of  the 
regular  articles  of  export,  all  the  crude  aniline  used  is  imported  :  the  artidc 
comes  principally  from  Germany,  where  it  is  most  largely  manufactureil.  Ro- 
saniline contains  three  atoms  of  replaceable  hytlrogen.  By  treating  ii  with 
ioditle  of  methyl,  ethyl,  amyle,  and  other  radicals  of  alcohol,  and  recuvciing 
the  iodine  by  boiling  in  caustic  potash,  salts  are  precipitated,  ranging  in  rcjjor 
from  red,  violet,  and  purple  to  the  purest  blue,  according  to  the  amount  of 
hydrogen  which  has  been  replaced.  Grays,  browns,  maroons,  blacks,  greens, 
and  yellows,  all  of  the  rarest  beauty  and  greatest  intensity,  are  obtained  I)y 
different  processes.  The  manufacture  of  these  colors  is  carried  on  i)rin<iiKilly 
at  Philadelphia,  though  they  are  often  prepared  in  the  laboratories  of  the 
textile  factories  themselves.     Many  of  them  are  very  easily  prepared. 

Space  forbids  the  enumeration  of  all  the  products  of  the  American  labo- 
ratories ;  but  a  few  substances  may  be  referred  to  as  showing  what  jewels 
modern  science  finds  in  unattractive  quarters,  and  how  the  refuse 
of  our  cities  is  made  to  contribute  to  the  welfare  of  the  iieoplc. 
One  of  the  very  large  products  of  Cincinnati  and  Philadelphia  is  gl)ccrine. 


Glycerine. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


495 


This  article  is  obtained  from  the  refuse  of  candle-factories.  Another  is 
ammonia,  extracted  from  the  gas-liciuor  of  the  gas-works.  Still  another  is 
hromiile  of  potash,  which  is  gathered  from  the  refuse  of  salt-works.  It  has 
already  l)ecn  related  how  cream  of  tartar  is  made  from  the  Ices  of  wine.  'I'liis 
invaluable  substance  is  also  largely  produced  from  beef-bones,  which  a  few 
years  ago  were  thrown  away  as  useless. 

Chloride  of  lime,  though  in  immense  request  in  the  cotton  and  linen 
factories  and  other  textile  establishments  of  the  country,  is  made  in  the  United 


TLTT  »   SODA-WATER    FOUNTAIN, 


States  to  a  smaller  extent  than  the  magnitude  of  the  consumption  of  the 
article  would  seem  to  require.  It  is  easily  prepared.  Chlorine  gas  is  first 
produced  by  means  of  the  re-action  of  hydrochloric  acid  on  binoxide  of 
manganese,  —  a  mineral  abundantly  supplied  in  all  parts  of  the  chloride  of 
world,  and  always  eagerly  sought  after.  In  some  factories  the  '""*• 
gas  is  obtained  by  the  re-action  of  sulphuric  acid  on  common  salt  and  bi- 
noxide of  manganese.     By  whatever  process  it  is  made,  it  is  stored  away  in 


496 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


slaked  lime  by  the  simple  means  of  bringing  the  two  substances  together 
in  a  closed  chamber.  The  lime  is  spread  about  seven  inches  deep  on  the 
floor,  and  the  gas  forced  in.  It  is  slowly  absorbed  by  the  lime,  the  process 
consuming  about  four  days. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  chemical  manufactures  in  this  country  is  soda- 
water,  so  called,  and  its  kindred  beverages,  —  pop-beer  and  artificial  mineral- 
Manufac.  water.  The  first-named  is  nothing  more  than  pure  water  impreg- 
tureofnoda.  nated  with  carbonic-acid  gas.  When  lemon,  ginger,  sarsaparilla, 
*^""'"*  or  other  flavoring-extracts,  are  added,  and  it  is  sold  in  bottles,  it  is 

known  as  pop-beer;  and  when,  instead  of  such  sirups,  certain  mineral- salts 
are  added  to  the  carbonic-acid  water,  corresponding  to  the  analysis  of  certain 
natural  mineral-waters,  they  are  sold  for  consumption  by  the  bottle,  or  for 
distribution  by  the  "  fountain."  The  idea  of  making  such  preparations,  espe- 
cially the  last-named  class,  originated  in  Germany  and  Sweden.  Experiments 
began  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century ;  but  the  foundation-principles  were 
not  discovered  for  a  long  time  :  indeed,  it  is  only  within  sixty  years  that  the 
art  has  been  brought  to  perfection.  In  1810-20  Berzelius  founded  in  Stock- 
holm, and  Struve  in  Dresden,  artificial  spas.  Faraday  and  Liebig  pronounced 
the  latter's  imitations  of  mineral  waters  perfect,  and  equally  wholesome  with  the 
original.  The  apparatus  for  the  manufacture  consists  of  a  large  copper  gener- 
ator, in  which  the  gas  is  evolved  by  a  mixture  of  sulphuric  acid  and  carbonate 
of  lime,  certain  pipes  and  reservoirs  for  purifying  it,  a  receptacle  in  which  the 
gas  is  mingled  with  water  (fresh,  flavored,  or  impregnated  with  mineral-salts, 
as  the  case  may  be) ,  and  a  device  for  filling  bottles  or  larger  receivers  for 
"  fountains."  Valuable  improvements  have  been  made  by  Mr.  John  Matthews 
of  New  York  to  the  process.  One  consists  of  a  safety-valve  to  the  generator 
to  prevent  explosions,  and  another  is  the  practice  of  lining  the  fountains  and 
connections  with  block-tin  to  prevent  corrosion  and  poisoning.  There  are 
no  less  than  ten  thousand  of  his  fountains  in  use  in  this  country,  and  both  of 
his  devices  have  come  into  extensive  use  in  Europe. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


497 


CHAPTER  XII. 


WOOD   AND   OTHER   MANUFACTURES. 


IT  is  now  proposed  to  consider  a  variety  of  industries  which  have  grown  up 
in  the  United  States,  which  are  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  the  vegetable 
products  of  the  soil  and  of  the  minerals.     Some  of  these,  which  General 
could  not  be  well  treated  with  brevity,  have  been  discussed  in  «•'"'=''• 
special   chapters.     In   the   majority  of  cases,  these   industries,  though   now 
severally  employing  mijl-rns  of  capital  and  supporting   hundreds   of  thou- 
sands of  people,  are  capab     of  being  treated  concisely ;  and  they  are,  there- 
fore, grouped  as  miscellaneous  manufactures  in  the  present  chapter.     Some 
of  these  are  of  very  ancient  date,  taking  their  origin  as  far  back  almost  as 
the  settlement  of  the  country :   some  are  of  very  recent  date,  many  having 
come  into  existence  within  the  last  forty  years.     Whether  old  or  young,  they 
are  all  profitable  to  the  country,  and  form  an  essential  part  of  its  strength  and 
wealth.     The  United  States  have  not  always  manufactured  a  very  considerable 
part  of  the  raw  products  of  her  soil  and  fields,  —  not  even  a  very  large  share 
of  that  portion  of  those  products  consumed  in  manufactured  form  by  her  own 
people.     In  the  early  ages  of  the  country  nearly  all  the  raw  materials  —  the 
hides,  the  grain,  the  bark,  the  tobacco,  the  cotton,  and  the  metals  —  were  sent 
abroad,  and  the  things  made  out  of  them  were  brought  back  again  from  the 
lands  to  which  the  original  products  were  sent.     Old  Beverly,  in  1705,  impa- 
tiently remarked  of  the  colonists  (a  hundred  years  after  the  first  settlement,  be 
it  noted),  "Nay,  they  are  such  abominable  ill  husbands,  that  though  their 
country  be   overrun  with  wood,  yet  they  have  all  their  wooden-ware  from 
England,  —  their  cabinets,  chairs,  tables,  stools,  chests,  boxes,  cart-wheels,  and 
all  other  things,  even  so  much  as  their  bowls  and  birchen  brooms,  —  to  the 
vternal  reproach  of  their  laziness."     It  was  not  to  be  expected,  however,  that 
so  free  and  active-minded  a  people  as  the  Americans,  living  in  such  an  invigor- 
ating climate,  would  long  continue  to  send  their  raw  products  abroad  to  be 
manufactured,  after  they  had  freed  themselves   from  that  great  obstacle   to 
industry,  a  tyrannical  government,  and  after  they  had  so  fairly  subjugated  the 
soil  as  to  have  an  abundance  of  food ;   and  accordingly  we  find  that  they 


498 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


began  to  manufacture  their  raw  products  largely  for  themselves  after  tlicit 
independence,  and  "  the  eternal  reproach  "  was  quickly  wiped  out.  It  has 
already  been  related  what  the  Americans  have  done  in  manufacturing  their 
crude  metals.  The  history  of  manufacturing  the  more  important  vegetable  and 
mineral  products  of  the  United  States  has  been  nearly  completed.  A  few 
more  pages,  however,  are  needed  to  finish  this  portion  of  our  work.  A\iiilc 
seeking  to  make  this  chapter  as  brief  and  at  the  same  time  as  complete  as 
possible,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  important  fact  relating  to  the  development 
•  of  the  industries  herein  considered  has  been  omitted. 

LUMBER. 


among  the 
colonists. 


The  business  of  lumbering  is  one  which  the  European  settlers  on  this 
continent  were  obliged  to  begin  before  any  other.  Two  necessities  faced 
Lumbering  ^^^"^  \i\\txi  they  landed,  —  the  need  of  shelter  from  tlie  weather, 
and  cleared  land  whereon  to  cultivate  food.  Nearly  the  whole 
country  was  covered  with  vast  and  ancient  forests  :  these  yielded 
the  material  for  houses  and  barns,  but  rendered  the  work  of  preparing  the  soil 
for  tillage  highly  laborious.  But  there  were  energy,  courage,  and  enthusiasm  in 
the  hardy  Anglo-Saxon  stock  which  occupied  the  country  from  Nova  Scotia  lo 
Florida,  and  scarcely  less  in  the  Dutchmen  and  Swedes  who  broke  the  line  of 
English  settlements  for  a  time  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Delaware  River;  so 
that  the  axe  and  saw  were  vigorously  plied  from  the  very  first  occupation  of 
America.  The  early  dwellings  were  of  logs,  imitated  ever  since  by  pioneers  in 
new  sections  of  the  country  ;  and  the  few  boards  and  shingles  used  were  hewn 
out  with  an  admirable  dexterity.  Forts  for  defence  against  the  hostile  Indians, 
bridges  across  the  streams  along  which  the  first  settlements  were  planteil,  docks 
for  the  litde  shipping  which  afforded  communication  with  the  Old  World,  logs 
for  corduroy  roads  over  poor  spots  in  the  needed  highways,  and  firewood  for 
cooking  and  comfort,  all  called  for  further  labor ;  and  later  —  much  later  than 
should  have  been  the  case — there  was  some  demand  for  material  for  cattle- 
pens  and  barns. 

A  rare  and  timely  piece  of  good  fortune  for  the  American  colonists  was  the 
invention  of  the  saw-mill,  which  first  made  its  appearance  in  this  coiuitry  in 
1633,  or  shortly  before,  preceding  the  first  establishment  of  it  in 
the  mother-country  many  years.  Although  the  saw  was  known  in 
Egypt  in  the  time  of  Moses,  yet  a  mill  in  which  it  was  operated  by  machine- 
ry was  scarcely  known  in  Europe  before  the  discovery  of  America.  Germany 
had  saw-mills  in  the  fourth  century ;  the  Island  of  Madeira,  in  1420 ;  Nor- 
way, not  till  1530;  France,  as  early  as  1555  ;  and  England,  not  until  1663. 
This  last-named  mill  was  torn  down  to  gratify  a  hostile  popular  prejudice. 
Fears  of  like  demonstration  prevented  the  erection  of  another  in  1 700,  and 
the  populace  destroyed  one  as  late  as  1767.     Prior  to  the  introduction  of  the 


Saw-mill. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


499 


saw  mill,  planks  were  hewed  out  or  saweil  by  hand  ;  which  ex])lains  the  preva- 
lence of  clay  floors  and  the  scarcity  of  plank  floors  in  Europe  in  the  olden 
time. 

Saw-mills  located  on  some  eligible  stream,  and  run  by  water-power,  were 
erected  at  a  very  eady  date  in  the  first  colonies,  and  thereafter  made  their 
appearance  in  each  new  colony  and  settlement  which  afforded  the  moti\e- 
power :    indeed,    the  location   of  many  settlements  was   determined  by  the 
presence  of  a  good  mill-stream.     The  first  saw-mill  that  is  known  to  have 
been  erected  in  New  England  was  on  Salmon- Falls   River,  near  First  saw- 
the  present  city  of  Portsmouth,  N.H. ;  and  it  was  built  there  soon   ""'  • 
after  the  land  was   granted  in   1631   to  Mason  and  Gorges,  the  groat    pro- 
I'.rietaries  of  that  region.     It  is  known  to  have  been  in  operation  in  1635, 
and  might  have  been  up  a  year  or  two  at  that  time.     It  is  asserted  that  a 
saw-mill  was  in  existence  in  Massachusetts  as  early  as  1633  ;  but  no  evitlence 
of  it  exists,  although  one  was  proposed  for  the  colony  in  a  letter  of  instruc- 
tions sent  to  Gov.  F^ndicott  in  1629.     A  patent  for  an  improvement  in  saw- 
mills was  granted   Joseph  Jenks  of  Lynn  in   1648;    but  it  is  impossible  to 
find  any  record  of  a  sav  -mill  in  Massachusetts  before  the  one  built  in  Scituate 
in  1656,  and  burned  by  the  Indians  in  1676.     Another  existed,  near  Duxbury, 
as  early  as  1664.     Worcester  had  one  in  1684  ;  and  Groton,  in  Middlesex,  in 
1 686.     Neither  Vermont  nor  Rhode  Island  api)ears  to  have  had  any  saw-mills 
before  the  Revolution.     The  younger  Winthrop,  afterwards  governor  of  Con- 
necticut, brought  a  millwright  to  New  London,  and  put  up  a  saw-mill  in  1651. 
Tiie  superintendent,  John  Elderkin,  was  for  thirty-five  years  the  principal  con- 
tractor for  the  building  of  meeting-houses,  dwellings,  bridges,  &:c.,  in  f^astern 
Connecticut.     Two  more  were  built  near  Hartford  in  1671  and  1680.     Several 
more  were  constructed  in  the  colony  within  the  next  few  years.     Saw-mills 
oiierated  by  wind  insteatl  of  by  water  were  erected  by  the  Dutch  on  Manhat- 
tan Island  as  early  as  1633.     These  were  the  first  on  this  continent,  but  were 
very  unprofitable,  according  to  provincial  documents.     Others  were  soon  built 
in  tlie  vicinity,  however,  and  up  the  river,  near  Albany.      The  Catskill  region, 
and  several  points  on  tlie  east  side  of  the  Hudson,  followed  these  examples. 
The  French  liad  saw-mills  near  Ticondcroga  in  the  early  jtart  of  the  eighteenth 
century.     West  Jersey  led  the  eastern  side  in  the  erection  of  saw-mills.     The 
first  one  on  the  Delaware  was  put  up  in  1682.     Amboy  built  her  first  ones  in 
16.S3.     They  rapidly  multiplied  in  that  colony,   however.     The    Dutch    and 
Swedes  anticipated  William  Penn  in  this  direction.     Delaware  had  a  saw-mill 
in  1658,  .aiothcr   in   1662,  and  a  third  in  1678.     Penn  found  saw-mills  in 
Pennsylvania   in    1683   already  in   operation.      They  were   long   scarce   near 
Philadelphia,  however;  and  not  one  was  to  be  found  in  the  adjacent  co>mty 
of  Bucks  as  late  as  1731.     They  multiplied  in  the  interior,  though,  especially 
where  the  (iermans  settled,     There  is  no  record  of  .Maryland's  first  saw-mill ; 
l>iit  she  had  corn-mills  run  by  water  as  early  as  1639.     Virginia  made  great 


500 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


'■"•^^ 


account  of  hewing  clapboards  and  masts  in  her  very  earliest  days.  There  was 
talk  of  sawmills  in  1620  ;  but  nothing  was  done  toward  their  erection  for  full 
thirty  years.  The  Carolinas  and  (ieorgia  had  magnificent  pine-forests,  which 
one  would  think  would  have  early  invited  the  lumberman  ;  but,  in  pre- Revolu- 
tionary days,  saw-mills  were  scarce  in  that  region.  As  late  as  180S  South 
Carolina  had  but  sixty-five,  and  (Ieorgia  but  one.  Within  the  present  century, 
though,  the  Carolinas  and  other  Southern  States  have  sent  some  fine  lumber 
North.     But  there  was  a  shocking  waste  in  North  Carolina  after  the  value  of 

the  cotton- ])Iant 
was  realized. 
Splendid  forests 
were  burned 
down  to  clcnr 
the  land,  and  the 
only  use  made 
of  the  sc]uan- 
dered  material 
was  to  manufac- 
ture a  little  pot- 
ash out  of  tiic 
ashes.  Turpen- 
tine and  resin 
have,  however, 
since  been  ob- 
tained in  groat 
quantities  from 
that  section,  in 
addition  to  the 
lumber. 

From  tiicse 
beginnings  the 
local  lumliering- 
business  devel- 
oped all  over  the 

country.  Mills  wei-c  erected  wherever  the  settlers  located  near  good  streams. 
New  Hampshire  and  Maine  went  into  the  business  more  largely  than  some  of 
the  other  colonics.  Wui  the  saw-mill  followed  the  pioneer  wherever  he  went ; 
and  this  remark  holds  true  of  the  post-colonial  as  well  as  the  colonial  period 
of  our  history.  As  the  Atlantic  States  filled  up,  and  the  Western  States  were 
occupied,  the  saw-mill  was  regarded  the  first  essential  of  civilization.  Thus 
we  find  the  New-Knglander  who  occupied  Ohio  building  a  saw-mill  in  17S9 
on  Wolf  Creek,  sixteen  miles  from  Marietta.  The  fact  that  at  Canton  (Mass.) 
alone  from  a  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  saw-mills  were  manufactured 


SAW-Mll.L   ON    THE   CONEMAUnH. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


5o» 


annually  about  1 790  is  significant  of  the  development  of  the  lumber-business 
through  this  important  instrun.entality  all  ever  the  country. 

The  abundance  of  pine-forests,  the  improved  facilities  afforded  by  saw- 
mills, and  the  natural  hardihood  and  enterprise  of  the  colonists,  led  many  of 
tliein  to  embark  in  the  lumber-trade,  not  simply  for  their  own  ueveiop- 
necessities,  but  for  j)urposes  of  trade,  domestic  and  foreign.  Saw-  ment  of  in- 
mills  were,  to  a  great  extent,  run  like  grist-mills,  the  proprietor  "^  '^" 
taking  toll  from  his  many  patrons,  and  selling  the  stock  thus  accumulated,  and 
even  engaging  in  the  cutting  of  trees,  in  order  to  keep  his  mill  going,  and 
enlarge  his  profits.  The  proprietary  lumber-business  thus  had  an  early  start : 
it  began  in  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  which,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
both  belonged  to  Massachusetts.  Many  mills  were  erected  on  the  Piscataqua, 
Saco,  Kennebec,  and  other  rivers.  Mason,  Gorges,  and  the  Pep|)erells, 
original  proprietors  in  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  engaged  extensively  in  the 
business.  There  was  a  deal  of  ship-building  done  too,  in  those  colonial  days, 
at  Kittery,  and  elsewhere  along  the  coast ;  and  lumber  was  largely  consumed 
in  this  way.  There  was  a  large  export  of  partially-manufactured  lumber  to  the 
West  Indies,  and  of  masts  and  knees  for  shipping  to  England.  New  England 
carried  on  a  large  sugar-trade  with  the  Indies,  and  was  obliged  to  ship  thither 
large  quantities  of  staves  and  shooks  for  barrels.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Chaniplain  district  exported  lumber  extensively  to  Montreal  and  Quebec, 
and  after  the  Revolution  a  large  business  sprang  up  in  the  western  counties  of 
New  York.  New  Jersey  became  conspicuous  for  her  lumber  exports  early  in 
colonial  days,  and  prohibited  the  carrying  of  any  timber,  planks,  boards,  oak- 
bolts,  staves,  heading,  hoops,  or  even  hop-poles,  except  in  her  own  shipping. 
Huge  rafts  of  lumber  were  floated  down  the  Delaware  to  Philatlelphia,  and 
down  the  Suscjuehanna  to  Baltimore.  Philadelphia  exported  783,000  feet  of 
lumber  in  1765,  and  in  1731  a  British  publication  mentioned  the  importations 
of  ;^i 5,000  worth  of  lumber  annually  from  Virginia  and  Maryland.  The 
official  value  of  the  different  kinds  of  luml)er  exported  from  all  the  colonies 
in  1770  was  ^154,637:  this  enibraccd  boards,  plank,  scantling,  timber  for 
masts,  spars,  and  buildings,  staves,  heading,  hoops,  and  poles.  In  1792  the 
exports  of  lumber  were  65,846,024  feet,  including  80,813,357  shingles,  1,080 
cedar  and  oak  ship-knees,  and  191  house-frames. 

Within  the  present  centurj',  however,  and  especially  within  the  past  thirty 
years,  the  lumber-business  has  attained  a  development  compared  with  which 
that  of  the  pre-Revolutionary  age  was  insignificant.  The  needs  of  Lumbering 
the  country  have  vastly  increased,  and  the  facilities  for  handling  during  last 
anil  manufacturing  lumber  have  improved  to  a  remarkable  extent.  "  "'^'"  ^^^' 
Korty  and  fifty  years  ago  we  had  a  large  ship-building  industr}',  which  has 
declined  ;  and  we  are  using  iron  rather  more  than  wood  in  our  modern  bridges. 
But  when  it  is  remembered  that  our  population  has  increased  from  three  to 
forty-five  millions,  and  that  but  one  man  in  fifty  has  a  house  of  brick  or  stone, 


502 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


it  can  1)6  seen,  that,  for  building-purposes  alone,  our  demand  for  lumber  has 
multiplied  exceedingly.  Then,  too,  within  forty  years  we  have  built  thousands 
of  miles  of  railroad  and  telegraph,  recjuiring  ties  and  j)oles  all  along  the  route. 
The  timber  thus  employed  is  of  an  inferior  sort ;  but  the  quantity  is  immense. 
Wooden  pavements  in  our  large  cities  also  consume  large  (luantities  of  this 
material.  'I'he  invention  of  wooil-working  machinery  and  the  development  of 
various  manufactures  have  necessarily  increased  the  demand  ;  while  the  a])pli- 
cation  of  the  steam-engine  to  the  saw,  and  the  arrangement  of  saws  in  gangs 


so  as  to  cut  several  planks  from  one  log  simultaneously,  have  enlarged  the 
capacity  of  the  mills  wonderfully,  and  so  increased  the  supply. 

If  one  will  but  compare  the  value  of  the  lumber  sawed  and  i)laned,  and  the 
number  of  establishments  engaged  in  the  business,  in  1850,  1S60,  and  i.*^;". 
Centraiiza-  '^^  ^^''^  discovcr  that  the  increase  in  product  is  very  remaikalile, 
tion  of  but  that  the  increase  in  the  number  of  mills  is  not  proportionate : 

us  ry.  j^^  other  words,  the  business  is  becoming  centralized.  \\'hile  there 
are  a  great  many  little  local  saw-mills  all  over  the  country,  the  main  business  is 
conducted  by  a  few  large  ones,  which  cut  fifty  or  a  hundred  times  as  niuch 
in  one  season  as  any  mill  of  half  a  century  ago.     Thus  in  1850  the  product  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


503 


17,895  mills  was  $58,520,966  ;  in  i860,  that  of  20,165  mills  was  $104,928,342, 
or  nearly  double  that  of  ten  years  before  ;  and,  in  1870,  that  of  26,930  mills 
was  $252,032,229,  or  more  than  double  that  of  i860.  The  increase  since 
then  has  not  been  at  quite  the  same  rate  ;  but  it  is  very  large. 

Half  a  century  ago  the  State  of  Maine  was  the  great  producer  of  surplus 
hniiber  for  the  rest  of  the  country.  At  times  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  ecjualled  her  in  product,  and  in  i860  considerably 
exceeded  her.  But  while  the  Champlain  region,  the  western  part 
of  New  York,  the  Delaware,  Chesapeake,  Schuylkill,  and  Alleghany  regions, 
were  great  producers,  the  population  of  those  States  was  so  large  as  to  nearly 
or  quite  consume  their  home-supplies  ;  Philadelphia  even  importing  from  the 
Hanger  district.  Maine  was  lightly  populated,  and  exported  to  all  New  Eng- 
land, and  even  farliier  south  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  By  i860  the  Saginaw 
(Ireen-Hay  region  in  Wisconsin,  and  the  Saginaw  district  in  Michi-  district. 
gan,  had  asumied  considerable  prominence  in  the  business ;  and  they  both 
eclipsed  Maine  during  the  next  decade.  Thus  while  Maine's  product  of  sawed 
lumber,  including  laths,  shingles,  and  staves,  in  that  interval,  only  increased 
from  $7,167,760  to  $11,395,747,  Wisconsin's  rose  from  $4,616,430  to  $15,130,- 
719.  and  Michigan's  from  $7,303,404  to  $31,946,396.  New  York's  product 
had  increased,  meantime,  from  $10,597,595  to  $21,238,228,  and  Pennsylvania's 
from  $10,994,060  to  $28,938,985  ;  but  except  a  good-sized  export  from  New 
York  to  Canada,  and  a  moderate  one  from  Pennsylvania  South,  those  two 
States  did  little  more  than  provide  for  themselves.  The  Saginaw  region  con- 
tinued to  increase  its  product  until  1873,  when  its  climax  appears  to  have  been 
reached.  The  C.reen-Bay  region  has  continued  to  increase  its  product.  The 
same  great  belt  of  dense  white-pine  forest  which  starts  in  Maine,  and  runs 
through  to  the  head  of  the  CJlreat  Lakes,  also  crosses  Minnesota ;  which  State 
has,  within  the  past  eight  or  ten  years,  risen  into  great  prominence  as  a  lumber- 
producing  State.  The  saw-mills  about  the  trails  of  St.  Anthony  are,  perhaps, 
more  numerous  than  in  any  other  one  locality  in  the  United  States.  The 
principal  lumber  of  Maine  and  the  North-West  is  the  white  or  soft  pine,  with 
considerable  spruce  and  hemlock :  the  hard  pine  comes  chiefly  from  North 
Carolina,  (jeorgia,  Florida,  and  Alabama.  The  Dismal  Swamp  in  Virginia  is 
also  (piiie  a  producer  of  pine,  spruce,  and  hemlock.  Ohio  and  Michigan  yield 
considerable  black- walnut,  cherry,  ash,  and  white-oak,  although  these  woods 
arc  also  found  elsewhere.  Louisiana  and  Mississippi  are  also  coming  to  be 
ian;c  lumber-producers.  The  Pacific  coast  and  Rocky-Mountain  region 
ahnunds  in  a  sort  of  fir,  or  red-wood,  which  is  very  sen'iceable  :  this  is  the 
jjrincipal  lumber  of  Oregon.  The  city  of  Chicago  is  now  the  greatest  lumber- 
mart  of  the  world,  her  supplies  coming  chiefly  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. It  might  be  remarked  in  this  connection,  that  Chicago  and  other  lumber- 
markets  now  send  to  tiie  pioneer,  all  prepared  for  use,  much  of  the  building- 
material  needed  by  him.    Indeed,  to  such  a  degree  of  perfection  is  this  science 


504 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


carried,  that  thousands  of  ready-made  houses  are  sold  and  shipped  to  their 
destinations  every  year ;  the  timber  being  so  cut  and  numbered,  that  a  skilful 
carpenter,  provided  with  the  proper  accompanying  designs,  can  easily  erect 
the  proposed  edifice  in  a  very  short  space  of  time. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  magnitude  of  the  lumbering-business 
carried  oh  by  individuals  and  separate  companies ;  yet  it  is  not  generally 
Description  realized  ;  nor  is  the  exciting,  laborious,  and  almost  romantic  expe- 
of  industry,  pignce  of  the  lumbermen.  Every  fall  the  mill-owner  or  contractor 
arranges  for  a  winter's  campaign  in  the  woods.  If  the  land  be  his  own,  he 
provides  equipments  and  supplies  for  the  men  himself;  or,  if  the  land  be 
another's,  he  arranges  with  the  proprietor  to  cut  the  wood  for  so  much  a 
thousand  feet,  or  so  much  per  tree.  An  eligible  neighborhood,  where  there 
are  plenty  of  trees,  and  a  stream  of  water  near  by,  with  perhaps  a  more  or 
less  sloping  bank,  is  selected ;  and  thither  a  gang  of  able-bodied  woodsmen 
are  despatched  ere  snow  flies.  Rude  log-liuts  called  "  camps  "  are  erected, 
with  wooden  chimneys,  and  beds  of  hemlock-boughs ;  and  here  they  stay  for 
the  season.  The  staple  of  their  diet  is  salt  pork  and  rum.  At  night,  cards, 
story-telling,  and  general  hilarity,  beside  a  blazing  fire,  form  a  marked  contrast 
to  the  hard  toil  of  the  day  and  the  loneliness  and  cheerlessness  of  a  forest- 
winter.  Such  adventures,  too,  as  the  encountering  of  wolves  and  catamounts, 
the  occasional  skating  upon  a  frozen  river,  and  the  sharp  competition  through 
the  day  with  neighboring  gangs  of  workmen,  lend  excitement  to  this  wild, 
strange  life.  Through  the  day  the  toil  is  of  the  hardest.  The  trees  are  cut, 
stripped  of  their  branches,  sawed  with  great  cross-cut  two-hand  saws  into  logs 
of  the  desirable  size,  and  hauled  into  convenient  localities  for  drawing  to  thi; 
water-side.  Then,  by  means  of  a  chain,  a  skid,  and  an  ox-team,  the  logs  are 
loaded  upon  huge  sleds,  —  sometimes  only  one  end  of  the  log  being  jilaced 
upon  the  bob,  —  and  are  hauled  down  to  the  river  and  emptied  in,  the  ice- 
crust  serving  to  keep  them  from  floating  off.  Each  owner's  logs  are  properly 
marked  in  order  to  distinguish  them,  inasmuch  as  a  number  of  different  con- 
tractors are  at  work  often  on  the  same  stream.  This  is  the  case  especially  in 
such  great  lumber-regions  as  the  Kennebec,  the  Penobscot,  Saginaw  River, 
(Ireen  Bay,  and  Rum  River  (Minn.).  The  season  begins  in  December,  and 
generally  ends  in  March.  Every  thing  depends  on  the  snow.  Sometimes  this 
is  so  deep,  that  the  oxen  cannot  break  paths  ;  and  again  there  is  so  little,  tiiat 
it  has  to  be  scraped  up  at  nightfall,  and  made  into  a  road  to  be  used  only  at 
night  J  for  even  the  winter  sun  and  the  mildness  of  day  would  so  soften  the 
bed,  that  the  sleds  would  cut  it  all  up  and  destroy  it.  Much  of  the  work  of 
hewing,  sawing,  loading,  and  hauling,  is  done  in  the  stormiest  and  coldest  of 
weather. 

From  the  time  when  operations  cease  in  the  woods,  until  the  rivers  open, 
there  is  generally  a  season  of  about  two  months.  Few  of  the  hands  stay  in 
the  woods  during  this  period,  although  a  few  are  needed  to  keep  watch  against 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


505 


thefts.  When  spring  comes,  the  logs  are  floated  down  stream  in  an  immense 
mass  called  a  "  drive."  Generally  this  branch  of  the  work  is  carried  on  by 
a  different  set  of  men  from  those  who  cut  the  logs.  Here,  again,  great 
•.iiill  and  muscle  are  re(]uired,  and  great  excitement  is  afforded.  The  logs  are 
accumulated  by  millions ;  the  streams  are  swollen  and  rai)id ;  and  the  scene 
resembles  an  immense  herd  of  furious  cattle,  such  is  the  confusion,  and  leaping 
jf  logs  upon  one  another.  Every  now  and  then  occurs  a  "jam,"  where  two 
or  more  logs  in  the  van  catch  against  obstructions  on  opposite  shores,  become 
locked,  and  so  check  the  progress  of  the  whole  drive,  which  now  ])iles  itself 
up  like  an  ice-pack.  At  this  juncture  some  bold  and  dexterous  "  drier  "  runs 
out  upon  the  floating  mass,  cjuickly  finds  by  his  practised  eye  where  the  diffi- 
culty is,  and  pries  the  obstructing  logs  apart  with  his  pole ;  then  tiie  whole 
drive  gives  way  with  a  tremendous  rush,  the  foremost  logs  shooting  away  like 
rockets,  and  the  heap  in  the  rear  suddenly  subsiding.  Only  with  the  utmost 
agility  is  the  adventurer  able  to  reach  the  shore.  A  whole  gang  of  men  is 
engaged  in  this  labor,  and  it  takes  several  days  to  reach  their  destination  : 
accordingly  a  cook  accompanies  them  on  a  raft  with  their  clothing  and 
provisions,  and  ministers  to  them  as  in  the  logging-camp. 

Finally  the  dam  is  reached  where  the  mills  are  located.  Here  a  "boom," 
or  series  of  logs  bound  together  with  strong  chains,  and  sometimes  stayed  by 
great  piers,  catches  the  drive,  from  the  confusion  of  which  the  property 
of  different  owners  is  laboriously  and  tediously  separated.  Then,  through  the 
summer  and  fall,  the  logs  are  forced  through  the  mills,  and  converted  into 
lumber. 

The  following  description  of  a  mill  and  mill-site  in  the  Saginaw  region, 
where  salt-boiling  is  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  sawing  of  lumber,  as 
is  elsewhere  described,  will  afford  an  excellent  idea  of  the  magni- 

°  Description 

tude  of  this  business,  not  only  in  Michigan,  but  m  all  the  other  of  miii  and 
principal  lumber-regions  already  designated,  just  as  the  description  sa't-works 
given  above  apj^lies  equally  to  all  winter  operations  in  the  North. 
Says  a  writer  in  "The  New-Vork  Tribune,"  of  an  e?,tablishment  at  Bay  City, — 
"  The  mill,  salt-works,  and  other  buildings,  cover  a  very  large  area.  The 
river-front  and  slips,  from  which  the  lumber,  lath,  shingles,  and  salt  can  be 
placed  on  steam  and  sailing  vessels,  are  a  mile  and  a  quarter  in  extent. 
The  motive-powers  of  the  saw-mill  and  other  works  are  one  en^Mue  of  760 
horse  power,  and  four  smaller  engines  used  for  various  purposes.  Tiiere  are 
225  men  employed  in  and  about  the  mill,  salt-works,  and  yard.  There  have 
been  265,000  feet  of  lumber  sawed  in  the  mill  in  one  day  of  eleven  and  a  (juar- 
ter  working-hours.  The  capacity  of  the  mill  is  from  25,000,000  to  30,000,000 
feet  of  lumber  when  the  machinery  is  running  on  ordinary  time,  from  May  to 
November ;  but  the  results  can  be  doubled  in  busy  seasons  when  the  men  are 
employed  night  and  day.  In  this,  as  in  all  other  large  mills,  gang-saws  are 
used  in  addition  to  the  large  circular-saws.     The  gang-saws  are  set  upright  in 


5o6 


JXDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


frames.  There  are  two  pairs  of  gang-saws  in  this  mill :  the  largest  of  these 
contains  fifty-four  saws.  The  large  circular-saws  are  used  in  producing  tiinhcr 
of  varying  widths,  the  log  being  adjusteil  by  machinery,  so  that  any  thickness 
can  be  obtained.  I'he  furnaces  are  fed  with  sawilust,  which  is  carried  by 
means  of  endless  belts  from  below  the  saws  to  the  mouths  of  the  long  row  of 
furnaces.  All  of  it,  however,  is  not  neeiled  for  this  purpose ;  and  the  surplus, 
together  with  a  considerable  amount  of  other  refuse,  is  conveyed  by  simple 
machinery  to  an  opening,  into  which  it  is  being  continually  discharged  when 
the  machinery  of  the  mill  is  in  motion.  This  opening  leads  to  a  large  furnace, 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  into  which  the  refuse  is  thrown  and  con- 
sumed.    It  was  constructed  for  this  purpose  alone." 

WOOD-WORKING    MACHINERY. 


Displace- 
ment of 
manual 
labor  by 
machinery 


During  the  last  fifty  years  mechanical  labor  has  taken  the  place  of  manual 
labor,  in  the  sawing  up  and  shaping  of  wood,  to  an  extraordinary  extent.  Tiie 
greatest  progress  has  been  made  in  the  United  States,  where  ma- 
chines have  been  absolutely  necessary  to  supplement  the  limited 
amount  of  human  labor  which  manufacturers  have  been  able 
to  commanil,  and  where  there  has  been  a  general  impression, 
among  workmen  and  employers  alike,  that  all  the  country  needs 
to  obviate  debt,  taxes,  and  bad  weather,  anil  to  make  tiie  men  handsome  and 
the  women  lovelier,  and  give  ever\body  a  thousand  dollars  in  the  bank,  is  the 
use  of  plenty  of  machinery  and  a  liberal  issue  of  patent-rights.  The  s])irit 
with  which  new  maciiines  have  been  received  in  the  United  States  has  been 
very  different  from  that  which  formerly  prevailed  in  Kurope,  and  is  still  mani- 
fested there  from  time  to  time.  The  result  is  a  larger  use  of  meclianiral 
inventions,  and  a  corresponding  improvement  in  the  j^osition  of  working-men, 
who,  from  manual  laborers,  have  risen  to  be  directors  of  machines,  and  masters 
of  shops. 

Since  1867  one  of  the  most  interesting  departments  in  every  one  of  the 
world's  fairs  has  been  that  in  which  American  wood-working  machinery  has 
been  exhibited.  The  first  show  which  attracted  special  attention 
wood-work-  '^^^'^  ^"^  ^^''''''*'  '"  1867.  At  the  exhibitions  of  185 1,  1855,  and 
ing  machine-  1862,  the  English  had  been  almost  without  rivals.  In  1867  the 
[•ire  ^°'^''*'*  United  States  appeared  upon  the  scene  both  with  wood-workinj; 
and  metal-working  machines,  and  made  a  show  which  was  a  veri- 
table surprise  to  the  English  makers.  The  American  exhibit  was  specially 
commented  upon  in  the  reports  made  to  all  the  governments  whose  people 
were  rejiresented  in  the  fair.  Professor  Reauleaux,  director  of  the  Indii^lrial 
Academy  at  Berlin,  was  especially  interested  in  the  American  machines ;  and 
he  reported  to  his  government :  "  Upon  the  whole  it  may  be  said,  tiiat,  in 
machine-industry,  England  has  partly  lost  her  formerly  undisputed  leadership, 


OF    THE    VISITED    STATES. 


507 


or  that  she  is  at  least  about  to  lose  it.  The  healthy,  young,  trans-Atlantic  in- 
dustry, which  continually  withdraws  from  us  energetic  and  intelligent  heads  and 
robust  hands,  makes,  with  the  aid  of  her  peculiar  genius,  the  most  sweeping 
prnj^^rcss  ;  so  that  we  shall  soon  have  to  turn  our  front  from  England  westward." 
Describing  the  distinguishing  traits  of  American  machines,  I'rofessor  Rcau- 
leaux  said,  "  They  are  distinguished  from  us  by  more  direct  and  rapid  concep- 
tion. The  .American  aims  straightways  for  the  needed  construction,  using  the 
nuaiis  that  appear  to  him  the  simplest  and  most  effective,  whether  new  or  old. 
Onr  liistorically  heaped-ui)  material,  and  the  cautious  character  of  the  (Jerman, 
are  st)  inseparably  interwoven,  that,  among  the  number  of  known  means,  we 
often  forget  to  ask  whether  they  are  the  simplest,  or  whether  new  ones  might 
not  be  better.  The  .American  really  constructs  in  accordance  with  the  severest 
theoretical  abstraction,  observing  on  the  one  side  a  ilistinctly  marked-out  aim, 
weighing  on  the  other  the  already  available  means  or  creating  new  ones,  and 
then  i)roceeding,  regaidless  of  precedents,  as  straight  as  possible  for  the  ob- 
ject." C.  B.  Rogers  &  Company  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  obtained  the  gold  medal 
at  this  fair.  .At  Philadelphia,  in  1876,  the  department  of  machines  and  tools 
for  working  wood  was  almost  exclusively  occupied  by  the  United  States.  Can- 
ada sent  a  few  machines.  Great  Britain  had  one  exhibiter,  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  perhaps  a  dozen.  The  United  States  had  attained  to  untlisputed  emi- 
nence in  the  originality,  variety,  and  excellence  of  her  wood-working  contriv- 
ances ;  and  not  a  rival  from  the  Old  World  dared  really  to  compete  with  her. 

The  saw-mill  (the  pioneer  wood-working  machine)  came  into  use  in  the 
very  early  days  of  this  country ;  but  not  till  recently  has  it  reached  any  thing 
like  a  perfect  state.  Even  yet  the  saw-mill  is  not  all  that  it  should  The 
he  :  for  the  mechanical  appliances  for  handling  the  log,  for  hold-  saw-min. 
inn  it  in  place  on  the  iron  frame  which  carries  it  forward  to  the  saw,  and  for 
adjusling  the  guides  of  the  circular  saw,  are  still  somewhat  crude,  and  make 
the  manufacture  of  lumber  a  dangerous  occujiation.  It  is  claimed  that  more 
persons  are  maimed  and  injured  in  the  United  States  from  the  use  of  circular 
saws  as  now  employed  than  from  any  otiier  cause,  wars  and  accidents  not 
excepted.  If  dangerous  to  careless  sawyers,  the  mill  has  at  any  rate  become 
very  efficient  in  cutting  up  the  logs  into  planks,  boards,  and  s(piare  beams,  with 
great  rapidity,  and  little  waste  of  material.  One  of  the  devices  of  the  saw- 
mill to  which  a  good  deal  of  attention  is  ])aid  is  the  "  dog,"  —  a  sharp  iron 
tooth,  projecting  from  the  u])right  iron  standard  against  which  the  log  is 
lilnced,  to  hold  it  steady  while  it  is  being  sawed  lengthwise.  The  "  dog  "  is 
worked  by  a  lever,  which  causes  it  to  sink  down  into  the  log  with  a  tight 
grij),  and  draw  the  log  tightly  against  the  standard.  A  great  many  "  dogs  "  are 
made  for  the  trade,  having  various  tenacity  of  grip  ;  and  every  few  years  a 
"  hoss  dog,"  or  a  "  boss  dog,  jun.,"  or  some  other  species  of  the  canine,  is 
hrouL,'ht  out  to  take  the  place  of  the  inventions  which  have  preceded  it,  and 
are  supposed  not  to  do  the  work  as  well. 


5o8 


INDUSTR/AL    ///STORY 


Saws,  of  course,  are  used  all  the  way  up,  in  the  shaping  and  manufacture 
of  wood,  from  forest-work  to  cabinet-work.  Scarce  a  shop  of  any  size  is 
without  its  circular  saw  for  cutting  up  wood  rapidly  into  ecjual  lengths,  and 
ciicuiarand  the  hand-saw  is  universal.  VVilhin  the  last  twenty-five  ye?-^  rih- 
other  lawa.  i,on-saws  have  come  into  use  also  for  the  manufacture  c 
mental  work,  such  as  brackets,  pieces  of  irregular  form  for  furniture,  ornii  .cuts 
for  staircases,  &c.  The  ribbon-saw  is  of  two  kinds :  it  is  either  an  endless 
band  of  steel,  whi(-h  passes  over  two  wheels, — one  above,  the  other  below,  the 
table  on  which  the  piece  of  wood  to  be  sawed  is  laid,  —  or  it  is  a  straight,  slen- 
der blade,  whicii  works  up  and  down 
with  a  reciprocating  motion.  The 
baiid-saw  was  the  slowest  in  arriNing 
at  jjerfection.  The  blades  were  lia- 
ble to  break  with  a  sudden  strain. 
The  blades  for  these  saws  are  iu)W, 
however,  of  excellent  make,  and  the 
machinery  upon  which  they  are 
mounted  is  of  the  most  so"  '  and 
non-vibrating  description.  aws 

are  a  valuable  aid  to  the  .  ..e- 
maker  and  architects.  They  arc  re- 
sponsible for  a  great  deal  of  the 
gingerbread  ornament  put  upon  the 
eaves,  porches,  balconies,  and  win- 
dows of  our  modern  wooden  rot- 
tages  ;  but  they  have  substantial  and 
valuable  uses,  and  are  the  origin  of 
such  beautiful  and  inexpensive 
brackets  and  wooden  ornaments  for 
interiors,  that  we  can  forgive  tlum 
for  what  they  have  done  for  exte- 
riors. The  demand  for  these  saws 
has  been  very  large.  Exhibited  first  at  fairs  as  curiosities  for  cutting  nj) 
blocks  of  wood  mto  complicated  Chinese  puzzles,  they  soon  came  into  gen- 
eral use  in  all  practical  work.  A  great  many  of  the  general  machine-sho])s  of 
the  United  States  are  devoted  to  their  manufacture.  The  saws  are  worked 
either  by  steam-power  or  by  means  of  a  treadle.  The  reciprocating  saw  (an 
be  given  a  speed  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  cuts  a  minute  by  means  of  a 
treadle,  the  saw  working  so  easily  that  the  workman  is  in  no  respect  embar- 
rassed with  the  action  of  his  foot. 

Some  very  ingenious  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  United  States 
upon  that  most  universal  of  wood-working  machines,  the  turning-lathe.  The 
machine -lathe   originally   was   devoted   only   to   the   production   of  straight 


RAND-SAW. 


round  sticl 
round  obji 
revolved  at 
stK  k  to  the 
screws.     I( 
any  [)attern 
the  work  ma 
perform  the 
ingtool  cai 
was  made  i 
the  pattern, 
knife,  whose 
made  to  m 
passed  alon, 
'  'iy  this  appr 
attained  by  i 
•IS  to  pcrmil 
in  elhptical 
stick  was   gi 
volved  rapid 
■ianie  time  re 
to  side  by  m 
the  gearing ; 
receded    fro 
eiently  to  gi 
surface.     T 
patterns ;  an 
"spinning-u 
lil'xk  of  a 
die  metal  is 
pressing    it 
[•rocess. 

Plam'ng- 

kinds.     In 

pl'iiik  or  stri 

die  planer  ai 

•ipart  by  nie 

"louiited  at 

'■"■tie  at  enor 

^•^'rtically,  an 

planks  and  bt 

I'he  sash, 

a  variety  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


509 


round  sticks  for  broom- ham llos,  banisters,  parts  of  chairs,  &c.,  and  other  simple 
round  objects.     'Ihe  chisels,  which  cut  away  the  wood  as  the  rougli  sticks 
revolved  at  great  speed,  were  carried  along  from  one  end  of  the   Turning.   ' 
stu  k  to  the  other  by  tool-posts,  wlii<h  were  operated  by  long  feed-    '»*''«■ 
screws.     If  it  was  desired  to  turn  the  banister,  chair-leg,  or  other  object,  in 
,uiy  jiattern,  the  chisel  had  to  be  applietl  by  hand,  antl  guided  by  the  eye  of 
the  workman.     About  twenty  five  years  ago  the  lathe  was  improved,  so  as  to 
jR'rform  the  whole  business  of  carving  a  chair-leg  of  any  pattern.      The  slid- 
inj;  tool  carrier  was  supi)lied  with   two   tools.     One,  a  chisel,  was   fixed,  anci 
was  made  to  rough    off  the  work  :    the    second,  a  V-shapeil  cutter,  cut  out 
the  i)attern,  being   guided  by  a  template  fixed  to  the  bed  of  the  lathe.     A 
kiiile,  whose  edge  was  fashioned  according  to  the  form  to  be  proiluced,  was 
iiiaile  to  move  vertically  in  a   frame   behind   the   lathe.     As  the    tool  carrier 
|rnssed  along,  this  knife  was  made  to  descend,  and  smooth  off  the  pattern. 
•  liy  this  a|)paratus  it  became  possible  to  turn  out  (hair-legs  with  the  accuracy 
attained  by  hand,  and  with  increased  speed.     The  lathe  was  also  so  improved 
IS  to  permit  the  turning  out  of  wood 
in  elliptical  and    sipiare    forms.      The 
sti(  k  was   given  two   motions.     It    re- 
volved rapidly  upon  its  axis,  and  at  the 
same  time  received  a  motion  from  side 
to  side  by  means  of  eccentrics,  &c.,  in 
the  gearing  ;  so  that  it  approached  and 
receded    from    the    cutting-tool    suffi- 
ciently to  give  it  a  square  or  elliptical 

surface.  This  style  of  machine  has  proved  useful  in  turning  out  wood  for 
patterns ;  and  it  has  been  adopted  by  the  brass,  silver,  and  gold  smiths  in  the 
"spinning-up  "  of  tlat  sheets  of  metal  into  hollow-ware,  in  which  process  a 
lilo(  k  of  a  certain  shape  and  a  flat  disk  of  metal  are  put  into  the  lathe,  and 
tiie  metal  is  made  to  lie  down  upon  and  take  the  shape  of  the  block  by 
pressing  it  with  a  smooth  steel  tool,  both  revolving  rapidly  during  the' 
process. 

Planing-machines  were  introduced  at  a  very  early  day.  They  are  of  two 
kinds.  In  one  style  cutting-l)hides  are  mounted  ujmn  a  cylinder,  and  the 
plank  or  strip  Oi  wood  to  be  ])laned  is  passed  through  between  pianing. 
the  planer  and  a  heavy  roller,  which  are  fixed  the  right  distance  "lachmes. 
apart  by  means  of  screws :  in  the  other  style  the  cutting-tools  are  chisels, 
mounted  at  right  angles  upon  two  spokes  of  iron,  and  made  to  revolve  in  a 
circle  at  enormous  speed.  These  machines  are  made  to  plane  horizontally  or 
vertically,  and  to  deal  with  wood  across  the  grain,  with  knotty  wood,  and 
planks  and  beams  of  all  descriptions. 

The  sash,  blind,  and  door,  and  the  hand-plane  industries  have  given  rise  to 
a  variety  of  machines  for  cutting  out  mortises,  tenons,  grooves,  slots,  and 


PLANER  AND   MATCHINC-MACHINE. 


5'o 


INDUS! utal  history 


Machinery 
for  making 
sashes, 
blinds,  and 
doors. 


joints  of  all  kinds.     The  work  is  generally  done  in  these  machines  by  means 
of  chisels  and  saws.     This  class  of  machines  has  niiiltiplictl  \cr\ 
fast  since  1861,  and  has  concentrated  in  factories  a  large  anmunt 
of  work  which  was  formerly  carried  on  by  hand,  and  jcattcrtd  far 
and  wide  among  small  shops.     It  has  also  greatly  lessened  the 
art  of  production.     The    machines   are    all  very  simple,  thoiich 
freiiuently  very  ingenious,  and  work  with  great  precision.     The  framing,  shap- 
ing, and  panellintj  of 
windows,    doors,    and 
blinds,    is    now    done 
entirely    by   machine- 
ry;   and  the  a])|)lica- 
tion  of  mechanical  la- 
bor   in    this    indnstf)' 
has  gone  so  far,  tiiat 
even  the  wire  staples 
which  fasten  the   rod 
of   the    window -blind 
to    the    slats    arc    all 
driven  by  machine, 
and     with     incretlihle 
speed.     If  a  machine 
were    inventotl    to 
brush    on    the    ^leen 
paint  to  the  window- 
blind,  sash,  or  door,  there  would  be  nothing  more  to  do  in  the  construction 
of  those  objects  which  could  be  done  by  machine.     That  a  device  of  that 
character  could  be  made  is  apparent  both  by  the  aid  of  the  unassisted  reason, 
and    lirom   the    fact  that    England    ex- 
hibited  a  painting -machine  at   Phila- 
delphia in    i(S76.     It  was,  in  fact,  her 
only  wood  working  machine  shown. 

One  of  the  comparatively  recent  in- 
ventions is  a  set  of  machines  for  making 

Barrel-  '^^   different    parts    of   bar- 

making-  rels.     In   these   the    staves 

are  sawed  out,  bent,  jointed, 
and  prepared  for  the  barrel,  with  scarce- 
ly the  aid  of  any  hand-tool  whatever. 

The  heads  of  the  barrels  and  the  wooden  hoops  are  also  shaped  by  ajipro- 
Carvingr,,  d  priatc  inventions.  There  are  also  now  in  use  machines  for  carving, 
engraving,  engraving  and  portrait  engines,  lathes  for  cutting  and  boring 
spools,    box-mortising-machines,    stair-jointers,    hub-boxing-machines,    cork- 


TWENTY-FOeR-INCH    PLANER. 


MOULDISG-MACHINE. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


5" 


cutters,  shingle  and  lath  saws,  a  variety  of  apparatus  for  bending  wood  for 
carriages,  &c.,  and  shoe-peggers.  The  latter  are  often  made  so  as  to  drive  a 
peg  into  the  shoe  the  moment  it  is  made  from  a  ribboi  of  hard  wood,  coiled 
up  like  a  spring  in  the  machine,  and  fed  forward  as  it  is  wanted.  Pegs  are 
also  made  by  the  bushel  by  means  of  it,  and  supplied  to  the  trade  for  iiand- 
pegging.  It  is  said  that  shoe-pegs  are  made  on  such  a  scale  in  Connecticut, 
and  so  cheaply,  that  they  are  sometimes  sold  for  oats,  —  a  legend  wiiich  will 
do  now  to  be  placed  on  the  shelf  with  the  kindred  tale  of  the  fortunes  made  by 
Connecticut  peddlers  in  retailing  wooden  machine-made  nutmegs.  .\  great 
deal  of  machinery  is  also  used  in  cutting  out  and  jointing  wooden  Toy-making 
tovs  and  automatons,  such  as  snakes,  clog-dancers,  dolls,  furni-  niachinery. 
turc.  mechanical  playthings,  wooden  pipes,  tenpins,  boats,  puzzles,  blocks,  &c. 
France  formerly  had  almost  a  monopoly  of  the  manufacture  of  toys,  and  her 
ingenuity  in  devising  new  ideas  is  still  unexcelled.  But  her  toys  have  been 
nearly  all  hand-made,  and  American  machine-made  wooden  toys  are  proving 
a  formidable  rival  to  the  product  of  her  factories.  They  have  become  so 
within  the  last  ten  years. 

Wood  is  one  of  tiie  raw  products  which    enter   into   the    manufacturing 
industries,  whose  cost  is  generally  so  small,  compared  with  the  labor  expended 
upon  it,  that  it  does  not  usually  form  any  material  part  of  the  cost   Extensive 
of  the  article  made  from  it.     Houses  and  bridges  which  contain  a   use  of  wood 
great  deal  of  luml)er  are,  of  course,  exceptions.     Usually  the  cost   '"   "'    '"*' 
ot  wooden-ware  is  attributable  chiefly  to  the  wages  of  the  men  employed  in 
its  manufacture.     Nine-tenths  of  the    selling-price   of  carriages,   toys,  ships, 
furniture,  the  minor  parts  of  a  house,  brackets,  picture-frames,  &:c..   Houses  and 
is  labor.     This  being  the  case,  and  labor  being  so  high  in  this  •'■""^ees. 
country,  the  public  necessity  for  an  extensive  employment  of  time  and  labor 
saving  machinery  in  the  manufacture  of  wood  is  apparent.     Congress  has  given 
protection  to  the  making  of  wooden-ware  by  a  heavy  tariff,  steadily   Wooden- 
maintained  ;  but,  without  the  aid  of  machinery  to  cheapen  produc-   ^^"• 
tion,  it  js  doubtful  whether  half  the  manufacturers  of  wood  in   this  country 
could  hold  their  grovmd  against  foreign  competition.    With  this  protection,  and  a 
l-'lcnty  of  machinery,  they  are  able  to  outstrip  all  rivals  m  supplying  the  Ameri- 
can market  with  all  wooden-ware  in  common  use  ;  and,  to  some  extent,  they  are 
now  able  to  export  common  goods.     They  have  long  been  able  to  export  ware 
fabricated  from  peculiar  American  woods,  such  as  hickory,  and  peculiar  inven- 
tions, like  the  cabinet  organ ;   but   it   is   only  recenUy,  and   by  the   aid  of 
machinery,  that  ware  made  of  common  woods  has  been  made  by  them  a 
feaiure  of  any  interest  in  the  export  trade.     Goods   upon  which  machinery 
cannot  be  employed,  and  which  require  the  expenditure  of  a  great  deal  of 
labor,  we  still  buy  of  other  nations ;    such  as  laccpiered  ware,  carved  wooden 
clocks,  carved   paper-knives,  elaborately-carved   cabinets   and   inlaid   tables, 
curious  sets  of  chess-men,  &c. 


512  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

The  numl)er  of  establislinients  in  the  United  States  CTiployii^e  wood-work- 
ing machinery  to  any  extent  in  1870  was  about  57,000,  They  were  the  fol- 
lowing :  — 

CLASS.  NO.   OP   FACTORIES. 

Agricultural  implements 2,076 

Boats 174 

Boxes 1,049 

Brooms 635 

Wagons 11,900 

Cars 17J 

Cooperage 4,901 

Cork-cutting 27 

Furniture ^   S>96o 

Hubs,  spokes,  and  fellies 302 

Kindling-wood 70 

Lumber  (planed) 1.113 

Lumber  (sawed) 25,817 

Lumber  (staves,  &c.) 15 

Musical  instruments 340 

Oars 25 

Sashes,  doors,  and  blinds 1,605 

Ship-building 762 

Shoe-pegs 26 

Washing-machines 64 

Wheelbanows 23 

Wheelwrights 3)6'3 

Wooden  brackets 65 

Wooden-ware liv) 

Wood  (turned  and  carved) 733 

These  establishments  employed  steam-engines,  wind-mills,  and  water 
wheels  which  had  a  capacity  of  850,000  horse  power ;  and  it  is  estimated, 
moderately,  that  the  iiumber  of  wood-working  machines  in  operation  \\\  the 
factories  and  mills  was  120,000.  Ten  years  ago  it  was  estimated  that  the 
total  number  of  wood-working  machines  in  France  was  only  10,000.  'ilic 
difference  is  partly  explained  by  the  circumstance  that  America  is  a  great  for- 
esting country,  and  not  only  obtains  from  her  own  woodlands,  and  works  up 
in  her  own  shops,  all  the  common  timber  she  consumes,  but  a  vast  amount  of 
lumber  is  sawed  and  planed  for  exportation  ;  whereas  France  is  obliged  to 
import  a  large  amoimt  of  timber  which  comes  to  her  already  prepared  for 
consumption.  Allowing  for  this  difference  in  the  foresting  products  of  thi' 
two  countries,  the  comparison  in  the  amount  of  wood-working  machinery 
employed  by  each  is  still  remarkable.  A  comparison  equally  favorable  to  tlic 
Americans  could  be  made  with  every  other  country  in  the  world.  To  build 
the  machinery  required  by  the  American  shops  devoted  to  wood-working,  and 
supply  that  which  is  required  to  replace  the  worn-out  and  antiquated,  calls  for 
the  services  of  several  hundred  machine-shops  and  the  labor  of  thousands  of 
our  countrymen. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


m 


FURNITURE. 

The  furniture-industry  had  no  definite  beginning,  as  did  some  of  the  other 
trades  of  the  country ;  though,  hke  the  mushroom  which  came  in  one  night 
through  a  tar-wallc,  it  had  a  definite  debut  in  society  as  a  full-  Rj^g  ^j  fy^. 
j,'n)wn  factory-industry.  It  grew  up  quietly  in  the  carpenter-shops  nitun  -man- 
scattered  through  the  land  in  every  village  and  hamlet,  beginning 
in  a  modest  way  with  simple  hard-wood  chairs,  benqhes,  dining-tables,  and 
bedsteads,  all  plain- 
ly but  strongly 
made,  and  without 
any  pretence  of 
style.  The  carpen- 
ter, when  oat  of  a 
job  of  hotvie-build- 
ing,  fillej  up  the 
(lull  Jays  with  fur- 
niture-making, not 
as  a  regular  trade, 
but  as  a  means  of 
saving  his  time. 
The  chairs  were 
straight-backed  af- 
fairs, often  with 
bent  hickory  arms. 
lliey  were  general- 
ly uncushioned,  but 
tbey  supported  the 
t'orm  admirably; 
and  so  well  did 
they  perform  their 
purpose,  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  heav- 
ily upholstered  and 
lirapod  chairs  of  the  chair. 

presen;:  era  of  fash- 
ionable art  are  far  less  comfortable  and  healthful  to  the  occupant  than  the 
luaint  hickory  chairs  which  come  down  to  us  in  ancienl  hoines  from  a  hundred 
years  ago.  The  tables  were  simple,  but  heavy.  They  generally  had  hinged 
leaves  in  order  to  economize  the  space  of  the  apartinent  when  not  in  use. 
Sometimes  they  were  made  so  that  the  whole  top  revolved  on  a  hinge,  and 
<"ould  be  turned  up  perpendicularly,  and  the  table  pushed  up  close  against  the 
*vall.     Oftentimes  the  tables  were  hinged  to  the  wall  of  the  room,  so  as  to  turn 


514 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


up  flat  against  it  when  not  in  use,  the  leg  of  the  table  hanging  down  against  it 
when  thus  raised,  but  swinging  down  into  its  proper  position  when  the  table 
was  lowered.  The  bedsteads  were  often  as  strongly  built  as  a  house.  There 
was  no  grudging  of  material  in  them.  The  four  posts  were  huge  and  high, 
and  the  sides  and  the  head-boards  almost  as  thick  as  the  side  of  a  siii[). 
A  framework  was  built  over  them  for  the  curtains  of  the  bed.  Less  fur- 
niture was  used  in  that  age  than  at  present,  and  the  wants  of  the  colonists 
were  amply  supplied  by  this  desultory  manufacture  in  the  carpenter-shops. 
Besides,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  a  great  deal  of  furniture  was  im- 
ported from  Europe.  Mahogany  furniture,  which  was  then  very  much  in 
fashion,  was  almost  exclusively  imported. 

After  the  Revolutionary 
war,  ornamental  woods  were 
Mahogany  freely  imported 
furniture.  f^om  the  West 
Indies  and  South  America. 
Carpenters  then  began  to 
make  mahogany  furniture,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  more  com- 
mon woods.  The  wood  was 
generally  worked  up  solid. 
The  chairs,  bedsteads,  cabi- 
nets, chests,  and  tables  into 
which  it  was  fashioned,  were 
all  made  by  hand ;  and  the 
workmen  lavished  upon  them 
an  amount  of  loving  carving 
and  decoration  which  sliowed 
that  their  hearts  were  in  the 
work.  Pieces  of  this  inas- 
sive  old  furniture  are  still  preserved  in  many  old  families  as  heirlooms ;  and 
when  they  stray  into  the  general  market,  as  they  occasionally  do,  they  are 
eagerly  snapped  up  by  wealthy  families  at  fabulous  prices.  There  was  not 
\ery  much  of  it  made,  however,  owing  to  its  cost  and  the  limited  demand  for 
it.  It  was  hard  to  make  it,  also,  in  competition  with  the  European  makers ; 
for  France,  England,  and  Germany  had  great  factories  employed  in  this  class 
of  manufactures,  and  furniture  could  be  turned  out  at  very  much  less  cost 
than  here. 

The  industry  first  began  to  differentiate  itself  from  the  general  carjienter- 
Furniture-  business  in  1812.  Congress  imposed  a  tax  of  thirty  per  cent  upon 
making  in  all  imported  articles  of  furniture,  and  maintained  a  duty  of  about 
*'"■  that  weight,  by  the  way,  under  all  subsequent  tarifls,  free  or  i)rotec- 

tive,  steadily.     The  two  or  three  years  of  war  following  1812  were  an  additional 


DENTIST  S   CHAIR. 


I)rotec( 

regular 

that  pt 

than  ke 

and  vig 

duction 

idea,  w 

backs  tc 

hutterni 

was  cor 

sale  lots 

silver-pI: 

were  in\ 

Ihe  use 

reach  of 

bureaus, 

growing  i 

bought  a 

making  s( 

native  inc 

of  the   n 

percentag 

common 

stream  of| 

The 
the  follow! 


'850 
1S60 
1S70 

iS;o  I 


Incit 
pic 
ma 


^Vithir 

'louse  for 
'ones  conl 
■■O'lgh  by  \ 
finished  fo| 
—  office. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


515 


protection  to  the  furniture-makers,  and  by  181 5  a  large  number  of  them  were 
regularly  engaged  in  the  business  in  all  principal  cities.  From  Rapij  devei- 
that  period  the  rise  of  the  industry  has  been  rapid :  it  has  more  opment  until 
than  kept  pace  with  population.  Soon  aft^r  18 15  American  ideas  *  **' 
and  vigor  began  to  manifest  themselves  in  the  business,  especially  in  the  pro- 
duction of  furniture  for  common  use.  The  rocking-chair,  a  purely  American 
idea,  was  largely  manufactured.  Straw,  cane,  wicker,  and  rattan  seats  and 
backs  to  chairs,  were  introduced.  New  woods  were  put  to  use,  such  as  cherry, 
butternut,  ash,  and  black-walnut.  Wicker-work  chairs  were  made.  Machinery 
was  constructed  to  produce  the  parts  of  chairs,  beds,  bureaus,  &c.,  in  whole- 
sale lots.  The  art  of  veneering  was  adopted,  which  was  to  furniture  what 
silver-plating  was  to  table-ware.  A  variety  of  charming  and  serviceable  forms 
were  invented,  and  all  furniture  was  made  lighter,  handsomer,  and  cheaper. 
The  use  of  machinery  cheapened  furniture  immensely,  and  brought  within  the 
reach  of  the  great  masses  of  the  people  that  profusion  of  chairs,  tables, 
bureaus,  &c.,  which  had  abounded  only  in  wealthy  houses.  The  country  was 
growing  in  wealth  too  rapidly.  The  sale  of  furniture  grew  enormously.  Families 
bought  a  dozen  pieces  of  it  where  they  had  bought  one  before,  and  furniture- 
making  soon  became  one  of  the  most  diffused  and  most  flourishing  forms  of 
native  industry.  By  1850  the  American  makers  had  almost  entire  possession 
of  the  market :  indeed,  they  had  possession  of  it  for  all  except  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  more  fashionable  and  costly  varieties.  The  quantity  of 
common  furniture  imported  was  a  mere  leaf  floating  on  the  surface  of  the 
stream  of  native  production. 

The  growth  of  the  business  since  1850  will  be  illustrated  by   Growth 
the  following  figures  :  —  *'"'=*  *^5°- 


1850 

i860 

1870 

/  Including  iron  bedstead,  refrigerator, 
1870^      picture -frame,    and     looking-glass  ^ 

(      makers 


FACTORIES. 


4,242 

3.594 
5,981 

6,312 


OPIiRATIVES. 


22,010 
27,016 
53.29^ 

57,091 


VALUE  OF 
TRODUCT. 


?  I  7,663,000 
25,032,000 
69,082,000 

75,539,000 


Within  the  last  twenty  years  the  business  has  become  subdivided  greatly. 
Very  few  makers  now  attempt  to  produce  all  the  articles  needed  to  equip  a 
house  for  occupancy.     In  the  thickly-wooded  districts  many  fac-    Recent  sub- 
tories  confine  themselves  simply  to  getting  out  furniture  in  the   division  of 
rouc:h  by  means  of  machinery,  sending  it  to  the  large  cities  to  be     "*'"'"• 
finished  for  the  market.     There  are  now  so  many  special  styles  of  chairs  made, 
—  office,  dining-room,  cane-seat,  wicker,  camp,  upholstered,  bent-wood,  and 


5'6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


SO  on,  —  that  large  numbers  of  makers  devote  themselves  to  one  specialty  in 
chairs.  Some  factories  make  a  specialty  of  sofas,  some  of  ottomans,  others 
of  tete-a-tetes  and  divans.  There  are  a  large  number  who  make  special  styles 
of  tables,  —  dining,  ironing,  card,  billiard,  extension,  library,  carved,  inlaid, 
and  centre  tables.  Some  make  bedsteads  alone  ;  though  the  common  plan  is 
now  to  make  bedroom-furniture  in  sets,  the  sets  including  a  bed,  bureau,  com- 
mode, washstand,  table,  and  three  or  four  chairs.  One  class  of  makers  now 
confine  themselves  to  gilded  or  enamelled  furniture ;  others  to  solid,  carved, 
and  inlaid  sets.  The  most  fashionable  makers  keep  a  corps  of  designers,  and 
make  sets  for  parlor,  bedroom,  dining-room,  &c.,  to  order,  often  taking  the 
measure  of  a  room,  and  adapting  the  pieces  to  it. 

It  is  only  within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  )'ears  that  American  makers  have 
begun  to  pay  any  especial  attention  to  a  foreign  trade.  As  furniture  is  a  class 
Cultivation  ^^  products  into  the  making  of  which  art  ideas  largely  enter,  and 
of  foreign  the  artistic  is  the  special  field  in  which  Americans  have  been 
maricets.  |jehind  the  rest  of  the  world,  the  furniture-dealers  have  been  afraid 
to  venture  into  the  foreign  markets.  At  the  Paris  Exhibition  in  1867  the 
United  States  were  represented  by  so  insignificant  a  display  of  furniture,  that  the 
visitor  would  not  have  known  that  they  were  represented  at  all.  The  display 
consisted  of  a  few  csmp-chairs,  a  few  rocking-chairs,  an  inlaid  table  from 
Wisconsin,  and  a  laurel-wood  door  from  California.  Our  manufacturers  have 
gained  confidence  since  1867.  In  1876  they  were  represented  at  Philadel- 
phia most  creditably  :  they  made  a  splendid  and  showy  display.  In  all  com- 
mon furniture  their  styles  were  original,  and  their  workmanship  of  superior 
description.  In  elegant  furniture  their  carving,  finish,  gilding,  &c.,  were  all 
that  could  be  desired,  and  were  fully  equal  to  those  of  foreign  makers.  That 
exhibition  was  a  great  encouragement  to  American  makers,  and  they  are  now- 
exporting  their  goods. 

The  one  weak  point  in  American  furniture  is  the  lack  of  originality  of  pat- 
tern in  the  more  artistic  pieces.  Every  thing  is  borrowed  from  the  ideas  of 
Lack  of  the  French  or  the  English.     Whatever  happens  for  the  time  to  be 

originality,  popular  abroad  —  whether  it  is  the  style  of  "Louis  XIV.,"  the 
"  Louis  XV."  patterns,  the  "  renaissance,"  the  "  rococo,"  the  "  Queen  Anne,"  the 
"  Eastlake,"  or  what  not  —  is  copied  immediately  and  slavishly  by  the  American 
designers.  This  fact  is  both  a  source  of  regret  to  their  countrymen,  and  is  tiie 
reason  why  so  much  costly  furniture  has  always  been  imported.  No  admirable 
American  style  has  been  developed ;  and  buyers  of  artistic  furniture  depend 
on  Europe  for  their  styles,  and  prefer,  when  possible,  to  buy  the  furniture  really 
made  in  the  workshops  which  set  the  style,  rather  than  the  imitation  by  the 
.American  workman.  Nothing  remains  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  common 
furniture  ;  but,  in  the  line  of  artistic  furniture,  every  thing  is  to  be  desired.  A 
gleam  of  the  dawn  of  a  better  order  of  things  was  seen  at  the  Philadelphia 
Exhibition  in  two  or  three  pieces,  bedsteads  all  of  them,  which  were  carved  in 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


5»7 


a  truly  American  style,  deriving  its  inspiration  from  a  study  of  the  plants  of 
our  own  soil,  and  from  a  study  of  American  ideas.  One  was  carved  with  the 
symbolic  ornaments  of  the  lily,  the  poppy,  and  the  Virginia  creeper.  Here 
was  a  suggestion  of  an  American  style.  When  the  idea  shall  have  been  devel- 
oped, and  American  pattern-makers  shall  fill  their  heads  with  ideas  taken  from 
the  suggestions  of  our  own  beloved  land  and  reproduce  them  in  their  furni- 
ture, they  will  occupy  a  position  inferior  to  none  among  civilized  nations. 

STARCH. 

When  Mr.  Tilden,  after  his  defeat  for  the  Presidency  in  1877,  got  back  from 
his  subseciuent  trip  to  Europe,  he  made  a  speech  from  his  residence  in  Gra- 
mercy  Park,  New-York  City,  of  which  the  newspapers  made  a 
great  deal  of  fun.  He  alluded  to  the  variety  of  products  in  this 
country  which  are  not  yet  manufactured  and  utilized  for  the  foreign  trade  to 
the  extent  of  which  they  are  capable.  "  Especially  cereals,"  he  said.  He 
then  went  on  to  specify  Indian-corn,  which  can  be  prepared  in  so  "  many 
delicious  forms  for  human  food."  Acting  on  the  suggestion  that  Europe  needs 
to  be  civilized,  and  life  there  made  joyous  by  imparting  to  its  people  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  mysteries  of  cooking  this  succulent  grain  into  pudding,  corn-cake, 
mush,  &c.,  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt  of  New  York  proposed  in  Congress  that  a 
corn-kitchen  should  be  established  at  Paris  at  the  Exhibition  of  1878,  in  order 
to  create  a  demand  in  Europe  for  Indian-corn  by  showing  the  natives  how  to 
cook  it.  This,  in  turn,  made  sport  for  the  newspapers,  and  the  sky  was  dark- 
ened with  the  clouds  of  lurid  paragraphs  and  bad  jokes  which  filled  the  air. 

In  s[)ite  of  the  American  propensity  for  looking  at  the  funny  side  of  every 
thing,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  tnith  in  Mr.  Tilden's  remarks.  The  United 
States  do  not  yet  utilize  their  grains  for  export  to  the  extent  of  which  they  are 
capable,  and  there  is  a  vast  field  here  open  for  profitable  effort.  The  success 
of  one  single  branch  of  the  manufacture  of  cereals  is  indicative  of  what  may 
yet  be  done  in  other  directions. 

Corn-starch  is  purely  an  American  invention.     Its  birth  dates  from  1842. 
Previous  to  that  year,  all  the  starch  known  to  commerce  was  made  from  wheat, 
barley,  rice,  and  potatoes,  principally  from  the  first  and  last  named,   corn-starch 
Potato-starch  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  in  1S02  by  John   an  American 
Biddis  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  a  large  number  of  factories  wre  built   '"^*""°"- 
to  make  the  article,  especially  in  the  cotton-factory  districts,  the  factories  being 
their  principal  customers.     A  number  of  wheat-starch  factories  were  also  built. 
Abroad  wheat  was  the  principal  material  used.     The  consumption  of  starch 
made  from  it  was  enormous,  especially  in  England  and  France,  whose  cotton- 
factories  took  a  large  part  of  the  whole  product.     In  1842  Thomas  Thomas 
Kingsford,  while  superintending   the  wheat-starch  factory  of  W.   Kingsford. 
Colgate  &  Company  in  New  Jersey,  made  experiments  with  corn,  and  satisfied 


5i8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


himself  that  corn-starch  would  be  a  better  commercial  article  in  some  respects 
than  any  other.  In  1848  a  factory  was  built  for  him  at  Oswego,  N.Y.,  by 
gentlemen  living  in  the  city  of  Auburn  in  the  same  State,  the  location  being 
selected  on  account  of  the  ease  of  obtaining  large  shipments  of  corn  from 
the  West  at  Oswego  by  an  all-water  route,  and  on  account  of  the  nearness  of 
Oswego  to  the  large  commercial  cities  and  manufacturing  States.  'I'he  factory 
was  a  prosperous  concern  from  the  outset ;  and  it  has  grown  so  fast,  that  it 
occupies  ten  acres  of  land,  and  has  machinery  for  treating  950,000  bushels  of 
corn  a  year.  Its  product  is  now  al)0ut  10,300  tons  of  starch  a  year.  In  1S58 
another  great  concern  was  started  at  Olen  Cove,  L.I.,  by  the  seven  Messrs. 
Duryea.  The  two  establishments  are  now  the  largest  starch-factories  in  the 
world.  After  i860,  when  the  two  concerns  had  fairly  developed  their  capabili- 
ties, they  put  an  end,  for  the  first  time  in  history,  to  the  importations  of  stardi 
to  the  United  States.  They  followed  th!s  up  by  an  eni')hatic  bid  for  foreign 
patronage.  They  sent  their  starch  all  over  the  world.  They  made  it  in  three 
forms,  —  for  cooking  (in  which  form  it  is  called  "maizena"),  for  laundry-use, 
and  for  cotton-factory  purposes ;  and  they  got  gold  medals  for  it  everywhere, 
Exports  of  and  enormous  orders.  In  1864  the  export  was  scarce  1,000,000 
starch.  pounds:  in  1877  it  was  barely  short  of  10,000,000.     The  success 

of  the  two  great  concerns  named  has  led  oliiers  into  the  business,  which  is 
Corn-starch  '^''S^  ^"^  prospering.  Corn-starch  has  not,  however,  suj^erseded 
vs.  wheat-  the  manufacture  of  wheat-starch,  and  that  branch  of  the  business 
is  also  continued  on  a  large  scale.  In  1870  the  total  number  of 
starch-factories  in  the  United  States  was  195,  the  number  of  operatives  2,072, 
and  the  product  worth  $5,995,000.  The  business  is  destined  to  have  a  great 
future  development. 

The  proportions  of  native  starch  in  the  different  grains  is  as  follows  :  Corn, 
from  sixty  to  eighty-five  per  cent ;  wheat,  sixty  jier  cent ;  rye,  sixty  ;  oats,  forty- 
six  ;  barley,  fifty-seven  ;  rice,  sixty-one  ;  pease,  thirty-seven  ;  and  beans,  thirty- 
eight  ;  and  the  percentage  in  potatoes  is  sixty-two.  There  is  no  reason  wliy 
corn-starch  — so  delicious  for  food,  and  so  valuable  as  sizing,  and  so  cheap  — 
should  not  supersede  all  others,  and  why  the  United  States  should  not  supjily 
the  greater  part  of  the  world  with  it.  Its  use  as  food  is  rajiidly  increasing. 
It  needs  only  to  be  known  to  be  embraced  as  a  regular  part  of  the  bill  of  fare. 
Perhaps  it  is  a  pity  that  the  corn-kitchen  of  Mr.  Hewitt  was  not  added  to  the 
Exhibition  of  1878,  after  all,  as  one  of  the  attractions  of  the  American 
department. 


WINE,    SPIRITS,    AND    BEER. 

One  of  the  forms  in  which  the  grains  and  fruits  and  other  raw  products  of 
the  United  States  are  utilized  for  commerce  is  in  the  manufacture  of  stimulat- 
ing beverages.  Mr.  Tilden  did  not  refer  to  this  class  of  manufactures  wlien 
he  commended  the  idea  of  bringing  the  things  which  can  be  made  out  of  tlie 


|L 


r 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


5'9 


cereals  of  the  land  to  the  attention  of  foreign  nations.     There  has  been  ample 
development  in  that  direction  already. 

Nearly  all  the  colonists  of  America,  especially  those  living  south  of  Con- 
necticut, brought  with  them  to  this  country  a  taste  for  wine,  beer,  and  whiskey. 
The  latter  two  beverages  were  popular  among  the  middle  and  laboring  classes 
in  Mngland  and  tiie  Netherlands,  and  the  former  among  the  gentry.  Early  use  of 
Wine  was  a  luxury  which  almost  all  who  came  to  this  continent  stimulants 
had  to  do  without  for  a  long  period  ;  but  the  population  began  to  ^  ^^  ""'*'- 
make  beer  and  wliiskey,  and  to  import  what  they  could  not  make,  almost  as 
soon  as  they  landctl  from  their  ships.  In  every  large  company  of  artisans  sent 
out  to  the  colonies,  a  few  brewers  were  regularly  included  among  the  rest. 
I'or  a  long  period,  however,  the  majority  of  the  colonists  brewed  their  own 
beer  at  home,  just  as  many  farmers  do  still,  in  this  present  age  of  colonists 
huge  breweries  and  cheap  lager,  in  the  country-towns  in  the  hay-  brewed  beer. 
ing  anil  harvest  season.  In  1649  it  is  rejjorted  that  Virginia  had  "six  public 
hrew-houses  ;  but  most  brew  their  own  beer,  strong  and  good."  Virginia  gave 
a  warmer  welcome  to  luxuries  of  this  description  than  some  of  the  other  colo- 
nies ;  but  the  condition  of  things  was  about  the  same  in  all  the  neighboring 
provinces.  There  were  public  breweries  here  and  there  ;  but  most  people 
made  their  own  beverages.  In  New  England  alone  was  there  no  welcome  to 
stimulating  drinks. 

I5y  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  distillation  of  whiskey  from  corn  and 
other  grains  had  begun,  and  was  practised  to  a  very  wide  extent.  The  stills 
were  small ;  but  there  were  a  great  many  of  them.  They  were  Distillation 
scattered  all  through  well-settled  and  sparsely-settled  districts  °'  whiskey. 
alike.  The  whiskey  made  was  a  purer  article  than  that  i)ut  upon  the  market 
at  present,  and  could  be  drunk  in  greater  cpiantity  without  danger.  It  was  so 
cheap  and  so  common,  that  those  who  made  it  carried  it  about  in  j)ails  to  sell 
to  men  at  work  on  buildings  and  public  imjirovements,  anil  handed  it  out  in  a 
dipper.  The  old  records  of  the  county  clerk's  offices  show  that  the  owners 
of  stills  in  various  States  acquired  a  great  deal  of  property  by  l)artering  whiskey 
for  real  estate.  It  was  often  stipulated  in  deeds  that  the  land  should  be  paid 
for  in  so  many  barrels  of  whiskey  down,  and  such  or  such  a  quantity,  to  be  paid 
in  the  form  of  a  pint  a  day,  to  be  drunk  at  the  still. 

Spirits  and  beer  were  so  extensively  consumed  at  that  early  day,  that,  when 
Congress  took  up  the  first  tariff  bill  in  1789,  the  tax  on  this  class  of  luxuries 
was  very  carefully  considered,  as  being  a  thing  which  affected  the 
people  closely,  and  which  would  be  likely  to  yield  a  large  revenue. 
Jamaica  rum  was  very  extensively  consumed  among  the  other  varieties  of 
stimulat'ng  beverages.  The  bad  effects  of  spirits  on  the  morals  and  health  of 
the  people  were  spoken  of  by  several  congressmen,  and  it  was  universally 
resolved  to  tax  them  as  high  as  there  was  any  probability  whatever  of  collect- 
ing a  duty.    Alexander  Hamilton's  report  on  the  finances  in  1 790  stated,  "  The 


Tariff  of  1789. 


S*o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


consumption  of  ardent  spirits,  no  doubt  very  much  on  account  of  their  cheap- 
ness, is  carried  to  an  extreme  ;  which  is  truly  to  be  regretted,  as  well  in  regard 
to  the  health  and  morals  as  the  economy  of  the  community."  Mr.  Hamilton 
recommended  a  tax  which  would  operate  in  favor  of  increasing  the  use  of 
cider  and  malt-li(iuors,  and  decreasing  that  of  whiskey.  Congress  assented  tc 
the  principle,  and  taxed  spirits  heavily.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  tht 
result  was  only  to  increase  the  home-manufacture  of  whiskey,  which  now 
became  very  profitable.  As  a  moral  measure,  the  duty  had  little  effect,  what 
ever  result  it  may  have  had  as  a  source  of  revenue. 

The  manufacture  of  whiskey  and  beer  has  kept  even  pace  with  the  increase 
of  population  in  the  United  States.  A  strong  public  opinion  has  ex(  hided 
Growth  of  stimulating  beverages  from  several  of  the  States,  —  particularly 
manufacture  those  of  New  England,  —  and  it  has  limited  their  use  among  rc- 
o  w  18  ey.  spectable  people  in  all,  except,  perhaps,  in  regard  to  ordinary  beer. 
which  is  a  comparatively  harmless  drink,  as  it  certainly  is  an  agreeable  one,  and 
which  is  increasing  in  use  constantly.  But,  in  spite  of  public  opinion  and  of 
active  temperance  agitation,  there  has  been  so  far  a  steady  growth  in  the  manu- 
facture. The  late  war,  with  its  passionate  excitements  and  its  wearing  expos- 
ures in  the  field,  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  consumption  and  manufacture  of 
whiskey ;  and  though  the  passion  has  died  out,  and  the  exposure  is  at  an  eiui. 
the  tastes  acquired  in  the  field  still  linger,  and  maintain  the  demand  for  spirits. 
The  consumption  is  now  enormous.  Considering  how  large  a  proportion  of 
the  population  never  touch  a  stimulating  beverage,  ladies  and  children  particu- 
larly giving  spirits  a  wide  berth,  it  is  an  extraordinary  thing  to  find  that  61,000- 
000  gallons  of  whiskey  are  now  annually  produced  in  the  United  States,  and 
7,000,000  barrels  of  beer ;  and  that,  in  addition  to  this,  about  400  factories 
are  busily  engaged  all  the  time  in  producing  wines,  brandies,  and  champagne 
for  the  American  market.  In  1870  the  industry  presented  the  following 
statistics :  — 


Cider 

Spirits 

Ale  and  beer   . 

Wine  and  brandy 


ESTAni.lSH- 
MUNTS. 


547 

719 

1,972 

398 


OPERATIVES. 


1,472 

5.>3' 

12.443 

1,486 


VAUE  OF 
I'KOULXT. 


$1,537,000 

36,191,000 

55,706,000 

2,225,000 


These  were  the  establishments  oflficially  reported.  To  these  must  be 
added,  however,  a  large  number  of  whiskey-stills  conducted  illicitly  in  the 
Illicit  dia.  mountains  of  the  South  and  in  the  large  cities  of  the  Nortli.  the 
tiuine.  number  of  which  is  not  known.     There  .ire  a  very  large  number 

of  these  illicit  stills.     The  revenue-officers  are  constantly  breaking  them  up; 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


5" 


I 


but  they  spring  up  again  as  thick  as  frogs  after  a  shower,  and  they  add  to  the 
total  prochict  of  the  country  in  spirits  millions  of  gallons  yearly.  There  was 
great  temptation  toward  illicit  distilling  in  the  few  years  following  the  war,  when 
the  tariff  duty  on  imported  whiskey  was  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  gallon, 
and  the  internal-revenue  tax  on  that  made  within  the  country  two  dollars  a 
gallon.  Since  the  tax  was  reduced  to  fifty  cents  a  gallon,  the  amount  of 
secret  distilling  has  very  much  decreased,  owing  to  the  removal  of  the  tem|)ta- 
tion  ;  but  it  is  still  considerable.  Latterly,  distillers  in  the  North  have  added 
surreptitiously  to  the  real  production  of  the  country  by  managing  to  put  upon 
the  market  a  large  amount  of  whiskey  which  has  not  paid  the  government  tax, 
and  which,  conse(iuently,  made  no  figure  in  the  returns  of  the  total  amount  of 
whiskey  produced.  These  whiskey  frauds  created  a  great  public  sensation  in 
1876  at  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  and  in  1878  at  Cincinnati.  Prominent  and 
respectable  houses  were  engaged  in  them.  The  extent  of  these  evasions  of 
the  law  has  been  so  great,  counting  in  both  the  illicit  distillation  and  the  failure 
to  report  to  the  government  the  full  product  of  the  regular  distilleries,  that 
there  ought  to  be  added  to  the  figures  above  given  of  total  annual  product  of 
spirits  from  5,000,000  to  10,000,000  gallons  to  approximate  to  the  real  truth 
of  the  matter.  'l"he  proiluction  of  beer  is  probably  correctly  returned.  There 
is  less  temptation  to  deceive  the  government  in  regard  to  its  manufacture. 
Probably  7,000,000  barrels  is  the  real  annual  product. 

The  large  whiskey-making  States  are  New  York,  which  has  about  fifty  stills  ; 
Pennsylvania,  a  hundred  and  ten  stills ;  New  Jersey,  fifty-seven  stills ;   Ohio, 
seventy-five   stills;    Indiana,  thirty-six    stills;    Illinois,   fifty   stills;   chief whis- 
Kontucky,  a  hundred  and  forty  stills ;  Tennessee,  forty-four  stills,   key-produ- 
and  Virginia,  forty-nine  stills.  *^'"*   tates. 

The  large  brewing  States  are  New  York,  which  has  now  about  two  hundred 
and  ninety  breweries  ;  Ohio,  two  hundred  breweries ;  Pennsylvania,  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty;   Indiana,  a  hundred;  Illinois,  a  hundred  and   chief  brew- 
fifty ;   Michigan,  a  hundred  and  thirty;   California,  ninety;   Mis-   ing states, 
souri,  ninety  ;  Iowa,  a  hundred  and  five  ;  New  Jersey,  fifty ;  and  Wisconsin,  a 
hundred  and  eigiity. 

During  the  days  of  the  high  tariff  on  whiskey,  a  great  deal  of  smuggling 
of  this  article  into  the  country  was  done  from  Canada.  Near  Toronto  there 
are  a  number  of  distilleries  of  a  superior  quality  of  whiskey,  the  whiskey 
product  of  wiiich  many  prefer  to  buy  in  the  open  market,  paying  smuggling. 
tariff  and  all,  rather  than  purchase  the  home  article.  The  ])rofit  on  the  smug- 
gling of  Canada  whiskey  was  so  great,  that,  for  years,  the  whole  frontier  had  to 
be  watched  with  imsleeping  vigilance  in  order  to  head  ofi"  those  who  were 
bringing  in  the  untaxed  article  to  the  United  States.  It  was  brought  over  in 
wagons,  boats,  in  small  quantities  concealed  about  the  person,  in  tin  babies, 
and  in  a  thousand  other  ways. 

Whiskey  is  made  by  distilling  a  fermented  mash  composed  of  corn,  wheat, 


$at 


IND  US  TRIA  L    H!S  TOR  Y 


barley,  rye,  or  oats,  or  a  mixture  of  them.  Hourbon  whiskey  —  so  called 
from  Bourb')n  County,  Kentucky  —  is  made  from  fifty  to  sixty  per  cent  of  com, 
Proceii  of  and  forty  to  fifty  of  small  grain  ;  ten  per  cent  being  malt,  and  tiie 
itiitiUing.  rest  rye.  Monongahela  whiskey — named  after  the  county  in 
I'ennsylvania  of  that  title  —  is  made  from  rye,  with  ten  per  cent  of  malt  addid. 
C^anada  whiskey  is  made  from  rye,  wheat,  and  corn  mixed,  with  five  per  c  cut 
of  malt.  The  number  of  pounds  of  spirits  containing  forty-five  per  cent  of 
alcohol  which  can  be  obtaineil  from  a  hundred  pounds  of  grain  is  as  fol- 
lows :  Wheat,  forty  to  forty-five  ;  rye,  thirty-six  to  forty-two  ;  barley,  forty  ; 
oats,  thirty-six  ;  buckwheat,  forty  ;  corn,  forty.  Pure  whiskey  contains  about 
fifty  per  cent  of  alcohol.  A  large  part  of  that  sold  in  the  market  is  not 
whiskey  at  all,  however,  but  a  mixture  of  high  wines  (spirits  containing  more 
than  sixty  per  cent  of  alcohol)  with  various  substances  to  give  it  color  and 
taste.  The  ingredients  put  into  s|)irits  to  make  commercial  whiskey  are  often 
of  the  most  frightful  and  poisonous  description  ;  it  has  been  repeatedly  enough 
proved  in  New  Hngland  to  make  a  man  reform  from  drinking  siini)ly  '•> 
showing  him  just  what  the  whiskey  he  has  been  drinking  was  composed  of. 
There  are,  however,  some  comparatively  harmless  mixtures  which  are  sohl  as 
"pure  liourbon,"  iV'c,  in  which  the  sjjirits  are  simply  flavored  with  i)each  ami 
hickory  nut,  pure  brandy,  oil  of  Cognac,  and  vinegar,  ameliorated  with  give  c- 
rine,  and  colored  with  burnt  sugar.  A  great  deal  of  chcai)  whiskey  is  expoitid 
to  Europe  to  be  manufactured  there  into  Holland  gin  and  good  Cognac 
brandy  by  flavoring  and  redistillation. 

It  is  not  intended  here  to  go  into  the  moral  side  of  the  (lucstion  of  ihi-. 
industry  in  the  United  States,  except  merely  to  say  that  the  moral  side  of  it, 
Moral  rank  which  cannot  be  entirely  ignored,  prevents  the  industry  from  ])i.iii}j; 
of  industry,  (^i^ssetl  among  those  which  are  beneficial  to  our  beloved  country. 
It  would  be  better  for  the  land  and  for  our  countrymen  were  the  industry  to 
decline.  Three-ciuarters  of  the  spirits  produced  can  be  si)ared.  MikKtii 
science  shows  that  the  temperate  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  not  bad  lor 
certain  temperaments ;  but  it  also  shows  that  even  the  tempera*  if  ' 

for  the  majority  of  men,  and  that  vice,  pauperism,  dis(    ntci  i'  ■ 

and  disease  follow  in  the  train  of  its  use  invariably.  lai! 

which  refrain   from  the  consumption  of  ardent  spin         .a  v.u,         )f  v 
content,  and  the  gentleness  and  grace  of  life,  enter  an     i.ike  wy    .leir  aboilc. 
Less  than  one-ciuarter  of  the  alcohol  and  distilled  spirits  now   iianiifactiirtil 
in  this  country  is  really  needed  as  chemical  solvents  in  the  arts. 

The  manufacture  of  wine  is  an  enterprise  of  recent  date  in  the  United 
States :  it  is  probably  not  over  twenty  years  old,  and  has  not  yet  readied 
Manufac-  special  development.  The  citizen  and  the  statesman  look  with 
lure  of  greater  interest  on  this  branch  of  the  business  than  on  the  prc- 

*''"'■  ceding  two.     The  first  .American  wines  were  really  a  sort  of  clari- 

fied cider,  which  was  sold  in  the  market  by  the  name  of  champagne  and 


really  wa 
tu  be,  an( 
was.     W'i 
period,  bi 
and  the 
been  so  ) 
have  lon,y 
twenty  yc 
even  in  t 
States  art 
iiihments 
hundretl  ; 
with  nine 

S2,225,00( 

of  the  sp; 
rally,  and 
fermentatit 
to  llavor  ai 
the  inanufa 
against  tin 
abroad.  .1 
world's  fail 
or  thirty  W( 
(lelphia,  in 
the  Califon 
vine  in  the 
an  existenc 
Krai)es  a  y 
larj,'est  livin 
the  "  Youn^ 
long,  is  now 
feet,  and  yi< 


There  ai 
cotton,  whic 
'  mdition  f( 
51 '.000,000  • 
ha.us  for  m 
wheat,  i,30( 
000.000  bu: 
unmeasured 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


5*3 


really  was  not  a  bad  substitute  for  it,  except  that  it  was  not  what  it  professed 
to  be,  and  was  therefore  a  sham,  no  matter  how  pleasant  a  beveraj?e  it  really 
w.is.  Wines  have  been  made  in  California  and  in  New  Mexico  for  a  long 
period,  but  only  on  an  extremely  small  scale.  The  grapes  of  tlujse  regions, 
and  the  sunny  climate,  led  naturally  to  wine-making  ;  and  the  produce  has 
been  so  good,  that  the  Spanish  |)()pulation,  and  lovers  of  good  living  there, 
ha\e  long  chanted  the  praises  of  their  native  wines.  It  is  only  within  about 
twenty  years,  however,  that  there  has  been  any  special  manufactine  of  wine 
e\en  in  those  siunmery  portions  of  our  national  domain.  The  wineinaking 
States  are  now  .Missouri,  which  in  1870  had  a  hundred  and  ninety  estab- 
li-.hments  which  are  devoted  to  wines  and  brandies ;  California,  with  a 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  establishments;  Ohio,  with  thirty-eight;  New  York, 
with  nine;  and  Illinois,  with  five.  The  total  product  in  1870  was  worth 
S2, J 25,000.  The  .American  wines  are  both  retl  and  white,  and  comprise  many 
of  the  sparkling,  or  champagne,  variety.  They  are  not  very  delicate  natu- 
rally, and  they  are  made  heavy  by  the  addition  of  alcohol  and  sugar  before 
fernuMilation.  Were  they  made  of  the  pure  juice  of  the  gra|)e,  with  a  view 
to  llavor  and  gentle  exhilaration,  rather  than  for  strength  and  beautiful  color, 
the  manufacturers  would  do  much  toward  removing  the  strong  popular  feeling 
against  them,  and  would  secure  for  them  a  larger  sale  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  .American  wine-makers  do  not  now  hesitate,  however,  to  api)ear  at 
world's  fairs,  and  compete  with  the  makers  of  the  older  countries.  Twenty 
or  thirty  were  at  Paris  in  1867:  others  were  at  Vienna  in  1873.  At  Phila- 
delphia, in  1876,  a  show  was  made  by  thirty  makers.  At  the  latter  exhibition 
the  Californians  showed  not  only  a  great  variety  of  wines,  but  the  largest  grape- 
vine in  the  world, — the  famous  Montecitc-vine  of  Santa  Ikirbara,  which,  after 
an  existence  of  fifty  or  sixty  years,  during  which  it  bore  about  six  tons  of 
grajjes  a  year,  had  then  only  recently  died.  California  still  ])ossesses  the 
largest  living  grape-vine  in  the  world,  variously  called  the  "Daughter  Vine,"  or 
the  "  Voung  Mammoth."  It  grows  near  the  place  where  the  former  thrived  so 
long,  is  now  eleven  inches  in  diameter,  covers  an  area  of  ten  thousanil  scjuare 
feet,  and  yields  from  eight  thousand  to  ten  thousand  pounds  of  fruit  a  year. 

CORDAGE    AND    BAGGING. 


There  are  now  raised  in  the  United  States  every  year  4,600,000  bales  of 
•  otton,  which  have  to  be  enclosed  in  coarse,  stout  bags  in  order  to  be  in  a 
imlitioii    for  transportation   to    market.     There   are   also  raised   _,      ^..     , 

1  Quantity  of 

50.000,000  pounds  of  wool,  which  must  also  be  put  up  in  thick  baling  and 
l)aus   for   market.     There    are,   besides,    200,000,000   bushels    of  baggmgstuff 

'^  required. 

wheat,   1,300,000,000  bushels  of  corn,  and  an  average  of  400,- 

000.000   bushels  of  other  grain,   besides    140,000,000   bushels  of  potatoes, 

unmeasured   apples,  and  uncounted  tons  of  flour,  produced ;    the  principal 


524 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


part  of  wliich  stuff  spends  a  portion  of  its  time  in  bags  of  thick  cloth  or 
tenacious  paper  after  it  leaves  the  farm  and  the  mill,  and  before  it  is  finally 
consumed  by  man.  The  number  of  bags  which  have  to  be  manufactured 
every  year  to  accommodate  this  enormous  supply  of  produce  can  only  be 
counted  by  the  tens  of  millions.  It  is  so  large  as  to  be  a  matter  of  inter- 
national importance ;  and  foreign  merchants  and  manufacturers  are  fond  of 
studying  how  they  can  manage  to  furnish  to  the  United  States  the  largest 
share  possible  of  the  bags  she  requires  every  year,  or  of  the  raw  material  from 
which  the  bags  can  be  made. 

Another  class  of  goods  which  enters  into  even  more  universal  consump- 
tion in  the  United  States  comprises  ropes,  cables,  and  twine.  No  great 
Cables,  sailing-vessel  leaves  a  port  of  our  country  without  going  out  with 

ropes,  &c.  iiom  one  to  three  miles  of  ropes  and  cordage  aboard  of  her, 
either  strung  aloft  as  rigging,  or  coiled  below  as  cables  and  spare  ropes.  No 
vessel,  in  fact,  large  or  small,  stirs  without  a  certain  amount  of  cordage 
aboard  ;  not  even  a  canal-boat,  which,  at  least,  must  have  towing  and  mooring 
cables.  As  there  are  23,000  large  ships  and  steamers  belonging  to  the  people 
of  he  United  States,  and  3,000  canal-boats  and  barges,  it  will  be  seen  that 
immense  quantities  of  cordage  are  consumed  "^very  year  in  the  furnicure  of 
the  veiiicles  of  ocean  and  river  commerce.  Besides  this,  every  theatre  in 
the  country  has  a  forest  of  rigging  behind  the  scenes.  Every  new  building, 
and  work  of  construction,  is  erected  by  means  of  ropes.  Every  awning, 
flag,  tower-bell,  curtain,  fishing-boat,  and  railroad-train  requires  the  use  of 
ropes  and  lines.  Every  package  done  up  at  the  store  must  have  a  piece  of 
twine.  Cordage,  in  fact,  is  in  universal  demand.  The  Yankee  schoolboy, 
who  always  carries  two  or  three  pieces  of  twine  in  his  pocket,  illustrates  tlie 
law  under  which  we  all  live  in  respect  to  cordage ;  for,  while  we  do  not  all 
go  about  in  the  world  with  a  wild  mass  of  string  and  ends  of  rope  in  our 
pockets,  we  could  not  get  through  life  comfortably  without  the  instrumentalit\ 
of  that  useful  class  of  goods. 

Cordage  and  Dagging  are  made  from  the  same  classes  of  coarse  vegetable- 
Materials  fibres,  —  flax,  hemp,  and  jute.  Cotton  is  sometimes  used  for  small 
used.  ropes,  and  generally  for  twine. 

Rope-making  was  one  of  the  earliest  mechanical  pursuits  of  the  colo- 
nists of  America;  they  being  impelled  to  exert  their  skill  in  that  direction 
u^  ^_  by  the  need  of  rigging  for  their  ships,  and  of  nets  and  lines  for 

making  their  fishing-boats.     Virginia  raised  a  great  deal  of  hemp  and 

an  early  ^^^  jj^  ^^^   ^^^y^^  ycars  of  the    province;    and   after  1629  New 

England  raised  hemp  also.  A  sort  of  wild  hemp  grew  in  the 
latter  district,  from  which  the  Indians  made  nets  and  lines ;  but  this  was  not 
what  the  white  man  cultivated.  Hemp-seed  was  obtained  from  England  and 
Holland,  and  the  domestic  plant  was  the  one  cultivated.  By  164 1  a  'oiie- 
walk  had  been  started  in  Boston  by  John  Harrison.     In  1662  John  Herman 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


525 


was  authorized  to  make  cordage  at  Charlestown.  This  industry  was,  unac- 
countably, not  opposed  by  Parliament ;  and,  there  being  no  weight  upon  its 
practice,  it  was  taken  up  rapidly  by  Connecticut  and  other  colonies.  By  1 698 
there  were  several  rope-walks  in  Philadelphia,  some  of  them  being  owned  by 
Joseph  Wilcox.  The  native  culture  of  hemp  began  to  fall  off  about  this 
time.  This  luxuriant  plant,  growing  from  four  to  twelve  feet  high,  as  fast  and 
as  strongly  as  Indian-corn,  exhausted  the  soil.  In  Virginia  it  began  to  be 
abandoned  for  tobacco,  and  in  the  North  for  crops  less  taxing  to  the  soil. 
This  did  not  prevent  the  cordage-makers  from  getting  raw  material,  however. 
An  importation  of  hemp  from  Russia  and  other  hemp-countries  took  place, 
sufficient  to  satisfy  all  demands.  Parliament  sought  to  stimulate  the  growth 
of  hemp  here  by  offering  in  1 703  a  bounty  of  six  pounds  per  ton  of  hemp, 
"  bright  and  clean,"  which  should  be  exported  to  England ;  but  the  effort 
did  not  avail  much,  and  the  bounty  was  not  long  maintained.  Virginia 
and  other  colonies  offered  bounties  also  for  hemp-raising  at  different  times : 
but  it  did  not  pay  to  raise  hemp  on  a  very  large  scale  when  the  soil  was 
so  available  for  tobacco  and  plants  of  that  rank ;  and  the  country  has 
never,  from  that  day  to  this,  raised  all  the  hemp  it  could  con-  culture  of 
sume.  For  the  last  twenty  years,  from  20,000  to  40,000  tons  of  ^emp. 
the  material  have  been  imported  annually.  The  culture  of  hemp  is  now 
confined  principally  to  the  States  of  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Missouri.  Flax  is  now  the  more  popular  crop  with  farmers, 
because  its  seed  is  so  valuable  for  the  oil  it  contains,  and  the  crop  does  not 
tax  the  soil  so  heavily.  It  is  raised  principally  in  the  West,  Ohio  producing 
more  than  half  of  the  whole  crop.  The  production  is  about  15,000  tons  of 
fibre  a  year,  and  1,700,000  bushels  of  seed.  Flax,  however,  still  lias  to  be 
imported  at  the  rate  of  from  4,000  to  6,000  tons  a  year  to  supply  the  demand 
for  it,  because  the  farmers  throw  away  the  fibre  half  of  the  time,  being  content 
when  they  have  gathered  the  seed.  Flax  was  raised  abundantly  during  the 
cotton-famine  in  the  North  resulting  from  the  late  war ;  but  its  culture  fell 
DiT  again  after  the  cotton-crop  of  1 866  came  into  1  he  market. 

Hemp  is  prepared  for  rope-making  by  exposure  to  the  dew  and  weather  in 
the  fields,  or  by  sorking  in  tanks  of  water ;  both  of  which  processes  have  the 
same  effect,  —  namely,  of  decomposing  and  washing  out  the  natu-   proce««  of 
ral  glue  in  the  bark  of  the  plant,  which  unites  the  fibres  of  the  bark  rope-mak- 
into  a  tenacious  peel.     When  the  fibre  readily  separates,  the  hemp  '"^' 
is  removed  from  the  woody  heart  of  the  plant,  dried,  and  prepared  for  spin- 
ning by  hackling.     This  process  is  simply  combing  by  hand  to  get  out  the 
liust  and  tow.    After  the  hand-treatment  it  is  hackled  finer  in  a  machine,  and 
then  combed  by  another  machine  —  the  "  spreader  "  —  into  a  long,  loose  roll 
of  fibre  called  a  "  sliver."     One  or  two  of  the  slivers  are  then  passed  through 
a  "  drawing-frame,"  in  which  they  pass  through  two  sets  of  rolls  (the  second 
set  moving  faster  than  the  first),  by  which  means  the  sliver  is  drawn  out  and 


5^6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


attenuated.  The  sliver  then  goes  to  the  spinning-machine,  in  which  it  is  still 
further  "  drawn,"  and  twisted  into  a  yarn.  The  yarn  is  then  reeled  for  twisting 
into  a  rope.  John  Good  of  Brooklyn  has  invented  a  plan  by  means  of  which 
the  yarn  is  passed  through  a  tube  before  reeling,  and  made  smoother.  The 
yarns  are  graded  in  size,  according  to  the  number  that  will  just  fill  a  half-inch 
tube,  or  make  one  strand  of  a  three-inch  rope.  No.  40  is  for  fine  rope,  No. 
20  for  cables.  The  yarns,  being  reeled,  are  now  tarred,  if  destined  for  rigging, 
by  being  drawn  through  tar  heated  to  220°.  When  they  come  out  of  the  tar 
they  pass  between  rollers,  or  through  small  holes,  so  that  the  superfluous  tar 
may  be  pressed  out.  The  yarns  are  now  twisted  into  a  rope  in  a  long  building 
called  a  rope-walk,  which  is  generally  about  1,200  feet  long,  (The  govern- 
ment walk  at  Boston  is  1,360  feet  long.)  A  number  of  bobbins,  containing 
300  fathoms  of  yarn  each,  are  put  into  a  frame  at  one  end  of  the  walk,  and  the 
yarns  are  "  hauled  down  "  into  strands.  Three  or  more  yarns  pass  into  a 
tube,  which  compresses  and  moulds  them  into  a  strand ;  and  the  three  strands 
of  the  rope,  emerging  simultaneously  from  as  many  tubes,  are  drawn  along  the 
rope-walk  by  another  machine  the  full  length  of  the  building.  Each  strand  is 
now  separately  and  simultaneously  twisted  until  it  is  hard,  and  then  the  three 
are  allowed  to  come  together  and  close  up  into  a  rope.  A  suitably-shaped 
triangular  wedge  is  placed  between  the  strands  to  prevent  them  from  closing 
up  too  fast,  and  the  whole  process  goes  on  slowly  under  the  personal  inspection 
of  a  workman.  The  process  is  the  same,  whether  the  rope  be  large  or  small, 
or  tarred  or  white.  Since  1827,  when  rope-factories  were  started  in  Wheeling, 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  and  Louisville,  the  machinery  has  been  propelled  by 
steam,  and  a  stronger  twist  has  been  given  to  rope,  and  its  strength  increased. 
The  breaking-strain  of  hemp  rope  was  about  9,200  pounds  to  the  square  inch 
when  made  by  the  old  processes :  the  breaking-strain  has  risen  as  high  as 
15,000  pounds  of  late.  Twine  is  spun  from  cotton  and  flax  by  the  ordinary 
processes  of  spinning,  the  fibre  being  carded,  drawn,  twisted,  and  reeled  by 
appropriate  machinery. 

In  1870  there  were  in  the  United  States  201  factories  of  cordage  and 
Number  of  twine,  employing  3,700  men  and  boys,  and  turning  out  work  worth 
rope-facto-     $9,000,000  annually.     The  factories  were   scattered  all  over  the 

n  1  70.  country ;  but  the  large  majority  were  in  the  East.  Those  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  were  largely  supplied  with  imported  hemp  ;  those  in  the 
interior,  entirely  with  the  native  article. 

Wire  rope  is  now  beginning  to  supplant  hemp  for  ships  and  hoisting- 
apparatus  and  many  mechanical  purposes.  It  is  probable  that  it 
will  soon  take  the  place  of  hemp  for  all  purposes  where  great 
strength  and  light  weight  are  desired,  as  in  heavy  rigging,  cables,  &c. 

For  the  finer  qualities  of  bagging,  such  as  for  grain  and  flour  sacks,  cotton 
and  flax  are  principally  used  ;  for  the  coarser  sorts,  hemp  and  jute  are  the 
favorite   materials.     Jute  is  a  grass  growing  seven  or  eight  feet  high,  the 


Wire  rope. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


527 


Jute. 


peculiar  product  of  India,  which  was  unknown  to  Europe  until  1830,  and  first 
became  known  to  the  civilized  world  from  the  fact  that  it  constituted 
the  materials  of  which  the  gunny-bags  were  made  in  which  Indian 
produce  was  exported.     Attention  being  attracted  to  the  fibre,  it  was  exported 
to  England  ;  and  the  city  of  Dundee  in  Scotland  developed  a  great  manufac- 
ture of  it  into  gunny-cloth.     Scotland  is  still  the  principal  seat  of  the  industry  ; 
but  the  United  States  has  since  i860  taken  to  the  manufacture  of  jute  bagging 
also,  and  now  imports  sixty  thousand  tons  of  jute-butts  annually  for  the  purpose. 
The  bagging  is  useful  for  putting  up  the  cotton  and  wool  crops.     The  total 
value  of  the  raw  jute  imported  is  about  $2,500,000,  and  the  bagging  jute-raising 
made  from  it  $4,500,000.     Attention  has  latterly  been  drawn  to  in  United 
the  possibility  of  raising  jute  in  the  United  States.     Experiments     '"*'" 
have  been  made  with  success  in  Louisiana ;  yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  is  wise 
to  encourage  this  crop.     Half  or  more  of  the   flax-crop  of  the  useofref- 
United  States  is  thiown  away  by  the  farmers  after  the  seed  is  use  flax  for 
thrashed  from  it,  the  flax  being  raised  only  for  the  seed.     A  better     ^^smg. 
bagging  can  be  made  from  that  refuse  flax,  or  the  flax-tow,  than  from  jute- 
butts,  as  there  can  be  also  from  hemp-tow.     It  would  be  more  patriotic  and 
prudent  to  encourage  the  utilization  of  hemp  and  flax  for  coarse  bagging  than 
to  expend  any  effort  on  native  jute.     It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  long- 
decayed  industry  of  whale  fishing  has  revived  with  the  jute  manufacture,  a  great 
deal  of  oil  being  consumed  in  that  business. 

Since  i860  the  manufacture  of  bags  of  paper  has  been  added  to  the 
industry,  and  now  occupies  a  very  distinguished  position.  The  idea  of  the 
inventors  was  to  create  something  which  would  answer  the  purpose 
of  flour-sacks,  which,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  cotton,  were  very 
expensive.  They  employed  for  the  purpose  thick  manila  paper,  and  succeeded 
admirably.  About  forty  factories  are  now  devoted  to  the  industry  ;  and  they 
are  producing  Lags  of  all  sizes  and  strength,  from  the  little  package-bag  in 
which  the  customer  takes  home  a  pound  of  candy  to  the  huge  sack  holding 
one  or  two  hundred -weight  of  flour. 

To  flax,  hemp,  jute,  and  cotton-bagging,  there  are  now  devoted  about  eighty 
factories,  producing  about  1^15,000,000  worth  of  goods. 


Paper  bags. 


SOAP. 


The  French,  the  sunniest  and  most  polite  people  in  the  world,  love  to 
believe  that  nearly  every  thing  which  ameliorates  life,  and  renders  social  inter- 
course pleasant,  was  invented  among  themselves.     They  claim  the   g^^    ^^ 
origin  of  soap,  of  course.     The  south  of  France  has  always  had  French 
an  abundance  of  olive-oil  and  soda.     The  writers  say,  that,  away  ""^i"' 
back  in  the  twelfth  century,  a  fisherman's  wife  at  Savona,  who  had  warmed 
some  soda  lye  in  an  earthen  jar  which  had  formerly  held  olive-oil,  discovered 


S»8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


in  the  jar  a  new  substance,  which  attracted  attention  on  account  of  its  utility, 
and  led  to  the  establishment  of  regular  factories  for  its  manufacture.  From 
the  name  of  the  village,  the  new  substance  was  called  savon,  — a  word  wh'':h 
survives  in  Saxon  in  the  adjective  saponaceous.  It  is  certain  that  soap  was 
made  at  Marseilles  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  that  that  city  has  ever  since 
been  the  principal  centre  of  its  manufacture  in  the  world  at  large.  In  i860 
30,000  workmen  were  employed  there  in  that  one  industry,  and  the  product 
was  over  60,000  tons.  The  use  of  soap  spread  from  Marseilles  all  over 
P'rance,  and  thence  all  over  Europe  and  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  manu- 
facture has  always  been  a  prolific  source  of  prosperity  for  that  great  maritime 
city,  both  because  it  added  largely  to  the  commerce  of  the  port,  and  because 
it  gave  employment  to  so  large  a  proportion  of  its  own  population.  The  soaps 
were  perfumed,  and  were  of  exquisite  delicacy  and  beauty. 

In  1877  the  manufacturers  of  Marseilles  awoke  to  find  that  the  sales  of 
their  famous  products  were  falling  off  in  an  alarming  manner.     North  .America, 

which  formerly  took  so  large  a  quantity  of  the  goods,  no  longer 
■oap-manu-  was  buying  them.  The  South-American  demand  began  to  fall  off. 
facturesin      Europe  itself  was  not  so  large  a  consumer.     Upon  investigation,  it 

was  found  that  the  trouble  was  due  to  several  causes ;  and  one  of 
them  was  the  fact  that  the  United  States  had  ceased  to  be  a  buyer,  and  not 
only  that,  but  that  she  was  actually  exporting  from  5,000  to  10,000  tons  of 
common  and  perfumed  soaps  every  year  to  the  countries  formerly  supplied  by 
France.  The  matter  was  considered  of  so  serious  consequence,  that  the 
attention  of  the  government  of  France  was  called  to  the  matter.  Nothing, 
however,  has  been  done  which  could  stop  the  American  competition  ;  and  the 
consequence  is,  that  the  ancient  city  of  Marseilles  appears  to  be  doomed  to 
see  a  portion  of  her  industry  permanently  go  from  her  to  the  New  World. 
Soaps  and   candles,  which  were  always  made  at  the  same  factory,  were 

imported  to  the   United   States   in  considerable  quantities   until 

Importation        ,_,,.«.  , 

of  »oapinto  about  1 824,  when  the  tariff  was  so  arranged  as  to  give  an  nnpetus 
United  to  the  homc-manufacture.     Up  to  that   time   the   only  varieties 

made  here  were  the  common  soft-soap  —  which  was  then,  as  now, 
largely  a  household  manufac.  e  —  and  the  common  laundry  and  toilet  soaps. 
Higher  grades  were  attempted  after  1824,  and  made  on  so  large  a  scale,  that 
Tariff  of  the  foreign  article  was  virtually  excluded  from  this  market.  The 
'***•  tariff  of  1864  gave  another  impetus  to  manufacture  by  raising  tlie 

duty  from  about  three  cents  to  ten  cents  a  pound.  Since  1864  the  .■\merican 
factories  have  been  making  the  very  highest  class  of  perfumed  and  delicate 
soaps,  as  well  as  the  more  common  grades  ;  and  they  have,  as  already  stated. 
not  only  been  able  fully  to  supply  the  home-market,  but  to  extend  their  sales 
successfully  to  foreign  markets. 

Three  of  the  American  houses  have  attained  to  a  gieat  reputation  within 
the  last  fifteen  years ;  namely,  those  of  Enoch  Morgan's  Sons,  B.  T.  Babbitt  & 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


529 


manufac- 
turers. 


Advertising' 


Company,  and  Colgate  &  Company,  all  of  New- York  City.     The  first-named 
invented  the  article  called  sapolio,  in  which  a  fine  white  pow-   „ 
(ler  is  incorporated,  which  renders  the  soap  useful  for  removing   American 
ilirt  from  the  hands,  and  from  furniture,  wood-work,  oil-cloth,  &c., 
hy  rubbing.     Colgate  and  Babbitt  have  made  themselves  known  for 
specialties  of  iheir  own.     All  three  have  employed  indefatigably  that  great 
resource  of  the  energetic  business-man  in  the  present  age,  —  the 
system  of  advertising,  —  and  in  this  respect  have  been  imitated  by 
Higgins  and  other  Western  makers.     One  secret  of  success  in  trade  is  first  to 
iuive  a  good  thing  to  sell,  and  then  to  let  the  whole  world  know  it.     The 
peddler  travelling  along  every  country  street,  and  knocking  at  every  urban 
door,  was  the  mainstay  of  earlier  merchants  of  small  goods  who  wanted  to 
diffuse  their  wares  over  the  country.     Since  the  multiplication  of  newspapers, 
and  the  enormous  increase  of  travel,  printed  and  painted  advertisements  have 
been  the  resource  of  those  who  have  a  new  thing  to  sell,  and  want  to  impress 
its  virtues  upon  the  minds  of  the  people.    The  soap-manufacturers  have  filled 
the  newspapers  of  the  land  with  their  notices.     They  have  frequented  all  the 
fairs,  from  the  World's  Expositions  down  along  the  whole  line  to  the  annual 
county  displays  of  cattle  and  bed-quilts  at  them  all ;  and  have  hung  up  big  pla- 
cards to  catch  the  eye,  and  inform  the  mind.     They  have  sent  out  an  army  of 
men  with  brushes  and  pots  of  colored  paints,  who  have  covered  all  the  availa- 
ble board  fences  and  barns  and  conspicuous  rocks  with  huge  inscriptions  and 
signs  proclaiming  the  names  and  virtues  of  their  soaps.     They  have  made  it 
almost  impossible  for  the  American  citizen  to  sit  down  in  the  retirement  of  his 
Dwn  home,  or  to  go  out   into  the  open  air,  without  seeing  something  that 
reminded  him  of  the  very  excellent  character  of  the  latest  brand  of  soa}),  and 
iiow  happy  he  would  be,  and  how  rich  he  would  probably  get,  if  he  only 
liDiight  that  style  of  soap  very  largely.     Great  ingenuity  has  been  displayed  by 
(lilTerent  makers   in  preparing   their   newspaper   advertisements.     Sometimes 
these  cards  uio  printed  as  paragraphs  of  reading-matter,  and  are  frequently 
sparkling  models  of  wit,  beauty,  and  brevity.     Higgins  has  used  the  pictorial 
papers  largely,  and  filled  them  with  imaginary  pictures  in  which  :i  box  of  his 
soap  constitutes  by  turns  a  camp-chair  for  Bismarck,   nn   icon-clad  for  the 
\nierican  navy,  a  coach  drawn  by  a  four-in-hand  of  dogs,  a  target  for  a  rifle- 
shooi.  &c.     The  ingenuity  of  those  who  have  advertised  by  paragraphs  is  so 
great  as  to  be  worthy  of  illustration.     Here  are  a  few  samples  of  the  style  of 
thing  they  have  resorted  to,  the  paragraphs  being  technically  called  at  the 
newspaper-offices  "reading  advertisements."     The  samples  have  been  taken 
af  random  from  the  actual  paragraphs  of  these  enterprising  firms. 

"  Shakspeare  says,  '  Care  is  no  cure,  but  rather  corrosive,  for  things  that 
are  not  to  be  remedied.'     We  cannot  associate  care  and  corrosion,  however, 

with 's  Toilet-Soap  ;  for  it  saves  care,  and  is  deliciously  emollient.     This 

new  toilet-soap  is  the  highest  achievement  of  a  well-known  manufacturer  for 


S30 


IND  L  'S  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


its  perfect  purity,  and  pleasant  re-action  on  the  skin,  combined  with  a  sweet 
natural  odor." 

"  Poets  and  essayists  have  delighted  in  the  supreme  deliglUs  of  ( ountry 
life,  and  its  accompaniments  of  liealth,  and  peace  of  mind.  But  bodv  and 
mind  require  the  help  of  regular  habits  and  cleanly  habits.     Why  not.  tlicn, 

sing  the  praises  of  's  Toilet-Soap?     The  purest  of  all  toilet-soaps  (for 

none  but  the  finest  vegetable-oils  enter  into  it),  and  exhaling  a  delicate  violet- 
odor,  it  needs  only  to  be  tried  to  become  a  household  necessity." 

"  According  to  Voltaire,  perfection  is  attained  only  by  slow  degrees  and 
the  hand  of  time.  This  is  peculiarly  the  case  with  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries.    For  instance, has  been  forty  years  in  applying  and  perfecting 

his  chemical  science :  therefore  we  have  his  new  toilet-soap,  —  an  article  for 
the  toilet  and  bath-room  tliat  cannot  be  overpraised  for  its  excellences.  As 
a  test,  it  is  found  to  be  the  most  admirable  in  the  world  for  the  delicate  .skin 
of  babes." 

"  Old  Fuller,  the  excellent  preacher,  says,  '  If  thou  wouldst  please  the 
ladies,  endeavor  to  make  them  pleased  with  themselves.'     You   can  help  to 

do  this  by  recommending  them  to  use  that  superb  toilet-article, 's  suap. 

Nothing  can  ecjual  its  excellences  :  for  the  purest  oils  only  are  usetl,  and  the 
resources  of  science  are  artistically  and  scientifically  lavished  upon  it ;  antl  a 
delicate  fragrance  is  the  result." 

This  exaggerated  style  of  advertising  is  amusing  in  many  respects  :  but  it 
requires  men  of  wit  and  scholarship  to  pen  their  paragraphs ;  and.  as  an 
investment  of  money,  they  have  proved  very  remunerative.  None  of  the 
manufacturers  who  have  resorted  to  this  plan  of  introducing  their  goods  to 
the  public  have  failed  to  make  a  fortune  by  it. 

Soft-soap  is  made  by  boiling  the  scraps  of  fat  from  kitchens  with  a  strong 

lye  made  from  wood-ashes,  or  directly  from  potash.     The  hard  bar-suap  of 

commerce  is  made  iii  the  same  way,  exceiit  that  the  materials  are 
Soft-soap.  J '  i 

more  choice,  and  that  twenty-five  or  thirty  per  cent  of  puwtlered 
rosin  is  added,  and  saponified  with  them.  Caustic  soda,  prepared  for  the  pur- 
pose, is  now  generally  the  alkali  used  for  all  soaps,  in  place  of  the  lye  uKule 
from  wood-ashes  employed  by  oiu"  forefathers.  Marine  soap  is  made  tVom 
cocoanut-oil.  It  is  very  hard,  will  hold  a  great  deal  of  water  before  dissolv- 
ing, and  can  be  used  to  wash  with  salt  water.  It  has  a  heavy,  disagreeable 
odor.  Toilet-soap  is  made  from  very  pure  and  sweet  materials,  such  as  olive- 
oil,  sweet-almond-oil,  beef's  marrow,  and  refined  sweet  lard.  The  Marseilles 
soaps  have  gained  their  unequalled  reputation  by  being  made  of  olive-nil. 
from  which  fact  it  has  happened  that  the  soap  has  been  entirely  free  from  the 
heavy  animal  odor  which  generally  attends  common  soaps.  The  materials  for 
the  cakes  for  the  toilet  are  saponified  without  heat,  and  perfumed  with  vegeta- 
ble-flavors. A  very  good  toilet-soap  is  made,  however,  by  cutting  very  pure 
tallow-soap  into  thin  shavings,  and  melting  it  over  a  water-bath  with  rose  anil 


OF  THE   UXITED  STATES.  531 

orange-flower  water  and  common  salt,  in  the  proportion  of  twenty-four  pounds 
of  soap  to  four  pints  each  of  the  perfumed  waters  and  half  a  pound  of  salt. 
\Vhen  cold,  next  day,  the  soap  is  cut  into  small  bits,  thoroughly  dried  in  the 
^liade,  and  again  treated,  as  before,  with  rose  and  orange-flower  water.  It  is 
( ooled,  powdered,  and  dried  again.  P)y  this  process  all  unpleasant  odors  are 
removed.  Castile-soap  is  made  from  oli\e-oil  and  rape-seed  in  France,  but 
from  various  mixtures  of  fats  and  oils  in  this  country.  Oxide  of  iron  imparts 
the  strongly-marbled  appearance  of  this  product.  Soap  is  also  made  from 
glycerine  and  many  other  substances. 

The  number  of  factories  in  this  country  at  present  devoted  to  soap  and 
candles  is  nearly  650.  They  produce  about  $25,000,000  worth  of  goods 
annually. 

FLOUR. 

The  United  States  has  become  one  of  the  great  sources  of  the  food-supply 
of  the  world.     It  is  the  aim  of  every  free  and  independent  nationality  to  make 
sure  of  its  food-supply  by  raising  it  at  home  ;  but  some  of  the 
coiuitries  of  the  Old  World  have  utterly  failed  in  every  attempt   ^^^^^  ° 
in  this  direction,  and  some  of  the  richest  of  them  —  especially  states  to 
France,  Great  Britain,  and  the  Netherlands  —  are  obliged  to  buy   [^^^J''' 
food  from  other  nations.     This  is  also  the  situation  of  the  AVest 
Indies  and  Soutli  America.     The  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  with  her 
fertile  fields  and  active  population,  has  managed  to  raise  all  the  food  her 
population  of  forty-five  million  can  possibly  consume  ;   and  she  has,  besides, 
a  surplus  of  grain  alone  every  year  to  sell  which  will   support  thirty  million 
people  a  year.     Accordingly,  this  country  not  only  does  not  import  food,  but 
it  exports  largely  to  the  kingdoms  of  the  Old  World,  and  to  those  regions  in 
the  tropics  which  prefer  to  raise  coffee,  tea,  and  tropical  fruits,  rather  than 
a  great  supply  of  provisions. 

The  grain-crops  of  the  United  States  now  amount,  in  an  average  year,  to 
about  the  following  figures  in  bushels  :  — 

Wheat 200,000,000 

Corn     . 1,300,000,000 

Rye       ...........  20,000,000 

Oats 330,000,000 

Barley 40,000,000 

Of  this  enormous  yield,  about  60,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  and  70.000,000 
of  corn  are  exported  to  other  lands.  A  part  of  what  is  left  is  consumed  in 
replanting  the  earth,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  starch,  hominy,  and  whiskey. 
There  remain  about  250,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  and  1,000,000,000  bushels 
of  corn,  which  are  consumed  in  the  United  States  as  food.  .\  part  of  the 
corn  is  fed  lo  the  flocks  and  herds  of  the  country  in  the  grain.     A  part  is 


533 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


making 
flour. 


also  used  as  fuel  in  years  of  excessive  abundance  and  expensive  transportation. 
One-half  of  the  corn,  however,  and  three-cjuarters  of  the  wheat  at  least,  arc 
ground  up  into  flour  and  meal  for  bread. 

Grain  was  reduced  to  flour,  in  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  the 
country,  by  breaking  it  with  a  hand-pestle  in  a  mortar  made  from  a  hollow 
Colonial  stump.     This  was  the  red  man's  mode  of  making   bread.     The 

mode  of  white  man  improved  upon  it  a  little  by  rigging  up  an  apparatus 

like  a  well-sweep,  and  suspending  the  heavy  pestle  from  that,  so 
that  it  could  be  operated  with  less  expenditure  of  labor.     The 
windmill  was,  however,  soon   introduced,  and   finally  the   gristmill   run   by 

water-power;  and  the 
settlers  gladly  allowed 
the  grindstone  to  su- 
persede the  laborious 
pestle  and  mortar, 
which  it  did  immedi- 
ately. The  flourinq- 
mills  were  a  great  con- 
venience to  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  tliey  have 
been  an  institution  of 
such  positive  necessi- 
ty, that  they  have  mul- 
tiplied in  all  parts  of 
the  country  as  fast  as 
the  population. 

Twenty  years  ago 
the  largest  flouring 
State  in  the  country 
for  the  supply  of  the 
general  market  was 
New  York.  This  was 
due  to  the  abundance  of  water-power  in  that  State,  and  the  large  number  of 
canals  and  railroads  available  for  collecting  the  grain  and  distrib- 
uting the  flour.  The  grain  came  largely  from  the  flirms  of  the 
State  itself,  but  also,  in  part,  from  the  West.  The  city  of  Roches- 
ter was  the  principal  centre  of  manufacture,  owing  to  the  luxu- 
riant water-power  of  the  famous  Genesee  River.  The  cities  of 
Baltimore  and  Richmond  also  became  famous  milling-centres.  At  the  latter 
Baltimore  ^^^'*^  places  a  large  part  of  the  surplus  grain  of  the  South  was  con- 
andRich.  centrated  for  conversion  into  flour,  and  distribution  to  market. 
'"""  ■  Since  1850  the  manufacturing-centre  for  the  general  market  has 

moved  backward.     The  great  flour-cities  of  the  country  are  now  in  the  iieart 


GALLEGO   FLOUR-MILLS. 


Former  su- 
periority of 
New  York  as 
a  flour-mak- 
ing State. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES.  533 

of  the  grain-regions  of  the  West.  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Minneapolis, 
St.  Paul,  Milwaukee,  Toledo,  &c,,  are  now  the  flour-cities  par  excellence  ;  and 
it  is  from  their  mills  that  the  barrelled  product  comes  which  is  distributed 
through  the  older  States,  and  sent  abroad,  bearing  the  enthusiastic  brands  of 
"Olddlory,"  "(lilt  Edge,"  "Sea  Foam,"  "Red  Letter,"  "  Peer-  Names  of 
less,"  "  Monarch,"  "'I'he  Pride  of  the  Border,"  "  Hallelujah,"  and  »"»"''''• 
so  on.  How  rapidly  the  milling-interest  has  developeil  since  the  opening  of 
the  West  to  free  settlement  may  be  seen  from  the  following  statement  of  the 
total  number  of  flouring-mills  in  the  United  States  :  — 

1S40 4.364 

1850 11,891 

i860 13,868 

•870 22,573 

The  product  was  worth  $136,000,000  in  1850,  and  $248,000,000  in  i860; 
hut  in  1870  it  was  worth  $445,000,000,  and  in  1878  it  must  have  been  at 
least  $550,000,000. 

In  the  Eastern  States  the  mills  are  run  principally  by  water-power.     Along 
the  coast  and  on  the  islands  many  old  windmills  still  stand,  and  grind,  in 
tlicir  (juaint,  leisurely  way,  the  corn  and  wheat  of  meal  commu-   Miiuinthe 
nitics.     Steam-mills  generally  supply  the   cities.      In    the   South   Eastern 
wind  and  water  power  is  chiefly  used  ;  but  in  1870  Texas  had  also     *"'^*- 
fifty  mills  driven  by  horse-power,  and  seventeen  by  oxen.     This  sort  of  motive- 
jiower  was  also  resorleil  to  more  or  less  in  most  of  the  other  Southern  States, 
the  mills   in  that  section    being   numerous,  but  small.      An  instance   of  the 
small  size  of  the  Southern  mills  can  be  given.     North  Carolina  had   southern 
about  1,450  mills  in  1876  as  against   1,400  in  Ohio;   yet  North   states. 
Carolina  produced  only  about  $8,000,000  worth  of  flour  and  meal,  while  Ohio 
produced    more  than  four  times  as  much.     In  the  West  steam-i)ower  and 
water-power  are  used.     The  mills  of  the  West  are  very  large  :    the  bulk  of 
the    flouring  for  the  general  market  is  now  done  in  that  part  of  the  co(m- 
trv.      Illinois,    Indiana,   Michii(an,  Minnesota,  and   Missouri    are 

In  the  West. 

the  principal  milling  States.     New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  how- 
ever, by  reason  of  their  dense  population  and  heavy  local  consumption,  still 
grind  the  most  flour ;  but  it  is  chiefly  consumed  by  the  States  themselves. 

The  ordinary  operation  of  grinding  grain  is  carried  on  by  letting  the  grain 
flow  slowly  down  between  two  heavy  grindstones  from  four  to    six   feet    in 
diameter,  weighing  about  1,400  pounds  apiece  ;  the  lower  one  sta-   processor 
tionary,  the  uj)per  one  revolving  at  a  speed  of  1 20  revolutions  a   making 
minute.     The  grain  enters  between  the  stones  through  an  aperture     °^^' 
in  the  centre  of  the  upper  stone,  and  is  ground  to  powder  speedily.     The 
fioiir  and  bran  flow  from  between  the  stones  into  the  tight  box  which  sur- 
rounds them,  and  are  carried  off  by  spouts  to  be  sifted  and  separated.     Within 


534 


JND  US  TKIA  I.    HIS  TO  A'  V 


I      1 


a  very  few  years  a  new  process  has  been  invented,  wliicli  promises  to  revolu- 
tionize tile  l)iisiness  of  grinding.  'I'iie  plan  is  to  let  the  grain  flow  into  ;i 
hollow  cylinder,  within  which  a  forest  of  iron  spokes,  mounted  upon  the  axis 
of  the  I  yliniler,  is  revolving  with  great  velocity.  The  grain  is  struck  in  the 
air,  and  reduced  by  collision  rather  than  by  grinding.  Another  and  better 
known  "  new  process  "  is  the  invention  of  Mr.  La<:roix  of  l'"aribault,  Minn., 
and  dates  from  1872.  The  plan  is  to  let  the  stones  revolve  slower,  so  as  to 
grind  the  grain  more  coarsely.  The  ll(jur  is  bolted  upon  very  large  boltinj; 
cloths  with  the  aid  of  an  exiuiust  draugiu.  of  air  and  of  brushes,  which  prevents 
the  cloth  from  clogging.  It  is  claimed  that  eight  or  ten  per  cent  more  tlour 
is  gained  by  this  process. 

The  exports  of  flour  are  now  ;^, 900,000  barrels  yearly,  and  of  meal  445,000 
barrels.  The  exports  of  both  ought  to  be  largely  increased,  luigland  grinds 
our  grain,  and  derives  a  profltablc  trade  by  sending  it  as  flour  and  meal  to 
South  .America  and  other  non-food-producing  countries.  We  ought  to  grind 
that  grain  ourselves,  and  obtain  the  profit  of  the  manufacture.  We  might  al>o 
grind  some  portion  of  the  115,000,000  bushels  of  grain  sent  abroad  every  year 
in  the  kernel. 

The  Southern  flour  is  the  best  for  export,  because  it  has  the  quality  of 
standing  the  moist  ocean-voyage  better  than  other  tlours.  Richmond,  Balti- 
more, and  St.  Louis  supply  the  bulk  of  the  flour  for  export. 

MUSICAL    INSTRUMENTS. 

In  distant  Europe  the  people  expect  very  little  of  the  United  States  in 
an  art  point  of  view.  They  look  \\\)o\\  the  country  as  half-savage  yet.  TIrv 
European  think  everyl)ody  carries  a  re\olver,  and  drinks  a  great  deal  of 
whiskey  straight,  and  can  go  out  of  town  into  the  country  any 
day,  in  any  part  thereof,  and  kill  a  wild  Indian  or  a  ram- 
pant buffalo  within  a  few  miles  of  the  city.  They  look  upon  the  United  States 
somewhat  as  they  do  upon  Siberia,  whose  only  value  to  Europe  consists  in  its 
producing  savage  dogs  of  great  size  and  beauty  ;  or  as  a  l)arbaric  country,  fiDni 
which  it  is  absolutely  out  of  the  (|uestion  to  expect  any  jjroduct  of  genius  ami 
high  artistic  culture.  It  was  therefore  possible  in  1875  for  an  luiglish  clergy- 
man, the  Rev.  H.  R.  Haweis,  to  write  his  charming  book  on  "  Music  and 
Morals,"  in  which  he  discussed  mu::ic  and  musical  instruments  in  all  their 
phases,  historical  and  otherwise,  and  absolutely  without  referring  to  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  thing  as  an  American  j^iano,  organ,  or  violin  ;  and  the  book 
Superiority  ^^''^*'  reprinted  in  the  United  States  too.  Yet  the  American  piano. 
of  American  organ,  and  violin  are  concededly  the  best  made  in  the  present  age 
pianos,  ^^  j.j^^  world.     The  European  makers  of  pianos  have  been  de- 

feated at  every  international  exhibition  since   1862  by  one  or  both  of  the 
American  houses  of  Chickering  and  Steinway,  in  respect  to  touch,  tone,  bril- 


idea  of 
America. 


liancy. 

wood  (' 

I'leyel  I 

organ  i; 

disco  vei 

niihider, 

capitals 

and  fain 

strument 

referred 

'i'he  i 

in  use  is 

contri\aii 

eccentric 

be  heard 

heads,  wl 

stand  on 

violins,  p 

interval  ; 

and  perfe( 

instnimen 

1 760.     It 

old  psalte 

clavicither 

clavicyinh: 

was  the  ii 

the  series 

■'Inilgs     ll;l( 

are  still  ex 
Carroll  wa.^ 
'I'iie  ex 
owning  tilt 
many  vicjiii 
lit-'Iped  sol, 
in  homes 
\vilh   the  (1 
\\'i-'re    seidd 
cities  ;   antl 
hrought  pia 
to  l'au-o])e  : 
positions  in 
■'itill  a  thin 
wood,  and 


OF    rilE    UXITED    STATES. 


535 


liancy.  durability,  and  all  the  other  desirable  qualities  of  the  piano.  Tiroad- 
wood  (whose  pianos  often  cost  ^6,000  in  London  in  1S51),  Erard,  Collard,  and 
I'leyel  have  all  failed  to  surpass  the  American  makers.  The  American  cabinet- 
organ  is  superior  in  all  respects,  and  has  a  world-wide  sale.  It  has  been 
discovered  of  late  years  that  New-Vork  C'ity  possesses  a  violin-maker,  (Je- 
iniindcr,  whose  work  ranks  with  the  licst  which  is  produced  in  the  ancient 
capitals  of  the  Old  World.  It  is  a  singular  t:omment  on  the  lack  of  candor 
and  fairness  in  the  English  mind,  that  llie  production  of  su(  h  remarkable  in- 
struments in  America  was  not  alludeil  to  in  any  manner  in  liie  l)ook  above 
referred  to,  which  professed  to  be  standard  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treated. 

'I'he  human  family  is  fond  of  music,  anil  the  variety  of  musical  instruments 
in  use  is  large.  ICvery  nation  contributes  its  (juota  to  the  vast  multitude  of 
contrivances  for  producing  musical  sounds.  Wild  countries  have  pondnggg  ^^ 
eccentric  creations  of  bamboo  and  hide,  horn  trumpets  which  can  man  (or 
be  heard  three  miles,  and  violins,  ornamented  with  tusks  and  men's  "'"*"^' 
heads,  which  produce  shrieks  of  noise  that  would  make  an  American's  hair 
stand  on  end.  I'"rom  this  class  of  instruments,  up  to  the  n^elodious  organs, 
violins,  pianos,  and  brass  horns  in  use  in  civilized  regions,  there  is  a  wide 
interval ;  but  it  is  filled  with  a  myriad  of  inventions  of  all  degrees  of  originality 
and  perfection.  The  piano,  which  stands  near  the  head  of  the  list  of  perfect 
instruments,  is  comparatively  a  recent  invention,  dating  back  no  farther  than 
1761).  It  had  ancestors  which  resembled  it  somewhat,  however,  in  the  (pieer 
old  psaltery  and  dulcimer  (boxes  across  which  strings  were  stretched),  the 
chiviiitherium  (with  a  keyboard,  the  strings  being  i)lucked  with  (luills),  the 
clavicynibal.  the  virginal,  the  spinet,  and  the  harpsichord.  The  harpsichord 
was  the  instrument  in  use  by  our  great-grandmothers.  It  was  the  first  one  of 
the  series  in  which  the  strings  were  struck  by  a  hammer.  Prior  to  i  760  the 
strings  had  been  plucked  with  a  (piill.  A  {^^.w  specimens  of  the  harpsichord 
are  still  extant  among  the  older  funilies  of  the  country.  One  made  for  C'harles 
Carroll  was  exhibited  in  Philadelphia  in  1.S76. 

The  expense  of  the  larger  musical  instruments  prevented  manv  people  from 
ouning  them  in  this  country  until  after  the  manufacture  began  here.  A  great 
many  violins  and  accordions,  which  cost  little,  were  owned  by  the  ])eople.  and 
hel|)e<l  solace  the  loneliness  of  the  farms,  and  the  lack  of  popular  amusements 
in  homes  in  the  cities.  Jefferson  was  an  accomplished  musician 
with  the  first-named  instrument.  Put  harpsichords  and  pianos 
were  seldom  seen.  A  few  were  imported  by  merchants  for  sale  in  the 
( ities ;  and  great  musicians  who  came  over  here  to  give  concerts  generally 
brought  pianos  with  them,  which  they  generally  left  behind  when  they  returned 
to  Europe  :  but,  on  the  whole,  the  instrument  was  as  rare  as  appointments  to 
l)ositions  in  the  President's  cabinet.  It  was,  moreover,  even  as  late  as  1825, 
still  a  thin  ^oned,  feel^le  instrument.  It  was  made  with  a  frame  entirely  of 
wood,  and  could  not  stand  our  climate. 


Jefferson. 


536 


IXD  US  TRIA  L    Ills  TORY 


In  1822  Jonas  Chickering  of  Boston,  a  young  and  intelligent  mcchani( 
with  a  love  of  music,  began  to  experiment  at  piano-making.  His  first  inslru- 
jonai  nient  was   olTereil    for   sale    in    April,    1S23.     Chickering   began. 

Chickering.  almost  from  the  very  outset,  with  pianos  which  were  a  long  stride 
ahead  of  the  European  instruments  in  purity  and  resonance  of  tone,  and  in 
the  length  of  time  they  would  remain  in  tune.  He  made  the  entire  frames 
of  his  pianos  of  iron  instead  of  wood,  and  introduced  the  cirt  ular  scales, 
arch  wp.'st-planks,  and  tuning-l)lot:ks.  'l"he  iron  frames  were  a  great  imi)rovc- 
ment.  The  strings  of  a  piano  pull  enormously  ;  and,  unless  the  frame  is  per- 
fectly rigid  and  unyiekhng  (which  the  wooden  frame  never  was),  the  jiiauo 
will  get  out  of  tunc  rapidly,  and  soon  wear  out.    The  pull  of  the  strings  of 


CHICKERING   I'lANO. 


a  modern  grand  i)iano  is  between  eleven  and  twelve  tons.  The  iron  frame 
was  improved  by  other  makers,  and  was  soon  adopted  generally  both  in 
America  and  Europe.  Alpheus  Rabcock  of  Philadeljihia  got  a  ])atent  in 
Conrad  i8?5  for  an  oblong  frame,  the  shape  of  which  caused  it  to  resist 

Meyer.  ^^^  tension  better.     Conrad  Meyer  of  Philadelphia,  in  1S33.  made 

scjuare  j^ianos  with  full  iron  frames  substantially  like  those  now  used  by 
American  makers. 

There  were  other  makers  in  the  business  in  the  early  part  of  the  ccntnr\' : 
among  them  were  Stodart,  Osborn,  and  Thurston  ;  Stodart,  perhaps,  beinu 
Early  piano-  the  most  popular.  All  the  makers  displayed  great  ingenuity  in 
maicers.  increasing  the  richness  and  brilliancy  of  tone  of  their  pianos  :  and 

they  were  rewarded,  in  the  prosperous  times  following  1825,  by  the  lart;e 
demand  which  grew  up  for  their  instruments.     Competition  between  tlu-ni 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


537 


reduced  prices,  and  the  sales  soon  increased  to  several  thousand  a  year.  'I'he 
sale  lias  since  been  const;nitly  extending.  Chickering  look  the  lead  after 
a  while,  and  in  1S53,  when  he  died,  was  selling  eight  hundred  pianos  a  year. 
Hy  18O7  the  firm  had  sold  in  all  thirty  thousand  pianos,  and  was  ahead  of 
all  competitors.  The  house  has  since  increase<l  its  sales  to  more  than  three 
thousand  a  year. 

In    1855   Steinway  &  Sons  of  New- York  City  introduced  the  second  of 
the  two  striking  im|)rovements  which  have  been  made  in  the  piano  by  .\nieri 
can  makers:  this  was  the  "  overstringing"  of  the  bass-strings,  as  it   steinway  a 
is   called  ;    that   is,   taking  them   out  of  the   horizontal    plane   in   ^°"*' 
which  the  tenor-strings  are  placed,  and  stringing  them  over  the  others,  and 
nearer  the  middle  of  the  sounding-board.     Uy  this  improvement,  and  a  new 
arrangement   of  the  bridges,  Steinway  &  Sons  increased  the  length  of  the 
bass-cords   over  the   sounding  l)oard    from    forty  to  sixty-four   inches.     This 
brought    a   wonderful    access   of   power   to   the    instrument.      All    the    other 
liiakers,    .American    and    foreign,  were    soon    compelled    to    adopt    this    ex- 
cellent arrangement  of  the  strings.     They  were  the  first  to  manufacture  im- 
proved grand  pianos  in  this  country.     'I'heir  first  essay  in  this  direction  was 
brought  out  in  i.Ssq,  and  appeared  in  concert  at  the  New- York  .Academy  of 
.Music. 

In  iSCio  Lindeman  & 
Sons  of  New  York  pat- 
ented a  cycloiil  piano 
whicii  received  universal 
commendation  ;  and 
Decker  &  Brothers,  J.  I'. 
Ihile,  Harris  Hrothers, 
and  Albert  Weber,  of 
New  York,  Knabe  & 
Company  of   other 

r.altimore,    inventors. 

William  P.  ICmerson,  and 
Hallet,  Davis,  t^  Com- 
pany, of  Boston,  and 
others,  in  turn,  brought 
out  special  styles  and 
patents.     All    these 

makers  have  had  a  great  sale  of  their  instruments.  Steinway  &  Sons  took 
the  lead  in  1869. 

The  annual  production  of  pianos  in  the  United  States  is  now  about  forty 
thousand:  in  Europe  it  is  only  about  twenty-five  thousand.  In  1S67.  at 
Paris,  the  first  prizes  were  given  to  Steinway  and  Chickering.  The  United 
States  now  outstrips  the  Old  World  both  in  the  extent  of  production  and  the 


WEUBR   MANO. 


*-.J 


538 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


quality  of  her  pianos ;  and  she  has  the  three  largest  factories  in  the  world. 
She  car  well  sustain  the  neglect  of  Haweis  in  "  Music  and  Morals "  with 
equanimity,  in  view  of  these  facts. 

Within  the  last  two  years,  one  of  the  New- York  factories  (that  of  Josejjh 
P.  Hale)  lias  begun  to  do  business  on  a  scale  which  promises  to  jjut  its  sales 
Joseph  p.  ahead  of  tiiat  of  the  houses  of  both  Chickering  and  Sicinway. 
"^'^-  Mr.    Hale,   a  Massachusetts  man  by  birth,  began  piano-niakiug 

in  New  York  in  i860,  after  having  first  accumulated  a  fortune  in  the  crockery 
and  real-estate  trades  in  Worcester,  Mass.  His  pur[)ose  was  to  cheapen  the 
selling-cost  of  the  piano.  He  wantetl  "  the  people,"  as  contrasted  with  the 
upper  ten  thousand,  to  have  a  i)iano  which  woukl  be  both  good,  and  chcai) 
enough  for  them  to  afford.  He  entered  u])on  the  manufiuture  on  a  largo 
scale,  anil  by  187-  had  a  factory  in  New- York  City  cai)able  of  building  sixty 
pianos  u  week.  He  has  recently  undertaken  to  increase  the  capacity  of  hi.i 
factory  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  ])ianos  a  week  ;  which  would  be  three  times 
greater  than  that  o'i  any  other  factory  in  the  world,  and  would  supjjly  one- 
fifth  of  the  trade  of  the  continent.  Mr.  Hale's  operations  made  a  great 
sensation  in  the  piano- trade  in  1877. 

In  1870  there  were  i56  piano-factories  in  the  United  States  employing 
Number  of  4,200  people,  and  producing  24,306  pianos  worth  ;j;8. 330,000. 
factories.  yj-n,  number  of  factories  does  not  increase  :  but  the  production 
has  now  nearly  doubled. 

An  instrument  which  is  contesting  for  the  palm  of  popular  favor  with  tlie 
piano  is  the  sweet-voiced  cabinet-organ,  whose  gentle  and  sympathetic  tones 
Cabinet-  are  far  better  adapted  to  the  quiet  and  repose  of  the  faniil}-  life 
organ.  \\\^\\  the  uiorc  brilliant  but  less  gracious  piano  :  in  fact,  it  might 

have  been  said  that  the  contest  is  ended  in  flxvor  of  the  cabinet-organ,  were 
it  not  for  the  fact  that  its  larger  sale  is  i)artly  due  to  its  cheaper  jjrice.  and 
that  the  recent  recHiction  in  the  price  of  pianos  leaves  the  contest  ibr  the  ulti- 
mate largest  sale  still  an  unsettled  question. 

The  cabinet- organ  is  an  American  invention  :  it  sprang  from  so  htnuMe 
an  origin  as  the  accordion.  It  is  u  reed-instrument,  the  tones  beirg  pro- 
AnAmerican  ducod,  not  with  the  aid  of  pipes,  l)ut  by  the  vibrations  of  a  thin 
invention.  ^^{^jp  yf  jj^^^^  {v^m.  half  lui  iiu;h  to  several  inches  in  length,  fas- 
tened at  one  end  over  an  a]jerture  in  a  metal  plate  through  which  a  ciurent  of 
air  is  forced  or  drawn.  The  original  patent  was  issued  t'l  .\aron  M.  Peasiey, 
in  181 8,  for  what  he  called  "an  improvement  in  organs."  .\t  first  the  reed- 
organ  was  simply  an  accordion,  or  laj.-inelodeon  ;  ..nd  it  was  in  that  Ibrni  thai 
manufact'.irers,  for  a  long  period,  itnproved  anil  sold  it.  It  was  enlarged  li} 
different  makers,  strengthenetl  in  power,  anil  finally  improved  in  tone  by 
curving  the  reeds  into  an  S.  It  became  popular  for  accompaniments  to 
church-music  about  1840.  In  1846  Jeremiah  Carhart,  then  of  lUiflalo. 
invented   the    niod.'rn  "  melodeon "  by  fitting  to  the  reed-organ  a  pair  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


539 


exiiaust-bellows  and  a  regular  key-board.  It  was  provided  that  the  air  in  this 
instrument  shoukl  be  drawn  inward  through  the  reeds,  rather  than  blown 
outward.  The  change  improved  the  tone,  prevented  the  reeds  from  sticking, 
secured  a  prompt  response  whenever  a  key  was  touched,  anil  brought  with  it 
many  other  ad\antages.  Mr.  Carhart,  and  Prince  .I'  Company,  made  four- 
octave  melodeoiis  on  this 
plan  for  two  or  three 
years,  and  then  increased 
their  scope  to  five  octaves. 
Many  changes  of  detail 
were  made  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  interior  appa- 
ratus from  year  to  )ear, 
and  the  tone  and  working 
of  the  instrument  were 
improved.  The  machine 
still  lacked  the  perlect 
i  ■,  wetness  which  it  ought 

to     have     had.     Emmons 
In    1S49    Km-     Hamlin. 

nions  Hamlin,  a  young 
man  in  the  employ  of 
Prince  &  Company  of 
Buffalo,  hit  ui)on  the  hap- 
py idea  of  giving  a  slight 
twist  to  the  curved  reeds. 
I'he  change  eliminated  all 
harshness  from  the  tone 
of  the  reeds,  and  made 
them  soft  and  musical. 
It  led,  also,  to  experi- 
ments in  the  direction  of 
giving  different  qualities 
of  voice  to  reeds  by  al- 
terations in  their  size  and 
turm,  which  have  since 
proved  successful.    Prince 

iV  Company  immediately  adopted  all  the  new  ukas  in  their  melodeons, 
and  presented  lo  the  public  a  'lass  of  instruments  wiiic  h  instantly  became  a 
powerful  ri\.'l  to  the  piano.  Said  Spenser  in  i  retired  nook  of  an  ancient 
jiakce, 

"  My  love  doth  sit, 
Playing  alone,  careless,  on  hci'  liLaviiily  virginals." 


tAJUNirr-OKllAN. 


540 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


If  the  ancient  virginal,  with  its  faint,  thin  voice,  could  have  filled  the  poet's 
head  with  dreams,  what  would  not  the  divine,  assuaging  strains  of  the  sweet 
melodeon,  now  brought  to  perfection,  have  done  in  that  direction  ! 

In  1854  Mr.  Hainlin  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Henry  Mason,  son  of 
Dr.  Lowell  Mason  the  composer,  and  began  the  manufacture  of  reed-organs 
Progress  of  "pon  a  large  scale  in  Boston.  The  firm  first  presented  to  the 
the  manu-  public  their  organ-harmonium,  with  four  sets  of  reeds  and  two  man- 
facture.  ^,^^  ^j-  j^^y^,^     j^^  ^g^^  ^j^^y  brought  out  the  school-harmonium, 

in  1862  the  cabinet-organ.  They  have  since  constantly  developed  the  re- 
sources, sweetness,  and  scope  of  their  instruments,  until  they  stand  absolutely 
at  the  head  of  manufacturers  of  reed-organs  in  the  world  at  large.  They  are 
not,  however,  the  only  American  makers  who  excel  the  French,  German  and 
English  makers :  man}'  others  do  that,  and  among  them  the  B.  Shoninger 
Organ  Company  of  New  Haven,  Conn. ;  the  Quaker-City  Organ  Company. 
Philadelphia  ;  Peloubet,  Pelton,  &  Company  of  New  York  ;  the  Benham  Organ 
Company  of  Indianapolis  ;  the  Clough  &  Warren  Organ  Company  of  Detroit, 
Mich. ;  and  the  Taylor  &  Farley  Organ  Company  of  Worcester,  Mass.  It  is 
believed  that  these  makers  all  build  upon  the  exhaust  or  .American  plan  ;  and 
their  instruments  are  certainly  superior,  in  sweetness,  variety,  and  rapidity  of 
execution,  to  European  organs, --a  fact  which  is  recognized  by  the  large 
foreign  sale  of  their  organs.  They  receive  orders  from  every  continent  in  the 
world,  and  send  abroad  about  $600,000  worth  of  instruments  annually. 

The  manuiiicture  in  the  United  States  is  now  being  carried  on  in  about 
Number  of  seventy-five  establishments.  In  1870  the  production  had  already 
establish-  reached  32,000  instruments  a  year,  which  was  a  good  ways  ahead 
ments.  ^j-  ^^^  manufacture  of  pianos.     It  cannot  at  present  be  less  tlian 

50,000  a  year. 

In  the  building  of  pipe-organs  for  churches  the  United  States  have  made 

some  progress.     They  are  able  now  to  depend  upon  their  own 

factories  for  all  that  they  need  in  this  i.lass  of  musical  instruments. 

The  principal  makers  are  Hook  &  Hastings  of  Boston,  and  George  Jardine 

&  Son  of  New  York.     About  700  church-organs  are  made  every  year. 

The  manufacture  of  brass  horns  ami  tnmipets,  violins,  banjos,  guitars. 
drums,  cymbals,  xylophones,  gongs,  accordions,  tambourines,  and  all  other 
instruments,  both  for  serious  and  comic  use,  is  now  conducted 
upon  a  large  scale.  The  industry  is  in  a  very  healthy  state. 
The  highest  class  of  brass  and  silver  pieces,  and  of  violins,  is 
being  attempted,  and  reasonalile  success  has  been  attained  by  a  few  makers. 
Gemunder  of  New  York,  especially,  has  done  well  in  violins.  The  manufoc- 
ture  now  amounts  to  about  $2,500,000  worth  yearly.  There  is  a  fondness  tor 
European  instruments  of  these  smaller  kintls,  li()W(ntr.  which  our  makers  have 
not  yet  cou-.uered  ;  and  $700,000  worth  of  them  are  imported  )'early.  Tlie 
triumph  which  tiie  piano  and  organ  makers  have  won  aas  yet  to  fall  to  tlic  lot 


Manufacture 
of  brass 
instruments. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


541 


of  the  makers  of  these  smaller  instruments.  That  the  latter  will  yet  carry  their 
eagles  all  over  the  musical  world  anu  subdue  it,  as  their  brothers  have  done 
l)efore  them,  is,  however,  certain.  They  have  the  talent,  and  it  only  needs 
time  and  patient  study  to  accomplish  the  result. 

Two-thirds  of  all  the  musical  instruments  in  the  country  are  made  in  New- 
Vork  City,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  the  cities  taking  rank  in  the  order  named. 


MATCHES. 

The  means  of  lighting  a  fire  were  so  poor  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers, 
that  a  fire  was  dispensed  with  whenever  possible ;  and  where  a  fire  was 
absolutely  necessary,  as  in  the  kitchen,  it  wa^  kept  alive  constantly,  y^,^  ^^.^^ 
like  the  flame  on  an  ancient  altar,  by  feeding,  and  by  covering  the  were  former- 
coals  at  night  with  the  ashes.  The  usual  way  of  kindling  a  fire  in  ^  '"^  '*  " 
those  days  was  to  strike  a  shower  of  sparks  from  a  piece  of  flint  into  a  few 
scorched  cotton  or  linen  rags,  which,  by  a  little  gende  blowing,  would  then  be 
made  to  burst  into  a  flame.  Phosphorus  was  not  discovered  until  Discovery  of 
1677,  and  it  was  not  until  a  hundred  years  afterwards  that  it  came  phosphorus, 
into  use  at  all  for  lighting  fires.  There  were  two  ways  in  which  it  was  then 
used.  A  piece  of  phosphorus  was  put  into  a  vial,  and  stirred  with  How  it  was 
a  hot  wire,  so  as  to  coat  tiie  bottle  with  oxide  of  phosphorus  :  the  "'  ^^^^  "*"''• 
bottle  was  then  tightly  corked.  A\'hen  wanted  for  use,  a  splinter  of  wood 
about  six  inches  long,  the  end  of  which  had  been  coated  with  sulphur,  was 
(lipped  into  the  vial,  where  it  took  fire  from  the  phosphorus,  and  was  lighted. 
This  process  of  getting  a  light  was  in  use  almost  within  half  a  century :  only 
the  rich  employed  it.  Another  plan  contemporary  with  it  was  to  employ  an 
oxymuriate  match.  A  stick  of  wood  about  six  inches  long  was  tipped  with 
sulphur,  and  then,  with  a  paste  made  of  chlor^^te  of  potash,  gum,  and  sugar, 
colored  with  vermilion.  Vials  containing  a  piece  of  asbestos  soaked  in  oil  of 
vitriol  were  sold  with  them.  The  match,  touched  to  the  oil  of  vitriol,  burst 
into  a  blaze. 

In  1829  an  Elnglish  chemist  discovered  that  chlorate  of  potash  would  ignite 
by  friction  ;  and  this  gave  rise  to  the  modern  lucifer-match.     The 
new  style  of  match  was  tipped  with  chlorate  of  potash,  sulphate   vvhi'ch'"d  to 
of  antimony,  and  starch,  and  was  lighted  by  drawing  between  folds   the  making 
of  sand-paper.     The  manufacture  of  this  class  of  matches  began  °'  '^' '""' 
soon  afterward  in  the  United  States,  in  New  luigland.     They  were 
called  "  locofoco  "  matches  popularly,  the  jingling  and  unmeaning  name  being 
.uiven  them  for  coinic  effect.     The  Democrats  in   1835  acquired   "Locofoco" 
the  name  of  "Locofocos"  as  a  political  party  from  the  use  of  these   "la'ches. 
matches.     The  New- York  Whigs  had  called  a  meeting  ;  and  the  Democrats,  in 
order  to  get  possession  of  the  hall,  came  in  and  blew  out  the  candles.     The 
^Vhigs  ,  .tired  ;  and  the  Democrats  then  relighted  the  candles  with  locofoco- 


54« 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Alunzo  D 
Phillips. 


matches,  and  went  on  with  the  meeting.  The  matches  were  also  called  "  Con- 
greves,"  because  they  were  explosis'e  like  the  rockets  of  that  name.  In  i<S34 
Invention  of  phosphoriis  was  for  the  first  time  applied  to  the  match  itself.  In 
1836  Alonzo  D.  Phillips  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  got  a  patent  for  phos- 
phorous matches,  which  was  a  step  in  advance  of  the  old  kind  ;  and 
since  then  the  manufacture  has  been  carried  on  in  the  United  States  on  a  large 
scale.  The  length  of  the  match  was  reduced  to  about  two  inches.  Machinery 
was  invented  for  making  the  wooden  splints,  and  performing  different  ojK'ra- 
tions  of  the  manufacture  ;  and  the  business  was  so  systematized,  and  entered 
Extension  of  upon  on  such  an  enormous  scale,  that  matches  soon  became,  not 
industry.  ^-^^  luxury  of  the  rich,  but  the  cheapest  article  which  entered  into 
the  retail  trade  of  the  people.  In  1850  A.  Beecher  &  Sons  established  a  large 
factory  of  matches  at  Westville,  Conn. ;  and  in  1854  Swift  &  Courtney  went 
into  the  business  at  Wilmington,  Del.  The  two  firms  consolidated  in  1870  as 
the  Swift,  Courtney,  &  Beecher  Company,  and  now  constitute  the  principal 
house  in  the  business  in  the  Un'ted  States.  They  have  br-  ".hes  in  Philadel- 
phia, New  York,  Baltimore,  and  Chicago.  There  are  at  present  about  eighty 
establishments  in  the  business.  The  manufacture  is  enormous,  reaching  about 
15,000,000,000  matches  a  year. 

Friction-matches  were  first  made  in  combs  of  a  dozen  or  two  each.  In 
Process  of  this  forni  the  wood  was  very  conveniently  arranged  for  dipping 
making.  j,-jj.q  j-j-jg  nielted  sulphur,  and  afterward  into  the  chemical  jirf paia- 
tion  of  phosphorus,  or  chlorate  of  potash.  Each  match  was  broken  off  as  it 
was  wanted  for  use.  This  style  of  match  is  still  largely  made  for  its  cheapness. 
The  more  convenient  and  now  more  common  form  in  which  matches  are  sold 
is  in  bundle:,  or  boxes,  containing  anywhere  from  twenty-five  to  five  hundred. 
The  splints  are  formed  by  machinery,  which  will  make  two  million  in  a  ciny. 
They  are  rolled  into  flat  bundles  eighteen  inches  across  by  machinery,  each 
splint  being  held  apart  from  its  neighbors  ;  and  are  then  dipped  by  hand  into 
the  chemical  preparations  necessary  to  cause  them  to  ignite.  One  workman 
can  dip  a  million  matches  in  an  hour.  They  are  then  dried,  and  put  uj)  in 
packages  for  the  market. 

The  match-business  is  now  the  principal  customer  for  phosphorus,  and  one 
of  the  large  ones  for  sulphur.  It  is  said  that  ninety-five  per  cent  of  all  the 
phosphorus  made  is  consumed  in  match-making.  The  business 
has  been  in  the  past  an  unhealthy  one,  owing  to  the  poisonous 
character  of  the  chemicals  used.  In  England,  where  match-making 
used  to  be  carried  on  largely  at  home,  the  poor  people  engaged  in 
it  were  never  free  from  the  fumes.  At  night  their  very  clothing 
uminotis :    in  the  day-time  white  vapors  were  continually  rising  from 


Quantity  of 
phosphorus 
consumed  in 
match- 
making. 


was 


them.  American  ingenuity,  by  introducing  the  use  of  machines,  has  made  the 
business  a  very  different  sort  of  an  occupation ;  and  it  is  now  as  healthful  as 
the  majority  of  trades. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


543 


Among  the  matches  now  made  are  several  for  special  uses,  —  the  parlor- 
match,  for  instance,  which  uses  no  sulphur,  and  is  thus  free  from  the  civoking 
fumes  of  sulphur  ;  the  smoker's  match,  which  blazes  strongly,  and   various 
can  be  used  to  lisht  a  ciijar  in  the  wind  or  rain;  and  the  wax  kinds  of 
match,  which 
dainty  uses. 


burns   a   long   time,  and  is  an  elegant  affair  for 


matches. 


First  glass- 
factory  in 
United 
States. 


GLASS-WARE   AND    POTTERY. 

The  first  glass-foctory  in  the  United  States  was  started  in  Virginia  almost 
immediately  after  the  founding  of  the  first  settlement.  It  is  said  that  the  very 
first  cargo  sent  back  to  England  contained  "  trials  "  of  glass  made 
in  Virginia.  There  is  very  little  on  record  about  that  original 
establishment ;  bat  it  appears,  at  any  rate,  that  it  stood  in  the 
woods,  about  a  mile  from  Jamestown,  and  that  a  portion  of  its 
product  was  in  the  form  of  glass  beads  to  be  used  in  the  trade  with  the 
Indians.  In  162 1  a  fund  was  subscribed  to  establish  a  factory  especially  for 
glass  beads.  Italian  workmen  were  sent  over  to  get  the  works  in  operation. 
Whether  one  or  more  factories  were  in  operation  in  1632  is  not  known  ;  but 
one  certainly  was.  It  was  broken  up,  however,  in  that  year,  by  the  Indians, 
who  invaded  the  colony,  and  destroyed  factories,  the  crops,  and  the  settlers, 
indiscriminately.  The  glass-bead  business  was  not  again  resumed  in  Virginia 
for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  next  essay  by  the  colonists  was  in  Massachusetts.  Glass  bottles,  table- 
ware, and  window  glass  were  universally  wanted,  and  the  colonists  were  not 
satisfied  with  the  slow  and  costly  business  of  getting  them  from   „, 

•'  no  Glass-mak- 

Europe.  Factories  were  accordingly  started  at  Braintree  at  a  very  ingin  Mas- 
eady  date,  and  at  Salem  in  1639  :  they  were  encouraged  by  the 
government  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  and  appear  to  have 
thrived  for  a  long  period.  The  one  at  Braintree  remained  in  operation  nearly 
until  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  Philadelphia  had  a  glass-house  in  1683. 
.\n  old  map  of  Xew-York  City  shows  that  there  were  two  glass-factories  at 
that  place  as  early  as  1732.  During  the  Revolutionary  war  window-glass  was 
made  in  New  Jersey  ;  but  it  was  a  very  inferior  article.  After  the  Re\olution 
the  manufacture  of  glass  was  encouraged  both  by  the  national  and 
by  several  of  the  state  governments,  as  being  one  of  tiie  back- 
ward industries  of  the  country.  Ten  per  cent  duty  was  levied 
upon  all  imported  glass-ware  by  the  former.  In  i  7S8  the  legis- 
lature of  New  York  loaned  three  thousand  pounds  for  eight  years 
to  the  proprietors  of  a  glass-factory  near  .\lbany,  and  about  1803 
Massachusetts  voted  a  bounty  to  a  factory  in  Boston  for  every  table  of  window- 
glass  made.  The  manutacture  was  encouraged  in  Connecticut,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia ;  and  all  of  these  States  had  small  factories  in  operation  before  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century.     The  business  began  at  Pittsburgh,  Penn., 


sachv.setts 
Colony. 


Encourage- 
ment of  in- 
dustry after 
Revolution- 
ary war  by 
the  states 
and  nation. 


544 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


in  1796,  with  the  estaliishment  of  bottle  and  crown  glass  works  by  Gen. 
O'Hara.  This  factory  met  with  great  success  ;  and  it  is  in  operation  even  at 
Success  of  ^^  present  day,  under  the  ownership  of  Thomas  Wightman  & 
factory  at  Company,  though,  of  course,  so  enlarged  and  changed  as  to  possess 
ittsburg  .  ^j^jy  ^j^^  ^o\^\^  and  not  the  body,  of  the  original  works.  Pittsburgh 
became  the  principal  glass-making  city  of  the  country  in  a  very  few  years. 
Gen.  O'Hara's  success  inspired  others  to  go  into  the  business,  ^nd  the  war 
of  18 1 2  operated  to  provide  still  further  inducements  by  raising  the  prices  of 
glass-ware ;  and,  as  Pittsburgh  was  sufficiently  remote  from  the  coast  and 
frontier  to  be  safe  from  the  operations  of  the  war,  by  18 14  there  were  five 
glass-furnaces  in  blast  in  that  city,  making  botUes,  window-glass,  and  table- 
ware. One  of  them  was  the  flint-glass-works  of  Blakewell  &  Company,  the 
pioneer  of  its  class  in  America.  This  concern  imported  its  workmen :  it 
made  sets  of  table-ware  for  two  presidents,  and  also  produced  a  splendid 
vase  which  .was  subsequently  presented  to  Lafayette. 

The  United  States  were  designated  by  nature  as  a  glass-making  country. 
The  land  is  stored  in  every  part  with  sand,  limestone,  and  disintegrated  ciuartz- 
Favorabie  ^ock  of  the  best  quality ;  and  there  has  always  been  an  alMuidance 
of  cheap  fuel.  Only  one  of  the  materials  entering  into  the  com- 
position of  glass  is  not  present  in  this  country  in  al)undance  :  that 
is  soda,  which  constitutes  twenty  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  glass. 
This  can  be  obtained,  however,  as  cheaply  as  it  can  be  in  England. 
Belgium,  and  France  ;  and  the  possession  of  the  other  materials  is  a  qualifi- 
cation for  the  business  such  as  few  other  countries  are  endowed  with.  There 
has  been,  therefore,  a  considerable  growth  of  the  business,  especially  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York.     The  statistics  are  as  follows :  — 


conditions 
for  glass- 
making  in 
United 
States. 


1832 
1S40 
1S50 
1S60 
1S70 


FACTORIES. 


44 
81 

94 
112 

201 


WORKMEN. 


S.57I 

9,116 

15,800 


I 


VAI.fF  OF 
PRODICT. 


$2,500,000 
4,000,000 
4,641,000 
9,000,000 

19,233,000 


Of  the  factories  reported  in  1870,  fifty-two  were  in  Pennsylvania  (mostly 
at  Pittsburgh,  where  there  were  forty-seven  factories  in  active  operadon),  fifty- 
four  in  New  York,  nineteen  in  New  Jersey,  fourteen  in  Massachusetts,  and 
nine  in  Ohio. 

Notwithstanding  this  progress,  the  glass-works  of  the  United  States  by  no 
means  supply  the  domestic  market.     No  doubt  the  production  of  bottles 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


545 


America 
does  not  sup- 
ply her  own 
market. 


coarse  and  fine,  of  lamp-chimneys,  good  table-ware,  and  common  window- 
glass,  is  sufficient  for  the 
demands  of 
the    coun- 
try ;  but  in 
the  higher 

ifualities  of  window, 
mirror,  and  plate  glass, 
the  production  is  en- 
tirely inadcciuate.  Over 
six  million  dollars' 
worth  of  these  classes 
of  glass-ware  is  im- 
ported yearly  from  I5el- 
gium,  France,  and  Kng- 
land,  to  su[)ply  the  de- 
ficiency of  native  i)ro- 
duction.  There  is  in 
this  direction  a  large 
field  for  the  extension 
of  the  business.  Sev- 
eral places  exist  in  the 
South  where  the  manu- 
fiicture  could  be  eco- 
nomically and  i^rofita- 
bly  carried  on.  Mobile 
being  one  of  them. 
There  are  several  good 
places  in  the  North- 
West. 

In  the  manufacture 
of  glass-ware  there  is 
not  one  ar-   n,„^=.,=  „f 

Process  of 

tide  in  ten  giass-mak- 

t ho u sand   '"^" 

which  is  not  fashioned 

at  the  end  of  a  blow- 

pil)e.      Plate -glass    for 

windows,  and  the  lenses 

'it   optical  instruments,  casters. 

are  cast ;    and  goblets, 

lamps,   and  some  other    irregularly-shaped  ware,  arc   i)ressed    in  d 

every  thing  else   is  taken  from  the  melting-pot  in  a  soft  lump  at 


ies  :    but 
the  end 


546 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


of  a  blow-pipe,  and  acquires  its  first  form  by  the  operation  of  the  lungs  and 
hands  of  the  workman.  Window-glass  is  made  by  blowing  the  lump  into 
tables  or  cylinders.  The  sand,  carbonate  of  soda,  manganese,  and  arsenic, 
which  compose  the  glass,  are  first  melted  down  in  eight  or  ten  jjots  arrangi-d 
in  a  large  circular  dome,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  the  fire.  It  takes  about 
forty-eight  hours  to  perfect  the  fusion.  When  the  bubbles  are  all  gone,  ami 
the  dross  has  been  skimmed  off,  a  workman  dips  the  end  of  a  blow-pipe  five 
feet  long,  with  a  diameter  ranging  from  one-fourth  inch  to  one  inch,  into  the 

melted  glass,  ami 
takes  up  a  lump  of  it : 
he  blows  this  into  a 


large    flat   globe, 
boy    affixes    to 
globe     opposite 
pipe     an     iron 
with  the  aid  of  a 


A 
the 
the 
rod 
lit- 
tle melted  glass,  and 
the  blow -pipe  and 
the  nose  of  the 
globe  are  then  sepa- 
rated from  the  globe 
by  the  application  of 
a  piece  of  cold  iron. 
The  globe  held  by 
the  iron  rod  is  then 
put  into  the  furnace, 
and  rapidly  revolved. 
It  softens,  and  finally 
opens  out  with  a  fla]) 
into  a  flat  dish,  which 
is  then  kept  revolv- 
ing until  it  is  cold.  It 
is  next  sent  to  the  an- 
nealing-furnace, and 
its  brittleness  removed  by  annealing ;  and  it  is  then  cut  up  for  the  market  with 
a  diamond-point.  The  other  process  of  making  window-glass  is  to  blow  a 
lump  of  melted  material  out  into  a  cylinder,  which  is  done  by  hokling  the 
blow-pipe  alternately  over  the  head,  and  then  down  below  the  platform  on 
which  the  workman  stands.  In  the  latter  position  it  elongates  into  a  cylinder. 
The  cylinder  being  put  into  the  oven,  the  heated  air  within  bursts  out  the  end 
opposite  to  the  blow-pipe.  The  latter  end  is  cut  off  with  a  hot  iron  as  soon  as 
the  cylinder  is  cool.  The  cylinder  is  then  slit  once  lengthwise,  and  laid  in  an 
oven,  where  it  softens,  opens,  and  flattens  down,  the  workman  assisting  tlie 


DBCANTEKS. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


547 


Plate-glasB. 


operation  by  working  a  block  of  wood  over  it  att  .ched  to  the  end  of  a  rod. 
The  plate  is  then  sent  off  to  be  annealed.  The  distortions  which  are  pro- 
duced by  looking  through  window-glass  come  from  the  fact,  that,  the  inner 
and  outer  surfaces  of  the  cylinder  being  of  different  lengths,  the  flattening 
produces  in  the  glass  undulations  called  cockles. 

Bottles  and  hollow-ware  are  blown  out  from  a  lump  of  melted  material,  and 
shaped  in  moulds  of  brass  or  iron,  which  open  and  shut  on  a  hinge,  and  are 
worked  by  the  foot.  Plate-glass  is  cast  upon  an  iron  slab,  at  the  Bottles  and 
sides  of  which  are  placed  bars  of  iron  of  the  intended  thickness  houow- 
of  the  plate.  An  iron  or  copper  roller  rests  upon  these  bars,  and  ^"^  " 
is  then  rolled  over  the  surface  of  the  melted  glass,  pressing  before  it  the  super- 
lluous  material,  and  giving  the  plate  a  uniform  thickness.  The 
edges  of  the  plate  are  trimmed  when  it  is  cool,  and  the  plate  is 
then  annealeil.  Flint-glass  for  table-ware  is  ground  after  pressing  by  means 
of  sand  and  emery  wheels.  The  sharp  edges  so  often  noticed  are  produced 
in  this  way.  All  glass  has  to  be  ground  and  polished  by  apparatus  specially 
fitted  up  for  the  purpose.  Colored  glass  for  stained  windows,  lanterns,  &c.,  is 
made  by  mixing  into  the  melting-pot  oxide  of  gold  for  red,  oxide  of  copper 
for  blue,  oxide  of  manganese  for  amethyst,  iron  ore  and  manganese  for  orange, 
copper  and  iron  for  green,  and  other  metals  for  other  colors.  The  color  may 
be  produced  in  the  body  of  the  glass  itself,  or  only  on  the  surface  :  if  on  the 
surface,  it  is  produced  by  dipping  the  lump  of  clear  glass  into  a  pot  of  colored 
material,  when  some  of  the  latter  clings  to  the  whole  surface,  and  remains 
])ermanent  in  every  stage  of  the  subsequent  processes.  The  silvering  of  glass 
for  mirrors  is  a  simple  operation.  Tin-foil  is  spread  over  a  stone  table,  and 
([uicksilver  poured  thinly  over  it.  The  plate  of  glass  is  slid  slowly  upon  the 
table,  pushing  the  quicksilver  before  it,  the  object  being  to  prevent  any  air 
getting  under  the  glass.  The  superfluous  metal  is  then  drawn  off,  and  the 
plate  weighted  down  for  several  hours.  It  is  then  taken  up,  the  tin-foil  adher- 
ing, and  exposed  to  the  air,  back  uppermost,  for  several  days,  until  the 
amalgam  is  perfectly  hard. 

The  Siemens  reverberatory  gas-furnace  has  been  adopted  in  the  glass- 
manufacture,  as  well  as  in  the  iron  and  steel  l)usincss,  —  more  largely  abroad, 
however,  than  in  America.     It  is  now  considered  essential  in  the   c,- „,  ,. 

'  Siemens  re- 

making of  the  higher  qualities  of  glass.  The  ordinary  furnace,  verberating 
with  its  melting-pots  arranged  around  an  open  fire-box,  is  certain  eas-furnace. 
to  injure  the  glass  by  bringing  coal-dust,  sulphur,  &c.,  into  contact  with  the 
melting-materials.  This  is  all  obviated  by  the  Siemens  furnace  ;  and  the 
enlargement  of  the  plate  and  fine  glass  business  in  this  country  can  only 
proceed  with  the  aid  of  this  style  of  furnace. 

Pottery  was  one  of  the  earliest  manufactures  of  the  colonists.  The  Lon- 
don companies  sent  over  potters  to  all  the  colonies,  and  the  Dutch  did  the 
same    for   their   settlements   at    the    mouth  of  the    Hudson.     The    colonists 


548 


INDUSTKIAI.    HISTORY 


ANCIBNT  I'OTTEKY    -JUG. 


could  not  get  on  without  jars,  jugs,  mugs,  and  earthen  ch'slies  ;  and  every  (Us- 
trict  of  the  country  had  its  own  pottery.     .Alexander  Hamilton  rejKjrted  in 

1790    that     the    business    was 

Manufacture    thriving.       It    Was 

of  pottery  by   one    o  f    the    f  e  w 

colonists.  1  I  r    '      I 

branches  of  mdns- 
try  which  had  made  itself  able 
to  supply  the  colonial  demand. 
The  business  is  a  very  sim;ile 
one.  the  clays,  white  and  Ijrown, 
being  fashioned  by  hand  upon 
a  litde  revolving  romid  table 
direcdy  from  the  lump,  dried  in 
the  air,  baked  in  an  oven,  and 
Number  of  then  glazed.  It  is 
potteries.  very  extensively 
practised  throughout  the  coun- 
try, there  being  about  750  pdt 
teries  in  operation,  supplyini; 
about  $6,000,000  worth  of  ware 
every  year.  Trenton,  N.J.,  is  the  greatest  individual  centre  of  the  manufac- 
ture. Within  the  last  five  years  the  pot- 
ters have  begun  to  pay  some  attention  to 
the  matter  of  producing  artistic  pottery. 
Their  forms  had  been,  until  five  years  ago, 
of  the  simplest  and  most  practical  descrip- 
tion :  little  was  done  for  beauty,  and  scarce 
any  pottery  was  made  for  purely  orna- 
mental ol)jects.  A  change  in  reference  to 
form  is  now  taking  place.  Within  the 
last  ten  years  the  attention  of  makers  has 
been  drawn  to  a  collection  of  pottery  near- 
Cesnoia  ly    two    thousand    years    okl, 

coUection.  which  was  dug  up  from  the 
ruins  of  the  temples  in  the  Island  of  Cyprus 
by  Cesnola,  the  consul  of  the  United  States, 
and  which  was  sold  to  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  New-York  City.  The  lovers 
of  art  have  gone  wild  over  these  treasures, 
and  a  mania  has  grown  up  for  ornaniental 
l)ieces  in  the  same  shapes  as  many  of  the  interesting  antiques  in  this  famous 
collection.  The  old  mania  for  artistic  china  has  broken  out  again  too,  and 
these  two  causes  combined  have  presented  to  the  pottery-makers  their  oi>por- 


ANCIENT   I'OTTERV.  —  JAR. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


549 


tiinity.  Mary  of  the  more  cnteri)rising  firms  have  recently  undertaken  to  pro- 
iluce  jars,  vases,  mugs,  t\:c.,  in  the  anti(iue  style  ;  and  the  market  is  now  full  of 
their  ware,  and  the  sales  of  it  are  large.  Some  of  the  pieces  they  make  they 
decorate  at  the  pottery  themselves  in  brown  and  black  ;  but  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  pieces  is  sent  to  the  store  in  the  rough  state,  to  be  sold  to  ladies 
and  artists  who  desire  to  decorate  the  jars  and  vases  themselves.  'I'iie  forms 
of  common  pottery  iiave  perceptibly  improved,  too,  along  svith  those  of  the 
more  artistic  kind. 


PORCELAIN    I'LATB. 


Porcelain-ware  is  also  made  to  some  extent  in  the  United  States,  though 
this  is  not  yet  one  of  oiu'  great  industries.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and 
New  Jersey  have  excellent    factories,  making  ware    from    native 

"^  Porcelain. 

earths,  and  decorating  it  with  flower  and  leaf,  and  Ijird.  insect,  and 
animal  patterns,  according  to  the  taste  of  the  day.  This  branch  of  manufac- 
ture partakes  of  the  character  of  fine  art,  and  it  is  not  one  in  which  American 
artisans  have  yet  won  any  distinguished  success.  What  will  be  the  result  when 
the  excellent  schools  of  design  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York  have  done  their 
work  a  little  more  thoroughly,  need  not  be  referred  to  here  ;  but  it  may  be  said 


1^    vv> 


.Sr,  iSr 


V*^.  "■  "°- 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MTS) 


1.0 


I.I 


Ill  1.8 


115      U,      1.6 

^ 

6"     

► 

HiotDgraphic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  .VUiN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  873-4S03 


,v^^* 


% 


,V4 


^ 


<° 


S50 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


that  there  is  ample  room  in  the  United  States  for  a  large  corps  of  native- 
American  decorators.  The  taste  of  the  people  for  choice  table-ware  has  outrun 
the  ability  of  the  native  factoiies  to  gratify  it.  Decorated  china  is  now  the 
attribute  of  the  rich.  It  ought  to  be  within  the  reach  of  all  the  people ;  but  it 
never  will  be  until  there  are  more  decorators, — a  great  many  more, — and  until 
all  the  manufactories  can  afford  to  employ  them.  The  decorators  are  at  pres- 
ent principally  men  of  foreign  birth  and  training.  The 
very  best  class  are  native  artists,  who  occasionally  lay 
aside  the  easel  to  illuminate  a  jar,  a  vase,  a  plaque,  or 
some  other  object  of  clay,  for  a  friend  or  for  the  market. 
As  before  said,  it  is  only  the  rich  that  can  afford  to  en- 
gage the  services  of  either  class.  It  is  not  strange  that 
the  United  States  should  not  yet  be  great  in  china  and 
porcelain  ware,  when  we  reflect  that  attention  to  the 
industry  only  began  about  sixty  years  ago ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  porcelain  countries  par  excellence  of  the  world  have 
practised  the  art  of  moulding  and  decorating  this  ware  for  a  period  of  from 
three  hundred  to  a  thousand  years.  The  best  that  can  be  said  of  the  art 
a.s  it  exists  in  this  country  at  the  present  day  is,  that  it  promises  well  for 
the  future.     It  most  certainly  does  that. 


rORCELAIN  CUP. 


GLUE. 

The  most  arid  soils  sometimes  best  repay  cultivation  ;  and  things  the  most 
useless  and  valueless  in  life  often  turn  out  to  be,  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
From  what  know  their  peculiar  qualities,  articles  of  priceless  merit.  It  is  from 
it  u  made.  refuse  that  some  of  the  most  necessary  and  excellent  commodities 
of  the  age  are  obtained.  Glue  is  one  of  these  commodities.  It  is  made  from 
the  trimmings  and  clippings  of  hides,  which  are  removed  during  the  process 
of  currying  and  tanning.  Those  scraps  are  not  only  useless  for  any  other  pur- 
pose than  glue-making,  but,  were  they  not  available  for  some  such  purpose, 
they  would  be  absolutely  unpleasant  to  have  on  hand.  They  would  be  hard 
to  dispose  of,  and,  unless  speedily  removed,  would  be  a  source  of  disease 
and  danger.  As  it  is,  however,  science  has  put  them  to  use  for  the  produc- 
tion of  an  article  which  society  could  not  now  get  along  without ;  for  glue 
is  of  universal  convenience.  It  enters  into  the  binding  of  the 
books  we  take  up  every  day ;  it  cements  the  furniture  which  we 
use  every  hour  of  our  lives ;  it  renders  writing-paper  capable  of  taking  ink 
without  blurring ;  it  makes  turpentine  and  petroleum  barrels  tight ;  it  joins 
the  violin  ;  and,  in  fact,  performs  a  thousand  services  of  the  most  necessary 
and  interesting  description.  Were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  this  article  can  l)e 
made  from  refuse  cuttings  of  hide  which  are  of  no  intrinsic  value  whatever, 
it  would  be  so  costly,  that  books,  paper,  furniture,  and  all  objects  into  tiie 


UtUity. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


55" 


construction  of  which  it  enters,  would  be  so  much  more  expensive,  that  the 
increased  price  might  suffice  to  turn  the  scale  adversely  when  one  was  deciding 
whether  to  buy  those  articles  or  not. 

In  glue-making,  the  cuttings  of  hide,  when  fresh,  are  put  into  a  strong 
solution  of  lime  in  order  to  remove  the  hair,  fat,  and  bits  of  meat,  clinging  to 
them,  and  to  dispose  the  cuttings  to  melt  readily  upon  the  appli-  p^ocew  of 
cation  of  heat.  When  sufficiently  treated,  the  scraps  arc  taken  giue- 
out  of  the  lime-water,  and  washed  and  dried.  The  latter  process  **  "*' 
is  performed  in  the  most  thorough  manner ;  and,  in  order  tLat  there  may  lie 
perfect  desiccation,  the  scraps  are  generally  stored  for  a  long  period  of  time. 
In  the  spring  and  fall  the  scraps  are  put  into  the  melting-pot  in  bags  of 
netting,  and  boiled  with  rain-water.  The  gelatinous  substance  in  them  dis- 
solves readily  into  liquid  glue.  The  glue  is  drawn  off,  strained,  anil  allowed 
to  cool  and  settle  ;  and,  when  it  becomes  hard  like  jelly,  it  is  sliced  into  sheets, 
and  spread  upon  nets  to  dry.  Drying  requires  two  or  three  weeks.  The 
sheets  are  ready  for  the  store  when  perfec*.ly  dry,  though  they  are  usually 
stored  away  in  \<  '  ■  for  a  while  before  they  are  marketed.  The  climate  of 
America  is  very  lcivi;.,i'  ■-;  ic  {i;lue-niaking,  on  account  of  its  dryness.  In 
moist  countries,  like  oi.  ,iand,  the  drying  is  not  so  perfectly  and  beautifully 
done. 

There  are  now  alx)ut  seventy  glue-factories  in  the  I'^nited  States.  Phila- 
delphia is  the  principal  centre  of  the  trade,  although  C'hicago  and  St.  Louis 
have  latterly  attained  some  importance  in  it.  The  Philadelphia  factories  are 
very  large. 

A  purely  American  variety  of  glue  was  invented  by  Mr.  Spaulding.  It  was 
called  "Spaulding's  Prepared  Cllue,"  and  under  that  name  was  extensively 
advertised  and  sold,  not  only  in  the  United  States,  but  in  luirope  „  „  . 
and  other  parts  of  the  world.  It  was  made  in  a  li(iuid  form,  ing'« 
and  had  the  ([uality  of  hardening  when  applied  to  the  cementa- 
tion of  two  surfaces.  Sold  in  bottles  of  small  size,  its  con- 
venience secured  for  it  great  popularity.  Various  preparations  of  this  sort 
are  now  in  the  market.  An  ounce  of  nitric  acid  to  the  pound  of  dry  glue, 
or  three  parts  of  acetic  acid  to  one  of  dry  glue,  preserves  the  glue  in  li(juid 
form. 

One  of  the  most  important  uses  of  glue  is  for  the  making  of  sand  and 
emery  paper, — an  industry  which  is  carried  on  frequently,  if  not 
generally,  in  the  glue  factories  themselves.     The  sheets  of  paj)er  jn'mrking" 
used  are  made  from  old  rope  so  as  to  be  very  tough,  or  from  ••nd  and 
manila-fibre    direct.      Sand-paper   and   emery-paper   are   largely  •"'"■>' 
used  in  all  factories  in  which  wood  is  fashioned  for  popular  use, 
and  in  many  other  shops  besides.    They  are  comparatively  recent  inventions, 
and  are  of  great  service  to  manufacturers. 


Prepared 
Olue." 


552 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


use  of 
veneering. 


VENEERING. 

The  ancient  forests  of  Brazil  and  other  parts  of  South  America  contain 
enough  trees  of  rare  and  beautiful  cabinet-woods  to  give  the  whole  human 
race  furniture  of  solid  woods.  But  these  forests  cannot  be  utili/cd  at  present, 
and  will  not  l>e  brought  into  the  market  for  many  generations ;  and  tal)inet- 
Bconomy  in  woods  of  great  beauty  are,  therefore,  rare  in  the  general  market, 
and  costly,  rather  than  abundant  and  cheap,  as  they  might  be. 
About  fifty  years  ago  the  cost  of  cabinet-woods  was  so  great,  that 
three  logs  of  mahogany  sold  for  five  thousand  dollars  apiece  in  I/)n(lon. 
The  expense  of  all  fine  cabinet-woods,  and  the  actual  scarcity  of  some  varie- 
ties, led  to  the  art  of  sawing  up  beautiful  logs  into  thin  sheets,  and  of  covering 
furniture,  doors,  picture- frames,  chests,  &c.,  made  of  cheaper  woods,  with  these 
sheets  of  the  rarer  timl)er,  so  as  to  produce  the  same  effect  as  though  the 
articles  were  made  of  solid  cabinet-woods,  and  thus  to  gain  the  appearance, 
without  the  cost,  of  solid  wood.  It  was  an  a])plication  to  cabinet-work  of  the 
idea  of  plating  an  inferior  substance  with  a  superior,  which  has  also  been 
utilized  in  silver-smithing,  glass-making,  and  other  industrial  arts.  Singularly 
enough,  after  veneering  had  been  invented  and  practised  for  this  ol)je{t.  it 
was  founil  that  the  practice  had  a  great  merit  of  its  own  in  strengllieninu 
the  wootl  veneered  by  preventing  it  from  splitting  and  cracking,  and  in 
enabling  the  workman  to  produce  a  number  of  panels,  &c.,  of  exactly  tiic 
same  graining  of  wood.  Its  utility  for  all  these  general  purposes  has  led  to 
its  general  and  increasing  employment. 

The  woods  which  are  sawed  uj)  for  veneering  are  rose-wood,  mahogany. 
ebony,  sandal-wood,  satin-wood,  bird's-eye-maple,  French  maple,  tuliij-wood, 
Kindt  of  and  a  large  variety  of  the  South-American  cabinet-woods,  whose 
woods  uied.  names  are  so  strange  and  unjjronounceable,  that  it  would  not  \\^ 
desirable  to  reproduce  them  here.  The  best  i)ortions  of  the  tree  for  sawinj,' 
are  those  where  the  branches  form,  because  the  twisted  and  gnarled  arrange- 
ment of  the  fibres  of  the  tree  in  those  parts  of  the  trunk  produces  a  wide 
variety  of  interesting  forms  in  the  graining  of  the  wood,  and  deepens  the 
color,  and  renders  the  wood  more  close  and  compact.  The  veneers  art- 
sawed  out  very  thin  ;  but  the  thinness  varies  with  the  value,  and  (|uality  of  tiie 
Thicicneii  of  wood,  from  an  eighth  to  a  hundredth  of  an  inch.  Saws  of  great 
veneering.  precision,  nmning  in  gangs,  are  used.  Sometimes  a  different 
process  is  used,  the  veneers  being  cut  off  in  a  broad  peel  by  a  turning- 
lathe.  This,  however,  is  more  generally  resorted  to  in  cutting  sheets  of  bone 
and  ivory. 

The  veneers  are  sent  to  the  cabinet-maker  rough,  because  the  rough  face 
Treatment  of  assists  in  glueing  them  down.  They  are  fastened  on  simply  with 
veneert.  good  glue  ;  the  only  care  necessary  Iwing  this,  that  they  must  lie 
worked  down  so  thoroughly  as  to  expel  the  air  from  below  them.    They  are 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


S53 


clamped  down  until  cool  and  dry.  The  outer  surface  of  the  veneering  is 
th^n  poiislied,  and  treated  exactly  as  though  the  article  were  made  of  solid 
cabinet-wood. 

Undoubtedly  a  pure  taste  would  dictate  a  preference  for  a  black-walnut  or 
common  maple  article  of  furniture  which  was  made  of  solid  wood,  and  was 
exactly  what  it  represented  to  be,  than  a  much  more  splendid  and  showy 
article,  apparently  of  bird's-eye-maple  or  rosewood,  which,  in  reality,  was 
veneered.  But  veneering  is  not  necessarily  a  cheat,  and  it  has  too  many 
valuable  uses  to  be  dispensed  with  altogether.  For  instance,  who  would  want 
a  piano  to  be  of  solid  rosewood  ?    Who  could  alTord  to  buy  one  of  solid  wood  ? 


CARRIAGES    AND    CARS. 

The  forests  of  the  United  States,  once  so  magnificent,  are  now  being  swept 
away  with  a  rapidity  which  has  alarmed  our  statesmen,  and  has  made  the  sub- 
ject of  replanting  the  devastated  fields  a  ([uestion  of  vital  impor-    Destruction 
lance.     The  demands  upon  the  timber-growth  of  the  country  are  "'  'oreitt. 
enormous.     Wood  is  wanted  for  millioas  of  dwellings,  for  fences,  furniture, 
shipping,  railroad-ties,  fuel,  telegraph-poles,  machinery,  boxes,  for  exportation 
to  foreign  countries,  and  a  thousand  other  objects ;   and,  instead  of  the  de- 
mand falling  off  as  timber  grows  scarce,  it  is  the  fact,  that  in  many  cases 
the   demand   is   constantly   increasing.      The   reciuirements  of  the   car  and 
carriage  factories,  for  instance,  are  increasing  every  year.     In  the  days  of  our 
great-grandfathers,  the  occasional  ancient  coach,  and  the  heavy  lumber-wagon 
in  which  the  freight-transportation  of  the  country  was  carried  on,  were  almost 
tlie  only  vehicles  that  roUetl  along  the  roads.     The  people  did   contrast  be- 
not  own  private  t:arriages  themselves.     When  they  travelled,  they  tween  the 
took  to  the  coach,  or  rode  on  horseback,  the  latter  being  the  more  "'*'*"  ■"** 

"^  present  time. 

customary  i)lan.  The  purchase  of  a  j)rivate  carriage  was  such  a 
r.irity,  tiiat  such  an  act  was  suificient  to  stamj)  a  man  as  an  aristocrat,  and  was 
very  likely  to  create  a  prejudice  against  him.  S.)  that  in  those  days,  although 
tlie  peoi)le  fairly  lived  under  the  branches  of  boundless  and  apparently  inex- 
haustible forests,  and  though  timber  was  as  cheap  as  dirt,  the  amount  of  wood 
cut  for  carriage-building  was  so  slight  as  to  make  no  jierceptible  impression 
iil)on  the  forests  whatever.  But  now  things  have  greatly  changed.  Within  the 
liuntlred  years  just  gone  by  an  era  of  railroad-building  and  carriage-owning 
lias  come  in,  and  during  the  last  fifty  years  carriages  and  cars  have  been  build- 
ing in  increasing  numbers  year  by  year.  Now,  in  1H78.  the  demand  upon  the 
forests  of  the  country  for  the  stuff  with  which  to  build  these  vehicles  is  some- 
liiing  enormous  and  alarming.  U|X)n  the  railroads  of  the  United  States  there 
now  roll  350,000  cars,  and  upon  the  highways  and  streets  15,000,000  carriages, 
stages,  trucks,  and  carts.  To  replace  the  old  and  supply  the  demand  for  new 
vehicles  of  these  several  classes,  it  is  estimated  that  the  country  now  requires 


554 


IND  US  TRIA  L    II IS  TOR  Y 


the  growth  of  500,000  acres  of  timber  annually.  These  figures  show  better 
than  any  thing  else  can  the  enormous  development  reached  by  tiiis  special 
industry  in  the  United  States. 

The  earliest  efforts  of  the  people  of  America  at  carriage-making  were  put 
forth  in  the  direction  of  building  rude  carts  and  wagons  without  springs  fur 
Pint  effort!  '"'^  "^  teaming  goods  to  and  from  the  mill,  from  the  farms  to 
in  carriage-  town,  and  vice  7'ersd,  and  from  city  to  city.  The  wheels  fur  these 
mai«  ng.  vehicles  were  all,  or  nearly  all,  importeil,  until  the  Rcvolution;ir\ 

war ;  at  which  date  the  colonists,  for  the  first  time,  fell  to  making  them  gener- 
ally for  themselves.  The  few  private  carriages  of  tliat  day,  one  of  whi<  h 
Importation  was  owned  by  Washington,  were  imported.  They  were  heav). 
of  carriages,  coach-like  affairs,  drawn  by  six  horses,  and  adapted  to  travelling 
on  the  bad  roads  of  that  periotl.     With  the  better  times  which  came  after  the 


WINDSOR  WAGOrr. 


Revolution,  and  particularly  after  the  war  of  1812,  the  carpenters  turned  their 
hands  to  something  besides  heavy  wagons,  and  especially  to  a  new  style  ot 
vehicles  (namely,  stage-coaches)  for  which  there  then  grew  u|)  a  great  deniaml. 
Stage- coaches  were  unknown  in  the  United  States  until  after  the  Revolution. 
There  were  only  1,905  miles  of  best  roads  in  the  country  in  1791,  and  tlie 
mail  was  carried  in  heavy  wagons.  Lines  of  stages  were  started  to  run  in 
every  direction,  however,  after  1791,  in  the  coast  States  ;  and  the  re(|uireiueni-< 
of  the  companies,  recorded  l)y  a  heavy  tariff  of  forty-five  per  cent,  soon  gave 
carriage-building  a  great  impetus  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Very  little  was 
done  for  the  improvement  of  the  ordinary  freighting  or  Conestoga  wagon  for 
a  long  period ;  but  the  models  and  arrangements  of  the  coach  were  things 
which  touched  the  people  closely,  and  this  class  of  carriages  received  a  gre.it 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


555 


deal  of  attention  accordingly.     Woods  were  sought  for  to  compose  tlie  axles, 
wheels,  and  body,  whicli  were,  at  the  same  time,  the  toughest  and  lightest. 


The  seats  were  carefully  cushioned.  Kvery  part  of  the  vehicle  was  carefully 
studied  and  improved  ;  and  the  whole  coach  was  made  light,  strong,  comforta- 
ble, and  serviceable  to  a  degree  which  had  never  been  known  before.     One 


556 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTOKY 


factory  started  at   Troy,  N.Y.,  about   the  year  1815^  became  famous  in  the 

manufacture  of  a 
style  of  f o a c li 
which  was  far  supe- 
rior to  the  aiK  ient 
models  of  Ilngland. 
and  which  so  en 
came  into  gc-ncral 
use  in  this  country 
under  tlie  name 
"Troy  of  the 

coach."  "Troy 

coach."  The  stage- 
coaches of  the  pres- 
ent   day    are    still 
mainly  of  this  pat- 
\    tern,  developed   ;u 
•;    Troy,   N.  Y.      .\ii 
i    other  firm,  at  Con- 

r, 

\      "  Concord         <"  o  r  d  . 

;      wagon."  N  .  H  . . 

t 

\    became  famous  for 
f    another  stvle    of 
5    coach,   adapted    to 
\    summer  tra\el.     It 
'     had  the  three  seats 
and  the  boot  of  the 
regular  stage  :  hut  it 
had  a  wagon-body, 
and  a  light  canvas 
top.     It    took    llic 
name  of  the  "Con- 
cord  wagon,"   and 
is    still    known    by 
that  name  wherever 
manufactured. 

About  1830  still 
another  style  of 
coach  was  intro- 
duced, which  took 
the  name  of  "  om- 
it was  an  extremely  long  vehicle,  a  sort  of  ark,  with  two  scats 


nibus. 


running  longitudinally  of  the  coach.     Invented  in  France  in  1827,  it  was 


OF    T//E    UX/TED   STATES. 


557 


introduced  to  New  York  in  1830,  and  was  employed  to  run  on  regular 
routes  in  that  and  other  cities  for  the  accommodation  of  people  going  up 
and  down  ami  about  town.  These  omnibuses  are  made  very  introduction 
much  smaller  now  tlian  formerly,  but  are  still  run  in  most  large  of  the 
cities.  Their  value  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are  more  exclusive  *""" 
than  the  street-car,  and  they  supply  the  facilities  for  city  travel  without 
injuring  the  streets  throug'.i  which  they  run  by  the  laying  of  an  iron  track. 

After  1830  the  business  of  carriage-building  developed  very  rapidly,  and 
many  new  ideas  were  introduced.     The  elliptical  spring,  invented  in   1825, 
began  to  be  em|)loyed.     Smiths  began  to  make  the  tires  of  their 
wheels  in  solid  rings,  and  to  shrink  them  on  by  cooling,  instead  of  veiopmentoi 
making  them  in  pieces,  breaking  joints  with  the  fellies.     Hickory  carriage- 
came  into  general  use  for  wheels  and  frames  on  account  of  its  *>""<""« 

°  eince  1830. 

strength  and  lightness.  Machinery  was  invented  to  make  the 
spokes,  hubs,  tops,  the  small  metal-work,  and  other  parts  of  wagons  and  car- 
riages, by  the  thousanil  and  tens  of  thousands.  New  styles  of  wagons  were  con- 
trived, adapted  to  special  neetls.  The  business  developed  remarkably  fast ;  and 
improvement  followed  improvement  so  rapidly,  especially  in  the  construction  of 
pleasure-carriages,  that  particular  builds  of  wagon  became  anti(|uated  in  less 
than  ten  years,  and  were  superseded  by  something  else,  lighter,  handsomer, 
stronger,  and  cheaper.  Hundreds  of  new  factories  were  started,  and  hundreds 
of  ingenious  brains  were  set  to  work  devising  new  ideas  in  pattern,  build, 
and  materials.  The  general  tendenc:y  of  all  improvements  was  to  cheapen  the 
cost  of  carriages,  and  make  them  lighter  and  stronger.  The  reduced  cost, 
and  the  improved  roads  and  growing  wealth  of  the  country,  brought  about  a 
lively  ilemand  for  the  products  of  the  factories  ;  and  by  1850  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  carriages  were  enormous.  The  .American  patterns  were  very  much 
admired  in  Europe.  They  were  largely  copied  in  Europe,  and  heavy  orders 
were  sent  here  for  the  nrriages  themselves. 

Tlie  factories  have  always  shown  a  readiness  to  change  the  styles  of  their 
work,  and  to  pass  from  one  thing  to  another,  according  as  fashions  or  the 
<  ircunistances  of  the  times  have  changed.  Some  of  the  factories  shifted  to 
the  business  of  making  railroad  and  street  cars  when  railroads  came  into 
being,  and  discontinued  the  wagon-branch  of  the  business  altogether.  Many 
of  them  took  to  making  army-wagons  during  the  war.  Express-wagons  were 
taken  up  by  many  of  them  at  one  period,  and  there  has  been  a  long  rivalry 
liftween  the  factories  for  the  production  of  the  wagon  which  shotild  carry  the 
largest  number  of  tons  of  goods  with  the  least  draught  upon  the  horses.  Some 
of  this  class  of  goods  are  now  made  to  carry  five  tons  of  goods.  Children's 
'  arriages  have  been  added  to  the  business  of  many  firms.  Some  factories  now 
make  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  styles  of  carriages. 

Large  numbers  of  the  diflferent  styles  of  American  wagons  are  now 
exported  to  the  different  parts  of  the  world ;   and  America,  which  once  was 


5S8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


beholden  to  Europe  for  her  cart- wheels,  now  in  these  latter  days  returns  the 
compliment  by  sending  back  wheels,  steel   axles,  and  finished  carriages,  of 
workmanship  and  material  superior  to  any  thing  Euro|)e  herself  produces. 
The  growth  of  the  business  will  be  seen  by  the  following  figures :  — 


1840 
1850 
i860 
1870 
1873 


rACTORIRS. 


92 
1,822 

7.254 
11,847 
12,500 


CARRIAOBS 
MAOE. 


'3.33' 

95,000 

270,000 

800,000 

1,000,000 


2.274 
14.900 
37.459 
54,028 
75.000 


VAU'B  OF 
PRODUCT. 


$1,708,741 
I  2,000,000 
35,927,000 
65,302,000 
100,000,000 


The  business  of  building  railroad  and  street  cars  has  all  grown  up  since 
1830.  It  has  centred  principally  in  the  Middle  States,  owing  to  the  necessity 
Railroad  and  of  proximity  to  the  iron  and  coal  regions.  There  are  now  a  hun- 
itreetcart.  j^ed  and  three  factories  in  operation  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  six  of  them  being  in  Canda.  An  average  of  sixty  thousand  cars  are 
built  yearly,  the  majority  being  freight-cars  of  the  four-wheeled  and  eiglit- 
wheeled  types.  The  passenger- cars  constitute  less  than  one-twentieth  of  the 
whole  number  built,  though,  perhaps,  half  the  total  value  of  cars  built.  These 
cars  are  of  the  eight-wheeled  and  twelve-wheeled  types.  The  early  railroad - 
cars  of  the  United  States  were  merely  slight  modifications  of  the  ordinary  stage- 
coach. As  soon  as  it  was  seen  that  the  new  style  of  travelling  was  to  be  an 
established  thing,  however,  the  railroad-car  proper  was  immediately  invented. 
At  first  the  car  waj.:  merely  in  principle  several  stage-bodies  joined  together,  the 
seats  being  arranged  in  compartments,  and  the  conductor  climbing  along  from 
one  compartment  to  the  others  on  a  foot-board  outside.  This  style  of  car  was 
the  common  basis  from  which  the  .American  and  the  flnglish  car  of  the  present 
day  has  been  developed.  The  English  people,  however,  improved  upon  this 
ancient  sort  of  car,  merely  to  make  it  larger  and  more  comfortable,  retaining 
the  compartment  system  on  account  of  its  aristocratic  exclusiveness.  The 
Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  improved  upon  the  parent  vehicle,  not  only  to 
render  it  larger  and  better,  but  to  make  it  more  democratic.  The  car  was 
elongated,  the  doors  placed  at  the  two  ends,  and  a  row  of  seats  placed  on  each 
side  of  the  car  ;  the  aisle  for  the  conductors  and  passengers  being  in  tlie  centre, 
and  the  whole  interior  of  the  car  being  free  from  compartments  and  partitions. 
Down  to  the  time  of  the  war,  the  .American  cars  were  still  somewhat  crude  affairs. 
They  frequently  leaked  during  rain-storms,  and  the  dust  from  the  locomotive 
and  ground  found  its  way  into  the  interior  through  the  cracks  at  the  windows. 
The  cars  were  poorly  ventilated,  and  the  seats  were  uncomfortable.  Since 
i860  the  cars  have  been  so  improved  as  to  be  luxuriously  comfortable.    Tlie 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


SSf 


interiors  have  been  beautified  with  rare  woods  and  ornamental  paintings  and 
gilding,  and  more  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  se'^ts.  (ieurgc  M.  I'ulhnan 
in  1864  went  into  the  business  of  building  what  are  called  "drawing-room"  or 
"palate"  cars,  which  are  now  added  to  all  express-trains  on  the  great  routes  of 
travel.  In  these  luxurious  coaches  the  traveller  can  secure  freedom  from  the 
crowd,  and  seats  as  comfortable  as  in  his  own  drawing-room  at  home  ;  and  he 
can  obtain  from  the  ]x>rter,  if  desired,  such  refreshments  as  he  wants.  Sleeping- 
cars  for  night-travel  have  also  been  introduced  since  1864.  It  is  with  this 
class  of  cars  that  the  name  of  Wagner  is  associated. 

The  business  of  car-building  is  one  requiring  great  capital  and  remarkable 
managerial  ability :  the  nuntber  of  concerns  engaged  in  it  is  therefore  small, 
as  we  have  seen.  The  number  engaged  in  the  highest  branch  of  the  busi- 
ness, that  of  building  passenger  and  palace  cars,  is  only  about  twenty.  At 
least  fifty  distinct  trades  are  drawn  upon  to  share  in  the  construction  of  the 
best  class  of  cars ;  and,  in  the  decoration  of  them,  fine  art  itself  is  placed 
under  levy.  The  cost  of  cars  varies  from  |6oo  for  a  coal  or  platform  car  to 
iS  1 0,000  for  a  first-class  passenger-car,  and  $30,000  for  a  i)alace-car.  There 
are  palace-cars  on  the  broad-gauge  Erie  Railroad  which  cost  $50,000. 


560 


INPUSTKIAL    HISTOKY 


CHAITER    XIII. 


CONCLUSION. 


T 


HK  foregoing  siin'ey  of  American  mantifactures  strikingly  exhibits  the 
variety,  magnitude,  and  excellence  of  this  great  department  of  human 
industry.  'I'he  fortes  and  products  of  Nature  have  been  drawn 
niMnltudo  "I'""  ^"'"  ^''*-*  service  of  man  to  an  amazing  degree  :  in  every  direc- 
of  American  tion  almost  has  he  stretched  out  anil  appropriated  the  rich  wealth 
turM  "*  '>''"y  around  him.  .Among  his  numerous  triumphs,  the  discovery 
of  steam,  with  its  manifold  ai)|)lications,  and  means  for  applying 
it,  is  to  be  ranked  among  the  first,  both  in  the  order  of  genius  reijuired  to 
utilize  it  effectively,  and  in  the  results  attained.  The  use  of  steam  for  rapid 
transit  is  certainly  one  of  the  grandest  achievements  of  civilization,  and  it 
will  doubtless  ever  continue  to  excite  human  admiration  and  awe.  Success 
in  this  direction  has  leil  us  almost  to  overlook  the  service  rendered  by  steam 
Stationary  as  a  motor  for  manufacturing-purposes.  The  stationary  engine 
engine.  certainly  merits  nearly,  if  not  (juite,  the  consideration   due  the 

locomotive.  Its  invention  does  away  with  the  necessity  for  locating  mills 
and  factories  beside  an  eligible  stream.  Such  establishments  may  now  !)c 
built  in  our  large  cities,  where  the  facilities  for  obtaining  help,  transporting 
raw  material  and  finished  product,  and  negotiating  purchases  and  sales,  afford 
the  manufacturer  marked  advantages.  Sieam-jjower  is  much  more  reliable. 
too,  than  water-power,  and  free  from  certain  risks.  Neither  drought  nnr 
freshet  interferes  with  its  operation  ;  and  so  low  is  the  cost  of  fuel,  coniparcil 
with  these  advantages,  that  the  stationary  engine  is  rapidly  supplanting  the 
mill-dam. 

Quite  as  much  ingenuity  has  been  devoted  by  inventors  to  the  improve- 
ment of  this  class  of  machines  as  to  the  perfection  of  locomotives.  Their  aim 
Improve-  ^'^^  been,  not  only  to  make  them  more  cheaply,  but  to  economize 
ment*  in  space,  lessen  the  amoimt  of  fuel,  simplify  construction,  and  insure 
machines.  greater  safety.  A  great  many  experiments  have  Ixjen  tried  in  the 
way  of  making  safety-boilers  which  shall  never  explode,  and  several  inventors 
claim  to  have  reached  that  consummation ;   but,  as  no  such  boiler  has  >  et 


lidentlj 
mount] 


OF   THB   UNITED   STATES. 


S6i 


come  into  general   use,  the  problem  i*  really  unsolved.     It  iloes  not  seem, 
however,   to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  human  invention ;   and  wc  may  con- 


pi''' it'\fev^^- '^v-^  ^^^■ 


I'ldently  hope  for  an  early  triumph  over  the  many  difficulties  thus  far  unsur- 
inounted. 


562 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


There  are  five  kinds  of  stationary  engines,  —  the  beam  and  oscillating,  which 
are  in  use  upon  steamboats,  and  the  rotary,  steeple,  and  horizontal  engines. 
Kinds  of  These  all  have  innumerable  mollifications.     In  addition  thereto. 

stationary  there  are  certain  portable  engines  for  such  temporary  uses  as 
engines.  driving  piles,  hoisting  building-material,  and  threshing  grain.     Tlic 

first  stationary  engines  in  this  country,  built  at  the  close  of  the  last  centurv  and 
in  the  beginning  of  this,  were  chielly  designed  for  pumping  mines.  lliLir 
application,  of  late  years,  has  been  to  manufacturing.  .Vmerican  inventors 
have  done  much  to  improve  these  machines.  J.  Kve,  a  native  of  this  country, 
obtainetl  a  patent  in  England  in  1825  for  a  valuable  improvement  in  rotary 


.\  vast  stride  in  advani:e  was  made  by  the  Messrs.  Corliss  &  Nightingale 
of  Providence  sonic  twenty-five  years  ago.  They  devised  a  new  way  of  con- 
necting the  governor  witii  the  cut-off,  which  economized  the  power  of  steam, 
and  so  effected  a  great  saving  in  fuel.  The  marked  improvement  made  in 
this  respect  maybe  thus  illustrated  :  The  James  Mills  at  Ncwburyiiort,  engaged 
Economy  in  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton-goods,  had  a  i)air  of  condensing 
use  of  fuel.  engines,  whose  cylinders  measured  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter 
witli  a  four-fool  stroke.  They  consumed  10,483  pounds  of  coal  daily,  on  the 
average,  for  five  years  prior  to  the  contract  made  with  Mr.  Corliss  ;  and  it  was 
thought  that  they  ran  to  good  advantage.  But  the  makers  offered  a  pair  of 
high-pressure  engines  in  their  stead,  on  these  terms :  The  company  might  pay 
either  510,500  in  cash,  or  five  times  the  value  of  the  coal  saved  the  first  year, 
the  choice  to  be  made  before  the  engines  were  put  in.  Tiie  comi)any  took 
the  latter  alternative,  and  were  obligcu  to  pay  $19,734.22.  Since  then  the 
stationary  engine  has  been  still  further  improved. 

Another  phase  of  our  industrial  history  deserves  a  passing  notice  ;  and  that 
is,  the  substitution  of  iron  to  a  great  degree  for  the  softer  metals  in  conse- 
c  V  •■»  .•        quence  of  the  greater  ability  of  us  moderns  to  work  it.     In  ancient 

Substitution       '  °  ^ 

of  harder  times  i:opper  was  very  extensively  employed  in  the  mechanic  art>. 
not  because  iron  was  unknown,  but  because  the  artisans  of  those 
days  did  not  understand  how  to  work  it.  An  illustration  in  jioint 
is  tile  manufacture  of  weighing-apparatuses,  which  formerly  were  matle  of  bras^, 
and  have  only  recently  been  manuiactureti  of  iron. 

Originally  our  mechanisms  for  ascertaining  weight  were  either  a  i)air  of 
scales  or  pans,  balanced  at  the  ends  of  an  evenly-divided  beam,  or  a  lever 
Scale-  with  uneijual  arms  called  the  "  steelyard."     Now  these  instrunieiit- 

making.  \\';x\c  increased  in  variety,  delicacy,  and  scoi)e,  so  that  so  light  a 

])article  as  gjjVtj  part  of  a  grain  can  be  detected  ;  while  a  car  containing  many 
tons  of  metal  or  other  heavy  freight  can  be  exactly  and  easily  weighed.  The 
big  beam  cmjiloyed  by  the  country  butcher  is  but  a  form  of  the  steel\aiil. 
The  platform-scales  in  use  in  the  ordinary  grocery-store  are  operated  on  the 
same  principle.    The  larger  scales  for  hay,  coal,  and  railway-cars,  are  still  ol 


for  softer 
metals. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


563 


the  same  kind,  only  that  they  use  a  system  of  compound  instead  of  single 
levers.  The  town  of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  is  famed  for  the  manufacture  of 
scales  which  have  had  a  most  extensive  use  in  this  country.  It  has  almost  a 
monopoly  of  the  business  in  larger  aj^paratus,  Tlie  more  delicate  balances 
employed  by  apotiiecaries  are  made  at 
more  numerous  points.  The  Danish  steel- 
yard, which  has  the  article  to  be  weighed 
stationary  (as  with  the  American  steelyard), 
but  with  the  other  weight  fixed  and  the  ful- 
crum movable,  has  never  come  into  use  in 
this  country.  Another  form  of  weighing- 
apparatus,  however,  has  an  extensive  use  in 
tlic  United  States  :  it  consists  of  a  coil  of 
brass  wire,  whose  elasticity  is  gauged  b\  a 
movable  index  upon  a  graduated  scale, 
rin-jjeddlcrs  and  lish-men  are  generally 
provided  with  tliis  kind.     .\  variety  of  this 

s.une  kind  has  a  dial-plate  attaciied,  on  wiiich  a  neetUe  rotates.     Our  letter- 
scales  are  but  modifications  of  forms  alreaily  ilescribed. 

We  cannot  close  this  history  of  .American  manufacturing  industries  with- 
out a  brief  reference  to  three  kindred  processes  which  properly  come  under 
the  heail  of  mechanic  art,  though  raore  or  less  nearly  approaching  tiie  realm 
ol"  \\\\t  art.  The  first  of  these  is  photography.  The  chemical  principle  on 
whicii  diat  process  depends —  namely,  the  discoloring  effect  of  sun-  photogra- 
light  upon  paper  coated  with  nitrate  of  silver  —  was  discovered  as  P'^y 
lung  ago  as  the  twelfth  century  ;  but  not  until  1840  —  the  year  after  Daguerre 
iuventei,!  the  process  of  taking  sun-pictures  on  silver-coated  plates,  anil  lalbol 
sinniltaneously  devised  a  way  to  iw  a  picture  taken  on  paper  in  the  camera  — 
was  our  present  photographic  process  renilered  fairly  practicable  ;  and  the 
largest  meed  of  praise  for  that  accomplishment  is  due  to  Protessor  J.  W.  Draper 
of  the  University  of  New  York,  who  had  for  many  years  been  experimenting 
in  Older  to  discover  a  way  to  set  the  picture  wiien  once  obtained.  TIk- 
iiucnlion  has  worketl  a  marvellous  revolution  in  portraiture,  and  pm  it  within 
the  power  and  means  of  every  one  to  have  taithful  family  likenesses.  In  the 
lorni  of  stereoscopic  pictures  it  has  enabled  us  to  procure,  at  a  sligiit  cost, 
;>crfect  representations  of  great  statues,  paintings,  distant  natural  scenery  and 
palaces,  and  all  that  is  wonderfiil  and  rare  in  the  way  of  display  in  nature  or 
in  art.  The  process  has  been  of  rare  value,  too,  in  obtaining  cheap  and  accu- 
rate pictures  of  mechanical  devices,  and  also  obtaining  permanent  views  of 
rare  transitory  phenomena,  like  solar  eclipses,  antl  transits  of  planets  across  the 
sun's  surface.  The  art  is  constantly  undergoing  trifling  improvement  in 
jirocess,  and  meeting  with  a  wider  use  in  science  and  the  meduuiic  and  fine 
arts. 


5<54 


IXD  US  TRIAL    HIS  TOR  Y 


The  word  "  lithography  "  means  the  art  of  printing  from  a  stone,  and  had 
its  origin  in  an  accidental  discovery  by  a  poor  German  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
Lithogra-  eighteenth  century.  His  mother  asked  him  to  make  a  memoran- 
P^'y-  dum  of  the  family  washing ;  and,  not  having  a  piece  of  paper  at 

hand,  he  jotted  it  down  on  a  slab  of  peculiar  stone.  .As  it  lay  before  him  he 
thought  of  inking  the  lines,  and  printing  therefrom.  His  subsecjuent  experi- 
ments met  with  a  success  that  attracted  world-wide  attention.  .At  that  timi.' 
etching  was  a  favorite  process  for  producing  pictures.  Lithography  somewhat 
resembles  it.  The  principle  involved  in  the  operation  is  the  refusal  of  an  oily 
ink  to  adhere  to  a  wet  surface,  and  its  affinity  for  a  greasy  surface.  .\  design 
is  drawn  with  a  greasy  crayon,  prepared  with  great  delicacy  and  care  for  the 
purpose,  upon  a  variety  of  fine  porous  stone,  found  at  its  best  only  in  (ler- 
many.  The  whole  surface  is  then  moistened  ;  but  the  moisture  clings  onl\  to 
the  clean  stone,  and  the  design  remains  dry.  .An  ink-roller  being  applied,  the 
ink  is  rejected  by  such  of  the  surface  as  is  wet,  but  is  taken  by  the  lines 
inscribed.  From  the  plate  thus  inked  an  impression  may  then  be  printed. 
Of  course  there  are  many  minor  stages  in  the  process,  which  are  essential  to 
its  success,  which  are  not  here  detailed. 

Lithography  was  introduced  into  this  country  in  1821.  and  applied  both  to 
fine-art  uses  anil  to  map-drawing  ;  its  expense  being  far  below  that  of  co'ppcr- 
plate  engraving,  and  the  munber  of  copies  that  could  be  obtained  from  one 
plate  being  far  greater.  It  has  met  with  many  improvements  and  applications 
Chromo-  in  the  L'nited  States.  Within  twenty  years  the  art  of  chromo- 
lithography.  lithography  has  attained  a  great  development.  It  consists  of 
printing  the  different  parts  of  a  many-colored  picture  by  separate  jjlatos  for 
each  color  very  much  as  calicoes   are   printed.      The  work   recpiires   great 

delicacy  of  adjustment,  and 
often  a  large  number  ui" 
plates,  to  produce  tlie  proper 
mixture  of  tints. 

A  combination  of  photo- 
graphy anil  lithograiihy  has 
Photo-  been    made    still 

lithography,  niorc  recently, 
with  marvellous  results.  It 
has  been  found  that  a  film 
of  gelatine  can  be  sensitized 
by  the  use  of  bichromate  of 
potash,  so  that,  on  being  sub- 
jected to  exposure  under  a 
photograph'c  negative,  it  ac- 
(juires  the  essential  characteristics  of  a  lithographic  stone.  The  chemical  eflett 
of  the  sunlight  passing  through  the  light  parts  of  the  negative  is  to  toughen  the 


I'AIA  KlXJK.Mll. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


565 


gelatine,  so  that  it  will  repel  water,  and  take  ink ;  and  the  parts  of  the  film  pro- 
tected by  the  dark  parts  of  the  negative,  and  subsecjuently  washed  free  from 
the  bichromate,  absorb  water,  and  repel  ink,  when  the  film  is  finally  mounted 
on  a  block,  and  subjected  to  the  printer's  roller.  This  process  of  photo- 
lithography has  been  adopted  by  "  The  New-York  Graphic  "  for  its  illustra- 
tions, and  with  various  modifications,  and  under  several  names,  is  coming  into 
extensive  use  for  book-illustrations  and  choice  facsimiles  of  rare  paintings. 

The  papyrograph,  which  was  introduced  into  this  country  from  France  in 
1876,  and  is  rapidly  coming  into  use  for  the  purjjose  of  cheaply  reduplicating 
autograph-designs,  circulars,  price-lists,  &c.,  consists  of  a  sheet  of  Papyro- 
paper,  varnished  with  a  water  and  ink  proof  coating,  and  written  Kr«ph. 
or  drawn  upon  with  an  ink  which  corrodes  the  varnish,  and  leaves  the  lines 
porous.  Being  properly  washed  and  dried,  and  laid  upon  a  flat  cushion 
moistened  with  ink,  in  the  bed  of  the  press,  the  sheet  becomes  a  sort  of 
lithographic  plate,  from  which  many  hundred  impressions  can  be  easily  taken. 


BOOK    III. 


SHIPPING  AND  RAILROADS. 


IN  th( 
new 
with  tho 
we  obsei 
voyages 
between 
Mediterr 
sight  of 
nean.     ] 
sels  of  1( 
majority 
burden, 
over  two 
occasiont 
sels :  the; 
The  ship; 
1492  are 
decks  in  1 
forecastle 
to  have  1 
vessels  th 
"The  Ma 
and  eight; 
began,  th 
Dutch  ha 
Spaniards 
did  not  be 
the  North 
that  made 
Ship-b 


CHAPTER    I. 


WOODEN   SHIPS. 


IN  the  age  in  which  Columbus  ventured  across  the  Atlantic  in  search  of  a 
new  route  to  India  the  ships  of  the  world  were  all  of  small  size  compared 
with  those  of  the  present  day.  No  such  exchange  of  commodities  by  sea  as 
we  observe  to-day  had  ever  yet  taken  place,  and  no  such  long  smaiiBiieof 
voyages  were  undertaken.  Commerce  was  simply  a  coasting-trade  vetseu  in 
between  different  parts  of  Europe,  and  between  Europe  and  the  '*''*'  **"' 
Mediterranean  coast  of  Africa.  Navigation  scarcely  ever  took  place  out  of 
sight  of  land,  except  in  the  northern  fisheries  and  on  the  peaceful  Mediterra- 
nean. For  such  objects  as  merchant-ships  were  required  in  that  age,  ves- 
sels of  less  than  two  hundred  tons'  burden  were  of  ample  size  ;  and  the  vast 
majority  of  all  the  ships  afloat,  of  whatever  nationality,  were  of  less  than  that 
burden.  A  few  war-ships  in  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  England,  and  Italy,  were 
over  two  hundred  tons'  burden,  a  great  vessel  of  a  thousand  tons  being 
occasionally  seen.  The  merchant-ships  were  mere  fishing  and  coasting  ves- 
sels :  they  had  two  or  three  masts,  and  were  generally  rigged  with  square  sails. 
The  ships  in  which  Columbus  made  the  pioneer  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  in 
1492  are  described  as  being,  two  of  them,  light  barks  called  "caravels,"  without 
decks  in  the  centre,  and  rising  to  a  great  height  at  the  bow  and  stern,  with 
forecastles  and  cabins  for  the  accommodation  of  the  crews.  The  third  is  said 
to  have  been  decked  throughout  her  whole  length.  In  1582,  of  the  1,232 
vessels  then  belonging  to  England,  only  217  were  larger  than  eighty  tons. 
"  The  Mayflower,"  which  brought  over  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  was  of  a  hundred 
and  eighty  tons'  burden.  At  the  time  when  the  active  settlement  of  America 
began,  the  Netherlands  was  the  great  shipping-country  of  the  world.  The 
Dutch  had  about  20,000  ships  at  sea  to  about  2,000  owned  in  England.  The 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese  were  next  in  enterprise  to  the  Dutch.  The  English 
did  not  begin  to  be  eminent  in  shipping  until  fifty  years  after  the  planting  of 
the  North-American  colonies,  and  it  was  the  carrying-trade  of  the  colonies 
that  made  them  so. 

Ship-building  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  first  industry  practised  in 

569 


S70 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


t^^ 


ROMAN   VESSEL. 


America  after  that  of  house-building.  The  beginning  was  as  early  as  1607, 
"The  when  the  Popham  colonists  in   Maine   built   a   thirty-ton  vessel 

Virginia."  called  "  The  Virginia,"  which  subseciuenlly  made  several  voyages 
across  the  Atlantic.  'I'hough  the  .Atlantic  has,  since  that  date,  been  crossed  in 
more  diminutive  craft  than  "The  Virginia,"  a  voyage  in  so  small  a  vessel  now 

would  be  considered  little 
short  of  madness.  No  ves- 
sel like  that  could  be  put 
into  ocean-trade  now,  and 
pay.  '■  Tiie  VirL;iiiia  "  was  a 
busy  little  ship  during  its  ex- 
istence. It  came  to  America 
with  the  Gates  and  Somers 
expedition  in  1609,  and 
traded  back  ami  forth  along  the  coast  and  to  England  for  many  years  nuitc 
diligently.  When  Lord  Delaware  arrived  at  Point  Comfort  in  Virginia,  in 
the  summer  of  16 10,  he  found  the  craft  there  along  with  three  other  vessels, 
"  The  Discorery,"  "  The  Deliverance,"  and  "  The  Patience,"  which  had  been 
sent  over  by  the  London  ('ompany. 

The  second  vessel  built  in  America  of  which  there  is  any  record  was  a 
Dutch  yacht  called  "The  Onrest,"  which  was  constructed  on  the  Hudson 
"The  River,  by  Adrian  Hlok,  in  16 14.     This  yacht  is  antedated  only  by 

Onrest."  "The  Virginia."  It  used  to  be  a  saying,  that  no  matter  where  an 
English  ship  sailed,  or  in  whatever  jiart  of  the  world  an  Englishman  lantied,  a 
Dutchman  and  a  Dutch  shij)  were  sure  to  have  been  there  ahead  of  tlieni. 
This  pioneer  yacht  of  North  America  fulfilled  the  old  saying  with  respect  to  a 
large  part  of  New  England;  for  in  16 14.  six  years  before  the  arrival  of  the 
English  colonists  in  Massachusetts,  Adrian  Blok,  making  a  voyage  through 
Hell  Gate  and  Long-Island  Sound,  had  discovered  lilock  Island,  and  inspected 
the  coast  as  far  as  Cape  Cod.  In  16 16  he  had  explored  the  whole  coast  from 
Nova  Scotia  to  Virginia. 

The  same  year  that  the  ancient  Knickerbockers  had  thus  established  the 
naval  art  on  the  Hudson  River,  Capt.  John  Smith  landed  in  Maine,  en  route 
from  PZngland  to  Virginia,  and  built  there  seven  boats  to  engage  in  cod- 
fishing. 

The  abundance  of  timber  and  pitch-pine  in  this  country  led  to  systematic 
proceedings  in  the  way  of  ship-building  at  a  very  early  date.  Timber  was 
Facilities  ^^""y  '^^^'^  '"  England ;  and  the  trading-companies,  under  wiio^e 
for  ship.  auspices  the  colonies  were  planted,  saw  that  it  would  be  advan- 
'"^"  tageous  for  them  to  have  their  ships  built  here.  The  Massachu- 
setts Company  acted  as  early  as  1629;  their  very  first  letter  to  the  governor 
and  council  of  the  colony  announcing  that  they  had  sent  out  shipwrights, 
six  in  number,  "  of  whom  Robert  Moulton  is  chief,"  to  introduce  this  branch 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


571 


of  business  in  the  New  World.  Mechanics  were  also  sent  to  Virginia  for 
the  same  purpose ;  but  the  wonderful  fertility  of  Virginia  appears  to  have 
been  too  much  for  the  shipwrights,  and  they  found  tobacco-planting  a  much 
more  profitable  occupation  than  the  one  they  had  been  bred  to.  Ship- 
l)uil(ling  began  the  soonest,  and  thrived  the  best,  in  Massachusetts.  The  first 
vessel  built  in  this  colony  was  launched  into  the  Mystic  River  at  Medford, 
July  4,  1631,  for  Gov.  Winthrop,  its  owner,  who  called  it  "The  Hlessing  of 
the  Bay."  This  prosperous  beginning  was  soon  followed  by  the  construction 
of  a  great  many  other  ve'^sels  of  small  size,  at  different  points  in  the  colony, 
to  be  used  in  the  fish':ries  and  to  trade  ;  and  by  1641  the  industry  had  grown 
to  such  importance,  that  a  regular  official  supervision  of  the  building  of  them 
was  orderetl.  It  was  enacted,  that,  "  when  a  ship  is  to  be  built  witliin  this 
jurisiliction,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  owners  to  appoint  some  able  man  to 
survey  the  work  from  I'me  to  time,  as  is  usual  in  England.  ...  If  his  advice 
is  not  heeded,  then,  upon  complaint  to  the  governor  or  any  other  two  magis- 
tntes,  they  shall  appo  nt  two  of  the  most  sufficient  ship-carpenters  of  this 
jurisdiction,  and  shall  give  them  authority  to  view  every  such  ship  and  all 
work  belonging  theri;to,  and  see  that  it  be  performed  and  carried  on  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  the  art." 

Regular  ship-building  was  not  over  ten  years  old  in  the  colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts before  the  carpenters  undertook  vessels  which  were  of  large  size  for 
that  day.  Ri  hard  Hollingsworth  began  one  at  Salem,  in  1641,  construction 
which  was  of  three  hundred  tons'  burden,  (lov.  Winthop  refers  of  vessels  of 
incidentally  in  his  journal  to  the  size  of  the  vessels  which  were  ^'^"  *'"' 
now  undertaken.  He  writes,  •'  The  general  fear  of  want  of  foreign  commodi- 
ties, now  our  money  was  gone,  and  that  things  were  like  to  go  well  in  England, 
set  us  on  working  to  provide  shipping  of  our  own  ;  for  which  end,  Mr.  Peter, 
being  a  man  of  very  public  spirit  and  singular  activity  for  all  occasions,  pro- 
cured some  to  join  for  building  a  ship  at  Salem  of  three  hundred  tons ;  and 
the  inhabitants  of  Hoston,  stirred  up  by  his  example,  set  upon  the  buikling  of 
another  at  Hoston  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons.  The  work  was  hard  to  ac- 
complish for  the  want  of  money,  i\:c. ;  but  our  shipwrights  were  content  to  take 
such  i)ay  as  the  country  could  make."  "  Such  pay  "  meant  here  corn,  calicoes, 
and  commodities  of  ail  kinds.  Lindsay,  in  his  "  History  of  Merchant-Ship- 
ping," says  that  in  1572  "the  largest  merchantman  that  sailed  from  the  port 
of  London  was  of  only  two  hundred  anil  forty  tons'  register."  Yet  we  find  that 
in  1642  the  colonists  of  Massachusetts  had  built  one  of  three  hundred  tons, 
which  was  larger  than  any  the  wealthy  parent  kingdom  had  owned  seventy 
years  before.  This  is  in  reality  only  an  illu;,tration  of  the  change  j)roduced 
liy  the  discovery  of  the  continent  of  America  upon  the  merchant-shippmg 
of  the  whole  world.  With  the  planting  of  the  settlements  in  America,  and  the 
simultaneous  discovery  of  the  route  to  India  around  the  Cape  of  (lood  Hope, 
commerce  ceased  to  be  a  coasting-trade  :  it  became  trans-oceanic  for  the  first 


57« 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


time  in  history,  and  every  country  which  had  any  active  trade  whatever  wiili 
the  new  regions  of  the  earth  was  obliged  to  build  a  new  and  larger  class 
of  merchant- vessels  for  the  service.  The  colonists  in  America  built  for  the- 
trans-oceanic  trade  from  the  start :  hence  the  size  of  their  ships  became  Iar},'c 
rapidly.  Metition  is  made  of  one,  about  1643,  which  was  still  larger  thau 
three  hundred  tons. 

In  1652  an  event  occurred  which  assisted  ship-building  in  this  country 
very  materially :  this  was  the  passage  of  the  famous  Navigation  Act  under 
Navigation  Ciomwell,  the  law  being  re-af!irmed  in  1660  under  Charles  II. 
Act  of  1651.  'I'l^g  object  of  the  act,  as  far  as  America  was  concerned,  was  to 
secure  the  whole  trade  across  the  ocean  to  British  and  colonial  vessels,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  Dutch  and  Spanish.  The  Dutch  were  about  engrossing 
the  carrying-trade  to  America  at  that  time.  As  early  as  1640  they  had  about 
an  equal  share  of  it  with  the  English,  except  to  New  England  j  an  indication 
of  it  being  the  memorandum  which  comes  down  to  us,  that  on  Christmas 
Day,  1640,  there  were  in  die  ports  of  Virginia  twelve  ships  from  England, 
twelve  from  Holland,  and  seven  from  New  England.  The  New-Englanders 
were  so  rich  in  shipping,  that  they  carried  on  almost  all  their  commerce  them- 
selves ;  but  the  colonies  to  the  south  of  them  were  supplied  with  European 
wares  largely  by  Dutch  ships.  The  law  of  1651  secured  the  whole  trade  to 
the  royal  and  colonial  shipping,  and  the  latter  got  fully  half  of  it ;  the  conse- 
quence of  the  law  bemg  great  activity  at  the  colonial  ship-yards,  and  a 
corresponding  increase  of  colonial  tonnage. 

One  of  the  difficulties  of  the  colonists  in  building  ships  was  the  general 
scarcity  of  money.  There  were  no  silver  or  gold  mines  of  any  account  in 
Scarcity  of  the  country,  and  the  colonists  had  only  a  limited  amount  of  hard 
money.  cash,  which  they  gained  by  sending  their  grain,  hides,  timber,  &c., 

to  the  West  Indies.  What  litUe  silver  they  got  in  this  way  was  quickly 
despatched  to  Europe  to  pay  for  the  manufactured  commodities  which  the 
colonies  were  obliged  to  import ;  so  that  there  was  a  constant  dearth  of  money 
here,  and  this  made  it  exceedingly  hard  to  pay  for  a  ship.  The  shifts  they 
had  to  resort  to  in  those  days  are  shown  by  a  contract  made  in  1741  at  New- 
buryport,  Mass.,  cited  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Currier  in  his  "  History  of  Ship-Building 
on  the  Merrimack."  The  owners  were  to  pay  as  follows :  "  Three  hundred 
pounds  in  cash,  three  hundred  pounds  by  orders  on  good  shops  in  Boston, 
t\vo-thirds  money,  four  hundred  pounds  by  orders  up  the  river  for  timber  and 
plank,  ten  barrels  of  flour,  fifty  pounds  of  loaf-sugar,  one  bag  of  cotton-wool. 
a  hundred  bushels  of  corn  in  the  spring,  a  hogshead  of  rum,  a  hundred- 
weight of  cheese ;  the  remainder  part  to  be  drawn  out  of  said  Cummings  & 
Harris's  shop."  A  memorandum  in  Douglass's  "  Historical  and  Political  Sum- 
mary," dated  1748,  refers  to  one  ship  which  had  been  so  nearly  paid  for  in 
calicoes,  that  its  owners  called  it  a  calico  ship.  The  builder,  taking  his  pay 
in  goods,  paid  off  his  workmen  in  the  same  way.    This  simple  mode  of  pay- 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


%n 


Effect  of 
Revolution- 
ary war 


ment  lasted  until  after  the  Revolutionary  war.  It  answered  very  wfll.  too,  in 
tlie  majority  of  cases ;  the  largest  number  of  vessels  built  being,  of  course, 
from  ten  to  fifty  ton  shallops,  sloops  and  schooners  for  the  fisheries  and  coast- 
ing-trade. The  shallop,  it  may  be  said  for  those  who  do  not  know  about  that 
class  of  vessel,  was  from  ten  to  twenty  tons'  burden,  and  was  deckod  from  end 
to  end,  and  carried  two  small  masts  with  lugsails.  The  schooner  \v;n  purely 
an  American  invention,  and  probably  grew  out  of  the  embryo  of  (he  shullo]). 
It  is  related  that  a  new  vessel  rigged  like  a  modern  schooner,  having  been 
luinched  at  Gloucester,  Mass.,  by  Capt.  Andrew  Robinson  in  1714.  entered 
the  water  beautifully,  and  was  carried  by  her  niumontiun  avv.iy  from  the 
shore  with  such  speed  as  to  show  her  to  be  a  fast  vessel.  St)nie  one  cried 
out  in  admiration,  "  See  how  she  schoons  I "  and  the  captain  replied,  ".\ 
schooner  let  her  be ;  "  and  this  class  of  merchantmen  took  that  name  accord- 
ingly. 

The  Revolutionary  war,  and  the  succeeding  years  until  the  war  of  181 2, 
constituted  a  trying  period  for  the  ship-builders  and  ship-owners  of  this 
country.  During  the  war,  their  vessels  running  along  the  coast  and 
to  the  West  Indies,  and  such  countries  of  Europe  as  gave  them 
a  friendly  ^velcome,  were  captured  in  large  numbers  Ijv  the  F-lnglish 
ships ;  and  many  a  merchant  was  ruined  by  the  loss  of  his  property  "p°" '"'•"•• 
in  this  way.  The  building  and  ecjuipping  of  privateers  soon  took 
the  place  of  regular  commercial  enterprise  ;  and  large  numbers  of  vessels  were 
armed  and  sent  to  sea  from  the  New- England  ports  every  year,  as  \o\v^  as  the 
war  lasted.  Scores  of  these  vessels  were  never  heard  of  again.  Soiue  of 
them  were  Cortunate,  making  captures  of  rich  merchantmen,  and  l)ringing 
their  owners  anil  crews  great  wealth.  The  ships  of  one  New- England  mer- 
chant took  120  prizes  worth  $3,950,000,  ami  others  had  brilliant  luck  of  a 
kindred  description  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  it  is  certain  that  the  shipping-interests 
of  tlie  country  suffered  more  than  they  gained.  Then,  after  the  war  was  over, 
and  peaceful  commerce  was  resumed,  a  })eriod  of  thirty  years  ensueil.  during 
wliich  England  assumed  the  right  to  search  and  detain  our  ships,  and  impress 
sailors  of  English  birtii.  In  1806  this  evil  was  aggravated  by  an  impress- 
Knglish  blockade  of  Erance,  —  a  compliment  which  was  returned  ment  of  sea- 
I'v  France  by  a  declaration  blockading  the  IVitish  isles.  Eacli  '"""' 
of  the  two  powers  forbade  neutrals  to  trade  with  the  other ;  and,  while  their 
bitter  dispute  continued,  each  interfered  regularly  with  American  ships,  cap- 
turing them  at  sea,  and  detaining  them  in  port,  and  often  confiscating  both 
ships  and  goods,  because  they  were  supposed  to  be  giving  aid  and  comtbrt  to 
the  enemy.  Many  of  the  captured  vessels  were  released ;  but  their  cargoes 
often  became  worthless  during  the  detention,  and  the  owners  lost  heavily  upon 
them.  The  people  of  the  United  States  were  grievous  sufferers  by  these 
interruptions  of  their  commerce.  The  government  remonstrated  with  France 
and  England  against  them,  and  tried  to  bring  both  powers  to  reason  by  a 


574 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


non-importation  act  In  iSo6,  an  embargo  act  in  1807,  and  a  non-intercourse 
act  in  1809,  jiulging  that  what  touched  the  pockets  of  their  merchants  would 
pro(lu(  0  more  cl'fcc  t  than  any  thing  else.  For  the  time  being,  tliese  several 
laws  imposed  only  a  heavier,  though  necessary,  burden  upon  our  own  ship- 
builders and  ship-owners.  They  were  effectual,  however,  with  France,  and 
partially  so  with  England.  In  1 809  and  1810  Norway  and  Denmark  had  the 
auda(  ity  to  imitate  their  bigger  neighbors  by  seizing  our  ships  also  to  secure 
payment  of  tolls.  13y  1813  the  captures  of  American  vessels  had  been  as 
follows :  — 


Tal.cn  into  Danish  and  Norwegian  ports  (1809, 63;  1810,124)       •       '87 

Ca|)iurL(l  hy  Ijiyl.tnd 917 

Captured  by  Fiantf 55S 


Total 


1,662 


War  of  i8ia. 


This  sort  of  thing  could  be  endured  no  longer,  and  accordingly  this 
country  went  to  war  with  lui^^land  in  iSijto  secure  jjroteclion  to  property 
on  the  high  seas  and  the  freedom  of  commerce.  Regular  trade 
being  almost  impossible  during  the  war,  merchants,  with  the  con 
sent  of  the  government,  again  went  into  privateering.  The  exploits  of  their 
ships  were  brilliant  and  romantic  in  the  extreme.  The  United  States  li>-.l 
1,407  merchantmen  and  270  armed  ships  during  that  war,  but  captured 
2,360  from  the  enemy  (750  of  them  being  retaken,  however)  ;  thus,  on  the 
whole,  making  a  very  good  thing  of  it.  Most  of  the  prizes  taken  by  our  ships 
were  rich  merchantmen,  while  most  of  the  vessels  we  lost  were  coasting  and 
fishing  craft. 

The  United  States  gained  two  advantages  with  respect  to  shipping  liv 
these  two  wars  and  the  intervening  period  of  European  interference  aiid 
Advantages  aggrcssion.  The  first  was,  that  the  necessity  of  building  fast  ships 
gained  by  was  imposed  upon  our  builders,  and  they  were  forced  to  pay  great 
the  war.  attention  to  their  models.  No  one  wanted  to  send  a  ship  to  sea 
unless  she  was  capable  of  sailing  rapidly  away  from  a  hostile  cruiser  if  pursued 
and  obliged  to  run.  As  early  as  1782  a  ship  had  been  built  in 
New  England,  the  frigate  "  Alliance,"  which,  being  chased  by  a  fast 
English  ship,  was  able  to  run  fifteen  knots  by  the  log,  with  the  wind  abeam, 
in  making  her  escape.  Our  builders  displayed  great  ability  and  originali'y  111 
meeting  the  requirements  of  the  age.  They  ignored  the  rules  prevalent  m 
Europe,  and,  rejecting  the  short,  deep  hulls  and  bluff  bows,  made  their  vessels 
long,  with  sharp  and  concave  bows,  and  stems,  which  permitted  the  water  10 
flow  away  from  them  freely.  Sometimes,  at  first,  more  attention  was  paid  to 
speed  than  steadiness;  and  a  sixteen-gun  ship,  "The  Neptune,"  is  known 
to  have  capsized  and  sunk  at  Newburyport  the  moment  she  had  crossed  tl.e 
bar  on  her  first  voyage.    But  by  1812  earlier  faults  had  been  corrected,  and 


"Alliance." 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES, 


575 


576 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Superiority 
of  American 
ships. 


the  ships  of  the  United  States  were  the  handsomest  and  swiftest  in  the  world. 
There  was  great  compensation  in  that,  when  peace  came,  for  the  years  of  risk 
and  loss  which  had  preceded.  The  second  advantage  above  referred  to  was 
more  immediately  the  result  of  the  brilliant  victories  of  the  war  of  1812. 
Upon  the  return  of  i)eace  the  United  States  demanded  that  her  ships  should 
be  permitted  to  sail  the  seas  unmolested,  and  that  they  should  be  received  in 
European  ports  upon  the  same  footing  as  the  ships  of  "the  most  favored 
nations ;  "  or,  in  other  words,  that  navigation  should  be  conducted  on  a  basis 
of  exact  reciprocity.  The  prestige  which  this  country  had  gained  in  that  war 
prompted  F^ngland  to  accede  to  the  demand  at  once ;  and  the  other  nations 
of  the  world  entered  into  treaties  of  maritime  reciprocity  soon  after,  or  else 
passed  laws  which  had  the  same  effect.  It  had  been  customary  in  Europe  to 
tax  American  ships  entering  port  a  heavier  tonnage  duty  than  native  ships. 
We  had  returned  the  compliment  in  1 789  by  taxing  foreign  ships  entering 
our  ports  fifty  cents  a  ton,  and  American  ships  only  six  cents  a  ton.  These 
discriminating  duties  were  repealed  in  1815  with  respect  to  England,  and 
during  the  next  twenty  years  with  respect  to  most  other  maritime  powers  ;  and 
trade  was  placed  upon  an  equal  and  reciprocal  footing.  The  good  eftecis 
were  soon  seen.  American  ships,  being  swifter,  stancher,  anil 
better  managed  than  those  of  any  other  commercial  nation,  got 
possession  immediately  of  almost  the  eiitire  foreign  commeice 
of  this  country,  and  the  shipping  and  carrying  trade  of  the  country  increased 
very  fast.  Our  grain,  cotton,  timber,  tobacco,  rice,  naval  stores,  hides,  j^ro- 
visions,  and  other  crude  products,  began  to  go  abroad  in  very  large  quantities ; 
and  the  wants  of  this  growing  country  made  it  necessary  to  bring  to  our  shore 
from  Europe  immense  cargoes  of  cloths,  clothing,  iron-manufactures,  steel, 
chemicals,  &:c.,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  emigrants.  American  ships  obtained 
the  principal  pnrt  of  the  carrying ;  and,  as  commerce  and  travel  increased, 
shipping  increased  too. 

The  only  locality  which  was  at  all  famous  for  its  ship-building  south  of  New- 
Ship  build-  ^o^k  ^'fy'  '"  t'''^  ^^'■^y  P^'"^  of  this  century,  was  the  Chesapeake 
ingatchesa-  IJav.  The  schooners  and  ships  of  this  region  were  among  the 
pea  e  ay.  handsomest  and  swiftest  flying  our  flag  or  any  other.  They  took 
the  name  of  "  clippers  ;  "  and,  though  the  beautiful  models  upon  which  they 
were  constructed  were  soon  adopted  all  along  the  coast,  the  Balti- 

"  Clippers."  '  ° 

more  clippers  were  thought  slightly  superior  to  all  others,  and  were 
regarded  far  and  wide  as  having  attained  the  acme  of  the  ship-building  art. 
The  lines  of  packets  which  were  started  after  18 15  to  ply  from  New  Vurk, 
Boston,  and  other  cities,  to  the  European  ports,  and  which  continued  to  run 
until  about  the  time  of  the  war  of  1861,  were  of  the  clipper-model;  and.  in 
fact,  all  American  ships  were  built  of  that  pattern,  except  a  few  of  large 
capacity,  constructed  expressly  to  carry  cotton,  which  were  organized  solely 
with  a  view  to  cargo-room,  and  had  queer  hulls  bulging  below  the  water-line. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


577 


The  performances  of  the  chppers  have  been  remarkable.  The  Liverpool 
packets  from  New  York  and  Boston  (varying  from  six  hundred  to  nine  hundred 
tons'  burden)  used  to  mr.ke  the  tri[i  across  the  sea  regularly  from  twelve  to 
twenty  days.  As  early  as  1825  the  ship  "Oliver  F^llsworth  "  ran  from  New 
York  to  Liverpool  in  thirteen  days.  "  The  Independence,"  one  of  whose 
sailing-days  was  March  5,  which  annually  took  out  the  President's  message, 
once  made  the  run  across  the  ocean  in  nine  days,  showing  a  speed  which  is 
rarely  exceeded  at  the  present  time  by  an  ocean-steamer.  "  The  Flying 
Scud"  of  the  Australian  packet-line  from  New- York  City  (1,703  tons'  burden) 
was  accustomed  to  make  the  whole  voyage  to  Australia  in  seventy-six  days 
with  a  cargo,  and  in  i>S54  once  ran  four  hundred  and  forty-nine  nautical  miles 
in  twenty-four  hours  (over  eighteen  miles  an  hour).  No  modern  steamer  can 
beat  that :  the  clipper-schooners  alone  have  beaten  this  time.  "  The  Clijiper 
City"  (a  hundred  and  eighty-five  ^ons),  a  fast-sailing  lumber-vessel,  built  in 
1854  for  the  trade  of  Lake  Michigan,  ran  regularly  eighteen  knots  an  hour, 
and  has  been  known  to  make  the  astonishing  speed  of  twenty  knots.  These 
are  not  exceptional  cases  :  they  are  merely  instances  of  the  speed  of  the  fast- 
sailing  ships  of  the  United  States. 

About  1830  there  began  to  be  a  perceptible  increase  in  the  size  of  the 
ships  of  the  country,  owing  to  the  large  coasting-trade  which  was  springing 
up.  The  exchange  of  products  between  different  parts  of  the  ship-buiid- 
seaboard  was  becoming  very  large.  Cotton,  rice,  sugar,  and  to-  '"« '"  '*3o. 
bacco  were  coming  North :  cloths,  iron  and  steel  manufactures,  carriages, 
tools,  fertilizers,  India-goods,  &c.,  were  going  South.  Barks  and  ships  were, 
in  consequence,  built  for  the  trade,  varying  between  five  hundred  and  eight 
hundred  tons'  burden,  in  place  of  the  hundred  and  fifty  and  increase  in 
three  hundred  ton  schooners  and  brigs.  The  foreign  trade  was  "''*• 
at  the  same  time  becoming  very  heavy,  and  thousand-ton  merchantmen 
began  to  make  their  appearance.  When  gold  was  discovered  in  California, 
and  the  famous  stampede  of  that  and  the  subsequent  five  or  ten  years  began, 
shipping  took  another  stej)  forward  ;  and  huge  clipper  freight-ships  of  a  special 
class  were  built  for  the  long  voyage  around  Cape  Horn  to  the  new  regions 
on  the  Pacific,  to  which  the  whole  world  was  rushing.  By  1850  sixteen- 
hundred-ton  vessels  were  employed  in  the  California  trade  ;  and  tlie  tonnage 
of  the  vessels  increased  year  by  year,  until  (in  1878)  there  are  sailing-ships 
plying  to  San  Francisco  from  New  York  of  twenty-five  hundred  tons'  burden. 
One  gigantic  clipper,  called  "The  Ocean  King"  (a  four-master,  owned  in 
Boston),  is  of  four  thousand'  tons  burden:  another,  "The  Great  Republic," 
is  of  the  same  size.  The  Californiamen,  in  fact,  now  figure  in  the  American 
merchant  marine  very  much  as  the  East-Indiamen  have  always  done  in  the 
Knglish  marine :  they  are  the  great  ships  of  the  sailing-fleet.  This  trade, 
being  a  part  of  the  coasting-trade  of  the  United  States,  is  expressly  reserved 
to  our  flag. 


\ 


578 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


By  1861  the  shipping  of  the  United  States  had  reached  a  very  interesting 
development.  Beginning  in  1783  with  about  a  hundred  thousand  tons  of 
ships,  —  few  of  which  were  more  than  three  hundred  tons'  burden,  and  the  vast 
majority  of  which  were  under  a  hundred,  —  the  national  wealth  in  ships 
increased  (luite  steadily,  in  spite  of  all  disadvantages,  until  in  1861  the 
total  tonnage  of  the  country  had  reached  the  enormous  figure  of  5,539,813. 
England  alone  e.xceeded  us.  The  American  shipping  comprised  the  finest 
and  largest  under  sail  afloat,  and  the  assortment  of  types  they  included  was 
perhaps  the  most  extensive  under  the  sun.     The  special  wants  of  different 


YACHT. 


parts  of  the  coast  and  of  different  trades  had  given  rise  to  different  classes 
of  vessels :  among  the  number  were  the  Gloucester  fishing-boat ;  the  Block- 
Island  double-enders  ;  the  New-England  sharpy,  flat-bottomed  and  cat-rigged  : 
the  Long-Island  and  Hudson-river  sloops ;  the  clipper  brigs,  barks,  and 
ships ;  the  "  ketUe-bottomed  "  cotton-ships ;  the  Boston  ice-ship,  for  the 
Panama  and  South-American  trade ;  the  lumber-schooner,  carrying  the  most 
of  its  load  on  deck ;  the  fishing-dory ;  and  the  pleasure-yacht,  the  appearance 
of  whose  model  in  Enghsh  waters  in  185 1,  in  "The  America,"  built  at  New- 
York,  revolutionized  pleasure-boating  immediately.  The  war  of  1861  caused 
a  decrease  in  our  shipping.  In  the  first  place  it  threw  about  a  million 
tons  of  shipping  out  of  employment,  owing  to  the  blockade  of  the  South- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


579 


erh  ports,  and  led  to  the  sale  or  lease  of  the  ships  to  the  government,  and 
the  destruction  of  a  large  proportion  of  them  in  the  war.     Then 

^^1  e>     r     V  ,..,..         Effect  of 

Confederate  cruisers  began  to  capture  our  ships  in  the  foreign   ute  w«r 
trade  and  whale-fisheries,  and  burn  them.     Maritime  ventures  be-   "P°"  •''•p- 
came   so   hazardous   in   consequence   of  the   captures,  that   our 
merchants  were  afraid  to  sail  their  ships  upon  the  open  sea  any  longer  under 
the  American  flag ;   and,  finding  a  ready  market  for  them  in  England,  they 
sold  a  great  part  of  them  to  Englishmen  and  others,  the  sales  amounting 
to  774,652  tons,  the  transfers  during  the  four  years  of  the  war  exceeding 
the  sales  to  foreigners  for  forty  years  preceding,     A  large  part  of  the  tonnage 
in   the  foreign  trade  was  recalled,  and  put  into  coasting.     The  war  was  a 
terrible  blow  to  our  carrying-trade ;   and,  although  it  is  now  thirteen  years 
since  the  war  ended,  we  have  not  yet  recovered  the  ground  lost  during  that 
struggle.     We  are  getting  it  back  slowly  ;  but  it  will  be  several  years  yet  before 
the  merchant  marine  of  the  United  States  stands  where  it  did  in  1861. 

The  following  table  of  selected  years  will  show  the  growth  statistics  of 
and  changes  which  have  taken  place  since  1789,  the  first  year  in  growtiiand 
which  the  tabulation  of  accurate  statistics  began  :  —  chanees. 


TONNAGE  REGIS- 
TERED FOR  THE 
FORGIG.N  TRADE. 

TONNAGE  IN 
COASTING-TRADE. 

TONNAGE  IN 
FISHERIES. 

TOTAL. 

I7S9      .... 

I2J.S93 

68,607 

9,062 

201,652 

1790 

346,254 

103,775 

28.348 

478,377 

'795 

529.471 

184,398 

34,096 

747.965 

iSoo 

667,107 

272,492 

32,893 

972,492 

iSio 

981,019 

405,347 

38,417 

1.424.783 

1S13 

672,700 

470,109 

23.819 

1,166,628 

1815 

S54.295 

475.666 

38,167 

1,368,128 

iS:o 

5^3.657  ' 

588,025 

108,485 

1,280,167 

1825 

667,408 

640,861 

114,841 

1,423,110 

1S30 

537.563' 

516,979 

137.234 

1,191,776 

1S40 

1(^2.^1^ 

1,176,694 

241,232 

2,180,764 

1S50 

1.439.694 

1.797,825 

297.935 

3.535.454 

i860 

2,379.396 

2,644,867 

329.605 

5-353.868 

1S61 

2,496,894 

2,704,724 

338,19s 

5.539.813 

1S65 

1,518,350 

3,381,522 

197,010 

5.096,782 

1 866 

I.3S7.756 

2,719,621 

203,401 

4,310,778 

1S70 

1,448,846 

2.595.328  2 

159,414 

4.246,507 

187s 

1.5' 5.598 

3,169,687 

118,436 

4.853.732 

1876 

1,592,821 

2,609,323 

77,314 

4.279.458 

'  The  reduction  in  these  two  ye.irn  is  only  apparent;  it  is  due  to  a  correction  of  the  tables  by  dropping 
vessels  wrecked,  condemned,  or  sold  to  foreigners,  which  had  been  carried  on  the  register  for  years. 

'  The  reduction  here  is  due  to  the  larger  employment  of  itcainen  in  the  coaitiog-trade  since  the  war,  one 
steamer  doing  the  work  of  three  sailing-vesscli. 


58o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  ship-building  of  the  country  has  concentrated  chiefly  in  the  New- 
England  States,  owing  to  the  superior  industry  of  the  people.  There  does 
Shi  -build-  "°^  appear  to  have  been  any  other  special  reason  for  it,  because 
ing  in  the  Other  States  have  just  as  large  supplies  of  building,  copper,  iron, 
New-Ens-      cordage,  and  naval  stores,  and  some  of  them  a  great  deal  more 

Jand  States.  **   '  *  ° 

of  one  or  all  of  them.  From  1607  down,  however,  more  than 
one-half  of  all  the  vessels  of  every  description  launched  in  American  waters 
have  been  built  in  the  New-England  yards.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  and  Virginia  have  been  building  States  also.  South  of 
Virginia  there  appears  to  have  been  little  or  no  effort  in  this  direction.  Since 
1840  there  has  been  more  or  less  of  the  building  of  craft  for  the  inland  waters 
on  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Western  rivers. 

A  ship  is  a  marvellous  fabric.  Costing,  for  first-class  oak  vessels,  now  about 
fifty  dollars  a  ton,  nine-tenths  of  whicii  expense  is  for  labor,  the  ship  calls  into 
requisition  the  services  of  forty  or  fifty  distinct  trades,  and  demands  the  highest 
engineering  and  inathematical  ability  on  the  part  of  the  designer,  and  the 
ablest  workmanship  on  the  part  of  the  builder. 

"  Ah !  what  a  wondrous  thing  it  is 
To  note  how  many  wheels  of  toil 
One  thought,  one  word,  can  set  in  motion! 
There's  not  a  ship  that  sails  the  ocean, 
But  every  climate,  every  soil, 
Must  bring  its  tribute,  great  or  small. 
And  help  to  build  its  wooden  wall." 

The  construction  of  ships  is  one  of  the  most  profitao.e  branches  of  industry 
a  country  can  carry  on.  They  belong  to  that  peculiar  class  of  products  in 
Profitable-  which  the  raw  material  forms  the  most  insignificant  part,  and  the 
nessof  the  wages  of  the  workmen  the  largest  possible  proportion,  of  the  cost 
industry.  ^^  ^j^^  completed  work.  Besides  that,  a  ship  once  built  requires 
continual  repair,  and  the  repair  of  ships  on  a  large  scale  is  even  more  ])rofit- 
able  to  a  country  than  is  the  building.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  all  the  go\  - 
emments  of  the  world  with  a  sea-coast  strive  to  have  their  own  ships  jjuilt  by 
their  own  people,  and  to  promote  as  much  as  possible  the  building  of  ships  for 
other  nations.  The  United  States  have  always  required  American  ships  to  be 
built  in  American  yards.  The  enormous  profits  of  the  carrying-trade  lead 
governments  also  to  legislate  in  favor  of  their  own  shipping.  The  United 
States,  for  instance,  have  always  reserved  the  whole  business  of  the  coasting  of 
this  country  to  our  own  flag ;  and  for  a  period  of  fifty  years  it  imposed  an 
extra  duty  upon  all  goods  coming  from  China,  Japan,  and  the  East  Indies,  in 
foreign  ships,  so  as  to  secure  that  trade  to  our  own  vessels.  Furthermore,  our 
laws  tax  all  foreign  ships  entering  our  ports  fifty  cents  a  ton  as  compared  with 
a  six-cent  tonnage  tax  on  our  own  vessels,  whenever  the  foreign  goveniment  to 
which  the  ships  belong  discriminates  in  any  way  against  our  vessels. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


581 


Igof 


The  cost  of  wooden  ships  has  varied  a  great  deal  since  1607,  owing  to  the 
changes  in  the  wages  of  labor,  and  other  causes  affecting  the  general  range  of 
prices  of  all  commodities.  A  contract  at  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1661,  cost  of 
mentions  the  price  per  ton  of  a  ship  as  three  pounds  five  shillings,  wooden 
or  about  sixteen  dollars.  In  1825  first-class  ships  were  building  '  **'" 
in  the  United  States  for  thirty  or  forty  dollars  a  ton.  In  1840,  which  was  the 
best  year  the  race  of  ship-owners  then  living  had  ever  known,  —  when  tonnage 
was  in  great  demand,  and  many  vessels  paid  their  cost  in  clear  profits  of 
freight, — the  cost  was  about  fifty  dollars  a  ton.  About  1848  the  price  had 
risen,  possibly  because  large  ships  of  the  new  type  were  fitted  up  very  elabo- 
rately, the  captain's  cabin  being  as  richly  furnished  as  a  palace-car ;  so  that 
ships  cost  as  high  as  seventy  dollars  a  ton  (the  average  price  was  fifty  dollars). 
In  i860  a  first-class  thousand-ton  oak  ship  built  at  New- York  City  would  bring 
sixty-five  dollars  a  ton,  gold.  The  same  vessel  could  be  built  in  Maine  for 
forty-eight  and  fifty  dollars  a  ton.  Up  to  this  point  in  the  history  of  the 
country,  the  cost  of  American  ships,  whatever  it  might  happen  to  be  in  any  one 
year,  was,  nevertheless,  from  five  to  fifteen  dollars  a  ton  less  than  that  of  vessels 
built  in  England.  After  1861  the  derangement  of  prices  caused  by  the  war 
m:  de  American  wooden  ships  the  most  expensive  in  the  world.  The  jirice 
rose  in  1869  to  eighty  tlollars  a  ton  for  a  thousand-ton  oak  ship  fitted  for  sea 
with  one  suit  of  sails,  the  price  varying  somewhat  with  the  part  of  the  coast  on 
which  it  was  built.  In  some  yards  in  Maine  such  a  ship  could  be  launched 
for  sixty-five  dollars  a  ton.  At  the  present  time  prices  have  found  their  old 
level,  and  oak  vessels  are  constructed  for  fifty  dollars  a  ton.  Canadian  vessels, 
built  of  soft  woods,  and  therefore  shorter  lived,  are  sold  for  forty-five  dollars  a 
ton. 

A  very  notable  change  is  going  on  in  the  substitution  of  steam  craft,  or  boats 
towed  by  steam,  for  the  old-fashioned  coaster  in  the  transportation  of  merchan- 
dise. When  steamboats  first  came  into  practical  use,  it  was  prophe- 
sied that  they  would  speedily  drive  off  all  coasting- vessels,  because 
their  trips  would  be  made  with  greater  regularity.  'i'hey  could 
not  carry  so  cheaply,  though  ;  and  consetjuently  sailing-vessels 
have  retained  easily  enough  until  now  a  very  large  portion  of  their 
ground,  steamboats  taking  only  the  more  costly  freights  and  those  requiring  as 
rapid  transit  as  possible,  leaving  the  transportation  of  coal  and  other  coarse 
commodities  to  the  slower-sailing  carriers.  Within  a  few  years,  however,  this 
province,  too,  has  been  invaded,  as  we  have  just  described  ;  and  so  raj)idly  are 
the  canal  barges  and  other  vessels  towed  or  propelled  by  steam  gaining  the 
carrying-trade  of  coal,  grain,  and  all  commodities  not  transported  by  the 
regular  lines  of  steamboats,  as  seriously  to  imperil  tiie  business  of  the  sailing- 
vessels  :  indeed,  it  is  highly  i)robable  that  in  a  few  years  they  will  be  driven 
from  a  large  portion  of  American  waters  by  their  too  formidable  com- 
petitors. 


Competition 
between 
steam  craft 
and  wooden 
vessels. 


58a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Statistic*  of 
the  world'* 
tonnage. 


According  to  the  last  report  of  the  Bureau  Veritas  of  Paris,  it 
being  for  1866-67,  the  sea-going  merchant  sail-vessels  of  the 
world  were  distributed  as  follows ;  — 


Great  Britain . 
United  States . 
Norway  . 
Italy 
Germany 
France    . 
Spain 
Greece    . 
Holland  . 
Sweden  . 
Russia    . 
Austria   . 
Denmark 
Portugal . 
South  America 
Central  America 
Turkey    . 
Belgium  . 
Asia 
Africa  (Liberia) 

Total 


VESi'.BLS. 


20,265 
7.28S 

4.749 
4,601 

3.456 

3.858 

2.915 
2,121 

I. '43 
2,121 

1.78s 
9S3 

1.348 
456 

273 

•S3 

305 

55 
42 

3 


58,208 


S.807,375 
2.390,521 

1,410,903 
1,292,076 
375.995 
725.043 
557.320 
426,925 

399.903 
399,128 

391.958 

338.6S4 

188,958 

107,016 

59.458 

59-944 

48,209 

23.344 
16,019 

454 


15.553.888 


English  eminence  has  grown  up,  in  part,  from  the  employment  in  her  trade 
of  iron  sailing-vessels,  which  she  found  she  could  build  cheaper  than  she  could 
wooden  ones.  No  iron  sailing-ships  have  been  built  in  the  United  States, 
except  one  only,  "  The  Iron  Age,"  constructed  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  about  ten 
years  ago. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


583 


CHAPTER    II. 


STEAMBOATS. 


ONE  of  the  most  imposing  spectacles  of  this  or  any  other  age  is  the  calm 
and  iihpressive  manner  in  which  English  writers  claim  "  the  glory  of 
having  introduced  steam-navigation  to  the  attention  of  the  world,"  Fuiton  and 
and  the  coolness  with  which  they  say  that  this  invention  —  having,  f  >*•=*>. 
like  daylight,  fresh  air,  and  other  objects  of  great  utility,  been  born  in  Eng- 
land—  finally  left  its  inventors  "to  irradiate  the  names  of  others  who  reaped 
the  benefit  of  their  labors,"  the  most  prominent  of  the  "  irradiated  "  being 
Fulton.  The  first  British  steamboat  splashed  its  way  around  a  lake  at  Dalwin- 
ston,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  middle  of  October,  1788,  the  event  accruing  to 
the  great  edification  of  the  firm-hands  of  the  regions  adjacent,  Avho  came 
down  to  see  a  boat  "  driven  by  smoke  "  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour. 
Yet  experiments  had  then  been  making  with  steamboats  in  .America  for  thirty- 
eight  years  ;  and  in  1785,  three  years  before  the  first  English  boat  was  tried, 
John  Fitch  had  navigated  the  Schuylkill  in  a  shallop,  with  a  padiUe-wheel  at 
the  stern,  driven  by  steam  ;  and  in  i  786  he  had  made  eight  miles  an  hour  with 
a  second  and  new  steamboat  on  the  Delaware.  The  idea  of  propelling  boats 
by  some  mechanical  device  even  was  not  at  all  new  with  P'.ngland.  The 
ancient  F2gyptians  had  galleys  which  were  worked  by  paddle-wheels  propelled 
by  oxen,  the  power  being  transmitted  somewhat  on  the  principle  employed  in 
a  motlern  threshing-machine.  The  Romans  had  the  same  style  of  craft  to 
carry  corn  and  soldiers  to  Sicily  in  the  days  of  the  commonwealth.  It  was 
proposed  at  lierne  to  work  vessels  on  the  duck-principle,  by  constructing  two 
tremendous  web-feet,  which  should  open  and  shut  like  umbrellas,  and  be 
('Iterated  by  steam.  One  ingenious  European  had  also  proposed  to  propel 
boats  by  firing  big  cannon  from  the  stem,  it  being  ascertained  by  experiment 
tliat  a  moderate-sized  ship  might  be  driven  at  the  extraordinary  velocity  of  ten 
miles  a  day  v,  ith  thirty  barrels  of  gunpowder.  In  the  romantic  tale  of  "  .Amadis 
of  (laul  "  the  unknown  author  had  described  a  fiery  vessel  rushing  over  the 
ocean  with  the  speed  of  the  wind,  in  a  way  which  really  answered  very  well 
as  a  prediction  and  as  a  description  of  a  modem  Mississippi-river  steamboat 


584 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


racing  down  stream  with  a  rival  vessel,  with  a  hundred  ai.d  fifty  pounds  press- 
ure on  the  boiler,  and  burning  pitch-pine  knots  antl  turpentine.  The  whole 
idea  of  forcing  a  vessel  through  the  water  without  the  agency  of  human  labor, 
and  independently  of  wind  and  tide,  was  ages  old  when  England  invented  a 
little  twopenny  four-knot  vessel  to  splash  around  the  precincts  of  Dalwinston 
Lake,  and  amuse  the  louts  of  the  adjacent  hillsides.  England's  sole  credit  in 
the  way  of  priority  is  for  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine.  For  that  great 
machine,  all  hail  to  England  !  We  must  put  our  hats  on  again,  however,  when 
mention  is  made  of  the  steamboat. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  romance  about  the  ancient  style  of  propulsion. 
The  Indian^ 

"  Skimming  Ontario's  waters  blue 
Like  tiie  swallow's  wing  in  his  bark  canoe," 

and  the  Venetian  in  his  stately  galley  rowed  with  double  and  triple  banks  of 
oars,  and  the  Yankee  with  his  wonderful  clipper  and  its  cloud  of  canvas, 
have  been  a  constant  theme  for  poets  and  historians.  But,  after  all,  steam 
speaks  to  poets  and  prose-writers  alike  with  a  more  glorious  voice  than  oar  or 
sail :  — 

"  For  fire  is  chief  like  haughty  gold, 
And  with  its  glow 
Fills  all  the  night  with  flame." 

So  old  Pindar  sang:  and  the  saying  is  far  more  true  than  ever  Pindar 
dreamed  ;  for  fire  and  steam  have  given  us  the  greatest  ships  of  all  time,  whose 
achievements  are  of  indescribable  magnitude,  and  whose  influence  is  more 
far-reaching  and  important  than  that  of  any  other  material  agency  under  the 
control  of  man. 

When  the  discovery  of  the  steam-engine  had  set  all  the  world  thinking  of 
a  new  way  to  accomplish  all  mechanical  work,  and  long  before  the  ideas  of 
Watt  were  perfected,  it  was  proposed  to  apply  steam  to  the  propulsion  of  boats. 
As  early  as  1 750  it  is  said  an  experiment  of  some  kind  had  been  attempted 
in  America,  at  Reading,  Penn. ;  and  Oliver  Evans,  who  in  1 768  proposed  a 
steamboat,  also  made  experiments  at  Philadelphia.  Shortly  after  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  two  American  inventors  who  had  been  simultaneously  studying 
the  new  idea — John  Fitch  of  Connecticut,  and  James  Rumsey  of 
Maryland  —  both  brought  out  patterns  of  boats  to  be  propelled  by 
steam.  Rumsey's  first  idea  was  to  construct  a  boat  which  shouki  go  up  :i 
river  by  the  force  of  the  current  acting  "  on  setting-poles."  He  showed  a 
model  of  a  boat  for  navigating  rivers  on  this  principle  to  Gen.  Washington  on 
the  Potomac  in  1784,  and  in  1785  he  got  a  ten-years'  monopoly  for  buildiiiL; 
such  boats  from  the  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  Fitch  experi- 
mented from  the  beginning  with  steam.  His  first  vessel  had  a  paddle-wheel 
at  the  stern,  and  was  tried  successfully  on  the  Schuylkill  in  1785.     In  1786  n 


Rumsey. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


58s 


larger  and  more  practical  steamboat  was  tried  by  him  on  the  Delaware, 
making  eight  miles  an  hour.  This  was  before  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  while  patents  were  issued  only  by  the  several  States ;  so  that 
p'itch  had  to  apply  to  such  of  them  as  he  thought  would  give  him  a  favorable 
hearing  each  by  itself.  Pennsylvania  gave  him  a  feurteen-years'  i)atent  in 
1787;  and  Delaware,  New  York,  and  Virginia  followed  her  example.  In 
17S7  Rumsey  brought  out  an  invention  for  moving  steamboats  by  means  of  a 
pump,  water  being  drawn  in  at  the  bow,  and  expelled  violently  at  the  stern. 
Tliis  was  the  plan  of  Dr.  Allan  in  England  also,  that  gentleman  believing  that 
tiie  boat  woukl  be  rapidly  propelled  ;  "  thereby  imitating  very  accurately  what 
the  .Vuthor  of  Nature  has  shown  us  in  the  swimming  of  fishes,  who  proceed 
by  protrusion  with  their  tails."  Rumsey  tried  his  plan  on  the  Potomac,  and 
then  took  it  to  England,  where  it  worked  well  on  the  Thames,  making  four 
miles  an  hour.  The  inventor  died  in  1793,  before  he  had  reaped  any  substan- 
tial reward  for  his  invention.  The  next  invention  was  by  Fitch,  and  was 
nothing  less  than  the  ocean-propeller,  —  a  contrivance  which  n.ost  people  yet 
believe  to  be  an  English  affair,  and  which  the  English  themselves,  in  their 
large  and  comprehensive  way,  definitely  claim  to  be  the  originators  of  The 
cral"t  made  use  of  for  P'itch's  experiment  with  a  propeller  was  a  common  long- 
boat eighteen  feet  in  length.  The  boiler  was  a  ten  or  twelve  gallon  puch-g 
iron-pot,  with  a  thick  plank  lid  firmly  fastened  down  upon  it.  The  invention 
steam-cylinders  were  of  wood,  barrel-shaped  outside,  and  firmly  **•="*'='•■ 
hooped.  The  connecting-rods,  beam,  and  crank  were  of  equally  simple  con- 
struction. The  propeller  was  a  regular  iron  screw,  the  blade,  or  flange,  taking 
three  turns  around  the  shaft.  With  this  device  Fitch  made  six  miles  an  hour, 
the  sheet  of  water  on  which  it  was  tried  being  Collect  Pond,  ninety  feet 
deej),  which  covered  the  groimd  where  the  Tombs  now  stands  in  New-York 
City,  and  a  large  area  in  the  vicinity.  The  boat  was  afterwards  abandoned 
on  the  banks  of  the  pond,  and  allowed  to  decay.  The  date  of  the  experiment 
is  stated  as  1 796. 

In  1804  Mr.  Stevens  of  Hoboken,  N.J.,  made  a  number  of  trips  on  the 
Hudson  River  with  a  small  steamboat  propelled  by  a  wheel  at  the  stern.  He 
afterwards  did  a  great  many  valuable  things  in  the  way  of  perfecting  the 
steam-engine. 

So  far  there  had  been  nothing  done,  except  in  trying  experiments.  Fitch, 
in  I  790,  had  run  a  boat  between  Philadelphia  anil  Burlington  to  carry  pas- 
sengers, which  was  operated  by  paddles  at  the  stern.  Hut  this  was  only  an 
experiment,  and  was  soon  abandoned  ;  and  Fitch  had  died  in  1 798  a  broken- 
hearted man,  owing  to  the  want  of  i)opular  appreciation  of  his  Fulton's  ex- 
inventions.  But  steam-navigation  was  now  to  be  made  a  success  P=r'"ients. 
by  Robert  Fulton,  a  native  of  Little  Britain,  Penn.,  who  had  gone  to  Eurojje 
in  1786  to  perfect  his  mechanical  education,  and  i)ush  his  fortune.  Fulton 
made  a  great  many  curious  experiments  in  locomotion  in  lOurope,  one  of  them 


S86 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


being  an  attempt  to  blow  up  the  English  ships  blockading  Brest  in  1801,  with  a 
submarine  torpedo,  in  behalf  of  Napoleon.  He  remained  under  water  four 
hours  and  a  half;  and  woukl  have  blown  up  an  Knglish  seventy-four,  excx-j)! 
that  she  moved  out  of  the  way  just  in  time  to  avoid  him.  He  did  not,  in  the 
end,  l)low  up  a  ship.  He  afterwards  tried  to  sell  to  the  Englisii  a  patent  to 
blow  up  the  French  ;  without  success,  however.  In  1803  Fulton  launched  a 
steamboat  on  the  Seine  below  Paris,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  Chancellor 
Livingston,  our  minister  to  France,  the  latter  of  whom  had  taken  great 
interest  in  Fulton's  exjjeriments.  This  i)ioneer  boat  of  Fulton's  met  with  an 
astonishing  mishap.     The  builder  had  miscalculated  the  strength  of  the  vessel ; 

and,  when  the  machinery  was 
]i!a'  c'd  in  the  centre,  she  broke 
in  two  in  the  middle,  and  the 
whole  concern  went  to  the 
bottom.  John  Scott  Russell, 
vice-president  of  the  Society 
of  Arts  for  Scotland  in  1841, 
who  relates  this  incident,  says, 
"  The  shattered  vessel  was 
raised,  and  was  found  to  be 
almost  entirely  broken  up. 
How  admirable  are  the  les- 
sons inculcated  by  a  thorough 
failure  !  The  American  steam- 
boats have  ever  since  been 
distinguished  by  the  excel- 
lence of  the  strong  and  light 
framing  by  which  their  slender  vessels  are  enabled  to  bear  the  weight 
and  strain  of  their  large  and  powerful  engines."  Fulton,  nothing  daunt- 
ed, fished  out  his  machinery  from  the  mud  of  the  Seine,  and  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  placed  it  in  another  vessel,  sixty-six  feet  long  and 
eight  feet  wide.  The  vessel  had  paddle-wheels,  but  moved  so  slowly  (only 
three  miles  an  hour)  as  to  be  thought  at  first  a  failure ;  but  Livingston  and 
Fulton  both  learned  from  it  valuable  lessons,  and  they  prepared  to  carry  tiie 
benefit  of  their  discoveries  back  to  their  native  land  immediately.  They  ;it 
once  ordered  an  engine  to  be  built  by  Bolton  and  Watt,  to  be  forwarded  to 
New  York,  to  begin  practical  steam-navigation  in  American  waters.  Living- 
ston got  a  patent  from  New-York  State  for  the  right  to  navigate  its  waters 
"The  by  steam  for  twenty  years;    and  in  1807  "The  Clermont"  wns 

Clermont."  launched,  under  Fulton's  direction,  on  the  East  River  at  Ni'«' 
York.  She  was  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  tons'  burden,  and  was  supplied  with 
side  paddle-wheels.  A  more  astonished  crowd  of  human  beings  had  nextr 
collected  on  the  shore  of  Manhattan  Island  since  the  days  when  the  open- 


FILTON  S   BIUTHPLACE. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


587 


mouthed  red  man  saw  Hendrick  Hudson  sail  up  the  bay,  and  cast  anchor  off 
shore,  than  were  assembled  the  day  "'i'he  Clermont"  made  its  first  trial-trip. 
Everybody  had  said  the  experiment  would  fail.  The  boat  had  been  called 
"  Fulton's  Folly ; "  and  the  whole  scheme  liad  been  the  standing  joke  of  the 
town.  "  The  Clermont  "  had  not  gone  a  hundred  yards  from  shore,  however, 
before  the  multitude  which  was  looking  on  became  a  prey  to  the  liveliest 
surprise  and  admiration,  which  almost  ileepened  to  alarm  as  they  heard  the 
racket  of  her  machinery  and  the  terrific  splashing  of  the  water,  and  saw  the 
fire  and  smoke  pouring  out  of  her  chimney.     The  boat 

"  Walked  the  waters  like  a  thing  of  life," 


The  Comet 
of  the 
Clyde." 


and  left  the  overwhelmed  spectators  behind  her  at  a  speed  of  five  miles  an 
hour.  She  made  that  first  trip  to  .Albany,  against  the  current,  in  thirty-two 
hours,  scaring  the  boatmen  and  farmers  along  the  Hutlson  dreadfully,  espcci.illy 
at  night,  by  her  roaring  and  her  fires.  This  vessel  made  regular  trips  to  and 
from  .Albany,  and  was  joined  in  1807  by  a  second  boat,  built  by  the  same 
owners,  called  "  The  Car  of  Neptune,"  and  later  by  a  third,  called  "  The  Par- 
agon." The  two  latter  were  of  three  hundred  and  three  hunilred  and  fifty 
tons  respectively. 

Steam-navigation  was  now  a  success,  complete,  practical,  and  triumphant ; 
and  the  achievement  took  place  in  the  New  World,  and  through  the  energy 
and  genius  of  Americans  alone.  It  was  not  until  181 2  that  "'I'he 
Comet  of  the  Clyde,"  the  first  trading  steam-vessel  of  Europe,  was 
launched,  and  taken  out  for  a  trial-trij).  John  Scott  Russell  con- 
gratulates America  ujion  the  benefits  arising  from  Fulton's  enterprise,  and 
says,  "  .Mthough  .America,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  will  look  to 
this  country  as  the  source  fi-om  which  she  derived  this  benefit,  yet  we  heartily 
join,"  &c.  Really  .America  must  be  excused.  R.  L.  Stevens  of  Hoboken, 
who  had  already  perfected  a  practicable  steamboat,  would  have  accomplished 
.steam-navigation  before  Henry  Bell  did  on  the  Clyde  in  181 2,  had  Fulton 
(lone  nothing  about  the  matter ;  and  even  if  Fulton  was,  in  fact,  preceded 
by  the  people  on  Dalwinston  Lake,  and  if  he  really  profited  by  their  experi- 
ments, it  was  his  own  peculiar  and  original  genius  which  accomplished  what 
they  could  not,  and  that  was  something  for  which  he  was  not  indebted  to 
I'.iiglish  inventors. 

The  navigation  of  the  Hudson,  though  patented  to  Fulton  and  Living- 
ston, was   thrown   open   to   the   public,  by  a  compromise,  in  1815.     Other 
people  wished  to  build  steamlx)ats,  and  public  sentiment  was  un-   j^^^.  ^^.^^^ 
favorable  to  the  monopolizing  of  the  water-courses  of  the  coun-   of  the  Hud- 
try  by  anybody.      Fulton  at  first  claimed  the  monopoly  of  the   "o"  thrown 
\VLstern  rivers ;   but  his  claim  was  disputed,  and  carried  to  the 
courts,  and  beaten;  so  that,  after  1815,  the  rivers  of  the  country  were  as  free 


588 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


to  wlioever  might  clioose  to  navigate  them  by  steam  as  they  had  previously 
been  to  vessels  under  sail. 

Steamboats  made  their  appearance  in  the  West  in  1812.  The  pioneer 
boat  was  "  The  New  Orleans,"   built  at  Pittsburgh  by   Fultt)n  at  a  cost   of 

;?4o,ooo,  and  provided  with  a  stern-wheel  anil  sails.  She  was  of 
of  iteaii-  between  three  hundred  anil  four  hundred  tons'  burden.  In  Octo- 
boattinthe     jj^.-    jjjjj    she   made  the   trip  from    Pittsburgh   to    Louisvillf  in 

seventy  hours :  she  then  made  several  trips  to  C'im  innali,  and  in 
December  went  to  New  Orleans,  and  was  there  put  into  the  trade  betwciii 
that  city  and  Natiiiez.  She  was  wrecked  on  a  snag  in  1S14.  This  boat  jLiiil 
for  half  her  cost  the  first  year.  The  second  boat  was  "The  Comet,"  built 
at  Pittsburgh  in  18 13  by  Mr.  I).  Trench,  which  found  her  way  to  New  Orleans 
in  1814,  and,  after  two  trips  to  Natchez,  went  out  of  existence,  her  machinery 
being  taken  out  and  put  into  a  cotton-mill.  The  third  boat  was  "  'I'he 
Vesuvius,"  also  built  at  Pittsburgh  by  F"ulton  for  a  com])any.  This  vessel  was 
of  three  hundred  and  forty  tons.  She  went  to  New  Orleans  with  the  others, 
and  was  burned  in  181 6.  None  of  these  boats  had  been  able  to  ascend  the 
Mississippi  River.  They  went  down  stream  well  enough.  "  The  Vesuvius  " 
had  tried  to  return,  but  failed.  The  ascent  was  not  accomplished  until 
1815,  when  "The  Knlerprise,"  a  small  boat  of  only  seventy  tons'  burden,  with 
a  single  wheel  at  the  stern,  for  the  first  time  made  the  voyage  up  the  rivers 
from  New  Orleans  to  Cincinnati,  arriving  there  in  twenty-eight  days.  She 
reached  Louisville  in  twenty-five  days,  anil  sto})ped  there  in  order  to  permit 
a  public  dinner  to  be  given  in  honor  of  the  event. 

The  first  steamer  in  the  coasting-trade  was  built  by  the  Stevenses  at 
Hoboken,  while  Fulton  still  had  a  monopoly  of  the  Hudson,  and  was  run 
by  the  outside  route  to  Philadelphia. 

There  now  remained  only  one  field  for  the  Americati  steamboat-men  to 
conquer  :  that  was  the  home  of  old  Nejjtune  himself,  —  the  open  ocean.  The 
Steamboat-  crossing  of  the  Atlantic  was  altogether  a  different  matter  from  a 
ing  acrosi  voyage  along  the  coast  and  up  anil  down  a  great  river.  American 
t  e  t  ant  c.  jjyiijjjrg  ^^,^^1  merchants  hesitated  to  attempt  the  undertaking  lor 
many  years.  At  length,  however,  the  experiment  was  tried.  A  vessel  called 
"The  Savannah,"  three  hundred  and  eighty  tons'  burden,  ship-rigged,  witii 
Crossing         horizontal  engine  and  paddle-wheels,  was  built  at  Corlear's  Hook, 

N.Y.,  by  Crocker  &  Fickitt,   for  a  company  of  gentlemen,  who 

proposed  to  send  her  across  the  ocean  for  sale  to  the  Kmpcior 
of  Russia.  She  sailed  from  New-York  City  in  1819  for  Savannah,  dii., 
making  the  trip  in  seven  days,  four  of  them  under  steam.  From  Siivaniiali 
she  went  direct  to  Liverpool,  making  the  voyage  in  twenty-two  days,  during 
fourteen  of  which  she  was  under  steam,  moving  the  rest  of  the  time  umkr 
sail.  Her  arrival  in  Great  Britain  created  a  great  commotion.  When  about 
entering  St.  George's  Channel,  off  the  city  of  Cork,  the  commander  of  the 


of  "The 
Savannah.' 


OP   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


589 


Rritish  fleet,  seeing  a  huge  cloud  of  smoke  rising  from  the  vessel  anil  coveriiig 
liic  sky,  sent  olT  two  cutters  immediately  to  save  her  passengers  anil  crew 
from  the  destruction  which  he  supposed  was  threatening  them.  The  steamer 
paid  no  attention  to  the  cutters ;  and  the  Englishmen,  exasperated  because 
their  benevolence  was  ni)t  accepted,  rowed  furiously  alongside  several  times, 
and  fired  several  guns  across  the  steamer's  bow,  and  finally  hove  her  ti)  and 
I:  Mrded  her.  The  officers,  finding  that  the  steamer  was  all  right,  finally  let 
iier  go,  and  she  bore  away.  At  Liverpool  her  arrival  created  a  tremendous 
sensation.  .As  she  came  up  the  harbor  with  sails  fiirled  and  the  .American 
( olors  fiying  the  piers  were  thronged  with  people,  wlio  greeted  the  ship  wiUi 
enthusiastic  cheers.  A  great  many  persons  of  distinction  visited  her.  She 
finally  went  on  to  St.  Petersburg.  She  was  an  object  of  great  curiosity  at  every 
port  at  which  she  sloppeil,  but  was  not  soUl  as  expected  ;  and  accordingly 
she  set  sail  for  home.  The  King  of  Sweden  offered  $100,000  for  her,  pay- 
able in  hemp  and  iron  delivered  in  the  United  States ;  but  the  cash  was 
wanted,  anil  the  offer  was  not  accepted.  The  ship  ran  home  from  Norway 
in  twenty-two  days.  Her  machinery  was  then  taken  out,  and  she  became  a 
sailer.  She  subsequently  went  ashore  on  Long  Island,  and  was  completely 
wrecked.  The  owners  of  the  vessel  are  said  to  have  lost  over  $50,000  by  their 
voyage  to  Europe.  The  trouble  with  "The  Savannah"  was,  that  her  engines 
were  imperfect.  They  consumed  so  much  coal,  that  the  ship  could  not  carry 
enough  fiiel  for  the  voyage,  and  there  was  no  room  for  cargo  whatever.  It 
was  about  twenty  years  before  the  steam-engine  was  so  perfected  as  to  make 
ocean  navigation  profitable  ;  and,  when  that  time  arrived,  the  English  were  the 
first  to  take  advantage  of  it ;  the  pioneer  ships,  "  The  Sirius  "  and  "  The 
Great  Western,"  entering  New- York  harbor  almost  together  on  the  23d  of 
\\W\\,  1S38.  The  honor  of  the  first  crossing  of  the  AUantic  remains  with  our 
own  countrvmen ;  but  the  credit  of  estaljlishing  vessels  in  trade   _  ,  .  „  . 

'  °  Establish- 

belongs  to  the  English.     The  Royal  Mail  (or  Cunard)  steamers   mem  of 
bciian  running  from  Halifax  to  Boston  in   1840,  and  they  have   fi"t""eo' 

°  *  t    »  /  steamers. 

never  ceased  to  run  to  the  present  day.     Other  lines  were  after- 
wards started,  and  at  the  present  time   England  has  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  steamers  running  to  the  United  States.     The  Mills  line  to  Hrcmen 
(American)   was   started   in    1S47,  and   the  Collins  line  to  Liv-   orowth  of 
crpool  in  1850,33  also  the  Garrison  line  to  Brazil  in  1865, — all  other  lines. 
from  New-York  City.     The  Pacific  Mail  line  to  China  was  started  in   1S65 
also.     When    1865    came,   however,    England   had   a   hundred   and   twenty 
r^teamers  running  to  this  country,  antl  had  virtually  monopolized  the  steamship 
traffic,  her  lines  being  supported  by  the  patronage  of  the  government.     Our 
own  lines  to  Europe  had  been  withdrawn.     The  only  line  we  have  to  Europe 
to-day  is  that  of  the  American  Company  of  Philadelphia,  which  employs  four 
three-thousand-ton  steamers  in  the  trade. 

In  1818  the  first  steamboat  was  built  for  the  trade  of  the  Great  Lakes,  then 


590 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


•team- 
boating 


beginning  to  be  considerable.  It  was  "  The  Walk  in  the  Water,"  named  after 
a  celebrated  Indian  chief  in  Michigan.  She  was  built  at  Black  Rock,  N.Y., 
on  the  Niagara  River,  her  engines  being  brought  up  from  New- York  City  by 
sloops  to  Albany,  and  thence  despatched  by  six  and  eight  horse  teams  over- 
land to  the  Niagara  River.  The  different  parts  of  the  engine  arrived  from 
Albany  in  fifteen  to  twenty-five  days'  time.  "  The  Walk  in  the  Water  "  was 
brig-rigged,  and  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  tons'  burden.  Being  lost  in  a 
gale  in  1821,  she  was  replaced  by  "The  Superior."  The  owner  of  the  two 
boats  was  Dr.  I.  B,  Stuart  of  Albany.  As  trade  on  the  lakes  increased,  more 
steamers  were  put  into  the  business  by  other  people  at  all  the  large  ports. 

These  were  the  beginnings  of  steamboating  in  America.  They  have  been 
described  with  great  minuteness,  because  the  United  States  was  the  pioneer 
A  ric  th  country  of  the  world  in  utilizing  the  power  of  steam  in  the  prac- 
pioneer  in  tical  transportation  of  freight  and  passengers,  and  the  history  of 
early  efforts  is  thus  especially  interesting ;  and  also  because  in  the 
beginnings  of  an  enterprise  is  infolded  its  whole  subsequent  his- 
tory, just  as  truly  as  every  characteristic  of  a  tree  is  outlined  and  predicted  in 
the  little  sprout  that  has  just  poked  its  way  out  of  the  soil.  No  enterprise 
can  be  understood  unless  its  origin  is  known.  If  the  origin  be  thoroughly 
comprehended,  the  intermediate  steps  by  which  the  enterprise  attains  its  final 
development  are  of  small  account :  they  are  merely  a  repetition  of  the  steps 
first  taken. 

Steam  was  put  to  service  upon  the  water  in  this  country  about  thirty  years 
before  it  was  employed  in  traffic  overland ;  and  it  played  a  most  important 
part  in  the  development  of  the  country,  and  in  cementing  to- 
gether its  various  communities.  It  brought  the  distant  territories 
in  the  North-West  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  at 
once  into  immediate  and  patriotic  relations  with  the  older  com- 
munities, and  was  the  means  of  building  up  a  thriving  exchange 
of  commodities,  and  unity  of  sentiment,  between  them.  The  same  was  true 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  Adantic  coast.  In  the  settlement  of  the  West 
and  South  the  steamboat  greatly  assisted ;  and  so  well  adapted  was  this  new 
agency  to  the  work  of  threading  the  chain  of  lakes,  and  to  overcoming  the 
vast  distances  of  the  great  rivers,  that  by  1835  the  building  of  steamboats  in 
the  West  had  become  very  large,  and  by  1856  there  were  more  than  a  thou- 
sand of  this  style  of  craft  actively  engaged  in  the  traffic  of  that  portion  of 
our  domain.  The  steam-tonnage  of  the  Mississippi-river  Valley  at  that  time 
equalled  the  magnificent  steam-tonnage  of  the  whole  empire  of  Great  Britain. 
About  1850  the  old-style  steamboat  of  the  West  and  North,  ranging  from  two 
hundred  to  four  hundred  tons  in  size,  began  to  be  found  inadequate  to  tlie 
wants  of  trade  becaust  of  its  small  size.  The  builders  then  began  to  enter 
upon  the  construction  of  larger  craft ;  and  they  enlarged  their  vessels  year  by 
year,  until  the  latter  have,  in  1878,  attained  a  size,  in  the  trade  of  the  Missis- 


importance 

of  steam- 
navigation 
to  this 
country. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


59^ 


sippi  at  least,  equal  to  that  of  the  colossal  trans-Atlantic  steamers.    One  of 
these  huge  Western  boats  will  be  referred  to  hereafter. 

On  the  coast  a  steam-packet  was  running  between  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia as  early  as  1S14,  and  a  regular  line  was  plying  from  New  York  to  Charles- 
ton as  early  as  1832.     After  1830  the  whole  coast  became  alive   ^  ubiuh- 
with  steamboats.     Lines  were  started  in  Long-Island  Sound  to  ply  ment  of  coast 
in  the  routes  to  Boston,  Hartford,  and  other  New-England  cities,  ""*•  °' 

'  °  tteamboats. 

the  steamers  connecting  at  proper  pomts  with  stage-lines  on  the 
mainland,  just  as  they  now  do  with  railroad-lines.  Lines  were  started  in 
Chesapeake  Bay,  in  the  waters  of  Virginia,  and  in  every  large  river  leading 
from  the  interior  of  the  Southern  States  to  the  coast.  The  coasting-steamers 
finally  crept  as  far  to  the  southward  as  to  Savannah,  to  which  point  a  line  began 
running  about  1848.  In  1848  steamers  began  running  between  Charleston 
and  Havana  in  Cuba,  under  the  patronage  of  our  government.  The  greatest 
coasting-line  of  all  was  authorized  to  be  established  by  the  Act  of  Congress  of 
March  3,  1847,  in  order  to  facilitate  intercourse  between  the  Eastern  States 
and  our  newly-acquired  territories  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  We  had  just  obtained 
all  that  vast  territory  lying  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  by  cession  from 
Mexico.  With  the  'sting  inadequate  means  of  transportation,  that  region 
was  practically  as  far  i  t-ay  from  the  Atlantic  centres  of  population  as  though 
it  had  been  buried  in  the  interior  of  the  continent  of  Asia.  In  order  to 
settle  this  new  territory,  it  was  necessary  to  have  steamers  ;  and  so  Congress 
authorized  lines  to  be  started  in  the  same  patriotic  spirit  in  which  it  afterwards 
originated  the  Pacific  railroads.  Two  companies  were  formed,  —  the  United- 
States  Mail,  to  run  from  New  York  to  Aspinwall  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  a 
distance  of  2,000  miles ;  and  the  Pacific  Mail,  to  run  from  Panama  on  the 
Pacific,  3,300  miles,  to  San  Francisco.  The  pioneer  steamer,  "The  pacific  Mail 
California,"  1,058  tons,  left  New- York  City  Oct.  5,  1848,  being  steamship 
followed  within  a  month  by  the  "Panama"  and  "Oregon,"  1,087  °'"P""*'* 
and  1,099  ^on?,,  all  three  steaming  for  the  Pacific  by  way  of  Cape  Horn.  The 
fii>;t  steamer  of  the  other  line  to  ply  to  Aspinwall,  "The  Falcon,"  891  tons,  left 
New  York  in  December  of  the  same  year.  This  line  touched  at  New  Orleans 
en  route  by  contract.  It  is  seldom  in  the  history  of  the  world  that  a  great 
agency  for  the  performance  of  a  specific  work  is  created  so  opportunely  as 
were  these  two  lines.  While  "  The  California  "  was  peacefully  wending  its 
way  across  the  tropical  seas  en  route  for  its  distant  service,  and  its  officers  were 
wondering  what  on  earth  they  would  find  at  Panama  to  carry  to  California,  the 
exciting  story  came  to  the  Eastern  States  that  gold  had  been  discovered  in  the 
Sacramento  Valley  in  extraordinary  quantities.  The  officers  of  the  two  steam- 
ship lines  at  New  York  were  at  once  besieged  with  applications  for  passage  to 
California.  "  The  Falcon  "  went  out  loaded  ;  and  when  "  The  California  " 
came  into  the  harbor  of  Panama  to  get  advices  from  home,  before  going  on 
northward,  she  found  a  multitude  of  eager  gold-seekers  there  awaiting  her 


59>  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

arrival,  and  she  went  on  her  way  loaded  down  to  the  water's  edge  with 
passengers  and  freight.  Her  consorts  had  the  same  experience.  Both  steam- 
ship Unes  were  a  magnificent  success  from  the  start ;  and  they  themselves  did 
more  to  build  up  our  empire  on  the  Pacific  rapidly  than  a  thousand  sailing- 
vessels  slowly  working  their  way  around  Cape  Horn  could  have  done.  By 
1 85 1  there  were  nine  large  steamers  in  the  Atlantic  Hne  (one,  "The  Illinois," 
being  of  2,123  ^o^^s'  burden),  and  six  in  the  Pacific  line,  one  of  the  fleet.  ''The 
Golden  Gate,"  being  of  2,068  tons'  burden.  The  two  lines  consolidated  into 
one  in  1865,  and  then  sent  out  steamers  to  China.  Since  the  foundation  of 
this  great  enterprise  other  coasting  steam-lines  have  been  started,  and  the 
number  of  them  now  is  legion.,  They  ply  on  all  parts  of  the  three  coasts,  and 
between  all  principal  commercial  cities. 

The  growth  of  steam-tonnage  in  the  United  States  will  be  shown  by 
Statistic!  of  the  following  table,  the  figures  beginning  in  1823,  because  the 
"a*e"  ***""     steam-tonnage  was  then  first  recorded  separately  :  — 

TONNAGE. 

1823 24,879 

1830 64,472 

1840 202,309 

1850 525.434 

i860 867,937 

1870 1.075,095 

1876 1. 172.372 

The  distribution  of  this  tonnage  in  1876  was  as  follows  :  — 


Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts 
Pacific  coast    . 
Northern  lakes        . 
Western  rivers 


NL'MnER. 

TONNAl.E. 

2,081 

665,879 

270 

78,439 

021 

201,742 

1,048 

226,312 

Total 


4,320 


M72.372 


The  principal  trouble  of  the  early  builders  of  steamboats  in  this  country 
was  in  devising  a  proper  way  of  transmitting  tlie  power  of  the  steam-engine  to 
Difflcuitieg  ^'""^  water.  Fitch  tried  paddle-w  heels,  a  bank  of  oars,  and  a  screw- 
propeller.  Rumsey  tried  a  jet  of  water.  Subsequent  inventnis 
tried  a  vast  variety  of  devices.  One  was  an  endless  chain  carrying 
a  long  row  of  paddles  to  play  in  the  water  at  the  sides  of  the  boat  or  under- 
neath the  false  keel.  Another  was  the  side-fan  or  duck-foot  propeller :  bouts 
were  supplied  with  a  whole  set  of  fins  on  each  side.     Another  plan  was  the 


of  early 
builder*. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


593 


triple-crank  paddle,  —  a  (jueer  combination  of  paddles,  guiding-rods,  cranks, 
&c.,  the  object  of  which  was  to  employ  three  sets  of  padilfes,  and  make  them 
dip  straight  down  into  the  water,  describe  the  segment  of  an  ellipse  in  the 
water,  and  come  straight  out  again.  Any  number  of  devices  of  that  description 
were  tried.  Then  the  circular  paddle-wheel  was  experimented  with  in  a  hun- 
dred forms.  The  several  paddles  were  made,  to  revolve  so  as  to  dip  into  and 
come  out  of  the  water  perpendicularly.  They  were  made  to  feather  in  the  air, 
to  fold  up,  and  perform  a  variety  of  other  gymnastic  feats.  Paddles  of  all  sorts 
of  geometrical  forms  were  tried,  —  triangular,  oblong,  pointed,  &:c.,  —  inventors 
being  possessed  with  the  idea  that  an  imitation  of  the  tails  of  fast-swimming 
fishes  ought  to  be  had.  One  cjueer  invention  was  a  paddle-wheel  which  was 
intended  to  go  without  steam  by  a  pendulum  apparatus.  It  was  a  rival  of 
Fulton  who  conceived  this  brilliant  thought.  The  wheels  of  his  boat  revolved 
like  fury,  indeeil,  when  the  boat  was  on  the  stocks ;  but  when  it  was  launched, 
and  the  machine  set  in  motion,  the  boat  did  not  move  an  inch.  The  builders 
finally  settled  down  on  the  common  paddle-wheel  and  the  screw  as  the  only 
useful  and  practical  devices  ;  and,  though  all  the  old  ideas  are  being  continually 
re  invented,  nothing  has  ever  been  found  to  supersede  the  ones  named. 

Five  different  types  of  steamboats  have  grown  up  in  American  waters,  two 
of  them  peculiar  to  America,  and  without  eciuals  in  their  way  in  the  workl. 
The  five  types  are  those  of  the  common  double-ender  ferry-boat, 


driven   by  a   powerful,  quick-actinj. 


and    paddle-wheels  ; 


the    tug-boat,    a   little,   deep-hulled   craft,  with   engines   powerful 


enough 


to  enable  them  to  handle  an  oc-jan-steamer,  sometimes 


Various 
styles  of 
architect- 
ure. 


ilemonstrating  four-hundred-horse  power  and  a  speed  of  fifteen  knots ;  the 
great  freight  and  passenger  propeller,  often  of  four  thousand  tons'  burden, 
driven  by  a  screw  at  the  stern,  for  ocean-service  ;  the  American  side-wheel 
river-steamer ;  and  the  high-i)ressure,  side-wheel  Mississippi-river  steamer. 
The  .American  river-steamers  are  models  of  beauty  and  siteetl,  and  are 
unequalled  anywhere  in  the  world.  They  have  fine  clean  runs,  with  long, 
sharp  bows  aS  keen  as  razors.  They  divide  the  water,  instead  of  raising  it  into 
a  swell  like  the  old  style  of  Dutch  and  English  hulls,  and  allow  the  waves 
gradually  to  unite  again  at  the  stern,  so  as  to  leave  scarce  any  other  swell 
beiiinil  them  besides  that  raised  by  the  churning  of  the  wheels.  They  are 
remarkably  long  and  narrow,  being  often  twelve  times  as  long  as  they  are 
broad.  Tlie  hull  is  built  for  lightness.  The  draught  is  generally  moderate. 
The  great  weight  of  the  machinery  and  boilers  in  the  centre  is  supported  by  a 
truss,  somewhat  on  the  principle  of  a  bridge.  The  arches  of  tiie  truss  rise  high 
in  the  air  above  tiie  vessel,  and  give  to  the  structure  a  wonderful  rigiility.  The 
engines  are  low-i)ressure,  and  work  on  the  principle  of  the  Cornwall  pumping- 
engines,  with  a  remarkably  long,  quick  stroke  of  the  piston,  the  steam  being 
used  expansively.  The  American  river-pistons  often  travel  from  five  hundred 
to  six  hundred  feet  a  minute  ;  while  in  England  the  usual  rate  is  not  over  two 


594 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


hundred  and  fifty.  The  boats  are  capable  of  a  speed  from  twenty  to  thirty 
miles  an  hour.  Many  of  the  early  steamers  of  the  Collins,  Mills,  Vanderbih, 
and  other  ocean  and  coasting  lines,  were  substantially  of  this  class  of  vessel, 
though  built  a  little  more  substantially  to  meet  the  strain  of  the  ocean-swells. 
The  magnificent  "Adriatic,"  Collins's  last  ship,  —  a  vessel  330  feet  long,  ex- 
ceeding s,ooo  tons'  burden,  and  costing  over  $1,400,000,  built  in  1856,  —  had 
a  hull  more  of  the  present  fashion  of  ocean-steamers,  and  fairly  confirmed  the 
latter  style  of  hull  in  ocean-service.  The  Long- Island-Sound  steamers  are  of 
the  river  pattern,  and  are  now  the  handsomest  specimens  of  their  class  in  the 
country.  They  are  about  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  long.  One 
peculiarity  of  the  river-steamers  is  their  huge  wheels  and  the  wheel-houses 
which  enclose  them.  On  the  Hudson  River  "  The  New  World  "  had  wheels 
forty-six  feet  in  diameter  ;  and  "  The  Thomas  Powell,"  forty-feet  wheels.  The 
Sound  steamers  have  from  thirty-five-feet  to  forty-feet  wheels.  Large  wheels 
allow  the  blades  to  enter  and  leave  the  water  more  nearly  vertically,  and 
diminish  the  concussion. 

The  Mississippi-river  steamers  are  equally  long,  narrow,  and  sharp  with 
those  just  described ;  but  they  generally  have  high-pressure  engines,  and  they 
are  somewhat  larger,  and  of  lighter  draught.  Their  upper  works  are  some- 
what differently  arranged ;  and  their  decks  are  broader,  in  order  to  secure 
more  cargo-room.  In  1876  there  was  launched  at  St.  Louis  one  of  these 
craft,  "  The  Great  Republic,"  which  was  three  hundred  and  forty  feet  long, 
from  ten  to  seventeen  feet  hold,  fifty-seven  feet  beam,  and  a  width  of  deck  of 
a  hundred  and  three  feet.  Her  capacity  of  cargo  was  four  thousand  tons  ;  and 
she  could  carry  also  two  hundred  and  eighty  passengers,  and  then  have  a 
draught  of  only  two  and  three-fourths  feet  forward,  and  four  feet  aft,  —  the 
peculiar  and  necessary  feature  of  Western  travel.  Her  wheels  were  thirty-seven 
feet  in  diameter,  and  her  cost  $200,000.  She  was  the  largest  river-steamboat 
in  the  world. 

The  screw-propeller  has,  within  the  last  twenty  years,  grown  very  popular 
for  ocean-travel.  Though  invented  in  the  United  States,  it  was  neglected 
The  screw-  there  from  the  beginning.  In  1S39  England  took  up  the  idea,  and 
propeller.  gradually  introduced  it  into  her  transatlantic  service.  Since  1861 
all  the  .-American  ocean  and  outside  coasting-steamers  have  adopted  propellers, 
and  the  side-wheelers  have  now  disappeared  from  the  ocean-service.  Only 
one  or  two  steamers  on  the  coast  still  retain  the  paddle. 

Very  recently,  however,  another  invention  has  appeared,  in  which  propul- 
sion and  steering  are  combined  in  the  same  apparatus.  The  screw  is  the  instru- 
ment employed  ;  but  it  is  so  adjusted  and  operated  as  to  perform  both  func- 
tions. One  great  advantage  claimed  for  it  is,  the  course  of  a  vessel  may  be 
almost  instantly  changed,  thus  lessening  the  danger  of  collision  and  other 
similar  perils.  This  is  an  American  invention ;  and  the  story  is  told,  that, 
during  a  recent  trial  in  British  waters,  one  of  the  persons  on  board  the  trial 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


595 


steamer,  being  desirous  of  knowing  how  quickly  the  course  of  the  vessel  could 
be  changed  by  this  new  apparatus,  was  told  to  give  the  signal  for  making  the 
change,  when  his  curiosity  would  be  gratified.  Soon  after,  he  gave  the  signal ; 
and  the  course  of  the  steamer  was  so  suddenly  altered  as  to  lay  him  out 
sprawling  on  the  deck.  Recovering,  and  picking  himself  up  as  soon  as  he  was 
able,  he  declared  that  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  of  the  great  merits  of  the 
invention. 

According  to  Martin's  "Year- Book,"  the  steam-tonnage  of  the  world  in 
1877  was  as  follows  :  — 


England  . 

United  States 

France    . 

Germany 

Portugal . 

Austria    . 

Italy 

Belgium  . 

Netherlands    . 

Denmark 

Greece    . 

Chili 

China  and  Japan 


TONNAGB. 


46s 

1,470,158 

1,176,000 

522 

194,546 

253 

167,633 

39 

36,000 

78 

57.265 

118 

37.810 

24 

30,397 

86 

76,827 

123 

27.381 

16 

6,048 

22 

9,641 

596 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER   III. 


IRON    STEAMSHIPS, 


and  iron 
■teamships 


DURING  the  days  of  the  ocean-races  between  the  ships  of  the  Collins 
and  Cunard  steam-lines,  plying  between  New- York  City  and  Liverpool, 
two  splendid  steamers  left  England  the  same  week  for  the  run  to  America. 
Wooden  ^'"^  ^^'^^  "The  Persia,"  of  the  Cunard  line  ;  the  other  the  magnifi- 
cent side-wheeler,  "  The  Pacific,"  of  the  Collins  line.  On  the  way 
across,  the  two  vessels  met  with  floating  ice.  The  sharp  bow 
of  the  iron-hulled  "  Persia  "  cut  the  ice  like  paper,  and  jiassed  through  in 
safety.  "  The  Pacific,"  a  timber-ship,  was  broken  up  by  the  encounter,  and 
took  its  pluce  with  the  "  thousand  fearful  wrecks  "  which  strew  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  under  the  ocean  fury.  This  melancholy  event  called  the  attention 
of  the  two  continents  to  the  sea-going  qualities  of  iron  hulls ;  and  from  that 
day  to  the  present  the  steam-tonnage  which  has  been  launched  to  brave  the 
dangers  of  the  open  sea  has  been  built  in  greater  and  greater  degree  of  iron, 
until  at  present  wooden  steamers  for  deep-sea  navigation  are  built  nowhere  in 
the  world. 

Attention  was  turned  to  iron  ship-building  in  this  country  almost  simul- 
taneously with  the  rise  of  the  art  in  England.  The  first  iron  boat  was  probably 
First  iron  imported  from  England  for  trial;  but  as  early  as  1825,  only  four 
craft  in  years  after  the  first  iron  steamboat  was  built  in  Europe,  a  little  cinft 

merica.  ^^  similar  design  and  material  was  launched  at  York,  Penn..  for 
•plying  in  the  trade  on  the  Susquehanna  River.  This  little  vessel  was  "  The 
Codorus."  It  had  a  wooden  frame,  and  drew  twelve  inches  of  water,  iliis 
was  the  first  iron  boat  ever  constructed  in  America.  The  bars  in  the  Sus(]ue- 
hanna  at  low  water  seriously  interfering  even  with  the  trips  of  so  light  draught  a 
vessel  as  ''  The  Codorus,"  she  was  sent  South  to  ply  on  some  river  in  that 
section  of  the  country,  and  where  she  was  destined  to  a  long  career  of  useful- 
ness. The  buoyancy  and  strength  of  this  preliminary  boat  led  to  the  con- 
struction of  several  others  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  for  river-navigation 
within  the  next  ten  years.  They  varied  from  a  hundred  to  three  hundred  tons' 
burden. 


er 
hulls 
dura 
boats 
short 
coastv 
requir 
so  CO; 
vesse 
tor  pi 
luisine 
T 
iiidusti 

and  I 

,urcat 

Iron 

constri 

ciialjie. 

'iicnise 

and  va 


OF    THE    UNI  TED   STATES. 


597 


In   1839  a  steamer  entirely  of  iron  was  constructed  at  Pittsburgh,  Penn., 
called  "  The  Valley  Forge."     Her  hull  and  lower  deck  were  entirely  of  iron, 
the  former  of  fourth- inch  plates,  the  latter  of  eighth-inch  plates.   . 
Her   frame    was   of  angle   and   T   iron.      "  The  Valley   Forge "   constructed 
was    a    rapid    boat,    easily    managed,    and    passed    successfully  "  ^'"•' 
through  several  encounters  with  snags  which  would  have  sunk  a 
wooden  boat.     She  ran  until  the  summer  of  1845  as  a  packet-boat  between 
Nashville  and  New  Orleans,  and  was  then  withdrawn,  and  cut  up  into  mer- 
cliant-iron,  nails,  spikes,  <!^c.     She  was  broken  up,  not  because  she  was  an  iron 
boat,  but  because  Western  trade   then  required  a  larger  class  of  steamers. 
"  The  Valley  Forge  "  carried  only  two  hundred  tons  of  freight,  whereas  thou 
sand-ton  vessels  were  beginning  to  be  needed. 

By  1842  there  was  a  line  of  iron  steamboats  in  the  coasting-trade  between 
Hartford  and  Philadelphia,  a  line  of  five  iron  boats  on  the  Savannah  River, 
Ga.,  and    a   con- 
siderable   number 
of  iron   tugs  ply- 
ing in  the  harbors 


of    the     Progress 
North,    "ntil.84». 

and  on  the  Dela- 
ware and  Raritan 
Canal.  The  light- 
er f  r  a  m  e  s  and 
hulls  and  general 
durability  of  these 

boats  recommended  them  to  shipping-men.  The  building  of  them  stopped 
shortly  before  the  war  of  1861,  however,  for  the  reason  that  our  foreign, 
coastwise,  and  internal  commerce  had  grown  to  enormous  proportions,  and 
required  the  use  of  vessels  of  great  size,  for  the  construction  of  which  iron  was 
so  costly,  that  vessels  built  of  that  material  could  not  compete  with  wooden 
vessels  for  freights.  Besides  that,  few  builders  owned  the  capital  necessary 
tor  putting  up  the  expensive  shops  and  powerful  machinery  suitetl  to  the 
inisiness. 

The  war,  so  great  a  calamity  to  the  country  in  diverting  from  peaceful 
industry  and  agriculture  for  four  years  millions  of  the  flower  of  our  population, 
aiul  leaving  behind  it  desolated  homes  and  a  great  debt,  was  a  ^.   ^^ 
.urcat  stimulus  to  many  important  branches  of  national  industry,   war  upon 
Iron  ship-buildinuf  was  one  of  them,     (iovernment  contracts  for  ''■°"*'"p- 

'  =>  .  building. 

constructing  the  monitors  and  iron  floating-batteries  of  the  war 
(.■nal)led  various   builders    in   i)laces  adjacent  to  the   iron-regions   to  supply 
liicmselves  with  rolling-mills,  machine-shops,  and  apparatus  of  great  power 
and  value,  which,  with  the  advent  of  peace,  could  be  employed  in  construct- 


STEAMSHIP.  —  Cl'NARD   LINE. 


59« 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ing  merchant-ships  of  every  class.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  pig-iron  was 
fifty-eight  dollars  a  ton;  by  1868  it  had  dropped  to  thirty-eight  dollars  a 
ton.  The  general  advantages  of  iron  merchant-ships  having  disposed  the 
mercantile  community  toward  that  type  of  vessels,  orders  were  then  given 
for  the  construction  of  several ;  and  the  art  has  ever  since  been  practised  on 
a  continually-growing  scale.  Since  1868  nearly  all  of  the  steamships  built 
for  the  coasting-trade  of  the  United  States,  all  of  those  for  the  foreign  trade, 
and  many  for  sound,  river,  and  lake  navigation,  have  been  built  of  iron. 
It  is  evident,  that,  in  all  these  trades,  iron  hulls  must  eventually  supersede 
those  of  the  more  perishable  material.  They  are  lighter,  and  last  twice 
as  long.  American  iron  has  superior  qualities  for  the  purpose :  it  permits 
the  use  of  lighter  frames  and  plating. 

The  years  1872  and  1873  constituted  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  this 
The  years  industry.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  had  resolved  to  establish  a 
1872.73.  ijj^g  Qf  first-class  ocean-steamships  to   run  from  Philadelphia  to 

Liverpool,  to  form  the  sea-division  of  its  line  of  communication  between 
.  the  fruitful  and  populous  interior  of  the  United  States  and  Europe. 

line  of  Its  interest  in  the  matter  induced  a  number  of  merchants  of  Phila- 

^eamers  to  Jeiphja  to  organize  a  company  to  build  a  line  of  American  iron 
steamers  to  run  from  that  city  in  competition  with  the  foreign  lines 
from  New  York.  The  railroad  company  became  a  stockholder,  and  guaran- 
teed the  bonds  of  the  new  organization  to  the  amount  of  $1,500,000.  Under 
this  arrangement,  proposals  from  builders  were  asked  for.  William  Cramp  & 
Sons  of  Philadelphia,  a  firm  whose  yard  had  been  established  in  1830,  wcne 
the  successful  bidders.  They  agreed  to  lay  the  keels  of  four  iron  steamships 
of  3,016  tons'  burden,  355  feet  long,  to  draw  twenty  feet  six  inches  in  fresii 
water,  capable  of  carrying  920  passengers  and  a  full  cargo,  at  a  speed  of 
eleven  knots  and  a  half  per  hour,  with  a  consumption  of  forty  tons  of  coal 
per  day,  for  $2,080,000.  The  firm  comprised  men  of  long  experience ;  but 
they  fortified  themselves  before  beginning  the  ships  by  an  examination  of 
the  yards  on  the  River  Clyde  in  F^ngland  and  the  best  specimens  of  foreign 
steam-shipping.  They  resolved  to  build  four  ships  which  should  in  every 
respect  excel  those  of  foreign  construction  employed  in  the  traftic  of  tlie 
Atlantic,  and  they  did  build  them  in  a  thorough  manner.  "  The  Pennsyl- 
vania"  was  launched  Aug.  15,  1872;  "The  Ohio,"  Oct.  30,  1872;  "Tlie 
Indiana,"  March  25,  1873;  and  "The  Illinois,"  June  15,  1873.  The  line 
went  into  operation  in  July,  1873.  This  is  now  the  only  line  of  steamshi]>s 
carrying  the  American  flag  across  the  Atlantic.  Its  captains  are  under 
positive  orders  never  to  incur  risk  for  the  sake  of  making  a  quick  jwssage.— 
a  policy  followed  by  the  Cunard  line,  the  oldest  in  the  Atlantic  trade,  and 
successful  in  an  eminent  degree  in  inspiring  the  confidence  of  the  travelling 
community.  The  ships  have,  nevertheless,  made  better  average  time  than  the 
foreign  steamers  running  out  of  the  same  port.    The  passage  to  Liverpool 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


599 


averages  eleven  days  nine  hours.  More  favorable  rates  of  insurance  have 
been  granted  to  these  steamships  than  to  any  others  in  the  Atlantic  service, 
two  Cunarders  alone  excepted.  The  vessels  have  been  a  success  both 
financially  and  mechanically. 

While  the  American  line  was  building,  two  iron  steamships  of  large  size 
were  constructing  at  the  yard  of  John  Roach  &  Son,  a  short  distance  below 
the  city,  —  the  largest  works  of  the  kind  in  the  country.     These 
were  "The  City  of  Peking"  and  "The  City  of  Tokio,"  ordered   '/hlp/Ior' 
by  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  for  its  trans-Pacific  service   Pacific  Mail 
to  Japan  and  China.     They  were  to  be  the  largest  iron  merchant-   ^teamship 

•^    '  ■'  °  Company. 

Steamers  in  the  ocean  carrying-trade  of  the  world.     "  The  Great 
Eastern  "  was  the  only  iron  vessel  which  excelled  them  in  size  ;  but  that  vessel 
was  a  commercial  failure,  and  was  not  actively  employed  in  trade.     The  build- 
ing of  these  two  vessels  excited  that  extraordinary  interest  in  the  United  States 


STEAMSHIP. — WHITE-STAR  LINB. 


which  daring  enterprise,  and  any  effort  for  the  supremacy  of  the  national  flag 
at  sea,  have  always  aroused.  The  launching  of  "The  City  of  Peking"  in  March, 
1S74,  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  great  celebration,  which  was  attended  by  a 
delegation  from  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  by  merchants  from  the  leading 
cities  of  the  country.  "  The  City  of  Tokio  "  was  launched  soon  afterwards. 
Both  shi])s  have  since  been  employed  with  eminent  success  in  the  trade  of 
the  Pacific.  They  each  carry  over  5,000  tons  of  freight  and  1,650  passengers, 
and  are  crack  ships  in  every  respect.  They  are  423  feet  long.  "The  City  of 
Peking"  made  the  fastest  trip  ever  made  across  the  Pacific  in  1875,  burning 
forty-five  tons  of  coal  a  day  ;  while  the  vessels  of  the  Occidental  and  Oriental 
iine,  which  run  in  competition  with  her,  owned  and  built  in  England,  bum 
sixty  tons  a  day,  running  on  schedule  time.  These  vessels  have  engines  of 
5  000  horse  power,  and  are  driven  ordinarily  at  a  speed  of  fifteen  knots  and  a 
half  per  hour.  They  can  run  to  Hong  Kong  from  San  Francisco  in  twenty- 
two  days. 


6oo 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


of  new 
•teamen. 


These  ships  placed  upon  the  building  of  iron  merchant-steamers  in  the 
United  States  the  final  stamp  of  success,  and  they  initiated  the  era  of  large 
Magnificence  ^^''^^s  running  at  great  sjjeed  with  a  small  consumption  of  coal. 
Since  they  were  undertaken,  the  number  of  wooden  steamers  for 
the  coasting  and  foreign  trade  built  in  this  country  might  almost 
be  counted  on  one's  fingers.  No  one  now  builds  of  any  thing  except  iron  for 
those  trades.  Some  magnificent  vessels  of  the  river  type  of  steamer,  of  wood, 
have  been  produced  for  the  traffic  through  I^ong- Island  Sound  between  New 
York  and  the  cities  of  New  Kngland.  But  this  is  not  coasting-navigation 
proper :  it  is  more  like  river-navigation.  The  hulls  of  some  of  these  vessels 
are  of  iron,  however. 

The  class  of  steamship  which  has  been  building  for  the  coasting-trade  is 
unlike  any  other  in  use  in  the  world.  It  has  the  beautiful  bow  and  run  which 
Ships  for  the  '^'^^^  always  characterized  American  vessels.  Hull,  frame,  and 
coasting-  generally  both  decks,  are  of  iron.  They  are  fitted  with  screw- 
*"  *■  propellers,  water-tight   bulkheads,   compound   engines,  and    two 

masts,  though  sometimes  three,  and  range  from  i,8oo  to  2,500  tons'  burden. 
j,^     .  They  are  of  light  draught,  so  as  to  enter  Southern  harbors  with 

iron  vessels  facility ;  and  some  of  the  recent  vessels  built  at  Chester  contain 
tanks,  to  be  filled  with  sea-water  and  emptied,  to  assist  them  over 
the  bars  when  needed.  The  numl)er  of  iron  vessels  built  for 
American  owners  since  1866  was,  in  June,  1877,  as  near  as  can  be  computed, 
250.     They  ranked  as  follows  :  —  • 


built  since 
1866. 


Less  than  100  tons 57 

From  100  to  tpo  tons 73 

From  500  to  1,000  tons 40 

From  1,000  to  2,000  tons 61 

From  2,000  to  3,000  tons 9 

From  3,000  to  4,000  tons 8 

Over  5,000  tons 2 


The  total  tonnage  June  30,  1877,  was  191,490.  Of  the  whole  number, 
only  three  were  sailing-craft.  In  addition  to  the  above,  a  number  of  small  iron 
steamboats  were  built,  and  exported  to  South  America  to  run  on  the  Amazon 
and  other  rivers. 

Iron  ship-building  keeps  naturally  in  the  vicinity  of  the  iron  and  coal 
mines :  it  is  leaving  Boston,  New  York,  and  other  cities  distant  therefrom. 
Location  of  and  concentrating  on  the  Delaware.  While  the  business  is  des- 
business.  tined  to  reach  such  proportions  eventually  as  to  require  the  open- 
ing of  iron  shipyards  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  particularly  on  the  Missis- 
sippi River  and  the  Western  lakes,  there  are  at  jiresent  only  four  firms  of 
prominence  in  the  business,  and  not  over  ten  in  all.  The  oldest  is  that  of 
William  Cramp  &  Sons  at  Philadelphia.     This  yard  was  established  in  1830  :  it 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


60 1 


was  engaged  in  building  of  wood  until  i860,  when  it  constructed  "The  New 
Ironsides"  and  a  number  of  ironclads,  and  has  been  engrossed  with  iron  work 
ever  since.  Since  completing  tlie  iron  steamers  for  the  American  line  to 
Europe,  it  has  produced  six  iron  colliers  for  the  Reading  Railroad,  of  1,200 
tons'  capacity  each,  and  224  feet  long;  "The  Columbus,"  an  iron  screw 
vessel  of  1,850  tons  for  the  coasting-trade,  the  largest  which  in  1874  had  then 
been  built  for  that  service  ;  and  a  number  of  other  coasters  and  tugs,  besides 
doing  a  large  amount  of  government  repairing.  The  works  will  emjjloy  12,000 
men.  At  Wilmington  are  situated  the  yarils  of  the  Harlan  it  HoUingsworth 
Company,  and  Pusey,  Jones,  &  Company.  The  former  concern  is  also  exten- 
sively engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  railroad-cars,  and  employs  1,000  men. 
It  has  built  several  of  the  Pacific  mail-steamers,  and  some  of  the  finest  boats 
on  the  coast.  The  latter  firm  has  made  a  specialty  of  work  for  the  South- 
American  rivers.  The  principal  firm  of  iron  ship-builders  is  John  Roach  & 
Son  of  Chester,  Penn.  Over  $2,000,000  has  been  invested  by  tnis  concern  in 
shops  and  machinery ;  and  the  most  powerful  mechanical  ajjpliances  in  the 
country  are  to  be  seen  at  the  yard  at  Chester  and  the  engine-works  in  New 
York.  Over  $15,000,000  has  been  i)aid  out  by  the  firm,  from  1872  to  die 
present  time,  for  wages  and  materials  ;  and  thirty-five  iron  ocean- steamers  have 
been  built,  besides  extensively  repairing  and  overhauling  the  government  iron- 
clads. Thirteen  iron  steamers  were  built  by  this  yard  in  1877,  from  1,800  to 
2,500  tons'  burden,  to  ply  in  the  trade  to  Southern  ])orts,  the  West  Indies,  and 
Brazil.  The  firm  employ  1,800  men.  The  IVnn  Iron-Works  at  Philadelphia 
have  also  been  engaged  in  building  iron  ships  for  several  years.  In  addition  to 
these,  the  Reading  Railroad  Company  has  invested  a  large  amount  of  capital 
in  shops  at  Port  Richmond  on  the  Delaware  for  the  purpose  of  building  iron 
colliers  for  its  large  distribution  of  coal  to  points  on  the  coast.  The  intention 
is  to  have  a  fleet  of  fifty  iron  colliers.  Fourteen  of  these  have  been  built  at  the 
other  shipyards  on  the  Delaware,  They  range  from  525  to  1,500  tons'  burden. 
The  boats  which  are  to  be  built  in  the  future  will  belong  to  the  larger  class. 
.Alt  Buffalo  the  construction  of  iron  tonnage  for  the  trade  to  the  West  has  been 
going  on  for  five  years.  K  number  of  large  and  stanch  propellers  have  been 
built  for  the  Anchor  line  of  steamers  plying  between  Krie  and  the  Western 
cities  in  the  grain,  provision,  and  passenger  traffic,  which  are  in  all  respects 
superior  vessels.  In  1872  13,000  tons  were  built  at  Buffalo,  and  20,000  tons 
in  1874.  The  past  year,  only  two  tugs  iiave  been  produced.  A  yard  has  also 
been  opened  at  Wyandotte,  Mich.,  and  one  at  New  Orleans. 

It  is  believed  that  iron  hulls  will  eventually  replace  the  old-fashioned  style 
in  the  general  business  of  the  Ohio,  Mississippi,  and  other  great  Western 
streams.  Experience  has  shown  the  wisdom  of  changing  to  iron.  Future  of 
In  a  wooden  vessel  of  3,000  tons'  burden,  500  tons  of  freight-  ''■°"  vessels, 
room  are  sacrificed  by  the  thicker  beams  and  shell  of  the  vessel.  A  ship  of 
the  same  outward  size  built  of  iron  carries  500  tons  more  freight.     Besides 


603 


J XD  us  TRIAL    HISTORY 


this  great  advantage,  another  is  gained  from  the  fact  that  the  iron  ship  lasts  so 
much  longer.  Those  now  being  proihiced  by  the  American  yards  secure  the 
rating  of  A  i  for  twenty  years,  and  are  hable,  at  the  end  of  twenty  years,  to  be 
useful  for  ten  years  longer  at  least.  A  good  stanch  ship  will  last  the  mercha 
until  he  is  ready  to  retire  from  business,  anil  turn  over  the  affairs  of  his  hou. 
to  a  younger  generation.  Iron  vessels  have  now  been  tried  for  fifty  years, 
under  all  circumstances  of  storm  and  tempests,  collisions  with  ice,  stranding 
on  the  coast,  and  accidents  of  every  description.  They  have  constantly  shown 
their  superiority,  and  have  saved  to  their  owners  millions  of  dollars  which 
would  have  been  lost  in  wooden  vessels  subjecteil  to  the  same  trials.  These 
facts  have  rendered  them  popular  with  the  commercial  world.  No  one  now 
thinks  of  building  of  wood  for  the  open  sea,  any  more  than  of  hunting  buffalo 
with  pop-guns. 

The  fail  in  the  price  of  iron  since  the  war  is  giving  a  great  stimulus  to  this 
business.     It  has  a  brilliant  future  before  it. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


603 


CHAPTER   IV. 


CANALS. 


THE  project  of  uniting  the  different  parts  of  our  common  domain  with 
artificial  water-ways  occurred  very  distinctly  to  the  minds  of  the  states- 
men of  the  Revolutionary  period,  who,  not  being  so  embarrassed  condition  of 
as  the  public  men  of  the  present  day  with  current  questions  of  e«f'yr«>««'»- 
vast  and  immediate  importance,  had  more  time  to  think  of  the  future,  and  the 
directions  which  should  be  given  to  ilt'velopment  and  ])ul)lic  effort.  The 
wagon-roads  of  the  country  in  Revolutionary  days  were  in  a  shocking  condi- 
tion. None  of  them  were  what  would  1,  railed  g(/od  roads  at  the  present 
day  ;  and  the  majority  were  in  a  dreadful  stale,  full  of  ruts  and  jjit-holes  where 
the  track  was  dry,  and  corduroyed  with  trunks  of  large  trees  wherever  the 
track  was  wet.  Few  streams  were  bridged  ;  and  the  crossings  of  all  of  them, 
by  constant  use,  were  so  worn  as  to  be  difficult  and  dangerous.  The  Cones- 
toga  wagons,  which  did  the  overland  freighting  of  the  country,  were  continually 
being  mired  ;  and  there  was  scarce  a  highway  in  the  land  which  did  not  have, 
as  a  part  of  its  regular  and  necessary  fiirniture,  a  large  supply  of  rails  lying  at 
the  roadside,  to  be  used  in  prying  unfortunate  teams  out  of  the  mud.  The 
need  of  some  better  plan  of  transportation  was  fully  realized  by  the  men  of 
the  day,  and  canals  were  among  the  earliest  expedients  suggested.  The 
improvement  of  such  highways  as  were  avaikible  for  foot-routes  received  the 
earliest  attention  of  Congress ;  but  canals  were  discussed  by  the  people  in  the 
several  States,  and  their  value  was  fully  appreciated.  Massachusetts  jiroposed 
a  canal  from  Buston  to  the  Connecticut  River  as  early  as  1792,  and  a  large 
number  of  schemes  were  originated  in  all  the  States.  The  lack  of  public  and 
jirivate  capital,  however,  prevented  any  thing  being  done  for  their  construction 
in  the  Revolutionary  period. 

The  war  of  181 2  made  our  people  see  the  danger  of  delaying  the  improve- 
ment of  the  internal  ways  of  communication  any  longer.  It  became  apparent 
that  recourse  could  not  be  had  to  the  open  sea  to  reach  different  parts  of 
the  coast  in  times  of  war,  and  that  wagon-roads  were  inadequate  to  the 
needs  of  the  country  in  such  emergencies.     At  the  close  of  the  Revolution 


604 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ir 


1 


Erie  Canal. 


Mr.  Morris  had  suggested  the  union  of  the  chain  of  Great  Lakes  with  the 
Effect  of  Hudson  River,  and  in  1812  he  again  advocated  it.  De  Witt 
war  of  i8ia  Clinton  of  New  York,  one  of  (he  most  valuable  men  of  his  day, 
upon  the  jq^j^  ^p  ^j^jg  j^jg^^  ^^^  brought  the  leading  men  of  his  State  to  lend 
him  their  support  in  pushing  it.  To  dig  a  canal  all  the  way  from 
Albany  to  Lake  Erie  was  a  pretty  formidable  undertaking :  the  State  of  New 
York  accordingly  invited  the  Federal  Government  to  assist  in  the 
enterprise.  The  ':anal  was  as  desirable  on  national  grounds  as  on  any 
other.  The  proposition  met  with  a  rebuff,  however ;  and  then  the  Empire  State 
resolved  to  build  the  canal  herself.  Surveyors  were  sent  out  to  locate  a  line  for 
it;  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  181 7,  ground  was  broken  for  a  canal  by  De  Witt 
Clinton,  w;ho  was  then  governor  of  the  State.  The  canal  (363  miles  long)  was 
built  in  e'  ht  years,  at  an  original  cost  of  ;?7,i43,789.  The  completion  of  the 
work  in  I025  was  the  occasion  of  great  public  rejoicing.  A  boat  loaded  with 
distinguished  guests  started  from  Lake  Erie,  first  taking  on  board  some  of  the 
water  of  the  lake.  Its  progress  to  the  Hudson  River  was  attended  by  a  con- 
stant succession  of  public  demonstrations  of  the  most  enthusiastic  character. 
When  the  boat  had  reached  the  Hudson  River,  and  Lake  Erie  was  for- 
mally wedded  to  that  stream  by  pouring  the  waters  of  the  lake  into  the  river, 
the  event  was  signalized  by  the  firing  of  a  gun  ;  and  the  news  was  carried  all 
the  way  back  to  Buffalo  the  same  day  by  the  sound  of  signal-guns,  which  were 
Champiain  ready  for  the  event  all  along  the  line,  and  which  passed  the  news 
Canal.  along  westward  by  firing  a  sahue.     The  same  year  that  the  l'>ie 

Canal  was  begun,  ground  was  also  broken  in  New- York  State  for  a  canal  from 
Lake  Champiain  to  the  Hudson,  sixty-three  miles  in  length.  This  work  was 
completed  in  1823. 

The  construction  of  these  two  water-ways  was  attended  with  the  most 
interesting  consequences.  Even  before  they  were  completed,  their  value  had 
become  clearly  apparent.  Boats  were  placed  upon  the  Erie  Canal 
as  fast  as  the  different  levels  were  ready  for  use,  and  set  to  work 
in  active  transportation.  They  were  small  affairs  compared  with 
those  of  the  present  day,  being  about  fifty  or  sixty  tons'  burden, 
the  modern  canal-boat  being  a  hundred  and  eighty  or  two  hun- 
Small  as  they  were,  they  reduced  the  cost  of  transportation 
immediately  to  one-tenth  what  it  had  been  before.  A  ton  of  freight  by  land 
from  Buffalo  to  Albany  cost  at  that  time  a  hundred  dollars.  When  the  canal 
was  opened  its  entire  length,  the  cost  of  freight  fell  from  fifteen  to  twenty- 
five  dollars  a  ton,  according  to  the  class  of  article  carried ;  and  the  time 
of  transit,  from  twenty  to  eight  days.  Wheat  at  that  time  was  worth  only 
thirty-three  dollars  a  ton  in  Western  New  York,  and  it  did  not  pay  to  send 
it  bylari  to  New  York.  When  sent  to  market  at  all,  it  was  floated  down 
the  Susquehanna  to  Baltimore,  as  being  the  cheapest  and  best  market.  Tlie 
canal  changed  that.     It  now  became  possible  to  send  to  market  a  wide  vai  i- 


Effect  of 
canals  i'.i 
cheapening 
transporta- 
tion. 

dred  tons. 


CO 

gu 
th( 

tO( 

aff 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


605 


titie*  of 
produce. 


ety  of  agricultural  produce, — fruit,  grain,  vegetables,  &c., — which,  before  the 
canal  was  built,  either  had  no  value  at  all,  or  which  could  not 
be  disposed  of  to  such  good  advantage.  Tt  is  clr.imed  by  the  m^'H't,', 
original  promoters  of  the  Erie  Canal  who  livod  to  see  its  bene-  vast  quan- 
ficia'  effects  experienced  by  the  people  of  the  country,  that 
that  work,  costing  less  than  $8,000,000,  and  paying  its  whole 
cost  of  construction  in  a  very  few  years,  added  $100,000,000  to  the  value 
of  the  farms  of  New  York  by  opening  up  good  and  ready  markets  for  their 
products.  The  canal  had  another  result.  It  made  New-York  City  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  the  country.  An  old  letter,  written  by  a  resident 
of  Newport,  R.I.,  in  that  age,  has  lately  been  discovered,  which  speaks 
of  New-York  City,  and  says,  "  If  we  do  not  look  out.  New  York  will  get 
ahead  of  us."  Newport  was  then  one  of  the  principal  seaports  of  the 
country :  it  had  once  been  the  first.  New  York  certainly  did  "  get  ahead 
of  us  "  after  the  Erie  Canal  was  built.  It  got  ahead  of  every  other  ^^^  ,^  ^j_ 
commercial  city  on  the  coast.  Freight,  which  had  previously  fected  Now- 
gone  overland  from  Ohio  and  the  West  to  Pittsburgh,  and  thence  "'''  '*''■ 
to  Philadelphia,  costing  $120  a  ton  between  the  two  cities  named,  now  went 
to  New  York  by  way  of  the  Hudson  River  and  Erie  Canal  and  the  lakes. 
Manufactures  and  groceries  returned  to  the  West  by  the  same  route,  and  New 
York  became  a  flourishing  and  growing  emporium  immediately.  The  Erie 
Canal  was  enlarged  in  1835,  so  as  to  permit  the  passage  of  boats  of  a  hundred 
tons'  burden  ;  and  the  result  was  a  still  further  reduction  of  the  cost  of  freight- 
ing, expansion  of  traffic,  and  an  increase  of  the  general  benefits  conferred  by 
the  canal.  The  Champlain  Canal  had  an  effect  upon  the  farms  and  towns  lying 
along  Lake  Champlain,  in  Vermont  and  New  York,  kindred  in  character  to 
that  above  described  in  respect  to  the  Erie  Canal.  It  brought  into  the  market 
lands  and  produce  which  before  had  been  worthless,  and  was  a  great  blessing 
to  all  concerned. 

The  effect  of  the  example  of  New- York  State  was  magical.    All  the  old 
projects  in  New  England,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  South,  for  waterways  from 
point  to  point  in  the  domains  of  the  several  States,  and  to  unite 
the  people  of  one  State  with  those  of  another,  bloomed  again  into  construction 
being,  as  though  the  naked  woods  and  sear  hillsides  had  felt  the  of  the  Erie 
breath  of  a  celestial  spring.    The  consequences  of  the  building  P'^jl!*"""' 
of  the  Erie  Canal  were  foreseen  by  everybody  before  the  work  was  building  of 
completed  :  and  public  men  did  not  wait  to  hear  the  firing  of  the  •'•""■■;  ""- 

'  '  '  °  dertakings. 

guns  over  the  achievement  of  De  Witt  Clinton's  great  idea  before 
they  set  about  planning  similar  works  for  the  good  of  their  own  States.  It 
tool:  several  years  of  agitation  before  much  was  accomplished  ;  but  the  stimulus 
afforded  by  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal  succeeded  in  bringing  about  the 
execution  of  a  great  many  important  works.  No  less  than  twenty  branch 
canals  were  planned  at  once  in  New- York  State.    Among  those  projected  in 


How  the 


6o6 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


Other  States  were  one  from  Boston  to  the  Connecticut  River;  one  from 
Worcester  to  Providence,  "  on  whjch,"  it  was  said,  "  there  would  be  a  mighty 
transportation,"  it  being  estimated  that  "  a  hundred  tons  of  cheese  and  seven- 
ty-five tons  of  pork  would  annually  find  an  outlet  in  it ;  "  a  canal  from  Balti- 
more to  Pittsburgh;  others  from  Long- Island  Sound  across  the  State  of 
Maryland,  and  from  the  Ohio  River  to  Lake  Erie ;  and  yet  others  in  Virginia 
and  Pennsylvania.  It  was  a  period  of  great  excitement  and  public  effort ;  and 
time  would  fail  to  tell  of  the  brilliant  and  extensive  schemes  which  filled  the 
minds  of  all  the  people  at  that  time,  and  whose  merits  were  the  constant  theme 
of  popular  discussion.  Some  of  these  works  were  never  built,  as  the  capital 
could  not  be  commanded  to  construct  them.  Many  of  them  were,  however, 
completed,  to  the  great  benefit  of  the  several  States. 

Pennsylvania  was  one  oi  the  first  in  the  field  in  practical  work.  She 
resolved  to  build  a  canal  to  the  western  part  of  the  State  for  the  double  pur- 
Harritburgh  P°^^  °^  giving  an  impetus  to  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
and  Pitts-  interests  of  her  own  State,  and  also  in  order  to  secure  to  the  city 
burgh  c.n.i.  ^f  Philadelphia  a  share  of  the  trade  with  the  West.  A  line  of 
communication  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh  was  accordingly  planned,  and 
undertaken  at  the  State's  expense.  The  project  was  agitated  for  several  years 
before  the  people  at  large  could  be  brought  to  the  point  of  sustaining  a  route 
of  such  magnitude ;  and  it  was  not  until  1826,  therefore,  that  ground  was 
finally  broken  for  a  canal ;  but  earth  was  turned  at  Harrisburgh  July  4,  1826, 
and  the  work  was  thereafi:er  prosecuted  with  vigor.  A  good  canal  was  in 
operation  from  Columbia  on  the  Susquehanna  to  Pittsburgh  by  1836,  the  route 
being  interrupted  at  HoUidaysburgh  with  a  portage-road  of  thirty-six  miles  to 
Johnstown,  which  did  not  prove  fatal  to  the  value  of  the  canal.  Other 
water-ways  were  planned  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  —  local  affairs  for  coal  and 
grain  transportation,  —  and  many  of  them  were  built  during  this  period.  The 
canal-route  from  the  West  was  pieced  out  at  the  eastern  end  by  a  railroad  from 
Columbia  to  Philadelphia,  and  Pennsylvania  thus  had  her  through-route  to  the 
West.  It  reduced  the  cost  of  freight  from  Pittsburgh  to  the  Delaware  River 
fi"om  a  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  a  ton  to  thirty  dollars ;  and,  though  the 
city  never  got  back  the  trade  which  New  York  had  taken  from  her,  she  gained 
by  the  new  works  immensely.  These  works  were  afterward  sold  to  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad. 

Ohio  was  building  two  canals  at  the  same  period,  —  one  from  Portsmouth  on 
the  Ohio  to  Cleveland,  which  was  finished  in  1833  ;  the  other  from  Cincinnati 
to  Lake  Erie,  which  was  finished  in  1843. 

Massachusetts  ordered  surveys  for  a  water-way  west  from  Boston  in  1825, 
and  the  engineers  did  a  good  deal  of  preliminary  work  in  examining  the 
Maiiachu-  ground  out  toward  the  Connecticut  River ;  but  nothing  was  ever 
■ettt.  accomplished  by  Massachusetts  in  this  class  of  public  works. 

Public  attention  was  distracted  to  another  style  of  transportation-route,  —  the 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


607 


railroad ;  and  the  energies  of  the  State  were  diverted  from  canal-building,  and 
applied  to  the  work  of  constructing  railroads. 

One  of  the  ancient  projects  had  been  for  a  canal  from  Baltimore  west  to 
the  Ohio  River.     Washington,  Charles  Carroll,  and  other  eminent  men  of  the 
Revolution,  had  favored  this  idea,  and  had  talked  about  it  a  great  g^m^o, 
deal.     It  had  slumbered  for  forty  years,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  and  Ohio- 
means  of  the  young  republic  ;  and  only  when  the  Erie  Canal  had   '**"" 
been  begun  was  Maryland  aroused  to  a  new  and  realizing  sense 
of  the  value  of  the  idea.     Congress  was  finally  induced  to  vote  $1,000,000  for 
a  canal  from  Georgetown  to  Pittsburgh ;  and  Virginia  and  Maryland,  as  well 
as  the  cities  of  Washington  and  Alexandria,  having  subscribed  $1,250,000 
more,  the  work  was  put  under  way  in  1828,  Charles  Carroll  and  John  Q. 
Adams  turning  the  first  earth.    The  canal  was  very  hard  to  build,  and  did  not 
make  that  rapid  progress  which  its  projectors  desired.     It  was  not  until  1850 
that  the  work  reached  Cumberland,  Md. ;  and  when  it  arrived  at  that  city  it 
stopper.     It  had  cost  $16,000,000.    Surveys  have  been  recently  made  with  a 
vie'v  tO|  going  on  with  it  to  Pittsburgh.     It  will  undoubtedly  be  carried  on  to 
that  city  at  some  time  or  other. 

The  Farmington  Canal  in  Connecticut  was  built  during  this  period  of 
excitement,  the  Dismal-Swamp  Canal  in  Virginia,  and  a  number  parminKtoa 
of  other  short  local  affairs  in  different  parts  of  the  country.    All  c«n«i. 
these  enterprises  repaid  their  cost  to  the  public  a  hundred  times  over. 

After  the  first  speculative  era  of  canal-building  had  passed  by,  a  number  of 
other  important  canals  were  opened  by  different  States,  which  still,  like  the 
Erie  and  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canals,  play  a  part  in  the  Building  of 
general  transportation-business  of  the  country.  One  was  the  other  canait. 
canal  from  Lake  Michigan  at  the  city  of  Chicago  to  the  Illinois  River,  a  dis- 
tance of  102  miles,  which  was  completed  in  1852.  Another  was  wabaih  and 
the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  projected  by  the  State  of  Indiana,  ^'■'*  Canau. 
which,  after  many  reverses  and  stoppages,  was  finished  about  1850,  and  was 
the  means  of  creating  another  connection  between  the  trade  of  the  lakes  and 
the  streams  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Another  great  route  which  has  not 
been  fully  utilized  even  yet  was  across  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  idea  was 
to  connect  ihe  Kanawha  River,  a  branch  of  the  Ohio,  with  the  James  River 
leading  into  the  sea.  Over  five  million  dollars  was  spent  in  trying  to  connect 
these  two  rivers ;  but  the  work  was  not  finished,  and  still  remains  uncompleted. 
Congress  has  aided  in  pushing  this  work,  and  it  will  probably  be  finished 
during  the  next  decade.  It  will  open  the  shortest  possible  water-route  to  the 
sea  from  the  grain  States  of  the  West,  and  especially  the  central  States  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  j  and  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  but  that  it  will  have 
a  great  traffic,  and  will  probably  change  Richmond  into  a  great  commercial 
emporium.  Railroad-building  has  since  1835  largely  diverted  the  energies  of 
the   country  from  the   construction  of  canals;   but  experiment   has   only 


6o8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


railroads 
upon  canals 


demonstrated  the  wonderful  value  and  imperative  necessity  of  such  canals 
Effect  of  ^  those  which  have  been  particularly  mentioned.  Wherever  they 
are  built,  they  are  the  cheapest  route  for  the  transaction  of  a 
heavy  freight-traffic,  and  by  their  cheapness  they  exercise  a  regu- 
lating influence  of  the  most  wholesome  description  upon  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation on  the  railroads. 

It  is  now  held  by  the  statesmen  of  the  country  that  the  building  of  the 
Erie  Canal  was  the  wisest  and  most  far-seeing  enterprise  of  the  age.     It  has 
Wisdom  of     '^f*^  ^  permanent  and  indelible  mark  upon  the  face  of  the  republic 
building  Erie  of  the  United  States  in  the  great   communities   it   has  directly 
*"" '  assisted  to  build  up  at  the  West,  and  in  the  populous  metropolis  it 

created  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River.  None  of  the  canals  which  have 
been  built  to  compete  with  it  have  yet  succeeded  in  regaining  for  their  States 
what  was  lost  to  them  when  the  Erie  Canal  went  into  operation.  This  water- 
route  is  still  the  most  important  artificial  one  of  its  class  in  the  country,  and  is 
only  equalled  by  the  Welland  Canal  in  Canada,  which  is  its  closest  rival.  It  is 
now  proposed  to  make  the  Erie  Canal  a  free  route,  open  without  tolls  to  all 
who  may  wish  to  navigate  it.  If  the  canal  is  really  made  free,  it  will  retain  its 
position  as  the  most  popular  water-route  to  the  sea  from  tne  Great  West.  The 
Mississippi  River  will  divert  from  it  all  the  trade  flowing  to  South  America  and 
Mexico ;  but  for  the  North- West  it  will  be  the  only  water  highway  to  the 
ocean. 


'■« 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


609 


CHAPTER    V. 


THE   FISHERIES. 


INTIMATELY  connected  with  the  subjects  of  shipping  and  transportation 
is  that  of  the  fisheries.  A  large  part  of  the  tonnage  of  all  prosperous  mari- 
time nations  is  employed  in  the  catching  of  ocean-fish,  and  it  has  frequently 
happened  that  a  nation  has  owed  all  its  maritime  prosperity  to  the  schooling  in 
navigation  which  its  people  acquired  in  this  special  field  of  employment. 
Venice  was  originally  only  a  collection  of  huts  of  fishermen,  who, 
finding  nothing  to  support  them  on  the  barren  islands  where  For- 
tune had  destined  them  to  reside,  were  obliged  to  live  on  the  fish  they  could 
get  out  of  the  sea,  which  they  either  consumed  themselves,  or  peddled  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  coasts.  Their  mode  of  getting  a  living  led 
them  naturally  into  trade  by  sea,  and  this  was  the  origin  and  the  secret  of  all 
their  wonderful  eminence.  The  Dutch  were  mariners  and  traders  for  the  same 
reason.  They  did  not  live  on  an  island  :  but  their  country  was  so  inhospitable, 
that  they  found  it  more  profitable  to  fish  than  to  farm;  and  in  1600  these 
industrious  people  already  had  as  many  as  three  thousand  boats,  or  busses,  at 
sea,  catching  herring,  white-fish,  and  whales.  To  market  the  catch  to  neighbor- 
ing countries  required  six  thousand  vessels  more ;  and  the  Dutch  built  up 
the  great  city  of  Amsterdam  on  a  foundation  of  herring-bones,  and  made  it, 
besides,  a  centre  of  trade  for  all  Europe.  The  English  also  fished  very 
early ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact,  now  almost  forgotten,  that  the  Scots,  who 
fislied  more  than  the  English,  were  once  so  superior  to  them  in  Legislation 
shipping,  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  very  much  alarmed  about  it,  of  Angio- 
—  so  much  so,  that,  in  order  to  equalize  things,  the  King  and  Par-  "''°"»- 
liament  olTered  heavy  bounties  to  their  own  fishermen,  and  ordered  all  the 
people  of  the  kingdom  to  eat  fish  on  two  days  of  the  week,  so  that  the  English 
might  have  fishing-boats,  a  trade,  and  a  trading-marine,  as  well  as  their  rivals. 
In  our  own  country  the  ocean-fisheries  have  borne  an  important  relation  to 
the  general  shipping-interests  of  the  several  States.  The  men  brought  up  on 
the  coast  where  cod,  mackerel,  and  whales  have  abounded,  have  supplied 
our  trading-marine  with  the  best  sailors  it  has  ever  had  ;  and  it  was  that  class 


Pttnai>'<iHi<vj.wa}gM 


6io 


IND  I.  'S  TKIA  L    HIS  TORY 


ol"  web-footed  men  —  who  had  learned  fearlessly  to  encounter  all  the  perils  of 
the  sea  anil  conciuer  them,  ami  who  always  sailed  their  ships  in  the  heaviest 
weather,  and  "  never  struck  a  topsail  as  long  as  there  was  a  mast  to  lly  it 
from"  —  that  won  for  our  republic  its  naval  triumphs  in  1812.  They  are 
to-day  still  the  most  valuable  element  in  the  personnel  of  our  whole  maritime 


establishment.  Their  ships  have  ever  been  the  pioneers  and  reconnoitriiii; 
parties  of  our  trading-marine.  They  have  explored  every  corner  of  the  earth, 
and  always  been  first  in  the  field.  The  first  time  the  American  flag  was  c\cr 
seen  in  England  was  at  the  head  of  a  whaling-ship  which  entered  the  Thames. 
The  early  voyagers  along  the  coast  of  North  .America  remarked  the  abun- 
dance of  fish  in  the  vicinity  of  the  shore  from  the  very  start.     Whales  were  \  cry 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


6ii 


Massachu- 
setts settled 


numerous  ;  and  great  shoals  of  them,  of  the  largest  and  best  kinds,  came  along- 
side of  the  ships  of  the  discoverers,  and  played  sportively  in  the  billows,  some- 
times to  the  great  consternation  of  the  seamen,  whose  vessels  were  not  very 
large,  and  who  dreaded  being  run  into  by  the  big  fellows  and  sunk.  Even 
before  tiie  settlement  of  the  continent  by  the  English  began,  the  mariners  of 
Europe,  having  learned  that  there  was  an  abundance  of  fish  in  America, 
flocked  out  with  their  vessels  to  the  Banks  from  all  parts  of  the  Old  World.  It 
was  not  an  unusual  sight,  as  early  as  1600,  to  see  six  hundred  or  seven  hun- 
dred vessels  off  the  coasts  of  New  England  taking  fish.  The  city  of  Bristol 
iu  England  acquired  great  prosperity  from  these  new  discoveries.  Her  people 
soon  learned  to  send  out  boats  to  America,  and  their  profits  made  a  sensation 
iu  siiipping-circles  in  England  kindred  to  a  modern  gold  stampede  or  an  oil 
excitement.  Whole  fleets  were  sent  out  to  reap  a  part  of  the  new  harvest. 
I'hese  boats  were  of  about  a  hundred  tons'  burden.  They  took  back  to  Eng- 
land loads  that  were  worth  three  thousand  pounds,  of  which  two  thousand 
pounds  was  pure  gain.  Portiigu..se,  Dutch,  Spanish,  and  Italian  ships  fre- 
quented the  Banks,  along  with  the  others,  for  a  long  period  of  time. 

It  is  said  that  one  of  the  main  ideas  in  founding  setUements  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  to  build  up  a  colony  of  fishermen.     There  is  no  doubt  but  that 
the  utilization  of  the  fisheries  entered  into  the  plans  of  the  origi- 
nators of  the  colony.     The  charter  of  Massachusetts  contains  a 
clause,  saying,  "Wee  have  given  and  graunted  ...  all  fishes —  to  build  up 
roval  fishes,  whales,  balan,  sturgeons,  and  other  fishes,  of  what  ^°'°"y''' 

'  '  '  °  '  '  fishermen. 

kinde  or  nature  soever,  that  shall  at  any  tyme  hereafter  be  taken 
in  or  within  the  saide  seas  or  waters,  or  any  of  them,  by  the  said  "... 
[the  grantees  being  here  named],  "or  by  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever 
there  inhabiting."  To  take  advantage  of  the  fisheries  was  one  of  the  first 
enterprises  of  the  colonists,  and  it  was  to  assist  them  in  doing  so  that  the 
company  in  London  sent  over  shipwrights  to  build  vessels  on  the  coasts  of 
Massachusetts.  Whales  then  swam  along  within  sight  of  land,  in  such  num- 
bers, that,  even  if  there  had  been  no  premeditated  purpose  with  respect  to 
the  fisheries  in  sending  the  colonists  to  the  barren  coast  of  New  F)ngland,  the 
settlers  would  have  been  tempted  to  engage  in  ocean-fishing  at  a  very  early 
day,  merely  by  the  spectacles  which  passed  before  their  eyes.  But  the  fish- 
eries being  known  before  they  came,  and  the  patrons  of  the  colony  doing 
their  utmost  to  encourage  the  settlers  to  embark  in  fishing  enterprises,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  Massachusetts  became  a  colony  of  fishermen  and  mariners 
tVom  the  beginning  of  its  existence.  Nor  was  Massachusetts  alone  in  this. 
The  other  New-England  colonies  followed  closely  in  her  footsteps,  and 
fished  as  well  as  farmed  from  the  date  of  their  settlement.  Every  island 
along  the  coast  became  a  centre  of  fishing  activity,  therefore,  at  a  very  early 
(la\-.  Every  favored  port  became  crowded  with  boat  and  ship  yards.  A  row 
of  villages  sprang  up  along  the  beach  from  New- York  City  to  the  St.  John's 


Cl2 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Effect  of 
wars  of  1776 
and  i3i2 
upon 
fisheries. 


River,  devoted  exclusively  to  piscatorial  pursuits ;  and  some  of  them,  like 
Gloucester,  afterwards  attained  to  a  great  prosperity  and  reputation.  As  early 
as  1 731  Massachusetts  had  six  hundred  vessels  and  six  thousand  sailors  at 
sea,  half  of  them  in  the  fisheries.  The  New-Englanders,  by  their  superior 
advantages,  and  their  hostility  to  the  French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch,  soon  got 
complete  control  of  the  off-shore  banks,  and  drove  all  other  adventurers  away. 
Soon,  obtaining  more  fish  and  whale  oil  and  bone  than  they  could  themselves 
consume,  they  carried  them  to  the  other  colonies  on  the  continent  and  to 
Europe,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  commerce  and  maritime  eminence 
which  have  never  since  departed  from  them.  The  fisheries  were  twice  anni- 
hilated by  war,  —  namely,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  from 
181 2  to  1815  ;  and  the  whaling-interest  suffered  a  severe  blow 
again  when  petroleum  was  discovered,  and  when  the  Confederate 
cruisers  sailed  in  among  the  fleet  in  the  North  Pacific  and  burned 
a  large  number  of  the  ships.  These  reverses  were  no  more,  how- 
ever, than  all  pursuits  are  sure  to  encounter  from  time  to  time  in  their 
history ;  and  they  happily  were  not,  in  general,  permanent  in  their  influence. 
In  most  cases  the  fisheries  revived  within  a  few  years  after  the  reverses  took 
place.  The  whale-fishery  was  the  only  exception.  There  was  one  time 
when  the  fishing-captains  of  New  England  were  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
classes  in  the  country ;  namely,  from  1815  to  i860.  .\  frequent  occurrence 
during  that  period  was  the  migration  of  fishing-captains  from  New  Bedford. 
Nantucket,  and  other  fishing-towns,  to  the  farms  and  cities  of  the  interior 
of  the  country,  to  New- York  State,  and  elsewhere,  where,  with  their  families 
and  their  snug  accumulation  of  well-earned  profits,  they  passed  the  later  years 
of  their  existence  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  inland  life.  It  may  be  said, 
also,  that  no  more  valuable  citizens  were  found  in  the  inland  havens,  where  the 
captains  took  shelter  after  their  voyages  were  over,  than  these  same  hardy. 
upright,  and  intelligent  men.  No  more  valuable  element  exists  in  the  popu- 
lation of  the  United  Slates,  indeed,  than  these  fishermen  of  the  New- England 
coast.  Brave,  temperate,  industrious,  patriotic,  and  a  strong  reliance  in  case 
of  war,  with  a  large  percentage  of  quaint  characters  among  them,  they  form  ? 
most  interesting  and  important  class. 

Congress  has  diligently  sought  to  promote  the  off-shore  and  open-ocean 
fisheries  of  the  United  States  from  the  earliest  days  of  the  republic.  It  has 
isia  1  n  looked  with  great  favor  upon  these  employments  as  the  cradle  of 
of  Congress  the  navy  and  the  merchant-marine.  The  products  of  the  fislieries 
were,  of  course,  valuable  ;  but  they  were  not  so  essential  to  our 
welfare  as  to  make  it  worth  while  for  Congress  to  levy  taxes  ujion 
the  whole  country  in  order  to  obtain  them.  It  was  the  employment  itself 
and  its  great  public  utility  in  training  up  hardy,  skilful,  and  energetic  sailors, 
which  won  favor  in  the  eyes  of  Congress.  The  policy  adopted  toward  the  fish- 
ermen was  to  make  the  tax  on   their  tonnage   extremely  light,   to  permit 


on  the 
subject. 


OF    T.IE    UXITED    STAIES. 


C13 


them  to  import  salt  for  curing  fish  free  of  iluty,  to  impose  a  heavy  duty  on 
foreign  lisli  and  fishing-products,  to  give  a  bounty  to  all  employing  a  boat 
whose  crew  were  three-fourths  Americans,  and  to  negotiate  treaties  with 
England  to  secure  for  them  fishing-rights  in  the  IJritisii-American  })rovinces, 
such  as  the  right  to  land  and  cure  fish  in  Newfoundland,  to  fish  within  the 
three-mile  limit  of  shore,  &c.  The  bounty  to  fishing-vessels  was  of  very  early 
date  :  in  1855  it  was  made  three  ami  a  half  and  four  dollars  a  ton,  according 
to  the  siz'j  of  the  vessel.  Over  $15,000,000  liave  been  paid  from  the  national 
treasury  to  the  ocean-fishermen  in  these  tonnage-bounties  alone.     Never  was 


AN   ANGRY   WHALE. 


money  better  spent.  The  relief  granted  by  free  salt  has  been  a  valuable  form 
0!  encouragement.  Salt  can  be  imported  in  the  ocean-steamers  from  Kngland 
much  cheaper  than  it  can  be  brought  from  New  York  and  Wisconsin  and 
deposited  on  the  coast,  for  the  reason  that  the  original  cost  is  less.  Tiie 
steamers  come  this  way  with  very  light  cargoes,  and  they  are  glad  to  load  up 
witli  bags  of  salt  for  ballast,  and  to  carry  it  at  a  purely  nominal  rate  ;  while 
transportation  from  the  interior  of  the  United  States  to  the  coast  is  e.\])ensive. 
In  1870  the  foreign  salt  consumed  in  the  fisheries  already  amounted  to 
60.000.000  pounds  a  year.  The  consumption  has  since  grown  to  1 26,000,000 
pounds  a  year. 


6i4 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


The  whale-fishery  was  the  first,  and  for  a  long  period  the  most  important, 
of  the  fisheries.  Beginning  on  the  shores  of  Long  Island,  at  Nantucket,  and 
The  whale-  in  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  with  the  employment  of  a  few  long- 
fiihery.  boats,  which  put  out  from  the  shore  whenever  a  whale  came  in 

sight,  it  developed  until  it  had  virtually  driven  the  whalers  of  all  other  nation- 
alities from  the  seas  in  open  and  friendly  competition,  and  was  employing 
700  ships  and  16,000  sailors.  From  1845  to  i860  it  employed  from  650  to 
700  vessels,  the  tonnage  ranging  in  different  years  from  180,000  to  198,000; 
the  capital  invested  in  the  business  in  ships,  boats,  harpoons,  apparatus,  &c., 
being  ^25,000,000,  and  the  yearly  product  in  whale-oil,  sperm-oil,  and  whale- 
bone, being  $12,000,000.  Nantucket  was  originally  the  principal  centre  of 
the  interest.  Her  whalemen,  by  long  practice,  became  more  expert,  and  con- 
sequently more  successful,  than  those  of  other  parts  of  the  coast ;  and  she 
accordingly  soon  came  to  rank  first  in  the  business.  New  Bedford  was  next, 
and  New  London,  Fair  Haven,  Southampton,  Stonington,  and  other  ports, 
came  afterwards.  Nantucket  now  stands  only  fourth  upon  the  list,  and  New 
Bedford  is  the  principal  whaling-port  of  the  country.  The  first  whaling- 
grounds  were,  of  course,  off  shore,  along  the  North-Atlantic  coast.  When 
the  fish  began  to  get  a  little  shy  and  scarce,  the  ships  put  out  for  regular 
voyages,  and  cruised  along  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  off  the  West  Indies  and 
Brazil.  As  early  as  1800  they  had  found  their  way  into  the  Pacific  Ocean; 
but  in  those  times  they  rarely  filled  with  oil  there  :  the  captains  preferred  to 
come  back  around  Cape  Horn,  and  fill  up  in  the  tropics  on  the  way  home, 
taking  sperm-whales  or  right- whales,  as  the  case  might  be.  About  1830 
the  whalers  began  to  find  it  necessary  to  cruise  in  the  most  distant  waters  ;  and 
the  ships  went  to  sea  accordingly  equipped  for  a  two-years'  voyage,  and  two 
years  have  been  ever  since  the  regular  voyage  of  New-England  whalers.  The 
system  adopted  for  these  expeditions  grew  up  very  naturally  from  the  old  prac- 
tice of  watching  on  shore  for  a  whale  in  the  offing,  rowing  out  and  cap- 
turing the  prize,  and  dividing  the  proceeds  among  those  who  took  part  in  tiie 
capture.  Instead  of  paying  the  officers  and  men  of  the  ships  in  money  for 
their  services,  every  voyage  was  made  a  co-operative  affair.  A  certain  share 
of  the  catch  was  allotted  to  the  captain  as  his  compensation,  a  certain  otiier 
smaller  share  to  the  lower  officers  and  men,  and  a  certain  proportion  to  the 
owner  of  the  ship  for  profits  on  his  investment.  The  part  allotted  to  cacii 
man  was  called  his  "  lay  :  "  thus  his  "  lay  was  one-sixteenth,"  and  so  on. 
This  system  was  a  great  stimulus  to  enterprise,  and  was  one  secret  of  the 
remarkable  vigor  which  the  whaling-marine  displayed.  Many  famous  voyages 
were  made.  Prior  to  1815,  from  900  to  1,600  barrels  of  oil,  worth  from 
$22,000  to  $40,000,  was  the  ordinary  successful  catch :  after  that  the  ships 
were  enlarged,  and  from  1,600  to  2,500  barrels,  worth  from  $40,000  to  $62,000, 
was  the  standard  fair  catch.  But  now  and  then  a  ship  came  into  port  having 
sent  home  during  her  voyage,  or  bringing  with  her,  3,000,  3,500,  or  4,000 


tonn; 

more 

fignr 

beinj: 

boats 

rank 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


6i5 


barrels  of  right-whale  oil.  In  1842  "The  Maria"  of  Nantucket  came  back 
from  a  twenty-two  months'  cruise  with  2,413  barrels  of  sperm-oil,  worth 
$70,000,  this  variety  being  scarcer  and  more  valuable.  In  1849  "'I'hc  South 
America  "  of  Providence,  R.I.,  which  was  fitted  for  sea  at  a  total  cost  of 
^•40,000,  came  back  with  5,500  barrels  of  oil  and  a  large  supply  of  bone, 
worth  in  all  $89,000,  paying  her  cost,  and  a  dividend  of  125  percent.  She 
had  been  out  twenty-six  months.  "  The  Russell  "  of  New  IJeilfortl  came 
back  in  1849,  after  a  three-years-and-four- months'  voyage,  with  2,650  barrels 
of  sperm-oil,  worth  $92,000.  The  most  remarkable  voyage  ever  made,  per- 
haps, is  vouched  for  by  Mr.  .Alexander  Starbuck.  "Tiie  Knvoy,"  having  been 
condemned  to  be  broken  up,  was  sold  to  William  C  Urownell  of  New  lied- 
ford,  who  concluded,  after  all,  to  senil  iier  out  once  more,  and  did  sentl  her 
to  sea  at  a  cost  to  himself  of  S8,ooo.  The  underwriters  declined  to  insure 
her.  The  vessel  freighted  1,000  barrels  of  oil  from  Wytootache  to  Manila; 
and  then,  putting  into  the  North  Pacific,  she  caught  5,300  barrels  of  oil  and 
75,000  pounds  of  bone.  The  receipts  of  the  voyage  were  $138,450.  In 
1853  "  The  Favorite  "  of  Fair  Haven  realized  $1 16,000  ;  "  The  Montreal  "  of 
New  Bedford,  $136,023;  and  "  The  Sheffield"  of  New  Bedford,  which  had 
been  gone  four  years,  $124,000.  "The  Pioneer"  of  New  London  made  in 
1864  and  1865  in  the  North  Atlantic  the  most  successful  catch  ever  known. 
Her  voyage  realized  $150,060.  'I'hese  brilliant  results  have  not  been  obtained 
of  late  years.  After  1861  the  whale-fishery  ran  down,  owing  to  the  scarcity 
and  shyness  of  the  fish,  the  low  prices  of  oil  consecjuent  on  the  discovery  of 
petroleum,  and  the  high  cost  of  fitting  out  ships.  In  1800  a  i,90o-l)arrel  ship 
could  be  fitted  out  for  $12,000:  in  1S60  a  3,800-barrel  ship  cost  $65,000. 
fitted  for  sea.  In  1877  the  fleet  had  become  reduced  to  171  ships,  of  a 
capacity  of  39,165  tons.  The  right-whales  of  the  North  Pacific,  and  the  sea- 
elephants  of  antarctic  regions,  are  now  the  i)rincipal  dependence  of  our 
whaling-men  ;  but  the  game  is  getting  very  scarce.  It  has  been  the  i)rey  of 
generations  of  eager  men  ;  and  it  will  one  day  become  extinct,  unless  Professor 
Baird,  or  some  such  man,  turns  his  attention  to  their  artificial  propagation. 
Why  should  he  not? 

The  cod  and  mackerel  fisheries  are  now  more  important  in  respect  to  the 
tonnage  employed  in  them  than    the    one    just  described.      They  employed 
more  tonnage,  indeed,  than  the  whale-fishery  prior  to  1830,  the   cod  and 
figures   for  1829  especially  being   remarkable ;   the  whaling-fleet   mackerel 
being  only  57,284  tons  in  that  year,  and  the  cod  and  mackerel 
boats  101,797  tons.     But  after  1830  the  Bank  fisheries  fell  into  the  second 
rank;  and  they  only  came  to  the  front  again  in  1861,  when  the  war,  with  its 
high  prices,  petroleum,  &c.,  broke  down  whaling.     The  cod  and  mackerel 
tonnage  is  now  87,000,  and  the  number  of  boats   2,311,  nearly  all  of  them 
being  under  fifty  tons'  burden,  and  about  half  of  them  under  twenty  tons. 
There  are  over  20,000  men  employed  in  the  business.     The  boats  go  out  to 


Ci6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  Banks  on  the  co-operative  plan,  each  man  getting  a  stipulated  share  of 
the  catch,  and  the  owner  supplying  a  certain  portion  of  the  outfit,  and  getting 
his  pay,  like  the  rest,  in  fish.  'i"he  cod  and  mackerel  are  both  caught  with  the 
line.  The  former  is  easily  caught.  The  hook,  baited  with  any  thing  to  attract 
attention,  though  generally  with  small  fish,  is  ilropped  until  it  touches  the 
bottom :  it  is  then  hauleil  up  slightly,  so  that  with  every  lurch  of  the  boat  it 
will  clear  the  bottom.  A  bite  is  signified  by  a  slight  jerk.  The  line  is  then 
hauled  in  rapidly,  hand  over  hand,  the  fish  unhooked,  and  the  hook  baited  and 
thrown  out  again.  When  the  fish  bite  freely,  three  hooks  can  be  used  on  the 
same  line  ;  and,  in  fact,  they  are  generally  usetl.  The  crew  of  the  boat  range 
themselves  along  the  gunwale  on  both  sides,  and  often  are  kepi  in  a  state  of 
incessant  action  by  the  eagerness  of  the  fish.  At  night  the  fish  are  cleaned 
and  salted  down.  Mackerel-fishing  is  more  exciting,  because  the  fish  are 
gamy,  and  they  dash  matlly  about  in  the  water  when  hooked.  The  mackerel 
swim  in  shoals ;  antl,  when  they  are  biting,  there  is  always  a  scene  of  great 
activity  and  excitement  on  board  the  boat.  The  rapidity  with  which  several 
barrelfiils  of  fish  can  be  taken  from  the  water  is  wontlerful.  The  cleaning 
and  packing  in  salt  are  performed  when  the  fish  are  slack ;  that  is,  when  they 
are  not  biting  well,  or  at  night.  These  fish  have  sometimes  been  caught  with 
nets  ;  but  the  process  is  difficult  and  unsatisfa'-tory,  and  the  fishermen  generally 
l)refer  the  line.  The  value  of  the  product  of  cod  and  mackerel  fisheries  is 
about  ;?9,ooo,ooo  a  year.  A  ready  market  is  always  found  for  the  fish,  and 
those  who  are  engaged  in  the  business  have  only  the  competition  of  tiie 
Canadians  to  fear.  As  a  general  rule,  they  hold  their  own  against  their 
Northern  neighbors.  The  state  of  things  existing  just  at  present,  however, 
is  unfavorable  to  them,  because,  under  the  treaty  of  iiS73,  the  United-States 
market  was  thrown  open  to  the  Canailian  fishermen  in  exchange  for  the  right, 
on  our  part,  to  fish  within  the  three-mile  limit.  The  Canadians  gained  more 
than  they  lost  by  this;  and,  although  the  Halifax  Commission  in  1877 
adjudged  that  the  United  States  ought  to  pay  $5,500,000  for  the  superior 
advantages  she  gained  by  that  treaty,  the  decision  was  clearlv  unji  1 

has  so  increased  the  odds  against  our  fishermen,  that  stfr««  wpr 
Congress  in  May,  1878,  to  have  the  fishery-clause  of  the  ti  >u»a-j 

One  branch  of  the  fisheries  —  which,  however,  is  real!  1  in-sho  affair, 
and  has  never  needed  any  special  protecting  care  from  the  gdvermucnt  —  is 
Oyster-  the  oyster-business.     The  only  legislation  which  has  bC'   '  needetl 

business.  j^^g  been  to  prevent  the  oystermen  from  infringing  on  each  other's 
rights.  This  species  of  ocean-inhabitant  grows  naturally  in  the  cool  waters  ;ill 
along  the  Northern  coast,  and  attains  a  size,  and  delicacy  of  flavor,  unequalled 
anywhere  in  the  world.  The  waters  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  and  of  Long- 
Island  Sound  are  the  favorite  haunts  of  the  oyster.  A  favorite  practice  in  the 
trade  is  to  breed  the  oyster  in  Virginia  or  Maryland,  and  bring  it  North  by 
the  sloop-load,  and  plant  it  in  the  vicinity  of  New-York  City,  and  on  the  Long- 


OF    THE  UNITED    STATES. 


617 


Islaiul  ami  Connecticut  coasts,  where  it  fattens.     Haltiniore  and  New-Voik 
City  arc  the  principal  centres  of  tiie  oyster-business.     In  both  phu  es  uiiilions 
of     il  o  1 1  a  r  s ' 
worth    of    tiie 
bivalve  are  put 
up  annually  in 
cans  am!  kegs, 
and    distribut- 
ed by  railroad     -A^~^ 
to  all  parts  of  "'^''  '    ' -^--^  _-—  — 

the       United  ovstkks  (ink,  two,  ami  hikicb  ykaks  01. i>. 

States    and 

Canada.  Of  late  years,  oysters  have  been  sent  to  Kurope  from  those  cities  ;  and 
the  business  is  becoming  considerable,  now  that  the  steamers  have  been  i)ro- 
vided  with  the  facilities  for  keeping  the  oysters  cool  en  louk  across  the  sea. 
The  ainuial  product  is  valued  at  about  ,^25,000,000. 

Among  the  other  trcobures  of  the  sea  which  accrue  to  the  profits  of  our 

fishermen  and  the  luxury  of  our  tables  are 
the  halibut,  the  shad,  salmon,  blue-fish, 
herring,   wliile-fish,    weak-fish, 

1  I  II.  I  1  Shad,  sal- 

bass,  clams,  lobsters,  eels,  and  , 

'  mon,  tier- 
other    varieties.      TluTe    are  ring,  lobster, 

about  thirty-live   kinds  in  all. 
They    are    all    taken    in    large 
quaiililies.     Lobsters  are   canned   for  the 
general  market,  and  are  now  exported  in 
considerable  (juantities,  as  well  as  oysters. 
One  branch  of  the  business  not  yet  men- 
tioned has  now  grown  so  large  as  to  take 
its  place  among    the  staple  resources  of 
the  country,  altiiough   the   inhabitants  of 
the  regions  where    it   is  engaged  in  most 
sincerely  wish  that    it  had  never  become 
a  staple  resource,  and  that  the  fish  would 
swim  away  to  some   hitherto   unheard-of 
quarter  of  the   globe,  and  never,  never  come  back.     This  is  the  catching 
•"  porgies  and  bony  fish   for  fertilizing-purposes.     These    little   fishes   swim 
immense  shoals,  numbering  millions  of  fish.     They  are  caught  in  nets  in 
e  Sound,  and  along  the  northern  coasts  generally.     The  shoals  are  often  so 
>rge  as  to  tow,  against  the  wind,  the  net  and  the  schooner  from  which  it  has 
ceil  carried  out ;  and  they  sometimes  carry  away  the  nets.     But,  if  the  shoal 
IS  not  too  large,  it  can  be  handled.     The  fish  are  valued  for  their  oil,  which  is 
extracted  by  proper  processes,  and  also  because  their  remains  can  then  be 


and  other 
fish. 


OYSTERS  CROWINc;  TO  A   BOOT. 


6i8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


converted  into  guano  for  the  benefit  of  the  farms.  The  estabhshments  where 
this  manufacture  is  carried  on  waft  a  fragrance  upon  the  breeze  which  does 
not  remind  one  of  heliotrope  or  the  East  Indies. 

Two  kinds  of  fish  which  were  remarkably  abundant  when  the  country  was 
new  were  the  shad  and  the  salmon.  These  fish  have  almost  disappeared 
Disappear-  ^''°'"  some  localities,  and  they  are  scarce  in  all.  The  attention  of 
ance  of  shad  the  government  of  the  United  States  was  called  several  years  ago 
an  sa  mon.  ^^  ^j^^  subject  of  the  artificial  propagation  of  these  and  other  fish. 
Experiments  were  making  under  Seth  Green,  in  New- York  State,  for  the  breed- 
Artificial  '"S  °^  millions  of  lake  and  river  fishes,  and  the  placing  of  tliem 
propaga-  in  lakes  and  streams  to  repopulate  the  waters  which  had  thus 
*'°"'  been  almost  emptied  of  their  game  by  local  anglers  and  spearmen. 

Other  States  were  giving  attention  to  the  subject ;  and  the  United  States  were 
invited  to  consider  the  state  of  the  coast-fisheries,  and  the  propriety  of  propa- 
gating shad,  salmon,  &c.,  to  replenish  impoverished  waters.  A  law  was  passed 
Feb.  9,  187 1,  for  the  creation  of  a  fish  commissioner,  and  Professor  Spencer 
F.  Baird  was  appointed  by  the  President  to  that  ofiice.  Since  that  date, 
extensive  and  minute  investigations  have  been  in  progress  to  gain  a  prelimi- 
nary idea  of  the  character  of  the  coast  and  of  its  food  fishes.  Professor 
Baird  spent  the  summer  of  187 1,  with  his  assistants,  ai  Wood's  Hole  on  Cape 
Cod,  the  summer  of  1872  at  Eastport,  Me.,  that  of  1873  at  Portland,  Me,, 
1874  at  Noank,  Conn.,  and  1875  at  Wood's  Hole  again.  No  work  was  done 
on  the  coast  in  1876,  owing  to  Professor  Baird's  presence  at  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  to  take  charge  of  the  general  display  of  hatching-apparatus  and 
methods  of  fish-culture ;  but  research  has  since  been  resumed.  The  studies 
of  the  commissioner  v.-ere  attended  with  valuable  results,  and  led  to  the  prac- 
tical hatching  of  shad  and  salmon  for  distribution  to  the  waters  of  the  several 
States  and  Territories.  Up  to  1877,  over  26,000,000  shad,  7,500,000  salmon, 
and  2,670,000  white-fish,  had  been  hatched,  and  placed  in  vhe  waters  of  thi^ 
United  States  North  and  South,  and  on  the  Pacific,  under  the  supervision  of 
the  commissioner.  'Ine  work  is  still  going  on,  and  on  an  increasing  scale, 
supplemented  by  the  active  efforts  of  fish  commissioners  in  a  number  of  tlie 
States.  It  promises  to  yield  valuable  results  in  a  few  years,  and  to  repay  :ts 
whole  cost  a  thousand  times  over.  Undoubtedly  the  time  will  yet  come  when 
active  efforts  in  the  way  of  multiplying  the  off-shore  fish,  such  as  the  cod  and 
mackerel,  will  be  attempted. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


619 


CHAPTER   VI. 


RAILROADS. 


AN  eloquent  Virginian  in  Congress,  commenting  on  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  country  in  mechanical  invention,  said  admiringly,  that  the 
people  of  America  were  a  race  possessing  much  the  same  spirit  as  Mission  of 
the  Normans  of  old,  and  following  much  the  same  career  of  con-  the  present 
quest  and  success.  The  only  difference  was,  that  the  Normans  k'""""*'°"' 
subdued  kingdoms  of  men,  whereas  the  Americans  were  achieving  the  still 
more  difficult  task  of  a  conquest  over  nature.  The  mission  of  our  generation 
is  to  subdue  the  material  universe,  he  said ;  and  he  spoke  of  the  people  of  the 
North  as  "  amazing  the  world  by  their  feats  of  mechanical  skill,  and  covering 
the  remotest  seas  with  the  argosies  of  their  commerce,  free  as  the  winds,  and 
boundless  as  the  waves  that  bear  it."  What  would  he  have  said  could  he  have 
looked  forward  into  the  future  twenty  years,  and  seen  a  continent  subdued 
and  pojiulated  by  this  same  people  through  the  agency  of  a  new  and  wonder- 
ful mechanical  creation  which  flew  from  one  part  of  the  land  to  the  other 
with  a  speeil  which  defied  time,  and  with  a  freedom,  certainty,  and  regularity 
which  laughed  at  storms  and  seasons,  and  which  was  employed  in  the  service 
of  a  new  and  wonderful  commerce  whose  magnitude  and  wealth  dwarfed  into 
insignificance  that  carried  on  upon  the  sea? 

To  trace  the  rise  and  progress  of  a  railroad  from  its  inception  —  ]ierhaps 
in  the  head  of  some  casual  lounger  around  the  stove  of  a  country  store  — 
to  its  actual  consummation  would  give  a  more  perfect  insight  into  tiie  genius 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  the  goal  toward  which  civilization  has  so  far 
tended,  than  could  possibly  be  gained  by  the  most  profound  study  of  the 
pages  of  Buckle. 

The  moving  causes  for  building  railroads  in  this  country  are,  for  the  most 
part,  precisely  the  reverse  of  those  which  lead  to  their  construction  in  I'.urope. 
In  Europe  they  are  built  to  satisfy  existing  requirements  for  increased  means 
of  communication  ;  they  are  built  to  meet  the  wants  of  thickly-settled  dis- 
tricts :  in  this  country  this  is  but  one,  and  a  minor  one,  of  their  offices. 
Their  characteristic  office  here  is  to  create  such  districts  in  places  where  none 


620 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


exist.  They  are  causes  with  us,  not  effects.  The  brightest  dream  of  the 
American  patriot,  irrespective  of  political  creed,  is  to  "  open  up "  some 
portion  of  the  wilderness  of  which  the  great  area  of  his  country  is  composed  ; 
and  to  do  this  he  looks,  and  rightly,  to  the  railroad  as  his  principal  aid.  It 
must  be  confessed  that  the  poetry  of  the  railroad  as  the  willing  coadjutor  of 
human  aspiration  belongs  to  America,  in  common  with  all  new  countries, 
rather  than  to  Europe,  where  it  is  merely  an  inevitable  sequence  of  an  actual, 
achieved  status. 

The  period  of  fifty  years  following  the  war  of  1812  was  one  of  restless 
activity  and  Titanic  strides.     The  American  mind  was  displaying  a  fertility 


LOCOMOTIVE   OK    1828. 


and  resource  which  had  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Invention 
Half-century  succeeded  invention  witii  astonishing  ra])idity ;  and  scarce  was 
succeeding  the  public  mind  aglow  with  some  great  idea  for  the  comfort  ami 
convenience  of  the  human  race,  and  government  and  peoi)le  at 
work  to  carry  it  into  effect,  when  die  drum-beat  of  a  new  thought  would  be 
heard,  and  a  new  tri^ime  be  initiated,  which  should  work  wonders  in  the 
civilization  and  happiness  of  the  people  and  the  development  of  the  wealth  of 
the  nation.  In  no  field  was  progress  more  rapid  than  in  that  of  internal 
transportation.  Hardly  had  ])lans  for  building  military  wagon-roads  to  every 
part  of  our  extended  domain  been  perfected  —  so  that  the  trains  of  huge, 
canvas-topped,  broad-tired  wagons  in  use  in  early  days,  with  their  teams  of 


OF    THE    UNITED   STA7ES. 


621 


four  or  six  big  horses  and  "  orchestra  of  bells,"  might  be  made  thoroughly 
useful  to  the  people  —  than  steam  was  invented  for  the  navigation  of  rivers, 
and  canals  were  built  for  increased  ease  and  rapidity  of  communication  between 
distant  parts  of  the  interior.  The  old  way  was  supplemented  or  superseded  by 
something  better  almost  before  the  capacities  of  the  old  way  had  been  fully 
developed.  In  the  very  year  that  the  public  mind  was  the  most  excited 
about  canals  (1825)  attention  began  to  be  drawn  to  still  another  and  better 
agency  of  transportation,  which  was  destined  in  time  to  overshadow  all  others 
completely,  and  work  out  public  results  that  would  have  been  regarded  in 
1825  as  the  wildest  dreams  of  romance,  and  even  in  1878  can  scarcely  be 
grasped  by  the  human  mind.  Railroads  were  given  to  the  world  in  that  year, 
and  were  discussed  in  the  United  States,  and  soon  riveted  such  attention,  that 
great  schemes  for  canal-building  were  dropped,  and  effort  concentrated  upon 
the  new  idea.  The  rapidity  of  progress  which  had  preceded  the  invention  of 
this  style  of  land-transportation  followed  it;  and  in  1878  the  United  States 
with  its  45,000,000  of  people  have  79,000  miles  of  road  in  practical  operation 
(not  of  track,  but  of  road)  against  88,-00  in  Europe  with  its  300,000,000  of 
people,  and  1 1 ,000  in  the  rest  of  the  world  besides  with  its  i  ,000,000,000 
of  human  souls. 

Railroads  took  their  rise  in  the  tramways  in  use  in  the  mines  of  England 
and  Germany  for  conveying  heavy  masses  of  coal  and  iron  '~;e  to  the  doors 
of  the  mines,  and  thence  to  buildings  or  yards  for  the  storage  or  Rajiroaj, 
manufacture  of  the  minerals,  or  to  wharves  or  de'pots  for  their  had  their  rise 
transfer  to  wagons  and  boats  for  distribution.  Combined  with  ""■■■"^■y- 
this  idea  was  another,  for  employing  steam  tc  propel  carriages  along  com- 
mon roads.  These  two  ideas  were  conceived  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
last  century,  and  were  not  at  the  time  thought  of  together,  but  were  made  use 
of  as  totally  distinct  inventions.  In  this  country  the  idea  of  a  steam-carriage 
preceded  that  of  the  tramway.  .As  early  as  1 794  Oliver  Evans  of  Maryland 
used  to  say  that  the  child  was  then  born  who  would  travel  from  Philadelphia 
to  Boston  in  a  steam-wagon.  He  was  regarded  as  an  enthusiast ;  but  efforts 
were  made  for  thirty  years  to  realize  Iiis  idea.  A  great  many  steam-carriages 
were  invented.  Rumors  of  the  experiments  reached  England ;  and  in  the 
summer  of  1819  a  London  paper  had  an  item  saying,  "  The  Americans  have 
applied  the  power  of  steam  to  supersede  that  of  horses  in  propelling  stage- 
coaches. In  the  State  of  Kentucky  a  stage-coach  is  now  established,  which 
travels  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an  hour.  It  can  be  stopped  instantly,  and 
set  again  in  motion  with  its  former  velocity ;  and  is  so  constructed,  that  the 
passengers  sit  within  two  feet  of  the  ground.  The  velocity  depends  on  the 
size  of  the  wheels."  This  item  is  believed  to  be  inaccurate  as  to  the  fact  of 
a  steam-coach  in  practical  use ;  but  it  correctly  sets  forth  what  American 
inventors  were  striving  after. 

E.\periments  in  this  direction  were  tried  for  many  years.     On  sonic  routes 


622 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


of  travel,  like  that  between  Albany  and  Lake  Erie,  forty  or  fifty  horse-coaches 
Fir»t  steam-  Were  often  despatched  in  one  day ;  and,  could  steam  be  used  to 
coaches.  propel  them,  a  great  saving  of  expense,  and  expedition  of  business, 
would  be  effected.  Steam-coaches  were  exhibited  in  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  and  elsewhere;  and  in  1824  S.  T.  Conn  of  Virginia  publicly 
advertised  for  capital  tc  form  a  company  to  run  a  steam-carriage  on  the  turn- 
pike between  Washington  and  Alexandria.  He  wanted  $1,200  for  the  purpose, 
--a  modest  sum,  surely,  compared  with  the  millions  of  capital  which  it  now 
takes  to  build  and  operate  a  modern  line  of  steam-railway.  Believing  in  the 
possibility  of  steam-coaches,  and  seeing  the  necessity  of  providing  a  solid, 
hard,  straight  road  for  them  to  travel  on,  the  State  of  New  York  in  1S25 
projected  a  great  wagon-road  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie,  to  cost 


"tHB  south  CAKOLINA,"   1831. 


:J50o,ooo,  and  ordered  surveys  for  it.     Other  States  gave  attention  also  to  the 
subject  of  the  improvement  of  their  common  roads. 

The  crude  idea  of  a  steam  road-wagon  was  never  realized,  because  in  1S25 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  subject  of  railways.  The  Stockton  and  Darlington 
Stockton  and  Railway  had  been  opener' in  England  in  order  to  supply  London 
Darlington  with  coal,  and  passenger-,  is  were  drawn  over  it  by  a  crude  sort 
'  '°'  ■  of  locomotive  at  the  rate  of  seven  miles  an  hour.  The  stories 
told  about  this  coal-tramway  brought  on  a  discussion  in  the  United  States 
which  left  the  projected  steam-coach  quite  out  of  sight.  "The  London 
Courier"  said  in  1825  of  Mr.  Rush,  the  .American  minister,  then  soon  to 
return  to  this  country  to  be  secretary  of  the  treasury,  "  Whatever  Parliament 
may  do  "  [about  railways  in  England],  "  they  cannot  stop  the  course  of  knowl- 
edge and  improvement.  The  American  Government  has  possessed  itself, 
through  its  minister,  of  the  improved  mode  of  making  and  constructing  rail- 
roads ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  immediate  adoption  throughout  that 


passe 

eonst 

oxtrei 

traffic 

and 

Webs 

prcssi 

initiat 

\'ork 

("ana 

could 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


623 


First  rail- 
roads in 
United 
States. 


country."    There  could  be  none  whatever  ;  for  railroads  were  more  needed  in 
this  wild  and  undeveloped  country  than  in  England. 

There  was  not  a  mile  of  railroad  in  America  in  1825.  In  1826  building 
began.  Two  short  roads  were  undertaken  almost  simultaneously,  —  a  line 
three  miles  long  at  Quincy,  Mass.,  to  bring  down  granite  from  the 
quarries ;  and  a  line  nine  miles  long  at  Mauch  Chunk,  Penn.,  to 
bring  down  coal  hoia  the  mines.  Both  were  horse-roads.  The 
Mauch-Chunk  road  cost  from  $2,500  to  $3,000  a  mile,  being  laid 
over  a  route  previously  used  for  ordinary  wagons.  Wooden  rails  were  laid 
upon  wooden  sleepers  lying  four  feet  apart,  being  fastened  thereto  by  wooden 
keys.  The  sleepers  were  supported  on  stone  foundations,  and  the  rails  plated 
on  the  inner  edge  with  rolled  iron  bars  from  an  inch  and  a  quarter  to  an  inch 
and  three-quarters  wide.  A  gravel-path  for  the  horses  was  made  between  the 
rails  co\ering  the  sleepers.  The  wagons  weighed  Irom  1,200  to  Description 
1,500  pounds  each,  and  were  mounted  on  flanged  wheels  two  feet  °'  '***■"• 
in  diameter.  They  carried  a  ton  and  a  half  each.  The  cars  were  allowed  to 
run  down  five  miles  by  the  force  of  gravity,  and  were  then  towed  to  the  place 
for  dumi)ing  the  coal  by  horses.  On  the  Quincy  road  the  tracks  were  five 
feet  aj)art.  Wooden  rails  six  inches  by  twelve  were  laid  on  stone  sleepers 
lying  eight  feet  apart,  which,  in  turn,  were  supported  upon  a  stone  foundation. 
On  the  top  of  the  rails  was  i)laced  a  scantling  two  inches  by  four,  which  was 
l)late(l  with  bar  iron  from  two  inches  and  a  half  to  two  inches  and  three- 
(I'-iarters  wide.  The  wagons  weighed  six  tons  each,  cost  four  hundred  dollars 
apiece,  and  were  mounted  on  wheels  six  feet  and  a  half  in  diameter.  Two 
iiorses  drew  fift)'  tons'  weight,  including  the  wagons,  over  this  road,  at  a  speed 
of  four  miles  and  a  half  an  hour.  On  a  canal  the  same  weight  could  not  have 
been  drawn  by  two  horses  then  faster  than  two  miles  an  hour.  This  road  cost 
$11,250  a  mile,  owing  to  the  rock-cuttings  and  trestle-work  which  wei"e 
necessary  upon  it.  The  two  roads  were  finished  in  1827.  A  public  celebra- 
tion took  place  on  the  opening  of  the  latter,  (ireat  popular  interest  was  felt 
in  both,  and  committees  came  to  see  them  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 

No  railroad  had  yet  been  built  iii  tlie  world  for  the  general  conveyance  of 
passengers  and  goods,  —  not  even  in  England.    So  far,  all  the  railways  had  been 
constructed  for  the  transportation  of  the  products  of  mines  over  ^^^^^  „„gg 
extremely  short  routes.     Their  utility  for  the  purposes  of  general  were  ail 
traffic,  liowever.  was  disclosed  by  these  preliminary  experiments,   '  *"  " 
and  .America  seized  upon  the  new  idea  (luite  as  quick  as  England.     Daniel 
Webster,  Charles  Carroll,  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Clay,  and  other  public  men,  ex- 
pressed  a  belief  in   their  practicability ;    and   the  new  era  was  successfiilly 
initiated.     Wings  were  now  lent  to  enterprise  by  the  rivalry  of  cities.     New 
Vork  had  taken  an  astonishing  start  consequent  upon  the  opening  of  the  Erie 
Canal,  and  was  diverting  trade  from  Philadeli)hia,  Boston,  and  Baltimore,  which 
could  only  be  regained,  if  ?t  all,  by  the  construction  of  great  transportation- 


694 


IND  US  TRIA  L    II IS  TOR  Y 


routes  from  those  cities  into  tlie  interior ;  and  the  business-men  of  those  places 
set  about  the  undertaking  at  once.  Long  lines  of  railway  were  projected  from 
all  the  most  enterprising  seaboard  cities  into  the  more  thickly-settled  j)ortions 
of  their  own  States,  with  the  idea  of  ultimate  extension  toward  the  West. 
They  were  all  originally  planned  to  be  operated  by  horse-power,  or  by  sta- 
tionary engines ;  though  the  possibility  of  em- 
ploying locomotives  was  kept  in  view,  and  me- 
chanics were  encouraged  to  study  the  subject 
of  steam  -  locomotion,  and  try  their  hands  at 
building  engines. 

A  short  road  of  seventeen  miles  from  Albany 

to  Schenectady  had  been  authorized  by  the  New- 

Baitimore       "^'"""^^  State  Legislature  April  i  7,  1826, 

and  Ohio         to   be   Operated   by  horses,  inclined 

planes,  and  stationary  engines.     On 

I'l'^'i!FilE.^-i^''"^jBffl^\V^li^t'"-'-      J'^'^y  4'  '^^2^'  ground  was  broken  for  a  railroad 
f  A  Jfcra5R''.»!'i'aHl)ATl^  from  Baltimore  out  to  Ohio,  the  president  of  tlic 

day  being  tiie  venerable  Charles  Carroll,  who  said 
ii\'%H.w,v,'»sa^;bj'*' !>«"'■':«  to  a  friend  on  the  occasion  "that  he  considered 
% ■  f^^iaf^t^!->i^  ■'^j^t,     ^^  among  the  most   important   acts  of  his  life, 

second  only  to  his  signing  the 


Declaration  of  Independence, 
if  even  it  were  second  lo  that." 
Twelve  miles  of  the  road  were 
opened  to  travel  in  May,  1S30, 
the  cars  being  drawn  by  horses, 
as  it  was  not  until  a  year  or 
two  later  that  the  certainty  of 
attaining  greater  speed  by 
means  of  locomotives  was  as- 
sured. At  first  the  track  was 
laid  on  large  blocks  of  stone  ; 
but,  after  passing  the  Pataps- 
co,  wooden  ties  and  stringers 
were  used,  owing  to  their 
greater  elasticity.     The  Balti- 


ROLSTON   INCLINED   RAILWAY. 


more  and  Ohio  Company  acted  with  vigor,  pressing  its  contractors,  and  seuil- 
ing  committees  to  other  parts  of  the  country  and  to  England  to  study  road- 
building  and  the  capacities  of  steam.  In  1832  the  road  was  built  to  Point  of 
Rocks,  a  distance  of  seventy-three  miles;  and  the  company  had  offered  pre 
miums  of  $4,000  and  33,500  for  locomodves  to  run  at  certain  rates  of  spcL,l 
on  the  road  of  the  company,  by  means  of  which  they  obtained  "  The  York, 
built  at  York,  Penn.,  by  Davis  and  Gartner,  which  was  able  to  draw  fifteen  toii> 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


62: 


their 

Balti- 

scivl- 

voad- 

lint  01" 

II  pre- 
Ispce.l 
L'ork," 

III  ton.-- 


i 


626 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


in  South 
Carolina 


on  a  level  at  a  speei  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  The  comj  any  was  delayed 
by  litigation  with  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  Company,  which  fought 
its  progress;  and  it  was  not  until  1853  that  the  road  reached  the  Ohio 
River. 

In  South  Carolina  a  company  was  incorporated,  Dec.  19,  1827,  to  build  a 
railroad  and  canal  out  to  Hamburgh,  on  the  Savannah  River,  in  order  to  open 
Railroads  "P  ^'^^V  communication  with  the  rich  agricultural  regions  lying  in 
that  direction,  the  intervening  districts  being  a  wilderness  of 
swamps.  United-States  engineers  made  the  surveys,  as  they  did 
for  all  these  early  railroads.  The  road  was  originally  built  upon  trestle-worli 
nearly  the  whole  distance,  with  a  thin  strap-rail  laid  upon  stringers.  Charles- 
ton was  the  first  city  in  the  country  to  employ  a  locomotive.  In  1830,  when 
the  road  had  been  finished  for  only  eight  miles,  —  several  months  before  the 
opening  of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway  in  England,  upon  which 
steam-engines  were  employed,  an  event  which  created  a  furore  of  excitement 
both  sides  of  the  ocean,  —  a  locomotive  weighing  five  tons,  and  called  "  The 
Best  Friend,"  was  operated  profitably  on  the  South-Carolina  Railroad.  It  was 
built  at  West  Point,  N.Y.,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Miller  of  Charles- 
ton, S.C.,  and  was  the  first  one  used  in  the  passenger  and  freight  business  uf 
the  United  States. 

In  1 83 1  the  Mohawk  and  Albany  Railroad  was  opened  to  use.  The  same 
Mohawk  and  y^''^'"  ^^  "^^^^  f'"°"''  Richmond,  Va.,  to  Chesterfield,  thirteen  miles 
Albany  Rail-  long,  the  second  one  finished  in  the  United  States,  was  thrown 
'*"  ■  open,  and  a  little  line  five  miles  long  from  New  Orleans  to  Lake 

Pontchartrain. 

Pennsylvania's  transportation-route  to  the  West  was  undertaken  at  first  by 

the  State  itself.     Agitation  for  a  railroad  and  canal  began  in  1826,  as  soon  r.s  it 

was  seen  what  a  blessing  to  New- York  State  the  Erie  Canal  hatl 

First  rail-  °  ,    .       , ,  ,  „  , 

roads  in  become.     Surveys  were  made;  and  in  rebruary,  1828,  the  coni- 

Pennsyiva-  niittee  on  internal  improvements  reported  to  the  lower  house  uf 
the  legislature  that  a  railroad  ought  to  be  built  at  once  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Lancaster  and  Columbia,  and  thence  extended  to  the  West.  They 
said,  "This  will  accommodate  a  district  of  country,  which,  from  its  prolific  soil 
and  rich  cultivation,  is  considered  the  garden  of  our  country.  ...  A  wise 
and  equal  policy  will  require  its  farther  extension  to  the  West,  for  the  purpose 
of  accommodating  the  populous  and  flourishing  counties  on  the  southern 
boundary,  and  connecting  them  with  our  own  commercial  metropolis."  The 
State  built  the  railroad  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia  (eighty-two  miles),  and 
the  portage  road  from  Hollidaysburgh  to  Johnstown,  so  that  they  were  ready 
for  use  in  1832.  It  also  built  a  canal  from  Johnstown  to  Pittsburgh,  the  total 
cost  of  all  these  works  being  twelve  million  dollars.  This  gave  Philadelphia  a 
route  through  to  the  West,  and  enabled  her  to  meet  the  competition  of  otlier 
cities.    While  these  works  were  in  progress,  a  number  of  small  roads  in  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


627 


Schuylkill  mining-region  were  buiUling  through  private  enterprise,  and  one 
from  Philadelphia  to  Germantown  was  chartered  in  1831. 


1%.    ^1^ 


A.NOrilfiK   VIEW  OF  JACK  S   NARROWS. 


Boston's  first  idea  was  to  construct  a  canal  through  the  State  to  the  Hudson 
River  to  connect  with  the  Erie  Canal,  and  thus  secure  an  uninterrupted  water- 


628 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


New  Jersey. 


route  to  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  West.  But  in  June,  '825,  Ciov.  Lin- 
Matsachu-  coln,  in  spealiing  ui)on  the  matter  to  the  legislature,  said,  "Another 
••"■•  means  of  communication  has  been  suggested  by  the  construction  of 

railways."  In  June,  1826,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  legislature  to 
report  upon  the  (luestion  of  a  railway  to  the  Hudson.  Vari(>us  routes  were 
surveyed.  The  legislature  was  slow,  however,  in  acting,  and  the  business-men 
of  Boston  became  impatient.  They  visited  New-York  State  to  urge  the 
people  along  the  line  of  the  Erie  Canal  to  build  railroads  connecting  Albany 
with  Lake  Erie,  and  besieged  their  own  legislature  with  statements  in  regaril 
to  the  b  nefits  to  Massachusetts  of  a  railway  to  connect  with  the  New- York 
roads  and  canal.  In  1830  companies  were  chartered  to  build  railroads  from 
Boston  to  Providence  and  Lowell ;  and  finally,  in  1831,  a  beginning  was  made 
in  the  work  of  building  westwardly,  by  a  charter  to  a  company  to  construct 
a  road  to  Worcester ;  which  was  immediately  organized,  and  the  road  built 
and  opened  by  July  4,  1835.  The  Western  Railroad  Corpontion  was  char- 
tered in  1833  to  build  from  Worcester  to  the  Hudson.  The  work  was  con- 
sidered to  be  of  such  public  utility,  that  the  State  lent  to  the  company  at 
different  times  State  scrip  for  sums  which  amounted  in  the  end  to  four  million 
dollars. 

While  those  lines  were  building,  a  communication  was  being  created 
across  the  State  of  New  Jersey  by  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Rail- 
road, between  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The 
road  was  begun  in  1831,  and  finished  in  1834. 

At  the  same  time  several  short  lines  were  building  in  New- York  State,  — 
among  them  being  the  Utica  and  Schenectady,  chartered  in  1833,  and  the 
Other  lines  Albany  and  Syracuse,  chartered  in  1834,  —  with  the  design  of  stim- 
buiit  in  New  ulating  the  construction  of  other  connecting  railroads,  which  should 
"'''■  eventually  give  the  State  a  complete  through  line  from  Albany  to 

Lake  Erie.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  even  in  that  early  period,  in  1830,  —  in 
fact,  when  there  were  only  twenty-three  miles  of  railroad  in  operation  on  this 
whole  continent, — the  great  project  of  a  railroad  from  the  State  of  New  York  to 
the  Mississippi  River  at  St.  Louis  had  been  conceived  by  De  Witt  Clinton,  and 
publicly  advocated  in  a  little  pamphlet,  of  which  only  a  few  rare  copies  are 
now  preserved.  The  road  was  to  be  about  a  thousand  miles  long,  and  to 
cost  fifteen  million  dollars.  It  was  too  vast  a  project,  however,  for  the 
resources,  and  even  the  needs,  of  that  age ;  and  the  only  real  outcome  of  the 
proposition  was  the  beginning  of  a  chain  of  railroads  through  New- York  State 
to  Lake  Erie,  above  noted.  In  the  two  lines  above  referred  to,  Boston  capital 
was  invested ;  for  it  was  foreseen,  that,  if  the  new  agency  for  transportation 
fulfilled  the  expectations  of  its  advocates,  the  disadvantages  of  Boston's  geo- 
graphical position  would  be  annihilated,  and  the  future  all-rail  route  to  the 
West  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  her.  Besides  the  two  lines  above  men- 
tioned in  New- York  State  as  then  building,  there  were  also  the  Ithaca  and 


OF    THE    U XI TED    STATES. 


639 


Oswego,  the  Canandaigna  Railway,  a  line  from  the  Hudson  to  meet  the  Western 
Railroad  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  few  other  small  local  lines. 

The  science  of  building  and  operating  railroads  was  not  well  understood 
during  the  first  ten  years  of  their  existence,  and  many  wild  and  erroneous 
notions  were  entertained  in  regard  to  them.     Roads 
were  planned  to  be  built  on  routes  run-   science  o( 
ning  over  mountains  and  vales   that   a  raiiroad- 

,  ,  ,   ,  ^  1    •     1        1  building  very 

slage-coach  would  have  found  it  hard  to  imperfect 
pass.     One   of  the   very   early   charters  during  first 
granted  in  New- York  State  was  for  a  rail- 
road from  Catskill  to   Ithaca   direct.     This  was  in 
1.S28  ;  and,  in  the  ten  years  following,  ai)i)lications 
were  made  at  .Mbany  for  charters  for  about  a  hundred 
and  forty  different  companies,  of  which  number  only 
twenty-one  ever  built  the  roads  respectively  projected 
by  them.     It  was  not  known  for  many  years  whether 
to   treat   the    locomotive   as   a   toy   or   a   machine. 
Horses  were  iloing  so  well  on  all  the  railroads  in 
operation,  that  it  was  supposed  they  would  not  be 
superseded.     On  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Road    a    , 
single  horse  woukl  draw  a  hundred  barrels  of  flour    5 
luatled  upon  four  cars  at  a  speed  of  seven  miles  an    6 
hour.     Experiments  were  making  with  locomotives    " 
at  Philadelphia  and  West  Point,  and  several  of  these 
machines  were  imported  from  England  to  test  their 
abilities.     But  even  as  late  as  1S32,  when  Mr.  Bald- 
win of  Philadelphia  had  produced   his  first  engine, 
'■  The  Ironsides,"  for  the  Germantown  road,  and  it 
liad  attained    a  speed  of  thirty  miles  an  hour,  its 
utility  was  so  much  in  doubt,  that  the  following  ad- 
vertisement appeared  in  a  Philadelphia  newspaper : 
"A'otice.  —  The  locomotive-engine  (built  by  M.  W. 
Baldwin  of  this  city)    will  depart  daily,  7vhen   the 
wcatlier  is  fair,  with  a  train  of  jiassenger-cars.      On 
rainy  days,  /lorscs  will  If  attachiuL'''    The  engine  was 
treated  merely  as  a  curiosity.     Tlie  problem  of  the 
locomotive  was  solved  in  1834  by  "The  Lancaster" 
of  Mr.  Baldwin's  make,  and  Pennsylvania  resohed 

to  adopt  that  sort  of  motive-power  for  her  railroad  to  Columbia.  But  even 
then  there  were  many  things  about  an  engine  not  understood  ;  and  constant 
experiment  and  '.-xpenditure  of  money  had  to  be  resorted  to  before  the  requi- 
site knowledge  was  obtained. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  building  of  railroads,  the  States  at  first  extended 


030 


IND  US  TKIA  L    II  IS  TOK  Y 


to  the  companies  building  them  direct  aid  either  from  the  public  treasury,  or 
Granting  of  by  a  loan  of  the  public  cretlit.  There  was  a  generous  glow  of 
pubi.caid.  interest  in  them  in  the  public  mind.  'Hn'  patriots  never  gathered 
for  a  Tourth-of-July  celebration  or  a  public  dinner  without  drinking  a  hearty 
toast  to  internal  improvements.  The  papers  were  full  of  rhapsodies  upon  the 
marcli  of  the  new  idea;  and  orators  in  public  assemblages,  and  in  the  (•a|)itols 
of  the  state  and  nation,  felt  that  they  had  well  earned  the  public  gratitude 


INTERIOR  OF  SLEEriNG-CAR. 


by  the  ardor  of  their  advocacy  of  railroads,  canals,  and  military  roads. 
Such  being  the  state  of  the  public  mind,  every  railroad  enterprise  wisely  con- 
ceived and  prudently  conducted  found  it  easy  to  obtain  State  aid  to  sucli 
reasonable  amount  as  would  enable  its  promoters  to  accomplish  their  work. 
Maryland  was  the  first  State  in  the  country  to  grant  legislative  aid  to  railroads. 
In  1S28  the  sum  of  $500,000  was  granted  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  line; 
and  in  1835  the  State  subscribed  $3,000,000  to  the  stock  of  the  compan\. 
and  the  city  of  Baltimore  $3,000,000  more.     Massachusetts  loaned  $4,000,000 


OF    THE    UXITED   STATES. 


631 


to  the  Hoston  and  Albany  line.  New  York  fuUowed  her  example  by  loaning 
small  sums  to  the  ilifferent  companies  building  the  chain  of  roads  out  to  Lake 
Erie,  —  a  step  which  the  panic  of  1837  made  necessary  in  part,  since  it  dis- 
couraged the  investment  of  private  capital.  Pennsylvania  went  so  far  as  to 
build  her  first  rail-route  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia  with  its  branches,  anil 
the  canal-route  on  to  Pittsburgii,  at  her  own  expense.  Tiie  wealthy  State 
of  Virginal  constructed  the  lllue-Kiilgc  Railroad  on  her  own   account,  unil 


INTERIOR  Ot    PASSENGER-CAK. 


Iroads. 
con- 
such 
work. 

Iroads. 
line ; 

|ipany. 

)O,000 


subsc(iuently  subscribed  to  the  stock  of  several  lines  ;  while  Kentucky  loaned 
her  credit  for  railroad-building  repeatedly.  South  Carolina  loaned  $100,000 
to  her  first  road.  The  object  of  these  proceedings  was,  in  the  main,  simply  to 
assist  private  enterprise  ;  and  the  total  amount  of  aid  granted  was  a  very  small 
part  of  the  total  capital  invested,  being  probably  less  than  ten  per  cent.  The 
works  were,  in  the  main,  left  to  private  enterprise. 

During  this  decade  several  railroads  were  projected  in  Canada  and  the 
British  Provinces.     The  Great  Western  Railway  took  its  origin  in  one  of  these 


632 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


projects,  —  the  London  and  Gore  Railroad  Company,  wliich  was  chartered 
Rai'.-oads  in  '"  ^^34-  Nothing  WIS  ever  done  with  that  charter;  and  the  plan 
Canada  and  was  ve-organized  in  18^5  as  the  Oreat  Western  Company,  in  order 
British  Prov-  j^  provide  for  a  road  from  the  Niagara  to  Lake  Huron,  and  thus 
secure  an  all-rail  route  from  the  West,  through  Canada  and  the 
United  ?tates,  to  the  seaboard  it  Boston.  The  road  was  built  under  this  latter 
charter.  A  line  from  St.  Andrew's  in  New  Brunswick  to  Quebec  was  pro- 
posed in  1835,  and  the  home  government  set  apart  ^10,000  to  make  the 
surveys  for  it  through  what  was  then  a  perfect  wilderness.  One-fifth  of 
the  sum  was  expended,  and  firther  expenditures  were  then  stopj)ed  until 
the  boundary-question  with  America  could  be  settled.  Work  on  the  road 
was  resumed  in  1847.  The  Erie  and  Niagara  Company  was  also  chartered 
in  1835. 

Rapid  transit  was  a  subjec;t  as  much  talked  about  in  those  early  days  as 
in  tlv_se  more  modern  times,  when  a  net-work  of  railroad-lines  and  telegrajjh- 
Great  'nter-  ^^'""^^  traverses  the  country  in  every  direction,  and  tr.'nsportation 
est  displayed  and  travel  engage  in  an  eager  race  against  time.  Lines  of  mail- 
in  subject  of    (^.(j^,(-iies  ^fiQX^  arranged  to  run  in  connection  with  steamboats,  uid 

rapid  transit.  " 

every  fresh  victory  over  time  and  space  was  heralded  in  the 
public  prints  wuh  enthusiasm.  In  1821  it  was  announced  as  a  specimen  of 
rapid  travelling,  that  the  distance  between  New  York  and  Providence  had 
been  traversed  in  twenty-fivi  hours  by  steamboat  and  stage.  Li  1824  it 
recpiired  seventy-one  hours  and  a  half  to  go  from  Boston  to  Washington  ; 
and  thcit  was  (juick  time  too,  the  usual  time  being  about  eighty  hours.  It 
required  nineteen  days  to  go  from  Philadelphia  to  Natchez,  and  twenty- 
four  days  to  go  to  New  Orleans.  When  Baltimore  was  brought  within  fifty- 
four  hours  of  Siratoga  Springs,  it  was  regarded  as  a  great  achievement. 
These  specimens  of  ra^-'id  travelling  were  due  to  the  improvement  of  the 
wagon-roads  and  the  employment  of  steam  on  the  rivers.  They  stimulated 
travel  greatly ;  and  in  1825  it  was  announced  as  a  gratifying  and  remarkable 
event,  that,  cuiring  the  Fourth-of-July  celebration  at  Philadelphia  that  year, 
tliree  hundred  ?N'ew-Yorkers  were  said  to  have  been  in  the  ci^y ;  and  in  New- 
York  State  as  many  as  forty  coach-loads  of  passengers  were  then  arriving 
every  day  at  Albany  by  the  great  turniiike  runni.ig  out  to  the  western  part  of 
the  .State.  After  1832  this  class  of  items  disappeared  from  the  columns  of  tiie 
newspapers,  and  a  new  variety  appeared.  Rapid  travelling  by  rail  iiecame 
tl;e  exciting  topic  then,  and  astonishing  ru.'s  from  one  city  to  another  over 
tl-,e  new  style  ot  road  were  recorded  in  the  prints  in  place  of  the  exploits 
of  the  mail-coaches.  Even  with  cars  drawn  by  horses,  time  was  at  once 
reduced  one-half  from  the  best  achievements  of  the  stages,  and,  as  soon  as 
locomotives  began  to  be  used,  to  one-fourth  and  less.  Wonder  and  curiosit) 
filled  the  public  mind  at  the  performances  of  the  new  servant  of  man.  Tlie 
papers  never  tired  o*"  talking  about  them.     Crowds  flocked  to  the  railroads 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


(>il 


ton  ; 
It 
enty- 
fifty- 
ment. 
the 
ated 
kable 
year, 
New- 
riving 
irt  of 
of  the 
came 
r  over 
q>loits 
onre 
on  3s 
riosity 
I'lie 
ilroadb 


LKWIS-^ON  NARROWS,  PBNN. 


634 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


to  see  the  locomotives  go  by ;  and  hundreds  of  people  went  travelling  who 
till  now  had  had  a  horror  of  the  long,  rough,  fatiguing  voyages  by  stage.  The 
locomotive  was  hailed  by  all  travellers  with  delight.  It  did  not  reduce  the 
cost  of  travel  materially ;  but  it  increased  the  speed,  and  it  gave  an  unwonted 
stimulus  to  travel,  and  business-operations  wherever  it  ran.  Railroad-travelling 
has  now  so  improved,  that,  in  1875,  ^^  '""'^  ixo\\\  New  York  to  San  Francisco 
was  made  in  three  days  and  a  half;  which  was  about  thj  length  of  time  it 
formerly  took  to  go  from  Boston  to  Washington. 

The  reduction  in  the  cost  of  transportation  by  railroads  was  enormous. 
No  line  twenty  miles  long  was  constructed  anywhere  without  enabling  farmers 
to  send  their  cider,  potatoes,  apples,  cheese,  and  produce  generally,  to  town 
at  from  a  half  to  a  quarter  of  what  it  had  cost  them  previously.  It  enabled 
farmers  to  sell  vast  quantities  of  produce,  which,  before  that,  would  not  pay  the 
cost  of  transportation.  Freight  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh  was  —  by  the 
railroad  to  Columbia,  and  the  canal  thence  to  the  city  last  named  —  reduced 
from  a  hundred  dollars  to  thirty  dollars  a  ton.  It  was  calculated  in  Maryland, 
from  the  experience  of  the  first  few  sections  of  the  road  building  out  to  the 
.  Ohio,  that,  when  the  line  reached  Cumberland,  the  freight  upon  coal,  then 
several  dollars  a  ton,  would  be  reduced  tc  one  cent ;  and  in  South  Carolina 
the  railroad  to  the  interior  was  found  to  enable  the  planters  to  send  their 
cotton  to  the  seaport  at  a  few  cents  a  bale,  when  it  had  previously  cost  them 
from  three  to  four  dollars  to  get  it  down  by  the  rough  and  swampy  wagon- 
roads. 

The  reduction  in  the  expense  of  transportation  by  means  of  railroads  is  not 
the  only  benefif  conferred  by  them.  By  their  creation  it  became  practicable 
to  cultivate  the  soil  far  away  from  rivers  and  lakes,  and  which  to-day  would  be 
lying  in  native,  untamed  .viUlness  except  for  these  mighty  agents  of  civilization. 
The  railroads  long  ago  surpassed  the  rivers  in  importance  as  highways,  render- 
ing it  possible  to  acquire  from  every  iucli  of  the  national  domain  whatever 
riches  it  may  possess. 

These  acliievements  of  the  railroads  and  the  performances  of  the  locomo- 
tives, after  1S34,  finally  demonstrated  the  value  of  this;  lu-w  agency  of  transpor- 
superiority  tation.  Its  supcrior  speed,  cheapness,  and  comfort  were  fully 
of  railroads,  proved,  and,  in  fact,  surjjassed  all  prediction ;  and  there  was 
great  confidence  that  the  defocts  of  the  roads  and  tracks  and  rolling-stock 
would  be  corrected  just  as  fast  as  in-.entors  gave  their  attention  to  them.  A 
passion  for  railroad-building  accordingly  set  in.  A  vast  number  of  companies 
were  formed  in  all  the  older  States  to  open  up  rail-communication  between  all 
the  thickly-settled  regions  of  the  country  ;  and,  as  fast  as  population  advanced 
westward,  the  locomotive  followed  it  close'y,  and  united  the  clies  of  the  new 
States  to  their  sisters  in  the  East  with  the  iron  bands  of  civilization.  How 
rapid  has  been  the  progress  will  appear  from  the  following'  t  ible,  showing  the 
mileage  of  raihvay  construction  in  the  United  States  since  1830 ;  — 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


635 


1830 
1831 

I8J2 

1833 
1834 
183,5 
1S36 
1S37 
1838 

1839 
1840 
1S41 
1842 

1S43 
1844 

1845 
1846 

1847 
1848 
1849 
1850 
185. 
1852 
1853 
1854 

i"j5 
1856 

'857 
1858 

•859 
1S60 
1S61 
1862 
1S63 
1S64 
1865 
1866 
1867 
186S 
1869 
£870 


1872 

1S73 
1874 
18-S 
1S76 


MILES  !.■ 
OPERATION 


ANNl-AL  INCREASE 
OF  MILEAGE. 


23 

95 
229 

380 

633 

1,098 

1.273 
1-497 

'.913 

2,302 
2,8 1 8 

3.535 
4,026 

4.185 
4.377 
4.633 
4.930 
5.598 
5.996 

7.365 
9,021 

10,982 
i2,9aS 
15.360 
16,720 
18,374 

22,0l6 

24.503 
26,968 

28,789 

30.635 
31,286 
32,120 
33.170 
33.908 

35.085 
36,827 

39.276 
42,255 
47.208 
52,898 
60,568 

66,735 
70,840 

72.741 
74,658 
77.470 


72 
»34 
>5i 
253 
465 

«75 
224 

416 

3S9 
516 

717 
491 

'59 
192 
256 
297 
668 
398 
1.369 
1,656 

1,961 
1,926 

2.452 
1,360 
1.654 
3.642 

2,487 
2,465 

1,821 

1,846 
651 

834 
1,050 

738 
1,117 
1.742 
2,449 
2.979 
4.953 
5.690 
7,670 
6,167 
4,10s 
1,901 

i.9»7 

2,812 


636 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


To  the  total  mileage  for  1876  should  also  be  added  the  mileage  of  Canada, 
Miles  built  which  is  4,929,  because  those  railways  substantially  belong  to  and 
during  fifty  form  an  integral  part  of  the  American  system  of  railway-com- 
*""'^''  munication.       In  fifty  years  82,443  '"iles  of  railroad  were  built 

and  put   in  practical  operation ;    or,  computing  the  length  of  track  upon 


CONEMAUGH   VIADUCT. 


these  roads,  —  counting  in  sidings,  double  and  quadruple  tracks,  &c.,  —  98,773 
miles  of  railroad-track  were  laid  on  this  continent  Nonh  of  the  Rio  Clrando 
in  simply  a  half-century  of  effort.  None  of  the  richer  and  older  nations  can 
present  a  record  like  this. 

The  following  shows  the  distribution  of  the  railroads  to  the  different  States 
and  Territories  in  1876  :  — 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


637 


States 


EQUIPMENT  OF  ROADS  OWNED  AND  CONTROLLED. 

* 

MILES  OF 

STATES* 

ROAU. 

LOCOMOTIVES. 

CARS. 

COST  OF  ROAD 
AND  EQUIPMENT. 

Maine 

1,000 

167 

2,811 

545,314,005 

New  Hampshire 

940 

'25 

2,728 

23.7 '4.859 

Vermont  . 

810 

197 

3.038 

33.585.33s 

Rhode  Island 

189 

37 

291 

6,129,023 

Connecticut 

918 

260 

4,833 

52,912,022 

Massachusetts 

1,837 

77' 

17,841 

124,675,669 

New  York 

5.525 

1.667 

p,i68 

421,593.301 

New  Jersey 

1,601 

787 

23.838 

146,795.016 

Delaware . 

28s 

2 

35 

5,027,202 

Pennsylvania 

5.983 

2,247 

97.667 

386,891,860 

Maryland . 

1,107 

762 

19.376 

100,973,120 

Virginia    . 

1,649 

288 

S.252 

89,774,065 

West  Virginia 

584 

2 

5 

163,000 

North  Carolina 

I.S70 

116 

1.434 

37,023,418 

South  Carolina 

I.3S3 

162 

1,868 

37.295.'23 

Florida     . 

484 

32 

282 

17,420,000 

Georgia    . 

2,306 

3'8 

4.643 

62,038,201 

Alabama  . 

1.738 

184 

2,442 

70,641,120 

Mississippi 

1,044 

'32 

'.3'3 

27,302,03s 

Louisiana 

539 

'52 

2,280 

48,198,667 

Texas 

2,085 

184 

3.552 

79,037,900 

Ohio 

4,687 

',749 

38.225 

373,944.388 

Indiana     . 

' 

4.003 

798 

16,514 

194,496,511 

Illinois     . 

7.285 

1,645 

41,128 

415,777,140 

Kentucky 

1.475 

299 

5.030 

76,655,260 

Tennessee 

1.64s 

'3' 

1,649 

29.55S.822 

Arkansas . 

788 

28 

307 

14,881,400 

Missouri  . 

3.146 

543 

16,304 

228,458,579 

Iowa 

3.939 

'50 

3.25' 

106,352,984 

Wisconsin 

2.707 

29. 

6,404 

111,728,249 

Michigan . 

3.395 

491 

12,569 

139,866,082 

Minnesota 

2,020 

'S3 

4.039 

79.754,596 

Kansas     . 

2,238 

217 

4,080 

92,523,557 

Nebraska 

I, ISO 

34 

728 

'9.578.755 

Colorado  . 

957 

30 

574 

30,694,150 

iMkota     . 

275 

4 

74 

12,700,000 

Utah 

S'S 

3' 

573 

8,217,000 

Wyoming 
Nevada    . 

459 
6So 

33 

713 

4,650,000 

California 

1,919 

So 

2,909 

64,705,666 

( )regon     . 

251 

14 

23' 

7,361,664 

Indian  Counlrv 

279 
no 

Washington 

9 

**;;; 

6,000,000 

Union-racific 

1,038 

168 

3.227 

115,214,588 

Central-Pacific 

1,212 

228 

4,401 

142,630,283 

Total 

77.470 

15,618 

399.924 

$4,087,253,225 

638 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


639 


Thus,  in  the  space  of  fifty  years,  there  has  been  expended  in  this  new  and 
wild  country  the  enormous  sum  of  $4,087,253,225  in  building  railroads  be- 
tween the  different  parts  of  our  domain.     That  so  young  a  country,  without 


cHiQi-ES  ro;k. 


wealth,  without  capital,  a  region  inhabited  almost  exclusively  at  first  by  farmers 
and  planters,  should  have  displayed  such  remarkable  resources  of  cost  of 
capital,  will  not  appear  wonderful,  however,  when  it  is  explained   '■•'•'•o"«>»' 
how  the  capital  was  obtained.     In  the  early  days  of  railroading  it  was  felt  that 


640 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


enterprises  of  such  magnitude  as  were  then  proposed  could  only  be  carried 
How  money  OH  by  the  aid  of  the  people  ;  and  accordingly  public  meetings 
was  raised,  were  held  in  the  cities  and  villages  through  which  the  roads  were 
to  run,  and  the  best  speakers  of  the  day  were  yngaged  to  awaken  the  interest 
of  all  substantial  citizens  in  the  public  and  private  advantages  of  the  roads. 
Subscriptions  to  the  stock  of  the  companies  took  the  form,  therefore,  of  a 
popular  movement ;  and  it  was  the  characteristic  of  the  early  railroad-com- 
panies, that  a  vast  number  of  small  sums  saved  by  industry  and  frugality  were 
invested  in  them.  The  State  legislatures  aided  many  of  them,  as  we  have 
seen,  by  grants  of  credit  and  money.  A  part  of  the  capital  to  build  the  roads 
was  also  obtained  in  London,  whither  the  agents  of  the  principal  lines  were 
sent,  even  in  the  very  infancy  of  their  respective  enterprises,  to  see  what  could 
be  done  in  the  way  of  borrowing  money.  As  railroad-extension  became  a 
popular  furore,  borrowing  capital  in  London  became  a  hal)it ;  and  tiie  result 
has  been,  that,  in  the  course  of  these  fifty  years,  a  sum  of  money,  estimated 
at  not  less  than  $400,000,000,  has  been  obtained  in  England  and  P^urope  for 
the  building  of  our  American  railroads.  A  large  part  of  the  money  thus 
invested  by  foreign  capitalists  was  transmitted  to  the  United  States  in  the  form 
of  railroad-iron.  The  manufacture  of  rails  was  in  its  infancy  in  this  country  : 
and  lingland  supplied  us,  until  about  five  years  ago,  with  nearly  all  the  rails 
laid  down  here.  Locomotives  and  cars  we  built  ourselves ;  but  we  did  not 
Importation  have  the  factories  to  make  iron  rails.  From  1840  to  1877  there 
of  rails.  v^txQ.  imported  from   England  5,200,000   tons   of  rails,  being  a 

large  proportion  of  the  whole  quantity  used.  The  cost  of  the  rails  imported 
was  something  over  $200,000,000,  the  price  per  ton  being  at  times  excessive. 
In  1864  it  ran  up  one  month  to  a  hundred  and  fifty-four  dollars  per  ton. 
though  sinking  back  next  year  to  eighty-three  dollars,  and  running  down  in 
1876  to  forty  dollars  a  ton,  which  is  more  nearly  their  legitimate  value.  Part 
of  the  capital  for  building  the  roads  in  the  new  States  of  the  West  was  con- 
tributed outright  by  the  General  Government  of  Washington  in  the  form  of 
large  grants  of  the  public  lands,  by  the  pledge  of  which  the  companies  were 
enabled  to  raise  millions  of  money  which  they  could  not  have  otherwise 
secured.  This  policy  of  land-grants  began  in  1850.  The  State  of  Illinois  had 
projected  a  grand  system  of  canals  and  railroads  in  1837,  one  feature  of  which 
was  to  be  a  rail-route  from  Chicago  to  Cairo  through  the  central  portion  of 
the  State.  The  Central  Road  was  begun,  and  $3,500,000  spent  upon  it  by 
the  State,  when  bankruptcy  overtook  the  enterprise,  and  work  was  stopped. 
Congres-  ^"  ^^^.^o*  Congress,  in  a  liberal  and  wise  spirit,  granted  to  the  State 
of  Illinois  every  alternate  section  of  the  public  lands  on  each  side 
of  the  projected  road  and  it.=  branches,  six  sections  in  width,  to 
assist  in  carrying  it  forward  to  completion,  —  a  grant  which  comprised  2,595,000 
acres  of  land,  an  area  larger  than  the  State  of  Connecticut.  The  same  law- 
made  grants  of  the  same  description  to  Alabama  and  Mississippi  for  the  exten- 


sional 
grants 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


641 


sion  of  the  railroad  from  Cairo  to  Mobile.  In  1851 
Illinois  incorporated  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  and  turned  the  land- 
grant  over  to  the  company  in  fee-simple,  stipulating 
only  that  the  company  should  pay  $200,000  at  the 
start  into  the  public  treasury,  and  five  per  cent  on 


the  gross  earnings  an- 
nually thereafter.    The 
company    took    the 
lands,  built   the   road 
with  them,  and  proved 
the  wisdom  of  the  new 
policy  of  the  govern- 
ment by  paying  to  the 
State  nearly  $500,000  per  annum  ever  afterwards  as  its  share  of  the  gross  earn- 
ings of  the  road,  and  by  doubling  the  value  of  the  previously  unsold  govern- 
ment-lands in  the  State  of  Illinois.    Those  lands  had  been  previously  held  at 


BRIDGE.  —  CONEW AGO  CREEK. 


643 


INDUSTRIAL    II IS  TONY 


a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  and  could  not  find  buyers.  After  the 
building  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  they  all  sold  for  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  per  acre,  and  the  government  realized  $9,000,000  for  lands  which  had 
been  valueless  before  they  felt  the  magic  breath  of  the  locomotive.  This 
policy  of  the  government  was  based  upon  the  idea,  first,  of  tleveloping  the 
fertile  lands  of  the  West  by  affording  the  facilities  for  and  inviting  immigra- 
tion ;  and,  secondly,  upon  the  idea  of  enhancing  the  value  of  its  own  lands  by 
the  process  of  settlement.  So  completely  was  all  anticipation  realized,  that 
popular  sentiment  strongly  favored  the  granting  of  lands  to  railroads ;  and  it 
is  a  remarkable  f-ict,  that  the  people  have  been  more  willing  to  make  land 
donations  than  the  companies  have  been  to  accept  them,  as  appears  from  the 


TRACK   AND  TRACK-TANK. 


circumstance  that  over  4,000,000  of  acres  have  been  given  up  by  the  com- 
panies, and  surrendered  to  the  government.  These  gifts,  however,  have  been 
so  badly  abused  in  many  cases,  that  public  sentiment  within  a  few  years  has 
undergone  a  radical  change  in  respect  to  the  recipients,  and  a  marked  disin- 
clination has  shown  itself  in  political  platforms  and  the  action  of  Congress  to 
granting  any  considerable  portion  of  the  national  domain  in  the  future  for 
railroad-purposes.  This  renewal  of  interest  i:  the  public  lands,  and  better 
appreciation  of  their  value,  is  one  of  the  favorable  signs  of  national  regen- 
eration. The  extent  to  which  Congress  has  provided  the  railroad-companies 
of  the  United  orates  with  capital  is  exhibited  by  the  following  table  of  land 
concessions  from  1850  to  1876  :  — 


OF    THE    UiWlTED    STATES. 


643 


he 
fty 
tad 
his 
the 
;ra- 
\\iy 
that 
d  it 
and 
the 


tTATKS. 


DATE  OF  GRANT. 


IllinoU  .••. 
Miisiuippi 

Alabama. . 


Florida . . . 

I.oiii!iiana. 
Arkaniai . 


Missouri 


Iowa . 


com- 
been 

rs  has 
disin- 

ress  to 

ire  for 
better 
regen- 

ipanies 
f  land 


Michigan. 


Michigan  (Res.) 
Wisconsin  . 


Sept.  ao, 

.Sept.  ao, 

.Sept.  ao, 

Aug.  II, 

Aug.  II, 

Sept.  ao, 

M.iy  17, 

June  3, 

June  3, 

June  3, 

June  3, 

June  3, 

.M.iy  17, 

M.iy  17, 

M.iy  17, 

M.iy  17, 

June  3, 

June  3, 

Feb.  9, 

July  28, 

Feb.  9, 

July  28, 

Feb  9, 

July  38, 

July  4. 

June  10, 

June  10, 

Feb.  9, 

July  28, 

July  4, 

May  15, 

June  a, 

May  15, 

June  a. 

May  15, 

June  2, 

May  15, 

M»/  15, 

May  13, 

May  13, 

June  3, 
June 
June 
June 
June 
June 
June 
March  3, 

■   July  5. 

i  June  3, 

I  June  3, 


8;o 
85a 
850 
856 
856 
850 
856 
8s6 
856 
8;6 
8s6 
856 
836 
8j5 
856 
856 
856 
856 

853 
B66 
853 
866 

853 
866 
866 
852 
853 
833 
866 
866 
856 
864 
856 
864 
856 
864 
856 
856 
864 
864 
856 
836 
856 
856 
856 
864 
856 
86s 
863 
856 
856 


COMPANY. 


ESTIMATtD     I     Nl'MnKH  OF 

ACKKS    IN    LIM- ACKKS  FATKNT- 

ITS  OF  THB      BD   I'F  TO  JUNK 

CRANT.  30,  1875. 


Illinois  Central 1 

Mobile  and  Chicago { 

.Mobile  and  Ohio  Kivcr 

Vicksburg  and  Meridian 

Gulf  and  Ship  Island 

Mobile  and  Ohio  River 

Alabania  and  Florida 

Selma,  Rome,  and  Dalton 

Coosa  and  Tennessee 

Mobile  and  Girard 

Al.ib.-ima  and  Chatt.mnoga 

South  and  North  Al.ibama 

Florida  Railroad 

Florida  and  Alabama 

Pens.icola  and  Georgia 

?"lorida,  Atlantic,  and  Gulf  Conir.il 

North  Louisiana  and  Texas 

New  Orleans,  Opelousas,  and  G't  Western, 

Cairo  and  Fulton 

Cairo  and  Fulton 

Memphis  and  Little  Rock 

Memphis  and  t^iltle  Rock 

Liiile  Rock  and  Fort  Smith 

Litile  Rock  and  Fort  Smith 

Iron  Mountain 

Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph 

Pacific  and  South-west  Branch 

Cairo  and  Fulton 

Cairo  and  Fulton 

St.  Louis  and  Iron  Mountain 

liurlington  and  Missouri  River 

Burlington  and  Missouri  River 

Chicago,  Rock  Island,  and  Pacific 

Chicago,  Rock  Island,  and  Piuific 

Cedar  R.ipids  and  Missouri  River 

Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri  River 

Iowa  Falls  and  Sioux  City 

Dubuque  and  Sioux  City 

.McGregor  and  .Missouri  River 

Sioux  City  and  St  Paul 

Detroit  and  Milwaukee. 

Port  Huron  and  Milwaukee 

Jackson,  Lansing,  and  Saginaw 

Flint  and  Pi!re  Marquette 

Grand  Rapids  and  Indiana 

Grand  Rapids  and  Indiana 

Marquette,  Houghton,  and  Ontonagon.,.. 

B.iy  de  Noquet 

Chicago  and  North-western 

West  Wisconsin 

Wisconsin  Railroad  Farm  Mort.  Land  Co., 


•.595.053 
1,004,640 
404,800 
635,800  > 
330,400 
419,530' 
481,930 
133,480* 
840,880) 
897,930 
576,000 

44».54« 
165,688' 
1,568,739' 

"83.153 ' 
6to,88o 
967,840 
1,160,667 
1,040,000 
438,646 
365.539 
550.535 
458,77' 
864,000 

781,944 
1,161,235 
219,363 
183,718 
640,000 
948,643 


1,361,181 

'  .298.73'y 
1,326,163 

1,536,000 
524,800 
355.420 

3'a.384 
1,053,469 
586,818 
629,182 
531,800 


128,000 
564.480 
999.983 


a.S9S.os3 

737.'30 
198,027 


4'9.5»8 
394.5" 
457.407 
67.784 
504, '45 
55a. '99 
436.7«» 
881,984 
165,688 

1,375,313 
37.583 

353,311 

7'9.'93 
1,115,408 
'94.5>4 
137,238 
14,606 
550,5»o 
336i'96 


599.03' 
1,161,304 

4.oir 


393,085 
97,227 

482,354 
161,373 
782,250 
348.896 
683,033 
473.606 

'37.57a 
396,838 
30,998 
6,428 
742,900 
512,529 
629,183 

317.434 
433.707 
128,000 
S'7.908 
796,912 

39.939 


'  No  evidence  of  the  construction  of  any  part  of  these  roads  having  been  filed  in  the  General  Land  Office, 
the  grants  are  presumed  to  have  lapsed;  but  the  lands  have  not  been  restored,  and  Congress  has  not  yet  taken 
action  in  the  matter. 


^ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


z 


1.0 


I.I 


UitM    |2.S 

|50    ■^"      M^H 

!5  ^  IIIIM 

12.0 


1.8 


1125       1.4       1.6 

^ 6^'       

► 

v. 


% 


V 


"«? 


>?*.'# 


o 


/ 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14S80 

(716)  872  4503 


■T 


■■  ►^ 


^ip 


^m 


644 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


•TATU. 


DATE  OP  OaAMT. 


Wucoatia.. 


MimiMnu  . 


KaiMM< 


Corpontioni  • 


June     3, 
May     5, 


June 
May 

March 

March 

March 

March  3, 

March  3, 

March 

May 

July 

July 

March 

March 

March 

July 


July 

July 

July 

July 

July 

March 

July 

July 
May 

July 
July 
July 
July 
July 
July 
July 
March  3, 
March  a, 
May  4, 
March  3, 
!  March  3, 


3i 
S> 
4i 
4. 
3> 
3i 
3> 

»5. 

«5. 

*5> 
>> 
«i 
i> 
3> 
i> 
>• 
«. 
•1 
•. 

i3> 

«5. 

«5. 

«7. 

»7. 


856 
864 

836 
864 
857 
8S7 
871 
857 
857 
857 
864 
8«6 
866 
863 
863 
863 
866 
866 
866 
866 
86a 
86a 
869 
86a 
863 
870 
864 
864 
866 
866 
866 
866 
866 
871 
867 
870 
871 
871 


B8TIMATBD 

I  ACRES  IN  UM- 

ITS  OP  THE 

GRANT. 


St.  Croix  and  Lake  Superior \ 

and  Branch  to  Bayfield ( 

St.  Croix  and  I^ire  Superior  and  Branch  1 
to  Bayfield t| 

Chidigoand  North-weatem { 

Wiiconiin  Central 

First  Division  St.  Paul  and  Pacific 

Branch  St.  Paul  and  Pacific 

St.  Vincent  Extension  (St.  Paul  and  Pacific) 

Minnesou  Central 

Winona  and  St.  Peter 

St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City 

Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi 

Southern  Minnesota 

Hastings  and  Dakota 

Leavenworth,  Lawrence,  and  Galveston. . . 

Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Texas 

Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Yt 

Missouri  River,  Fort  Scott,  and  Gulf. 

St.  Joseph  and  Denver  City 

Missouri  River,  Fort  Scott,  and  Gulf 

Union  Pacific 

Central  Branch  (Union  Pacific) 

Kh. '.  .as  Pacific 

Denver  Pacific 

Central  Pacific 

Central  Pacific 

Burlington  and  Missouri  River 

Sioux  City  and  Pacific  .  ■ '. 

Northern  Pacific. 

Placerville  and  Sacramento  Valley 

Oregon  Branch  (Central  Pacific) 

Oregon  and  California 

Atlantic  and  Pacific 

Southern  Pacific 

Southern  Pacific 

Stockton  and  Copperopolis 

Oregon  Central 

Texas  Pacifiq 

New  Orleans,  Baton  Rouge,  and  Vicksburg, 


5«4.7>4 
3>8,737 

S65,0(m< 

6oo,ouo 
1,800,000 
1,348,038 
'.475.000 

t,000,00Q 

643.403 
1,410,000 
1,010,000 

9ao,ooo 
735.000 
550,000  ■ 
800,000 

1,530)000 

3,000,000 

1,700,000 
a.350.000 

13,000,000 

345,166 

6,000,000 
t  ,000,400 
8,000,000 
1,000,100 

•,441,600 

60,000 

47,000,000 

aoo,ooo 
3,000,000 
3,500,000 

43,000,000 

6,000,000 

3,530,000 

330,000 

1,300,000 

18,000,000 
3,800,000 


NVMRER  OP 

ACRES  PATENT* 

ED  UP  TO  JUNE 

30.  «875- 


Total,  deducting  the  lands  reverted 108,344,363 


S«4.7»8 

3«8.740 

546,3a» 
398.86s 

«.»37.443 
533,935 

780,391 
179,058 
1,609,748 
919,566 
743.a4« 
»65.394 
169,911 
359,830 

977.954 

3,374,686 

33,537 

44'.'58 

"3.489 

>.844.»97 

»86,453 

506,5^5 

49,811 

37«.977 

387,630 

a.374.090 

40,596 

630,717 

494.059 
336,535 

504.478 

686,118 

41,178 


38,053,530 


■mount  e( 
(rant. 


As  the  estimated  quantity  of  lands  contained  in  the  grants  is  somewhat 
Total  xaaxt  than  the  quantity  which  the  companies  will  realize  from  them, 

owing  to  previous  settlement,  especially  in   Kansas,  Minnesota 
Iowa,  and  Arkansas,  the  total  grant  is  estimated  in  reality  as  amount- 
ing only  to  183,216,733  acres,  wonn  152,5  75,000.    The  government  also  aided 

*  No  evidence  of  lh«  constructson  of  any  part  of  these  roads  living  been  filed  in  the  General  Land  Office, 
the  grants  are  pitiuiiMd  to  Im««  Upeod;  but  tbt  lands  bsv«  not  been  lestored,  and  Congress  has  not  yet  taken 
Mtien  in  the  matter.  \  ^ 

/ 


or  rMS  UNITED  STATES. 


645 


nee. 
•km 


646 

in  the 
utility, 
fund  esl 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

ion  of  the  Pacific  railroads,  as  enterprises  of  great  national 

them  bonds  to  run  for  thirty  years,  payable  from  a  sinking- 

y  the  companies ;  the  bonds  being  issued  to  the  companies, 

fast  as  they  finished  th^  different  sections  of  their  roads,  at  the 

Se  of  ^16,000  a  mile  on  the  plains,  $48,000  a  mile  through  the 

;es,  and  133,000  a  mile  between  the  ranges.    The  following  table 

e  amount  of  the  loans  to  the  different  projects :  — 


CQMHyciion 

(Mr 

iQMIPrecrby  I 


fr^                            KAILWAV. 

AVTHOIIIItMa  ACTS. 

nu  NcirAL. 

• 

Central  Pacific 

Kaiuas  Pacific    .        .       ... 

Union  Pacific 

Union  Pacific,  Central  Branch   . 

Western  Pacific 

Sioux  City  and  Pacific        .... 

July  I,  1862,  and  July  2,  1864. 

U                          «                       II 

If                     w                  u 
<l                         u                      « 
M                           II                        II 
U                          II                       II 

$35,885,120 
6,303,000 
27,236,512 
1,600,000 
1,970,560 
1,628,320 

m<;,i 

164,623,512 

\ 

.               . 

adequate  the  old  and  simple  method  of  raising  the  capital 
for  th'emjpsm  the  savings  of  the  people  in  the  localities  through 


The  contribution  of  the  government,  therefore,  toward  the  capital  needed 
te"   Ratio  o(  aid    for  Creating  the  railroad-system  of  the  United  States,  was  $144,- 

*  %  1^°""'  000,000.  Large  as  is  this  sum,  it  is  only  one  and  three-fifths  per 
^SK**  cent  of  the  whole  amount  of  capital  invested.  That  part  of  it 
wlficlr  consisted  in  land-grants  has  been  repaid  to  the  government  by  the 

^increased  v»ub  of  its  other  lands. 

Anothei:^!^^!  resorted  to,  after  railroad-enteq)rises  attained  a  magnitude 
which  rendere(^iadequa 

*>issue  of         for  th'em^K>ti  ^ 

bonds.  which  theycun^  was  the  issue  of  bonds  by  towns  and  cities.    A 

very  large  number  of  the  short  lines  of  the  country  were  built  by  mer.ns  of 
capital  raised  in  this  way.  Some  of  these  bonds  have  not  been  paid ;  but  the 
object  of  their  issue  was  secured,  and  the  roads  constructed,  and  added  tu 
the  perffianent'  wealth  of  the  country.  .j^ 

\  The  fifteen  yeafs  just  before  the  civil  war  was  a  period  of  great  .ac^^ty  in 
railroad-building.  It  was  seen  that  the  growth  of  cities  and  the  manJEpig  of 
Piftoon  surplus  products  of  farm,  plantation,  forest,  and  mine,  vvtte  de- 

ysars  prior  pendent  on  the  construction  of  these  avenues  of  communlHttioo. 
to  civ  war.  ^  great  many  impostant  lines  were  projected  and  built  in*  that 
fifteen  years,  anfong  them  being  the  Erie  Railroad,  the  Hudson-river,  the 
Pennsylvania,  the  Illinois  Central,  and  many  others.  Connecting  links  were 
finish*;^,  so  as  to  open  an  all-rail  route  from  Boston  to  New  Orleans,  and  from 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis  to  all  the  principal  cities  on  the  Atlantic  coast ;  so  that 
the  pine-woods  and  myriad  factories  of  New  England  were  united  to  tlic 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


647 


no^rbeat  \ 


•nd  com 
iC  ocean- 
Regions 
;^Uio!^s  of 

it  of 
the 


cotton-iielcU  and  cane-brakes  of  the  South,  and  the  wavini 
fields  of  the  VVest  to  the  wharves  and  fleets  of  stately  shipl,^ 
coasts.  The  locomotive  sped  through  every  part  of  the 
which  before  were  impenetrable  wildernesses  became  gardens ; 
human  beings  came  from  Europe  to  populate  them,  and  And 
them  a  comiietence  and  independence  which  they  had  ney«r 
previous  part  of  their  lives.  Old  cities  received  a  new  birth,  and  netf-,ones 
sprang  up  in  magical  fashion  all  over  the  country.  New  industries'- w«re 
planted  by  the  exigencies  of  the  roads.  There  was  plenty  of  work  every- 
where ;  and  the  wealth  of  the  country  developed  in  a  manner  that  astonished 
the  Old  World,  and  formed  the  theme  of  admiring  comment  of  statesmen  and 
writep  everywhere. 

In  the  early  years  of  railway-traffic  the  transportation-system  of  the  country 
presented  the  aspect  merely  of  a  confusion  of  disconnected  and  independent 
roads,  managed  without  regard  to  any  common  puq)ose,  and  with  contoud*. 
very  little  respect  for  the  wishes  of  patrons  living  beyond  the  ter-  tiea  of  rail- 
mini  of  the  several  roads.  The  New- York  Central  route  was  '••^" 
composed  of  twelve  distinct  corporations  and  lines  between  Albany  and  Lake 
Erie  ;  and  for  twenty  or  thirty  years  there  was  not  a  trunk-line  anywhere  in  the 
country,  in  the  modem  sense  of  the  term.  Every  little  line  of  fifty  miles  of 
track  was  managed  in  delightfully  autocratic  style ;  and  the  only  concern  of  its 
officers  was  to  collect  the  cliarges  for  the  transportation  of  freight  over  their 
line,  what  became  of  the  freight  after  it  had  passed  on  —  whether  it  was  lost 
or  plundered,  or  stood  for  weeks  on  a  siding  —  being  of  no  earthly  interest  to 
them  whatever.  The  shipment  of  freight  to  any  distance  by  rail  was  thus 
attended  by  all  sorts  of  delays,  vexations,  and  losses.  This  was  a  discourage- 
ment to  trade,  and  thus  both  the  roads  and  the  public  suffered  by  it.  Out  of 
this  state  of  things  arose  several  measures  looking  toward  unity  and  harmony 
in  the  railway-system  of  the  country,  among  them  being  the  consolidation 
of  connecting-lines  into  single  companies,  the  lease  of  connecting-routes  by 
powerful  companies,  —  so  as  to  secure  trunk-lines  from  the  scabbard  to  the 
productive  regions  of  the  interior,  and  between  interior  ixjints,  —  and  the  for- 
mation of  fast-freight  and  express  companies.  The  growth  of  .the  trunk-lines 
and  the  rapid-despatch  companies  will  be  separately  mentioned.  ^  ' 

Massachusetts  was  one  of  the  very  first  States  to  discover  the  need  of  a 
railroad  the  whole  length  of  the  State,  and  connecting  at  Albany  with  the  Erie 
Canal.     Dr.  Phelps  and  Daniel  Webster  were  early  and  earnest 
advocates  of  the  measure.     Two  routes  for  a  railroad  were  sur-  ,ettVth«iii"r« 
veyed  at  State  expense  —  one   through  the  Northem,  and  one  Bute  to 
through  the  Southem  countries  —  in  1827  and  the  two  succeed-  J'^",^2d.'"'' 
ing  years.    The  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  Corporation  was 
chartered,  June  23,  1 831,  to  build  the  first  part  of  the -road,  —  forty-three  nitles 
and  a  half;   which  task  was  completed  July  3,  1835.    I'he  road  eamed  a 


M 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


little  over  ten  per  cent  on  its  original  capital  of  J(  1,000,000  from  the  start. 
In  Marcl^  l833«  the  Western  Railroad  Corporation  was  chartered  to  build 
Boaton  and  °"^  from  Worcester  to  the  Hudson  River,  with  a  capital  of  1 3,000,- 
Aibuy  000.    'Wvt  company  did  not  organize  at  once,  owing  to  some  un- 

RaiiroM.  certainty  in  the  popular  mind  as  to  what  the  State  most  needed 
in  the  way  of  railroads.  There  was  great  agitation  for  a  direct  line  to  New 
York  from  Worcester  by  way  of  Hartford,  and  for  a  line  to  Norwich,  Conn, 
By  persevering  efforts,  the  Western  Railroad  Corporation  secured  its  capital 
by  subscriptions  along  the  route  of  the  road ;  and  work  began  in  the  winter 
of  1836.     In  January,   1836,  the  governor,  alluding  to  this  project  in   his 


STATION  ON   PENNSYLVANIA  CENTRAL  RAILROAD. 


message,  said,  "  Should  the  work  in  its  progress  stand  in  need  of  resources 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  enterprise  and  means  of  the  individual  citizens  by 
whom  it  is  undertaken,  it  is  believed  that  the  public  patronage  could  be  safely 
extended  to  it  as  a  project  of  vast  general  utility,  whose  successful  execution 
would  form  an  era  in  the  prosperity  of  the  State."  State  aid  was  very  mucii 
needed  afler  1837,  on  account  of  the  business  prostration  of  the  country;  and 
three  separate  loans  of  State  credit  were  made,  amounting  in  all  to  54,000,000. 
CeUbration  The  Toad  was  opposed  in  New- York  State  by  influence  from  the 
of  event.  dty  of  New  York ;  but  the  managers  overcame  all  obstacles,  and 
on  the  aist  of  December,  1841,  opened  their  road  fix>m  Worcester  to  Albany. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


649 


Public  celebrations  of  the  event  took  place  in  Boston  and  Albany.  The  road 
of  the  Western  Corporation  cost  ^7,566,791.  When  the  Western  Road  was 
opened,  a  difference  sprang  up  at  once,  between  the  two  companies  con- 
trolling the  route  from  Springfield  to  Boston,  about  the  rate  of  fare;  the 
Boston  and  Worcester  Road  claiming  an  undue  share  of  the  through  rate. 
A  conflict  on  this  subject  was  carried  on  with  acrimony  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  and  was  never  settled  until  in  1868  the  two  roads  were  consolidated 
into  one  com|)any  as  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad  Company.  In  1871 
the  Albany  and  West-Stockbridge  Company,  in  New  York  State,  was  consoli- 
dated with  the  corporation,  thus  putting  the  route  from  Albany  under  one 
management  and  ownersliip.  The  combined  capital  of  the  three  companies 
wxs  1527,325,000.  .\t  Albany  this  road  connects  with  the  New- York  Central 
and  the  Erie-canal  routes  to  the  West,  and  the  Albany  and  Suscjuehanna  route 
to  the  coal-mines.  It  has  brought  about  a  great  change  in  the  ancient 
currents  of  trade.  Now  flour  and  grain  coming  down  the  Krie  Canal  go 
no  longer,  as  of  yore,  down  the  Hudson  and  up  the  Sound,  whence,  in  due 
course  of  time,  ihey  reach  Boston  by  doubling  around  Cape  Cod.  All  these 
things  now  go  direct,  and  reach  Boston  in  ten  hours  from  Albany,  against  the 
six  or  seven  days'  transit  of  the  old  regime.  At  Boston  the  road  has  a  grain- 
elevator  with  a  capacity  of  i  ,000,000  bushels,  coal-|X)ckets,  warehouses,  and 
other  terminal  facilities,  which  are  not  excelled  in  any  seaport  of  the  United 
States.  P'reight  is  supplied  to  three  weekly  lines  of  steamers  to  England. 
The  Boston  and  Albany  Road  has  repaid  its  entire  debt  to  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  is  one  of  the  prosi)erous  enterprises  of  the  country. 

Another  connecting  link  between  the  New- England  seaboard  and  the 
New -York  transportation  routes  to  the  West  was  completed  in  1875  on  the 
line  through  the  northern  counties  of  the  State  talked  of  in  1827  :  Hootac-tun- 
this  is  the  Hoosac-tunnel  Fast  Freight  Line.  It  is  composed  of  "*'  •*•"'«»«'• 
a  combination  of  railroads,  and  affords  to  the  public  a  choice  of  routes  between 
.Mbany  and  Boston.  Tlio  component  parts  of  the  line  are  the  Fitchburg 
Railroad  from  Boston  to  (irccnlield  (a  hundred  and  six  miles),  the  Troy  and 
(ireenfield  Railroad  and  Hoosac  Tunnel  to  the  Vermont  State  line  (forty-four 
miles), and  the  Troy  and  Boston  Railroad  to  Troy  (forty-one  miles).  The  Troy 
and  (Jreenfield  Road  with  the  tunnel  were  built  by  the  State  at  a  cost  of  I20,- 
000,000,  and  are  still  owneil  I)"  the  Commonwealth.  The  tunnel  was  opened 
for  the  first  train  Feb.  9,  1875.  The  capacities  of  this  route  are  not  yet  fully 
developed  ;  but  it  is  expected  to  reduce  the  cost  of  transportation  to  Boston, 
and  thus  increase  the  trade  of  that  port. 

The  beginnings  of  railway  enterprise  in  New- York  State  have  already  been 
noted.    Two  great  trunk-lines  to  the  West  have  been  constructed  through  that 
commonwealth  since  the  humble  commencement  made  between   New-York 
the  then  little  old  towns  of  Schenectady  and  Albany.     For  the  Central, 
northern  route  fourteen  charters  were  granted  ;  though  in  1852  the  number  of 


650 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


roads  had  been  reduced  to  twelve  by  the  consolidation  of  the  Auburn  and 
Rochester  with  the  Auburn  and  Syracuse,  and  the  Tonawanda  with  the  Attica 
and  Buffalo  Companies.  This  chain  of  railroads  was  built  economically  and 
honestly.  The  first  of  them,  those  between  Auburn  and  Albany,  were  built 
originally  to  be  operated  by  horse-power,  and  were  so  operated  at  first ;  but 
engines  were  soon  put  upon  them  all,  the  first  ones  being  imported  from  Eng- 
land for  the  purix)se.  Nature  had  marked  out  the  destiny  of  this  chain  of 
roads  as  one  single  route  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson ;  but  they  were 
operated  as  distinct  lines  until  1853,  when  an  act  of  the  legislature,  passed  in 
April,  authorized  their  consolidation.  The  prudence  with  which  they  had  lieen 
built,  and  the  populous  and  productive  nature  of  the  regions  they  traversed 
and  tapped,  are  exhibited  by  the  following  table,  showing  the  value  of  the 
roads  at  the  time  of  the  consolidation :  — 


NAME  OF   ROAD. 

STOCKS  AND 
CONVKRTIBLK  BONDS. 

|i,63i,Soo 

PRRMII'M  OP 
THE  STOCK 
(PKK  CENT). 

Albany  and  Schenectady 

17 

Utica  and  Schenectady      . 

4,500,000 

55 

Syracuse  and  Utica  .... 

3,300,000 

SO 

Rochester  and  Syracuse    . 

5,608,700 

30 

Buffalo  and  Rochester 

3,000,000 

40 

Rochester,  Lockpurt,  and  Niagara  Falls 

2,155,100 

25 

Buffalo  and  Niagara  Falls 

565,000 

•  • 

Niagara  Falls  and  Lewiston 

354.260 

Buffalo  and  I^ckport 

675,000 

25 

Rochester  and  Lake  Ontario    . 

150,000 

25 

Mohawk  Valley         .... 

1,575,000 

55 

Troy  and  Schenectady 

650,000 

•• 

Total  of  stocks  and  convertilile  bone 

Is 

$24,154,860 

The  terms  of  consolidation  were,  that  the  stock  of  the  new  company,  to  bo 
called  "The  New- York  Central,"  should  equal  the  aggregate  of  the  stock  of  the 
Term*  of  individual  companies,  and  that,  for  the  premium  v,hich  the  stock 
consoiida-  then  commanded,  six-per-cent  bonds  of  the  new  organization 
*'*"'■  should   be   issued  to  the  holders.     The  total  amount  of  bonds 

issued  under  this  arrangement  was  $8,894,500.  The  debts  of  the  companies 
amounted  to  about  ^2,800,000  ;  so  that  the  total  liabilities  of  the  new  company 
were  $35,836,796.  The  average  cost  per  track  was  $44,485  a  mile.  Earnings 
amounted  in  1857  to  $8,000,000,  or  $14,000  a  mile.  The  distance  from 
Albany  to  Buffalo  was  shortened  to  298  miles.  Another  link  in  the  New- York 
Central  route  was  completed  in  1851,  being  the  Hudson-river  Railroad  to 
New- York  City,  142  miles  long,  chartered  in  May,  1846,  and  built  at  a  cost 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


651 


of  111,338,990  or  ^78,673.     In  1864  the  road  fell  into  the  control  of  the 
New- York  Central,  and  in  1870  was  permanently  consolidated  with  it.     It 
was  agreed  that  the  capital  of  the  new  concern  should  he  545,-   Hudton- 
000,000.     The  stock  l)eing  at  a  premium,  however,  the  company  river  Raiu 
conceived  the  idea  of  turning  the  fact  to  advantage  by  giving  a  "****■ 
representative  value  to  the  increased  worth  of  the  road  to  which  the  premium 
was  due  by  issuing  eight-per-cent  certificates,  convertible  into  common  stock 


"^■-Vfv^., 

at  the  option  of  the  holder.  Of  these  certificates 
t?^5»<c  JJ44.428,300  were  issued,  thus  virtually  in(  rcasiiig  the 
stock  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  to  ^89, 4 28. 300.  The 
Jv'' '»  corporation  has  since  laid  another  (1om1)1c  track  be- 
tween Albany  and  Buffalo  at  a  cost  of  $25,000,000,  paid  for  by  the  issue  of 
bonds,  thus  securing  a  four-track  road  the  length  of  New- York  Slate  ;  and  has 
leased  the  New- York  and  Harlem  Railroad,  thus  securing  four  trails  to  the 
city  of  New  York,  without  the  necessity  of  laying  the  additional  two  u|ion  the 
costly  route  along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The  road's  western  connections 
are  the  I^ike  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  and  the  Canada  Southern.  It  is 
operated  joindy  with  those  lines  for  Western  business,  and  it  carries  freight  in- 
<liscriminately  both  ways  lx)th  for  Boston  and  New  York.  Its  New-F^ngland 
connections  are   the   Boston  and  Albany  and   the    Hoosac-tunnel   route   to 


(15  a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Boston.  Seventy  per  cent  of  its  eastwar(l-1x>und  freight  goes  to  New  Rnglaml. 
The  principal  characteristic  of  the  business  of  the  New- York  Central  is  its  enor- 
mous passenger  and  local-freight  traffic.  It  transports  over  7,000,000  passen- 
gers a  year,  and  in  1876  carried  6,800,000  tons  of  freight.  The  cost  of  freight 
has  been  reduced  to  three  dollars  a  ton  from  Buffalo  to  Albany.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  the  cost  was  a  hundred  dollars  a  ton  in  the  days  of  wagoning. 


UNION   Uftl^T,   WTTSBl'RGH. 


The  Erie-railway  route  was  planned  as  early  as  1825.  the  State  of  New 
York  ordering  a  survey  for  it  in  that  year.  The  public  interest  in  a  railway 
Brie  Rail-  through  the  southern  counties  of  the  State  was  very  great,  and 
•■"••I-  a  number  of  public  conventions  were  held  in  regard  to  it.     A 

company  was  chartered  to  build  the  rood  in  1832,  the  capital  to  be  $10,000,- 
000 ;  and  De  Witt  Clinton,  jun.,  made  a  survey  for  it.    This  road  was  built 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATcS. 


6S3 


under  disheartening  circumstances.  The  region  it  traversed  was  excessively 
rugged,  and  afforded  an  extremely  small  amount  of  local  bus!  less  to  the  line. 
No  paying  traffic  could  l)e  expected  until  it  was  completed  through  to  Lake 
Erie.  The  great  fire  in  New  York  prevented  many  of  the  stockholders  from 
paying  for  their  shares.  Tlie  panic  of  1837  intervened,  and  crippled  other 
men.  The  line  was  laid  out  with  such  poor  judgment  in  places,  that  the  work 
had  to  be  abandoned  as  useless.  The  State  loaned  $3,000,000  to  the  company 
in  1840.  and  afterwards  presented  the  loan  to  the  company;  but  it  was  not 
imtil  185 1  that  the  rails  were  laid  to  the  then  new  harlx)r  of  Dunkirk  on  Lake 
Krie,  and  the  through  traffic,  which  alone  sustains  this  great  road,  was  tapped. 
The  company  languished,  however,  until  1868,  when,  under  a  new  manage- 
ment, it  was  equipped  with  steel  rails  and  an  abundance  of  first-class  rolling- 
stock,  and  became  one  of  the  finest  railroads  in  America,  with  a  large  and 
constantly-growing  business  in  the  transportation  of  passengers,  coal,  jietro-" 
leum,  agricultural  produce,  and  general  merchandise.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
New- York  Central,  advantage  was  taken  of  the  increased  worth  of  the  road, 
and  the  expenditures  for  its  improvement,  to  issue  new  shares  in  large  quan- 
titles;  and  during  the  four  years  ending  Sept.  30,  1871,  the  common  stock 
was  increased  from  $46,302,210  to  $86,536,910,  and  two  years  later  the  total 
liabilities  of  the  road  were  $115,449,211.  The  inability  to  earn  a  dividend 
upon  so  large  an  investment  involved  the  company  in  fresh  trouble,  and  litiga- 
tion without  end.  The  road  has  been  further  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  its 
track  has  been  six  feet  wide,  while  connecting  roads  to  the  West  have  been 
only  of  the  standard  width  of  four  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches.  In  spite  of 
its  troubles,  the  Erie  Road  is  a  magnificent  property,  and  is  transacting  a  large 
business.  Its  terminal  facilities  at  New- York  harbor  are  very  fine  ;  and,  when 
the  gauge  of  the  road  is  reduced  (as  it  will  be  in  a  few  years,  the  work  having 
been  begun),  it  will  be  a  formidable  competitor  for  the  through  business  of 
the  West.  The  road  is  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  and  other  lines  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan 
Southern  to  Chicago.  In  1876  it  carried  5,972,000  tons  of  freight.  It  has, 
including  branches,  459  miles  of  main  line,  and  controls  500  miles  of  connec- 
tions. The  comparative  distance  from  the  grain-centres  of  the  West  to  the 
seal)oard  by  this  route,  in  comparison  with  other  trunk-lines,  will  be  stated 
farther  on. 

Philadelphia's  route  to  Chicago  is  composed  of  what  were  originally  six 
separate  railroads  ;  and  the  route  to  St.  Louis,  of  roads  built  by  thirteen  different 
companies.  These  roads  are  now  all  either  owned,  or  leased  in  penniyiva- 
peq)etuity,  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  the  most  exten-  ni«  RaUroad 
sive  railway  organization  in  the  world.  This  company  now  owns  ""p*"'- 
1,505  miles  of  roadway,  not  counting  in  double  tracks  or  sidings;  and  4,324 
miles  of  road  are  either  directly  controlled  by  or  operated  in  its  interest :  in 
^,  5>829  miles,  representing  a  capital  of  $398,267,000.    These  lines  pass 


654 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


through  eleven  States,  and  extend  into  the  heart  of  the  cities  of  St.  Louis, 
Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York,  tapping  the 
commerce  of  tlie  Ohio  and  Mississippi  and  the  Great  I^kes,  and  connecting 
the  grain,  coal,  and  iron  regions  of  the  interior  with  three  of  the  great  ocean 
harbors  of  the  North  Atlantic.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  was 
formed  originally  to  complete  the  work  undertaken  by  the  State  itself  to  give 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  a  commodious  transportation-route  to  the  western 
counties  of  the  State  and  to  Ohio.  The  State  line  of  works  was  first  opened 
in  1830  ;  but  it  was  a  broken  line,  consisting  of  two  pieces  of  railroad,  —  one 
from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia,  eighty-two  miles ;  the  other  from  Hollidays- 
burgh  to  Johnstown,  thirty-six  miles  (this  one  being  operated  by  stationary 
engines),  the  two  roads  being  supplemented  by  two  hundred  and  i:«*venty- 

eight  miles  of  canal.  Philadel- 
phia was  unable  to  compete 
with  New  York's  unbroken 
routes  by  rail  and  canal ;  and 
accordingly  a  company  was 
formed  to  build  a  railroad  from 
Harrisburgh  to  Pittsburgh.  In 
1857  the  State  sold  its  main  line 
of  works  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company  for  $7,500,- 
000  (they  cost  $12,000,000), 
and  rail  communication  from 
Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh  then 
became  continuous  and  efficient. 
During  the  late  war,  the  Penn- 
sylvania Road  made  enormous 
profits ;  and  recognizing  the  fact 
that  the  business  it  was  then  doing  was  accidental,  and  could  not  be  sustained 
except  by  the  extension  of  its  lints  to  the  West,  it  devoted  a  part  of  its  earn- 
ings to  building  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  Road,  and  the  completion  of  various 
branch  lines  in  the  State  which  would  bring  traffic  to  the  main  stem.  In  1869 
■the  company  assumed  control  of  the  chain  of  roads  constituting  the  Pittsburgh, 
Fort  Wayne,  and  Chicago  route  to  Chicago  as  lessee  for  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  years.  The  same  year  it  secured  a  line  under  its  own  control  to 
Cincinnati,  Louisville,  and  St.  Louis  by  lease.  It  leased  the  Northern  Central 
in  .1870,  thus  gaining  connections  with  Baltimore  and  with  Canandaigua,  N.Y. ; 
and  in  11871  it  secured  control  of  the  united  railroads  of  New  Jersey,  thus 
getting  a  direct  line  to  New  York.  The  company  now  owns  twenty-two 
branches,  and  controls  branches  and  extensions  by  lease.  Its  policy  has  been 
dictated  by  such  sound  judgment,  that  no  part  of  ♦his  vast  network  of  lines  is 
a  burden  upon  the  company,  or  any  thing  except  a  useful  tributary  to  its 


WATKR-TANK. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


655 


business.  Its  capitnl  stock  is  now  about  $53,000,000,  anil  its  total  liabilities 
about  |i  16,000,000.  The  company  has  a  grain-elevator  at  Baltimore,  two  at 
Philadelphia,  and  two  at  Krie,  Penn.  ;  and  at  New  York  it  has  millions  of 
dollars  invested  in  wharves,  warehouses,  cattle-yards,  oil-tWpots,  and  other 
terminal  facilities  recpiircd  by  a  large  and  varied  commerce.  Philadelphia  is 
the  princi|)al  point  of  ex|)ort,  however,  the  company  having  established  from 
that  port  a  line  of  four  American  iron  steamships  to  Liveq)ool  by  guaranteeing 
$1,500,000  of  its  bonds.  'I'his  line  operates  at  present  the  only  American 
steamships  engaged  in  trans-Atlantic  trade.     The  Pennsylvania  Company  is  in 


L-fc.  -^       '^  !•■:■' 


-:..'^-h!? 


^^^^^f-w-  ■>•«*. 


MUNCV   MOUNTAIN,   NEAR  BELLEFONTE. 


all  respects  a  colossal  organization  ;  a.id,  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  danger 
of  permitting  so  vast  a  moneyed  power  to  grow  up  in  this  republic,  it  can  at 
least  be  said  that  its  operations  have  been  of  incalculable  utility  to  commerce 
and  the  country. 

The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  though  begun  in  1828,  was  not  finished 
through  to  the  Ohio  River  at  Wheeling,  a  distance  of  379  miles,   completion 
until  Jan.  i,  1853.     Litigation  with  the  canal  running  parallel  to  it,   of  the  Baiti- 
and  the  opposition  of  other  conflicting  interests,  had  made  great   "°'''  ■'"' 
delays.    The  cost  of  the  road  and  equipment  was  $23,600,000. 
After  the  war,  the  company  leased  a  number  of  connecting  roads  in  order  to 


656 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


secure  the  unity  of  operation  and  establishment  of  through  rates  which  the  other 
great  companies  had  been  striving  for.  In  1866  a  connection  to  Columbus,  0., 
was  leased,  and  in  1869  another  running  to  Sandusky.  In  1870  the  Winchester 
and  Strasburgh  Road  was  leased,  thus  securing  the  business  of  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  in  Virginia,  and  paving  the  way  for  obtaining  a  share  of  the  trade  of 
North  Carolina.  A  connection  through  to  Chicago  was  secured  by  alliance 
with  other  roads  in  1874,  and  another  recently  to  St.  Louis.  The  liabilities  of 
the  road  now  amount  to  about  $56,000,000.  The  interest  of  the  city  of  Balti- 
more in  stock  and  bonds  is  $10,500,000.  The  road  is  wisely  managed,  and 
has  a  large  business  in  coal,  petroleum,  grain,  and  general  traffic.  Its  terminal 
facilities  on  Locust  Point  in  Baltimore  are  not  approached  in  any  other  sea- 
port of  the  country,  except  at  Boston :  they  comprise  grain-elevators,  coal- 
shoots,  warehouses,  oil-yards,  and  wharves,  and  are  the  rendezvous  of 
innumerable  sailing  and  steam  vessels,  and  the  ddpot  of  the  ocean  steam- 
lines  to  Europe.  During  the  freight  war  between  the  railroad-lines  in  1865 
the  company  established  its  own  steamship  communication  with  England,  but 
lost  1758,000  in  the  venture,  and  soon  withdrew  the  steamers.  The  road  has 
a  great  future  before  it. 

Another  system  of  railroads  leading  from  the  West  to  the  seaboard  has 
grown  up  north  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  St.  Lawrence  River  within  the  last 
Grand  Trunk  twenty  years,  and  is  termed  the  "Grand  Trunk  of  Canada." 
of  Canada,  'fj^p  Grand  Trunk  Railway  Company  was  chartered  in  1852, 
with  a  capital  of  ^^3,000,000,  to  build  a  road  from  Toronto  to  Montreal.  In 
1853  a  number  of  other  companies  consolidated  with  this  organization,  upon 
an  agreement  by  the  latter  to  carry  out  the  contracts  they  had  made.  These 
contracts  included  the  building  of  roads  from  Toronto  to  Samia  on  Lake 
Huron,  from  Point  Levi  to  Richmond,  and  from  Quebec  to  Trois  Pistoles,  and 
also  for  building  the  great  Victoria  Bridge  at  Montreal.  These  works  were 
completed  at  a  cost  of  ;^2 1 ,000,000.  At  the  same  time  the  company  leased 
for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Road  of 
Maine,  extending  from  Portland  to  Island  Pond,  N.H.,  near  the  Canada  bor- 
der. This  system  of  railways  did  not  at  first  secure  so  large  a  share  of  the 
through  business  from  the  Western  granaries  as  was  expected ;  but  an  exten- 
sion from  Port  Sarnia  to  Chicago  has  recently  been  effected,  the  line  has  been 
prudently  managed,  and  the  route  has  become  an  important  part  of  the  Ameri- 
can system  of  railways.  The  Grand  Trunk  has  secured  a  connection  to 
Boston  by  way  of  the  Central  Vermont  Railroad,  and  now  competes  actively 
with  the  through  lines  centring  at  that  port. 

Thus,  out  of  a  confusion  of  disconnected  railways,  operated  without  regard 
Competition  *°  ^^^  interests  of  each  other  or  the  public,  there  have  grown  up 
amonKraii-  five  great  compact  and  united  systems  leading  from  the  great 
roadi.  trade-centres  of  the  interior  to  the  seaboard.    The  transportation 

abilities  of  each  of  these  five  routes  have  never  been  fully  taxed.    It  is  esti- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


657 


legarfl 

^n  up 

great 

tation 

esti- 


UGI^WAKtt  WATUt-UAr, 


658 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


mated  that  the  tonnage  of  each  might  be  tripled.  The  fact  that  no  one  of  the 
Ave  lines  has  carried  as  much  freight  as  it  has  been  capable  of  doing  has  led 
to  sharp  railroad  wars  within  the  last  five  years,  some  of  which  were  waged  at 
great  loss  to  the  lines,  freight  being  carried  at  less  than  cost.  Various  com- 
pacts have  been  made  to  harmonize  the  differences  of  the  lines,  and  agree 
what  the  rates  shall  be  for  through  freight  over  each,  but  without  permanent 
success.  Compacts  have  only  been  made  to  be  broken.  How  nearly 
matched  the  different  routes  are,  with  reference  to  the  fundamental  matter 
of  distance  from  the  West  to  Liverpool,  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
statement :  — 


FItOM  CHICAGO. 

MILES. 

FROM   SEAPORT 
TO  UVBRPOOL. 

TOTAL. 

Grand  Trunk  to  Montreal       .... 

Grand  Trunk  to  Boston 

N.Y.  Cent,  and  Boston  and  Albany  to  Boston, 
New- York  Central  route  to  New  York  . 

Erie  route  to  New  York 

Pennsylvania  Railroad  route  to  New  York     . 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  route  to  Philadelphia . 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  route  to  Baltimore 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  R.R.  route  to  Baltimore, 

842 
1,143 

1,020 

976 

958 
912 
822 
800 
840 

2.936 
2.936 
3.013 
3.013 
3.013 
3.200 

3.338 
3.338 

•  •  •  • 

4.079 
3.956 
3.989 
3.97' 
3.925 
4.022 

4.'38 
4.178 

traffic  be- 
tween the 
West  and 

Atlantic  ■< 
board. 


It  is  estimated  that  the  through  traffic  between  the  West  and  the  Atlantic 
Value  of  seaboard  now  amounts  to  eight  million  tons  annually.  That  por- 
tion of  it  which  is  grain  is  brought  to  the  coast  at  an  average  cost 
of  twelve  cents  a  bushel  from  Chicago,  the  total  cost  from  Chicago 
to  Liverpool  being  about  thirty-four  cents  a  bushel.  This  amazing 
reduction  is  the  effect  of  the  consolidation  of  through  routes,  and 
competition  between  them. 

Unity,  as  we  have  seen,  grew  up  first  between  the  lines  running  to  the 

North-Atlantic  seaboard.     Trade  set  the  most  heavily  in  that  direction,  and 

the  four  years  of  war  prevented  for  a  time  an  alliance  between 

established     the  lines  constituting  the  through  routes  from  North  to  South.     But 

since  the         since  the  war  several  trunk-lines  have  been  formed,  traversing  the 

wftr* 

country  in  that  direction.  It  is  expected  that  these  will  bear  an 
important  part  in  the  future  in  the  trade  with  the  coast  of  the  Gulf,  from  which 
a  large  part  of  the  commerce  with  Mexico  and  South  America  will  be  carried 
on.    The  principal  of  these  lines  are  the  following :  — 

1.  The  St.  Louis  and  Iron-Mountain  Railroad,  with  connections  running 
into  the  State  of  Texas. 

2.  The  Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Texas  Raihoad. 


OF   TUB    UNITED   STATES. 


659 


3.  The  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis,  and  Chicago  Railroad,  connecting  at 
Cairo,  111.,  with  the  Illinois  Central. 

4.  The  Mobile  and  Ohio  Raibroad,  running  also  to  Cairo. 

5.  The  Louisville,  Nashville,  and  Great  Southern  Railroad. 

6.  Three  series  of  lines  running  from  Washington  through  Virginia,  by 
different  routes,  to  the  South  and  South- West ;  which  may  be  designated  as  the 
Virginia  and  Tennessee  Route,  the  Atlanta  and  Richmond  Air-line,  and  the 
coast-line  running  through  Weldon,  N.C.,  to  Savannah,  and  connecting  with 
all  the  Southern  States. 

These  important  highways  of  commerce  have  great  capacity,  and  thus  all 
exert  a  regulating  influence  on  freight-rates  between  the  South  and  North. 
The  trip  from  Boston  to  New  Orleans  can  now  be  made  by  rail,  by  Economy  of 
the  lines  leading  in  that  direction,  in  three  days.     In  the  olden  '•"'«■«••• 
time,  before  the  days  of  the  locomotive,  the  trip  required  twenty-four  days. 
What  a  marvellous  change  in  fifty  years ! 

The  express-business  really  took  its  rise  in  the  days  of  stage-coaches,  or  at 
least  before  the  railway-system  had  grown  beyond  its  early  infancy.  It  grew 
out  of  the  robberies  of  stage-coaches,  and  of  a  practice,  still  com-  ,u,g  ^^ 
mon  in  all  the  new  parts  of  the  country,  of  forwarding  packages  of  ExpreM 
money  and  valuables  by  passengers  travelling  by  stage.  Before  the  """p*"  •"• 
establishment  of  the  railroads,  merchants  and  banks  employed  members  of 
the  legislature,  and  other  trustworthy  citizens,  in  their  journeys  to  New  York, 
Boston,  Albany,  and  other  large  cities,  to  take  with  them,  and  deliver  to  their 
correspondents,  the  remittances  which  they  did  not  dare  put  into  the  United- 
States  mail-bags  for  fear  of  robbery.  On  the  Western  plains,  down  to  within 
ten  years,  many  a  passenger  has  had  his  fare  paid  to  the  Slates  from  the 
mining-regions,  in  consideration  of  his  carrying  with  him  in  the  coach,  and 
delivering  to  the  railways  on  the  Missouri,  the  bars  of  gold  and  silver  which 
there  was  no  other  method  of  transmitting  to  the  States  so  cheaply  and  safely. 
In  1840  this  irregular  practice  took  the  form  of  a  legitimate  business  through 
tlie  efforts  of  Mr.  Alvin  Adams  of  Boston,  the  founder  of  the  Adams  F2xpress 
Company.  There  was  then  no  railroad  to  New  York  ;  and  Mr.  Adams  began 
carrying  letters  and  parcels  to  New  York  by  stage,  to  AUyn's  Point,  Conn.,  and 
thence  by  steamboat  to  the  metropolis.  He  was  a  man  of  singularly  engaging 
manners  and  manly  character,  and  he  soon  won  such  confidence  that  he 
gained  a  very  large  patronage.  In  a  short  time  the  business  grew  so  large, 
tlKit  ne  ceased  to  travel  himself,  and  engaged  messengers  to  make  the  trips  to 
New  York  for  him.  Then  boxes  and  bundles  began  to  be  sent,  and  a  man 
with  a  wheelbarrow  was  hired  to  do  the  collecting  and  distributing  in  Con- 
necticut. Then  a  wagon  was  hired  for  the  same  purpose.  This  latter  was  so 
important  a  step,  that  there  was  much  meditation  about  it  in  advance,  before 
Mr.  .\dams  decided  upon  it.  When  the  New- York  and  New-Haven  Railroad 
was  completed,  the  company  offered  to  give  Mr.  Adams  a  car  for  carrying 


66o 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


Wells, 
Fargo,  & 
Company. 


money  and  valuable  packages  for  J  1,700  a  month.  The  offer  was  accepted 
with  fear  and  trembhng,  but  proved  a  success  from  the  start.  From  this 
beginning  the  business  grew  up,  until  Mr.  Adams  had  agencies  in  every  part  of 
Adamt  ^^  country  from  San  Francisco  to  Boston.     The  Adams  E.\press 

Expreta  Company  was  thcii  formed  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  and  has 
ompany.  ^^^^  since  transacted  a  colossal  business.  In  New-Vork  State  the 
express-business  took  its  rise  almost  simultaneously  with  the  start  in  New 
England,  the  pioneer  in  the  work  being  Mr.  Henry  Wells  of  Aurora,  N.Y.  It 
began  in  the  same  way,  Mr.  Wells  travelling,  however^  by  rail,  and  carrying 
his  bundles  with  him  in  the  car.  The  express-company  of  Wells. 
Fargo,  &  Company,  which  he  organized,  has  had  as  extensive  a 
ramification  over  the  country  as  that  of  Mr.  Adams.  It  was 
followed  by  other  companies  in  different  parts  of  the  country ;  and  the  insti- 
tution now  forms  so  intimate  and  necessary  a  part  of  the  transportation- 
business  of  the  country,  tliat  no  railroad,  however  short  or  local,  is  now  without 
its  special  accommodations  for  express-packages.  The  companies  are  an 
adjunct  of  the  railroad-system  of  the  country.  They  rarely  own  cars  of  their 
own ;  but  they  perform  the  service  to  the  public  which  they  have  been  called 
into  existence  to  discharge  by  contracts  with  the  different  connecting-lines, 
which  secure  the  rapid  and  uninterrujJted  transmission  of  packages,  reganlless 
of  the  conflicts  of  interest  of  the  different  roads,  and  the  obstacles  they  throw 
in  each  other's  way  in  the  transaction  of  ordinary  business. 

The  fast-freight  system  is  only  the  application  of  tliis  idea  to  the  transmis- 
sion of  ordinary  commercial  freight.  This  system  has  grown  up  entirely 
Fast-freight  within  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  necessity  for  fiist-freight  corn- 
system,  panics  did  not  arise  from  the  dangers  of  robbery  of  the  cars,  but 
from  the  detentions  of  freight  in  all  parts  of  the  countr)',  owing  to  the  discord- 
ance of  interests  among  connecting  and  competing  lines.  Desjiatch  and 
safety  could  not  be  secured  without  the  creation  of  some  responsible  agency 
distinct  from  the  railroads  themselves,  with  which,  on  the  one  hand,  the  public 
could  deal  direct,  and  which,  on  the  other  hand,  would  secure  tiiat  concert  of 
action  among  the  roads,  as  far  as  freight  was  concerned,  which  the  roads 
could  not  achieve  themselves.  The  experience  of  the  express-companies 
showed  how  these  desirable  ends  could  be  secured. 

The  first  form  of  fast-freight  transmission  was  introduced  by  the  Creat- 
Westc"  Despatch  Company  on  what  is  known  as  the  private  line  system. 
The  ny  furnished  its  own  cars,  made  contracts  with  the  various  connect- 

ing ....uoads,  paying  the  roads  specific  sums  for  the  privileges  granted,  and 
then  established  its  own  freight-agencies  in  the  various  cities.  'I  he  (Ireat 
Western  was  quickly  followed  by  the  Merchants'  Despatch,  the  Union,  the 
National,  the  Star,  the  Diamond,  Globe,  Empire,  and  various  other  lines, 
running  over  all  the  great  routes  of  the  country.  There  is  scarcely  a  great 
railroad  in  the  United  States  now  over  which  two  or  three  or  more  of  these 


OF  THE    UNITED    STATES. 


66 1 


lines  do  not  run.  The  private  lines  offered  great  advantages  to  the  public : 
they  insured  safety  and  speed,  and  reduced  the  cost  of  transportation. 
About  1870,  however,  the  railroad-companies  began  to  find  that  this  new 
system  was  not  so  profitable  to  them  as  it  was  to  the  public.  The  fast-freight 
lines  not  only  absorbed  the  entire  profits  of  the  through  traffic,  but  often 


proved  a  weight  upon  the 
roads  themselves  by  tak- 
ing from  them  all  the  pay- 
ing business.  This  led  to 
the  establishment  of  an- 
other form  of  fast-freight- 
ing, called  the  "  co-oper- 
ative," established  by  the 
roads  themselves.     Each 

connecting  railway  between  principal  points  supplied  a  quota  of  cars  toward 
the  common  equipment  of  a  co-operative  line.  This  class  of  lines  took  the 
designation  of  particular  colors  ;  and  we  have  now,  in  consequence,  the  Orange, 
Blue,  Red,  ^Vhite,  Purple,  and  other  lines.  The  private  lines  are  gradually 
being  superseded  by  the  latter  class.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  assumed 
the  management  of  the  Star,  Union,  and  Empire  lines ;  and  the  same  ten- 
dency is  visible  in  other  parts  of  the  country.    The  fast-freight  system  has 


COATESVILLB   BRIDCB,   PHNNSVLVANIA. 


663 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


been  of  vast  benefit  to  the  commercial  community,  and  is  now  a  per 
manent   feature   of   railway-transportation :    it   employs   60,000    cars.    The 
Empire  Line,  the  largest  of  the  lines,  has  4,500  cars ;  the  Red  Line,  4,000 ; 
the  White,  3,000  j  and  the  Blue,  4,000. 

We  now  come  to  speak  of  a  step  in  railroad  construction  w'.iich  gave 
to  our  system  of  internal  transportation  a  world-wide  importance- :  this  was 
Pacific  the  building  of  a  railway  across  the  plains  and  through  the  moun- 

Raiiroad.  tain-ranges  of  the  Far  West  to  connect  the  sealx^ard  of  the  East 
with  that  of  the  distant  Pacific.  Since  railways  were  invented,  the  world  has 
been  running  to  short  cuts  and  rapid  transit.  The  slow  and  leisurely  methods 
of  our  ancestors  are  being  gradually  laid  upon  the  shelf.  The  world  moves 
faster  than  of  old,  and  nothing  satisfies  now  except  the  most  rapid  movement 
of  commerce  and  travel  which  it  is  possible  to  bring  about.    When  the  route 

to  India  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  was  discovered,  the  merchants 
of  Portugal  and  the  Netherlands  were 
content  if  their  big,  bluff-bowed  ships 
came  back  from  their  voyages  of  trade 
in  two  years  from  the  time  they  left 
port  at  home.  For  three  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  trade  was  transacted 
chiefly  by  that  circuitous  and  tedious 
route.  When  California  was  settled, 
and  the  discovery  of  priceless  depos- 
its of  gold  was  made,  merchants  were 
long  content  to  trade  by  way  of  tlie 
long  route  around  Cape  Horn,  their 
ships  returning  only  at  the  expiration 
of  a  year.  The  age  became  impa- 
tient at  the  pace  at  which  trade  was  moving.  The  Panama  Railroad  was  built, 
Panama  shortening  the  trip  to  California  many  months ;  and  then  the  Suez 
Railroad.  Canal  was  opened,  shortening  the  voyage  from  China  to  eighty 
days.  But  there  was  yet  much  to  do  in  abbreviating  the  route  to  Asia.  From 
New- York  City  to  Panama,  and  thence  to  Canton,  is  11,850  miles :  from  Eng- 
land to  Canton  by  the  same  route  is  14,630  miles,  or  half  the  circumference 
of  the  earth.  But  were  there  a  railroad  across  the  American  continent  in 
as  direct  a  line  from  New  York  as  could  conveniently  be  built,  the  trip  from 
that  metropolis  to  Canton  would  be  only  10,845  "^'l^s  long,  and  from  Eng- 
land to  New  York,  and  thence  to  Canton,  13,845  miles ;  the  distance  from 
England  to  Canton  by  way  of  the  Suez  Canal  being  12,000  miles. 

There  had  been,  for  several  years,  talk  about  a  railway  to  the  Pacific. 
The  war  accelerated  the  national  impulse  in  favor  of  such  a  work  by  showing 
the  need  of  an  inland  route  to  California,  and  facilities  for  the  rapid  transpor- 


FIRST  OFnCK,  CBNTRAL  PACIFIC  RAILROAD. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


663 


tation  of  troops  to  those  far-away  western  portions  of  our  domain.  In  July, 
1862,  two  companies  were  incorporated  by  Congress  to  build  the  road.  The 
Union  Pacific  was  to  begin  at  Omaha,  and  go  westward :  the  Central  Pacific, 
starting  at  San  Francisco,  was  to  build  out  to  meet  it.  The  Act  of  1863,  and 
a  subsequent  one  passed  in  1864,  granted  to  the  companies  a  right  of  way 
two  hundred  feet  wide  through  the  public  domain,  and  twenty  sections  of 
land  per  mile,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  a  loan  of  government  credit  to  the 
amount  of  5i6,ooo  per  mile  on  the  prairies,  $33,000  per  mile  between  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  Sierra  Nevadas,  and  148,000  per  mile  for  a  distance 


SNOW-SHEDS. 


of  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  across  each  of  those  two  ranges.  Work  began 
in  1863.  The  Central  Pacific  consolidated  with  the  Western  Pacific  Railroad 
out  to  San  Jos^,  the  San  Francisco,  Oakland,  and  Alameda  Company,  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley,  and  the  California  and  Oregon  Companies.  The  work  was 
prosecuted  on  both  ends  of  the  line  with  great  energy,  attracting  the  attention 
and  admiration  of  the  whole  civilized  world.  In  1868  three  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  had  been  completed  on  the  Union  Pacific,  and  track-laying  was  going 
on  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  a  day.  In-  May,  1869,  ^^e  two  roads  met  at  Ogden, 
Utah,  and  an  all-rail  line  existed  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Oceans.  The 
last  spike  driven  was  made  of  gold ;  and  the  event,  telegraphed  instantly  to  all 


664  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY  OF   THE    UNfTED   STATES. 


parts  of  the  Union,  was  the  occasion  of  public  rejoicing  and  excitement  every- 
where. Flags  were  exhibited,  cannon  fired,  and  meetings  of  public  congratu- 
lation held,  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  great  national  work. 

There  is  a  great  future  before  these  roads.  They  have  been  successful  in 
obtaining  a  share  of  the  commerce  from  Asia  both  for  United-States  account 
Puture  of  and  for  European.  Connecting  with  the  steamships  at  San  Fran- 
theMroadt.  cisco,  they  have  shortened  the  transit  from  Yokohama  to  New 
York  an  average  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  days  to  thirty ;  and  they  are  bringing 
into  the  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  now,  in  large  quantity,  the  teas 
and  other  commodities  which  formerly  took  the  slower  routes  vid  Panama  or 
Cape  Horn.  To  England  they  deliver  teas,  put  on  board  the  Atlantic  steamers 
at  New  York,  in  forty  days,  which  England  cannot  obtain  in  less  than  a  hundred 
and  twenty  by  steamer  vid  the  Suez  Canal.  This  through  business  will  doubt- 
less be  shared  in  the  future  by  competing  Pacific  railways ;  but  the  country 
along  the  Union  and  Central  Roads  is  being  rapidly  developed  through  the 
agency  of  the  roads  themselves,  and  will  give  them  in  the  future  a  local  traffic 
which  will  more  than  replace  the  falling-off  in  the  through  business. 

The  total  volume  of  the  through  commerce  will,  however,  be  largely 
increased  when  the  three  new  Pacific  railways  now  projected  are  completed. 
Northern  Competition  will  reduce  the  transportation-charges,  and  lead  to  an 
PaciHc.  expansion  of  trade.    The  three  roads  referred  to  are  the  Northern 

Pacific,  chartered  in  July,  1864,  with  a  land-grant  and  a  loan,  which  now  has 
over  five  hundred  miles  of  road  in  operation  west  from  Duluth  on  Lake  Supe- 
rior;  the  Canadian  Pacific,  organized  in  1873,  with  a  capital  of  $10,000,000,  a 
grant  of  50,000,000  acres  along  the  main  line,  and  a  subsidy  of  $30,000,000  ; 
Texat  and  the  southern  route  to  Pacific,  which  is  building  by  two  com- 

Pacific.  panies, — the  Texas  and  Pacific  from  the  East,  and  the  Southern 

Pacific  from  the  West,  —  each  company  having  a  land-grant  from  Congress, 
and  the  latter  the  enormous  one  of  60,000,000  acres  from  the  State  of  Texas. 
This  latter  route  is  well  under  way,  and  should  be  finished  in  two  or  three 
years. 


BOOK    IV. 


MINES  AND   MINING,  AND  OIL. 


CHAPTER  I. 


MINING. 


GENERAL    HISTORY. 


THE  place  which  the  mining-industries  of  a  country  deserve  to  hold 
among  the  pursuits  of  a  nation  is  not  to  be  estimated  by  the  market- 
value  of  the  product  as  compared  with  the  market-value  of  other  i,„portaiic« 
products  of  labor ;  for,  if  it  were,  mining  would  be  entitled  to  a  of  mintrai 
very  insignificant  rank.  We  manufacture  every  year  to  the  extent  p'**"'*** 
of  nearly  six  billion  dollars ;  we  market  our  agricultural  products  for  some- 
thing like  three  billion ;  while  the  total  yield  of  all  our  mines  does  not  sell  for 
two  hundred  million.  The  development  of  agriculture  and  manufacturing 
has  been  peculiarly  dependent  upon  the  use  of  metals,  the  implements  and 
machinery  necessar^'  thereto  being  made  almost  entirely  from  mineral  sub- 
stances. In  other  regards  —  in  building,  illuminating,  transportation,  printing, 
travel,  and  human  intercourse  —  we  are  so  utterly  dependent  upon  metals,  that 
we  may  truly  say  they  have  been  the  means,  far  more  than  any  thing  else  mate- 
rial, of  the  world's  civilization.  Thus  viewed,  American  mining-industry  attains 
pre-eminent  importance.  Nevertheless,  owing  to  the  tardiness  with  which  we 
discovered  the  extent  of  our  mineral  resources  and  to  some  other  disadvan- 
tages, the  development  of  these  interests  was  greatly  retarded,  and  belongs 
chiefly  to  the  last  half-century  of  the  country's  history. 

By  the  aborigines  a  little  was  known  of  the  existence  and  value  of  copper, 
petroleum,  and  silver,  on  this  continent ;  and  the  former  two  were  AboHginet 
used  in  the  region  now  included  within  the  United  States  ages  ignorant  oi 
before  the  white  man  set  foot  on  the  American  continent.  metau. 

The  hope  of  finding  mineral  treasure  was  one  of  the  incentives  that  led  the 
early  colonists  hither,  and  they  were  quite  diligent  in  searching  for  metals. 
All  along  the  Atlantic  coast,   almost  immediately  after  the  first  search  for 
settlements,  discoveries  were  made  of  silver,  lead,  copper,  iron,  metal*  by 
tin,  antimony,  coal,  and  other  valuable  minerals ;   but  they  were  "  *"  **** 
found  generally  in  small  quantities ;  and,  in  competition  with  foreign  produc- 

667 


668 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


tion,  the  working  of  mines  was  frequently  found  unremunerative.  Then,  too, 
the  presence  and  hostility  of  Indians  made  such  enterprises  dangerous.  Iron 
ore  was  sent  to  England  from  near  Jamestown  in  1608,  the  year  after  Virginia 
was  first  permanently  settled ;  and  in  1620  a  hundred  and  fifty  skilled  work- 
man were  sent  to  the  colony  to  erect  and  operate  iron-works.  An  Indian 
massacre  two  years  later,  however,  put  a  discouraging  end  to  proceedings. 
.'\nother  discouragement  grew  out  of  such  blunders  as  the  supposed  discovery 
of  gold  in  Virginia  by  Capt.  John  Smith.  A  shipload  of  the  glittering  dust 
was  sent  to  Kngland,  and  there  pronounced  to  be  nothing  but  iron  pyrites. 

However,  the  plucky  colonists  persevered  in  spite  of  all  depressions  and 
Early  efforts  obstacles,  and  made  very  creditable  beginnings.  Iron-mining  was 
In  mining.  resumed  permanently  in  Virginia  in  1715.  The  metal  was  found 
in  Massachusetts  in  1628  and  later,  and  a  company  was  formed  to  work  it  in 
1643.  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania  followed  suit. 
Penn  had  discovered  iron  as  early  as  1683;  but  no  forges  are  mentioned  on 
his  grants  earlier  than  1719-20.  Lead-mining  began  in  Missouri,  then  belong- 
ing to  France,  in  1720  ;  and  the  old  Southampton  silver-lead  mine  was  opened 
in  Massachusetts  in  1765.  Copper-mining  is  first  heard  of  in  Connecticut, 
the  Simsbury  mines  being  worked  as  early  as  1 709  ;  but  they  were  abandoned 
as  unprofitable  about  the  middle  of  that  century.  The  Schuyler  mine,  near 
llelleville,  N.J.,  was  discovered  in  1719,  and  is  historic  as  the  scene  of  the 
building  of  the  first  steam-engine  in  America  in  1793-94.  The  Lake  Superior 
copper  was  first  mined  by  the  whites  in  17  71,  and  in  small  quantities.  In  the 
early  colonial  tlays  the  settlers  used  wood  for  fuel,  and  charcoal  for  the  forge 
and  smelting-works.  Coal,  however,  was  found  in  Rhode  Island  in  1 768,  and 
mined  for  use.  The  great  bituminous  seam  near  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  was  struck 
in  1784.  Previous  to  this  time  coal  was  found  in  quantities  in  Virginia;  and 
canals  were  cut,  connecting  parallel  rivers  to  facilitate  its  transportation.  By 
1789  (juite  an  export  trade  with  adjacent  colonies  had  been  built  up. 

At  numerous  other  points  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  these  and  other 
metals  were  found  prior  to  the  Revolution.  Smelting-works  and  forges  were 
erected  to  reduce  the  ores,  some  of  which,  however,  were  exported.  The 
home  government  discouraged  the  manufacture  of  metals  in  this  country, 
though,  at  that  period  ;  which  was  a  damper  upon  mining-industry. 

In  the  following  chapters  we  trace  more  in  detail  the  steps  in  the  history 
of  each  branch  of  mining  in  this  country.  Suffice  it  here  to  say,  that,  from  the 
Effect  of  humble  beginnings  just  mentioned,  but  slow  advances  were  made 
Revolution-  for  several  decades.  The  Revolutionary  war,  by  cutting  off  sup- 
•ry  war.  ^jj^^  ^^^^  England,  and  creating  a  special  demand  for  iron  and 
copper  ordnance  and  lead  bullets,  as  well  as  other  metal  for  domestic  and  other 
implements,  gave  a  peculiar  stimulus  to  mining,  although  the  army  so  drained 
the  country  of  men  as  to  leave  few  for  such  occupations. 

It  was  not  until  a  quarter  of  the  present  century  had  passed  that  we  see  any 


other 

were 

The 

^untry, 

listory 
Im  the 
made 
sup- 
in  and 
other 
rained 

;e  any 


670 


tNDUSrklAL    HISTORY 


marked  strides  in  the  mining-business.  In  1820  attempts  were  made  to  mix 
Mining  •ince  anthracite  coal  mth  charcoal  in  iron-smelting :  but  the  experiment 
iSaj.  ^j^j  j^Qt  successful  until  1 831,  when  the  hot-blast  was  invented; 

then  both  the  coal  and  iron  industry  took .  a  tremendous  start.  In  1 835  lead- 
mining  received  a  wonderful  impetus  in  Missouri  and  Iowa  from  new  dis- 
coveries. Copper-mining  was  revived  along  Lake  Superior  about  1842,  and 
made  a  sudden  Jump.  The  California  gold-fever  of  1849  was  the  beginning 
of  the  search  and  procurem  .'i.t  of  that  metal  on  a  considerable  scale.  Petro- 
leum came  prominently  into  i.ot"cefor  the  first  time  in  August,  1859,  when  the 
Drake  well  struck  oil ;  and  the  Comstock  lode  was  discovered  in  Nevada  that 
same  year,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  our  present  silver-mining  business. 
These  are  the  points  from  which  the  present  development  of  our  mineral 
resources  dates. 

A  review  of  the  history  of  mining  during  this  important  period  shows  that 
our  operations  have  been  characterized  by  intense  excitement  and  magnified 
BpecuiaHve  speculation,  by  gross  blunders  and  by  great  waste.  Says  Kimball, 
character  of  [It]  "  is  an  instructive  narrative  of  fluctuating  fortune,  ranging 
m  ning.  through  all  the  intermittent  vicissitudes  of  prosperity  and  stagna- 

tion, of  factitious  inflations  and  calamitous  recoils,  of  blind  delusion  and 
credulity,  of  stolid  unbelief,  of  highest  popularity,  and  general  distrust."  The 
possibility  of  making  a  great  deal  of  money  in  a  short  time  always  ciazes 
people  ;  and  the  discovery  of  large  deposits  of  metal,  both  the  baser  and  the 
precious,  affords  just  such  inviting  possibilities  to  the  workman  and  to  the 
capitalist.  And  so,  in  the  case  of  each  of  the  great  discoveries  of  lead,  copper, 
gold,  oil,  and  silver,  a  large  proportion  of  the  country's  population  has  been 
rendered  frantic.  An  immense  rush  has  set  in  toward  the  centre  of  inter- 
est ;  fortunes  large  and  small,  often  augmented  by  extensive  borrowing  from 
credulous  friends  and  relatives,  have  been  invested  in  land-claims,  and  stock 
companies  to  work  them ;  towns  and  villages  have  sprung  up  almost  in  a  day, 
like  Jonah's  gourd.  The  hopes  of  but  few  out  of  many  would  be  realized ; 
disappointment  and  ruin  ensued ;  and  not  only  were  poverty,  sickness,  and 
death  often  the  result,  but  whole  towns  of  the  mushroom  type  have  been 
almost  as  suddenly  wiped  out  of  existence. 

In  this  mad  rush  of  greed  and  excitement,  other  blunders  besides  those  of 
investing  in  unprofitable  lands  have  been  made.  Furnaces  for  smelting  have 
been  located  without  due  regard  for  getting  fuel ;  costly  machinery  for  crushing 
ore  has  been  bought,  and  forwarded  to  the  scene  of  action,  without  knowing 
whether  ore  would  be  found  at  all,  or  whether  the  apparatus  was  suited  to  the 
kind  of  ore  discovered ;  new  processes  for  extracting  metal  have  been 
resorted  to,  without  reliable  information  as  to  their  value ;  and  other  such 
ruinous  mistakes  have  been  committed  by  frenzied  speculators. 

There  has  also  been  an  enormous  waste  of  valuable  minerals  in  conse- 
quence of  this  same  impetuous  desire  for  wealth.    In  the  lead-regions  of  the 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


671 


Miss;issippi  Valley  argentiferous  galena  is  quite  common,  and  often  the  lead 
is  entirely  wasted  in  the  extraction  of  the  little  silver.    In  the 

Ufa*** 

coal-regions,  especially  before  the  organization  of  the  present 
large  companies  and  their  combination  in  monopoly,  only  the  richer  measures 
would  be  worked,  leaving  a  large  quantity  of  inferior  yet  valuable  coal  on 
higher  levels  to  be  lost  by  caving.  Such  recklessness  in  handling  was  practised, 
that  from  a  third  to  a  half  of  the  product  was  lost.  The  same  state  of  things 
has  been  found  in  the  silver  country.  Mines  have  been  neglected  as  soon  as 
the  rich  surface-deposits  were  procured,  and  the  accumulation  of  water  and 
rubbish  have  made  it  next  to  impossible  to  work  what  were  really  paying  shafts. 
But  a  re-action  has  set  in  of  late  years  in  these  regards,  and  this  extravagance 
is  steadily  lessening. 

The  two  great  causes,  which,  after  the  discovery  of  our  great  resources 
and  the  passion  for  wealth,  have  stimulated  American  mining,  are  the  govern- 
ment's general  policy  of  encouragement,  and  the  advancement  in  principal 
mechanic  and  natural  science.  Under  the  old  English  laws  the  c«u«etofim. 
crown  was  entitled  to  the  gold  and  silver  found  on  government  p™^*"*'"*' 
lands,  and  a  certain  proportion  of  other  minerals.  But  in  this  country,  although 
legislation  has  been  very  slight  until  recently,  and  the  gold  and  silver  miners 
of  the  Pacific  coast  were  ruled  only  by  self-made  regulations,  the  government 
has  favored  the  free  occupation  and  investigation  of  the  rocks  for  minerals, 
and  facilitated  the  cheap  purchase  and  lease  of  mining-lands.  There  has 
been  a  protective  tariff,  too,  on  foreign  metals  at  times,  the  heaviest  having 
been  since  1861 ;  and  this  has  greatly  promoted  the  development  of  our  iron, 
copper,  coal,  and  other  minerals. 

Among  the  most  serviceable  inventions  in  practical  mining  and  metallurgy 
for  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years  are  the  California  stamp-mill  for  crushing 
quartz,  the  mercury  amalgamation  process  for  gold,  the  pan  process  for  silver, 
the  hydraulic  process  of  gold-mining  in  alluvial  regions,  the  application  of  new 
explosives  to  rocks,  new  methods  of  drilling,  new  blast-furnaces,  and  new 
methods  of  converting  iron  into  steel. 

Our  independent  schools  in  mining  and  engineering  date  from  1865.  Mr. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  speaking  in  1875  of  their  rapid  increase  in  number,  said, 
"  Many  of  them  compare  favorably  in  theoretical  instruction  at  Mining- 
least,  and  several  of  them  in  the  apparatus  of  instruction,  with  the  "hoou. 
famous  schools  of  the  Old  World.  The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
at  Boston,  the  School  of  Mines  of  Columbia  College  at  New  York,  the  Shef- 
field Scientific  School  of  Yale  College  at  New  Haven,  the  Stevens  Institute  of 
Technology  at  Hoboken,  the  Pardee  Scientific  Department  of  Lafayette  Col- 
lege at  Easton,  the  excellent  school  at  Rutgers  College  under  the  direction  of 
Professor  Cook,  the  new  Scientific  Department  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
the  School  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy  of  Lehigh  University  at  Bethlehem,  the 
School  of  Mining  and  Practical  Geology  0/  Harvard  University  at  Cambridge, 


67a  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

the  Scientific  Department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  at  Philadelphia, 
the  School  of  Mines  of  Michigan  University  at  Ann  Arbor,  the  Missouri 
School  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy  at  Rolla,  the  Polytechnic  Department  of 
Washington  University  at  St.  Louis,  and  the  similar  department  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  California  at  Oakland,  and  perhaps  some  which  I  have  omitted  to 
name,  —  this  is  a  list  of  schools  for  instruction  in  the  sciences  involved  in 
mining  and  metallurgical  practice  of  which  we  need  not  be  ashamed." 

Other  agencies  for  the  advancement  of  science  in  this  class  of  industry 
National  ^^  ^'^  appointment  and  reports  of  a  national  commissioner  of 
commis.  mining-statistics  since  1866,  the  organization  of  the  American 
•lonerof  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  in  1870,  and  the  publication  of 
periodicals  especially  devoted  to  such  subjects,  the  most  prominent 
of  these  being  "  The  American  Mining  and  Engineering  Journal." 

The  following  table,  made  up  from  the  census  of  1870,  shows  the  value  of 
the  principal  mineral  products  of  this  country  that  year:  the  figures  for  1878 
would  doubtless  raise  the  total  very  nearly  fifty  million  dollars  more  :  — 

Coal $73,524,992 

Iron  ore 13,204,138 

Gold  (placer-mined) 7,266,613 

Gold  (hydraulic-mined) 2,508,531 

Quartz  (40  per  cent  gold  and  60  per  cent  silver)  .        .        .  16,677,508 

Copper 5,201,312 

Petroleum 19,304,224 

I^ad 736,004 

Zinc 788,880 

Cinnabar 817,700 

Nickel 24,000 

Asphaltum 450,000 

Peat 8,200 

Quarrying  (including  marble  and  slate)        ....  12,086,892 

Total 1^1521598.994 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


673 


CHAPTER  II. 


GOLD. 


Drake. 


ALTHOUGH  some  speninens  o(  gold  were  collected  in  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia  previous  to  tiie  Revolution,  no  excitement  about  the  sub- 
ject arose  until  the  discovery  in  (."alitornia  in   1848.     Hefore  then   E«riydu- 
llie  gold-miner  had  pursued  his  occupation  quietly,  and  without  coverie»of 
ever  dreaming  of  enormous  rithes  suddenly  accpiired ;    but,  with   *° 
the  discovery  on  the  Pacific  coast,  all  was  changed.     Gold  had  been  found  in 
California  prior  to  this  time;    for  Ilakluyt  (in  his  account  of  the  voyage  of 
Sir  Francis  Drake,  who  s|)ent  five  weeks  in  June  and  July,  1579, 
alon;j[  the  coast)  says,  "There  is  no  part  of  the  earth  to  be  taken 
up  wherein  there  is  not  a  reasonable  (]uantity  of  gold  and  silver."     .Mthough 
this  statement  was  highly  overdmwn,  yet  it  probably  contained   a   basis  of 
u  ilh  ;  for  the  Mexicans  found  placer-gold  near  the  Colorado  River  at  various 
Intervals  between    1773  and   1828.     Still  these  discoveries  were  regarded  as 
unimportant;  and  even  so  late  as   1835,  when   Forbes  wrote  his  History  of 
California,  he  says.   "  Xo  niiner.ds  of  any  particular  importance   pi,ceriof 
have  yet  been  found  in  L  |)])er  California,  nor  any  ores  of  metals."   San  Fr«n- 
I'hiee  years  later  the  placers  of  San  Francisijuito,  forty-five  miles  '  •*'"'*°- 
north-west  from   Los   Angeles,  were  discovered.      The  deposit  of  gold  was 
neither  extensive  nor  rich  ;  i)ut  it  was  worked  steadilv  for  twenty  years.     In 
1841  the  exploring-e\|)edition  of  Conunodore  Wilkes  visited  the  coast;  and 
its  mineralogist,  James  1).  Dana,  maile  a  trip  overland  from  the 
Columbia  River,  by  way  of  Willamette  and  Sacramento  Valleys,  to 
Sin  Francisco  Hay  ;  and  in  the  following  year  he  published  a  work  on  miner- 
alogy, in  which  was  mentioned  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Sacramento  Valley, 
and  of  auriferous  rocks  in  Southern  Oregon.     Dana  did  not  regard  his  dis- 
( mery  as  of  any  practical  value  ;  and.  if  he  said  any  thing  alx)ut  it  in  Cali- 
tornia,  no  one  heeded  his  words.     Nevertheless,  many  persons  believed  the 
countrj'  was  rich  in  minerals ;   and  on  the  4th  of  May,   1846,  Thomas  O. 
l-arkin,  at  that  time  United-States  consul  in  Monterey,  wrote  in  an  official 
letter  to  Jarnes  Buchanan,  who  was  then  secretary  of  state,  "There   is   no 


Dana. 


674 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


doubt  but  that  gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  copper,  lead,  sulphur,  and  coal  mines 
are  to  be  found  all  over  California ;  and  it  is  equally  doubtful  whether,  under 
their  present  owners,  they  will  ever  be  worked." 

Seven  years  later,  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  January,  1848,  —  ten  days  before 
the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  was  signed,  and  three  months  before  the 
MarthaU's  ratified  copies  were  exchanged, — James  W.  Marshall,  while  en- 
diicovery.  gaged  in  digging  a  race  for  a  saw-mill  at  Coloma,  about  thirty-five 
miles  eastward  from  Sutter's  Fort,  found  some  pieces  of  yellow  metal  which 


Marshall's  saw-mill. 


he  and  the  half-dozen  men  working  with  him  at  the  mill  imagined  were  gold. 
Feeling  confident  that  he  had  made  a  discovery  of  great  importance,  but 
knowing  nothing  of  chemistry  or  gold-mining,  he  could  not  prove  the  nature 
of  the  metal,  or  tell  how  to  obtain  it  in  paying  quantities.  Every  morning  he 
went  down  to  the  race  to  look  for  gold ;  but  the  rest  of  his  companions 
regarded  Marshall  as  very  wild  in  his  ideas,  and  continued  their  labors  upon 
the  mill  and  in  sowing  wheat  and  planting  vegetables.  The  swift  current  ot' 
the  mill-race  washed  away  a  considerable  body  of  earthy  matter,  leaving  tlie 
coarse  particles  of  gold  behind :  so  Marshall's  collection  of  specimens  con- 
tinued to  accumulate,  and  his  associates  began  to  think  there  might  be  some- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


675 


thing  in  his  gold-mine,  after  all.  About  the  middle  of  February  one  of  the 
party  employed  at  the  mill  went  to  San  Francisco  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
whether  this  metal  was  precious,  and  was  there  introduced  to  Isaac  Humphrey, 
who  had  washed  for  gold  in  G'-orgia.  The  experienced  miner  saw  at  a  glance 
that  the  true  stuff  was  before  him,  and,  after  a  few  inquiries,  was  satisfied  as  to 
the  richness  of  the  deposits.  He  made  immediate  preparation  to  go  to  the 
mill,  and  tried  to  persuade  some  of  his  friends  to  go  with  him ;  but  they 
thought  it  would  be  only  a  waste  of  time  and  money  :  so  he  went  with  Bennett 
for  his  sole  companion. 

Arriving  at  Coloma  on  the  7th  of  March,  he  found  work  at  the  mill  going 
on  as  though  no  gold  existed  in  the  neighborhood.    The  next  day  he  took  a 
pan  and  spade,  and  washed  some  of  the  dirt  from  the  bottom  of  washing 
the  mill-race  in  places  where  Marshall  had  found  his  specimens,  '*'  «*''"'• 
and  in  a  few  hours  declared  the  mines  to  be  far  richer  than  any  he  had  seen 
or  heard  of  in  Georgia. 

He  now  made  a  rocker,  and  went  to  work  earnestly  washing  for  gold ;  and 
every  day  he  found  an  ounce  or  more  of  metal.    The  men  at  the  Renews  hit 
mill  made  rockers  for  themselves,  and  all  were  soon  busy  in  search  •"o'*«- 
of  the  shining  stuff. 

Every  thing  else  was  abandoned ;  yet  the  rumor  of  the  discovery  spread 
slowly.  In  the  middle  of  March,  Pearson  B.  Reading,  the  owner  of  a  large 
ranch  at  the  head  of  the  Sacramento  Valley,  happened  to  visit  other  dii. 
Sutter's  Fort  j  and,  hearing  of  the  mining  at  Coloma,  he  went  coveriee. 
thither  to  see  it.  He  said,  that,  if  similarity  of  formation  could  be  regarded 
as  proof,  there  must  be  gold-mines  near  his  ranch :  so,  after  observing  the 
method  of  washing,  he  went  away,  and  in  a  few  weeks  was  at  work  on  the  bars 
of  Clear  Creek,  nearly  two  hundred  miles  in  a  north-westerly  direction  from 
Coloma.  A  few  days  after  Reading  had  left,  John  Bidwell,  formerly  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  northern  district  of  the  State  in  the  lower  house  of  Congress, 
came  to  Coloma ;  and  the  result  of  his  visit  was  the  organization  of  a  party 
of  Indians  belonging  to  his  ranch  to  wash  for  gold  on  the  bars  of  Feather 
River,  seventy-five  miles  from  Coloma.  Thus  the  mines  were  opened  at 
several  distant  points. 

The  following  was  the  first  printed  notice,  in  a  California  newspaper  pub- 
lished in  San  Francisco,  of  the  discovery :    "  In  the  newly-made   p,,„ted 
race-way  of  the  saw-mill  erected  by  Capt.  Sutter  on  the  Ameri-   notice  of 
can  Fork,  gold  has  been  found  in  considerable  quantities.    One  •''""^"y- 
person  brought  thirty  dollars  to  New  Helvetia,  gathered  there  in  a  short 
time." 

On  the  29th  of  May,  the  same  paper,  announcing  that  its  publication  would 
be  suspended,  says,  "  The  whole  country,  from  San  Francisco  to 
Los  Angeles,  and  from  the  seashore  to  the  base  of  Sierra  Nevada, 
resounds  with  the  sordid  cry  of  '  Gold,  gold,  gold  I '  while  the  field  is  left  half 


Excitement. 


676 


INDUSTRIAL    Ht STONY 


I 


planted,  the  house  half  built,  and  every  thing  neglected  but  the  inanufiicture 
of  picks  and  shovels,  and  the  means  of  trans'portation  to  the  spot  where  one 
man  obtained  a  hundred  anil  twenty-eight  dollars'  worth  of  the  real  stuff  in 
one  day's  washing ;  and  the  average  for  all  concerned  is  twenty  dollars  per 
iUemr 

Towns  and  farms  were  deserted,  or  left  to  the  care  of  women  and  children  ; 


CALIFOKNIAN  GULU-PINUKK   I'HdSI'EC  I  INC    XWV.  GNUUNU. 


while  rancheros,  wood-chnpiK'rs.  nieclianics.  vaciueros,  and  soldiers  and  sailoi^ 
Rii«h  for  who  had  deserted,  or  obtained  leave  of  absence,  devoted  all  lluii 
the  mines.  energies  to  washing  the  auriferous  gravel  of  the  Sacramento  basin. 
Never  satisfied,  however  great  their  profits,  they  were  continually  looking  Im' 
new  places  which  might  yield  them  twice  or  thrice  as  much  as  they  had  \wmV- 
before.  Thus  the  area  of  their  labors  gradually  e.vtended  ;  and,  at  the  end  i>t 
1.S48,  miners  were  at  work  in  every  large  atreau;  on  the  western  slope  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  from  the   Feather  to  the  Tuolumne  River  (a  distance  of  ;i 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


677 


luuulred  and  fifty  miles),  and  also  at  Reading's  diggings  in  the  north-western 
corner  of  tlie  Siicranicnto  Valley. 

The  news  of  the  gold  discovery  was  received  in  the  Atlantic  States  and  in 
fori'i^Mi  countries  with  incredulity  ami  ridicule  ;  but  soon  the  reccii)ts  of  the 
precious  metal  in  large  «iuantities,  and  the  enthusiastic  letters  oi  Reception  oi 
arnn -officers  and  of  men  whose  word  was  umiiiestioiied,  changed  naw^inAt- 
ihc  current  of  t)elief,  and  created  a  wonderful  excitement.  Ore-  *""  '""" 
gon,  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  Sonora  sent  their  thousands  to  share  in  the 
.uirifcrous  harvest  of  the  first  year  ;  and  in  the  following  spring  all  the  adven- 
turous young  .Americans  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  wanted  to  go  to  the 
new  I'lldorado,  where,  as  they  imagined,  everybody  was  rich,  and  goKi  couKI 
liL'  dug  by  the  shovelful  from  the  bed  of  every  stream. 

Though  the  i)hrase  "  golden  sands "  is  often   heard,  gold  is  found    in  a 
tough  clay,  which   envelops   gravel 
and  large  bowlders  as  well  as  sanil. 
This  clay  must  be  thoroughly  dis- 
solved :  so  the  miner  fills   ^j^jg  „, 
Ills  pan,  —  which  is  made   w«»iiing 

,•     1        .    •  ■•  I     (or  Bold. 

ol  slicet-iron  or  tinned        " 

iron,  with  a  flat  bottom  about  a  foot 

iu  diameter,  and   sides  six  inches 

high,  inclining  outwards  at  an  an- 

^Ic  of  thirty  or  forty  degrees,  —  and 

goes  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  sipiats 

ilown    there,    puts    his    pan    under 

water,  and    shakes    it    hori/onlally, 

so  as  to  get  tiie   mass  thoroughly 

soaked  ;  then  he  picks  out  the  larger 

stones  with  one  hand,  and  mashes  up  the  largest  and  toughest  lumps  of  clay. 

and  again  shakes  his  pan  ;  and  when  all  the  dirt  appears  to  be  dissolved,  so 

that  the  gold  can  be  carried  to  the  bottom  by  its  weight,  he  tilts  up  the  pan  a 

little  to  let  the  thin  mud  and  light  sand  run  out  ;  and  thus  he  works  until  he 

has  washed  out  all  except  »he  metal,  which  remains  at  the  bottom. 

The  rocker,  which  was  introduced  into  the  California  mines  at  their  dis- 
covery, is  maile  somewhat  like  a  child's  cradle.  On  the  upper  end  is  a  riddle, 
made  with  a  bottom  of  sheet-iron  puncheil  with  holes.  'I'his 
liddle  is  filled  with  pay-dirt  ;  antl  a  man  rocks  the  machine  with 
iiiu.'  hand,  while  with  a  dijjper  he  jjours  water  into  the  riddle  with  the  other, 
lieiug  agitated,  the  liipiid  dissolves  the  clay,  and  carries  it  down  with  the  gold 
into  the  floor  of  the  rocker,  where  the  metal  is  caught  by  traverse  riffles,  or 
cleats  ;  while  the  mud.  water,  and  sand  run  off  at  the  lower  end  of  the  rocker. 
whi(  h  is  left  open.  The  riddle  can  be  removed,  thus  enabling  tlie  miner  to 
throw  out  the  larger  stones  which  are  nii.xed  with  the  clay. 


WASIIINIl   Willi    I'AN. 


67S 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


The  year  1850,  two  years  after  Marshall's  discovery,  was  marked  by  a  mul- 
titude of  "  rushes,"  or  sudden  migrations  in  search  of  imaginary  rich  dig- 
gings. The  miners,  although  generally  men  of  rare  intelligence  compared 
Early  ide«t  with  the  laborers  in  other  countries,  had  vague  ideas  of  the 
of  mineri.  geological  distribution  of  gold ;  and  the  marvellous  amounts  dug 
out  '-»y  them  (sometimes  a  single  miner  extracting  thousands  of  dollars  per 
day)  excited  their  imagination  so  highly  as  to  prevent  the  formation  of  a 
sound  judgment,  even  if  they  had  possessed  the  requisite  information  upon 
which  to  act.  Many  believed  that  there  must  be  some  volcanic  source  from 
which  the  gold  had  been  thrown  up  and  scattered  over  the  hills ;  and  they 
thought,  that,  if  they  could  only  find  that  place,  they  would  have  nothing  to  do 
except  to  shovel  up  the  precious  metal,  and  load  their  mules  with  it.  More 
than  once,  long  trains  of  pack-animals  were  sent  out  with  the  confident  ex- 
pectation of  getting  loads  of  gold  within  a  few  days. 

No  story  was  too  extravagant  to  command  credence.  Men  who  had  never 
earned  more  than  a  dollar  a  day  before  they  came  to  California  were  dissatis- 
Learning  ^^^  when  they  were  clearing  twenty  dollars,  and  were  always  ready 
from  experi-  to  Start  off  on  some  expedition  in  search  of  distant  diggings  which 
'""■  were  expected  to  yield  more  abundantly.     Although  the  miners  of 

to-day  have  better  ideas  of  the  auriferous  deposits  than  those  had  who  toiled 
sixteen  years  ago,  and  no  longer  count  upon  digging  up  the  pure  gold  by  the 
shovelful,  yet  they  are  now,  as  they  have  ever  been  since  the  discovery  of  the 
mines,  always  prepared  for  emigration  to  any  new  field  of  excitement. 

Of  course  the  chief  want  of  the  placer-miner  is  an  abundant  and  con- 
venient supply  of  water;  and  the  first  noteworthy  attempt  to  convey  the 
needful  element  in  an  artificial  channel  was  made  at  Coyote  Hill, 

First  canal.       .  ,    . 

in  Nevada  County,  in  March,  1850.  This  ditch  was  about  two 
miles  long,  and,  proving  a  decided  success,  was  imitated  in  many  other  places, 
until,  in  the  course  of  eight  years,  six  thousand  miles  of  mining-canals  had 
been  made,  supplying  all  the  principal  placer-districts  with  water,  and  furnish- 
ing the  means  for  obtaining  the  greater  portion  of  the  gold  yield  of  the  State. 
Many  of  the  ditches  were  marvels  of  engineering  skill. 

The  problem  was  to  get  the  largest  amount  of  water  at  the  greatest  altitude 
above  the  auriferous  ground,  and  at  the  least  immediate  expense,  as  money 
_    .  was  worth  from  three  to  ten  per  cent  per  month  interest.     As  the 

Early  expe-  ■  ' 

dients  for  pay-dirt  might  be  exhausted  within  a  couple  of  years,  and  as  the 
anticipated  profits  would  in  a  short  time  be  sufficient  to  pay  for  a 
new  ditch,  durability  was  a  point  of  minor  importance.  There 
was  no  imperial  treasury  to  supply  the  funds  for  a  durable  aqueduct  in  every 
township,  nor  could  the  impatient  miners  wait  a  decennium  for  the  completion 
of  gigantic  structures  in  stone  and  mortar.  The  high  value  of  their  time,  and 
the  scarcity  of  their  money,  made  it  necessary  that  the  cheapest  and  most 
expeditious  expedients  for  obtaining  water  should  be  adopted.     Where  the 


obtaining 
water. 


OF   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


679 


surface  of  the  ground  furnished  the  proper  grade,  a  ditch  was  dug  in  the 
earth ;  and,  where  it  did  not,  flumes  were  built  of  wood,  sustained  in  the 
air  by  framework  that  rose  sometimes  to  a  height  of  three  hun<hcil  feet  in 
crossing  deep  ravines,  and  extenchng  for  miles  at  an  elevation  of  a  hundred 
or  two  hundred  feet. 

All  the  devices  known  to  mechanics  for  conveying  water  from  hill-top  to 
hill-top  were  adopted.    A(|ueducts  of  wood,  and  i)ipes  of  iron,  were   Aqueducts, 
suspended  upon  cables  of  wire,  or  sustained  on  bridges  of  wood  ;   »'i'i'on»i  &<=. 
and  inverted  siphons  carried  water  up  the  sides  of  one  hill  by  the  heavier 
pressure  from  the  higher  side  of  another. 


I'RKSSURE-BOX,  YL'BA   RIVER. 


money 
As  the 
as  the 
ay  for  a 
There 
n  every 
ipletion 
Tie,  and 
,d  most 
ere  the 


Ditches. 


The  ditches  were  usually  the  property  of  companies,  of  which  there  were 
at  one  time  four  hundred  in  the  State,  owning  a  total  length  of  six  thousand 
miles  of  canals  and  flumes.  The  largest  of  these,  called  the 
Kureka,  in  Nevada  County,  has  two  hundred  and  five  miles  of 
ditches,  constructed  at  a  cost  of  nine  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  their 
receipts  at  one  time  from  the  sale  of  water  were  six  thousand  dollars  per  day. 
Liifortunately,  these  mining-canals,  though  more  numerous,  more  extensive, 
and  bolder  in  design,  than  the  aqueducts  of  Rome,  were  less  durable ;  and 
some  of  them  have  been  abandoned,  and  allowed  to  go  to  ruin,  so  that 
scarcely  a  trace  of  their  existence  remains,  save  in  the  heaps  of  gravel  from 
which  the  clay  and  loam  were  washed  in  search  for  gold. 


68o 


INDUSTRIAL    NISIOKY 


As  the  placers  in  many  districts  were  gradually  exhausted,  the  demand  for 
Dettruction  water,  and  the  profits  of  the  ditch-companies,  decreased  ;  and  the 
oJ  ditchei.  more  expensive  flumes,  when  blown  down  by  severe  storms,  carried 
away  by  floods,  or  destroyed  by  the  decay  of  the  wooil,  were  not  repaired. 

The  construction  of  hundreds  of  ditches  within  three  or  four  years  after 
the  successful  experiment  at  Coyote  Hill  created  a  fresh  impulse  to  placer- 
inventionof  mining,  and  greatly  modified  its  character.  New  inventions, 
the"toin."  though  of  the  rudest  description,  were  multiplied  to  facilitate  the 
l)rocess  of  gathering  the  yellow  metal.     Among  others  was  the  introduction  of 


V,^^, 


HYDRAULIC  MINING.  —  WASHING   DOWN  A   BANK. 


The  sluice. 


an  implement  which  had  been  previously  used  in  Georgia,  called  by  the  short 
and  unclassic  name  of  "  tom."  This  was  a  great  improvement  upon  the 
rocker ;  yet  it  was  soon  superseded  by  a  still  greater,  —  the  sluice, 
which  is  a  broad  trough  from  a  hundred  to  a  thousand  feet  long, 
with  transverse  cleats  at  the  lower  end  to  catch  the  gold.  With  a  descent  of 
one  foot  in  twenty,  the  water  rushes  through  it  like  a  torrent,  bearing  down 
large  stones,  and  tearing  the  lumps  of  clay  to  pieces.  The  miners,  of  whoir. 
a  dozen  or  a  score  may  work  at  one  sluice,  have  little  to  do  save  to  throw  in 
the  dirt,  and  take  out  the  gold. 

Occasionally  it  may  be  necessary  to  throw  out  some  stones,  or  to  shovel 
the  dirt  along,  to  prevent  the  sluice  from  choking ;  but  these  attentions  cost 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


68 1 


relatively  very  little  time.     The  sluice  is  the  best  device  heretofore  used  for 
washing  gold,  and  is  supposed  to  be  unsurpassable.     It  has  l)een   superiority 
used  in  California  more  extensively  than  elsewhere  ;  although  it  "*'  *'"  •'"'<=•. 
has  been  introduced  by  American  miners  into  .Australia,  New  Zealand,  Hritish 
Columbia,  Transylvania,  and  many  other  countries. 

The  sluice,  though  an  original  invention  iieie,  had  been  previously  used  in 
Hrazil ;  but  it  was  never  brougiit  to  much  excellence  there,  nor  formerly 
used  extensively ;  and  no  such  implement  was  known  in   1849  in   uiedin 
the  industry  of  gold-mining.  Braiii. 

The  shovel  could  not  bring  earth  to  the  sluice  fast  enough,  and  the  wages 
of  a  dozen  workmen  must  be  saved,  if  possible :  so  in  1852  Kdward  K.  Matti- 
son,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  invented  the  process  of  hydraulic  Hydraulic 
mining,  in  which  a  stream  of  water  was  directed  under  a  heavy  "''"•ing. 
l)ressiire  against  a  bank  or  hillside  containing  placer-gold,  and  the  earth  was 
torn  down  by  the  fluid,  and  carried  into  tiie  sluice  to  be  washed ;  and  thus  the 
expense  of  shovelling  was  entirely  saved. 

The  man  with  the  rocker  might  wash  one  cubic  yard  of  earth  in  a  day ; 
with  the  torn  he  might  average  twice  that  quantity ;  with  the  sluice,  four  yards; 
anti  with  the  hydraulic  and  sluice  together,  fifty  or  even  a  hundred   g..  ^  j^^_ 
yards.     The  difference  was  immense.     The  force  of  a  stream  of  nets  of  va- 
water  rushing  through  a  two-inch  pipe,  under  a  pressure  of  two   '*""• 
hundred  feet  perpendicular,  is  tremendous ;   and  the  everlasting 
hills  themselves  crumble  down  before  it  as  if  they  were  but  piles  of  cloud 
blown  away  by  a  breath  of  wind,  or  (lissi,jated  by  a  glance  of  the  sun. 

And  yet  even  tliis  terrific  power  has  not  sufficed.     When  the  hills  have 
been  dried  by  months  of  constant  heat  and  drought,  the  clay   u  a  a  ii 
becomes  so  hartl,  that  the  hydrauHc  stream,  with  all  its  momentum,   mining  not 
did  not  steadily  dissolve  it ;  anil  often  the  water  ran  off  almost  as   •'^^■y" 
clearly  as  ever  through  the  sluice,  and  consequently  was  wasted. 

The  sluice  could  wash  more  dirt  tiian  the  hydraulic  stream  furnished  when 
the  clay  was  hard  and  dry ;  and,  to  prevent  this  loss,  the  miner  Efficiency  of 
would  often  cut  a  tunnel  into  the  heart  of  his  claim,  and  blast  the  »'"*<:e. 
clay  loose  with  powder,  so  that  it  would  yield  more  readily  to  the  action  of 
water.  Two  tons  of  powder  have  been  used  at  a  single  blast  in  some  of  these 
operations. 

With  the  introduction  of  the  sluice,  the  ditch,  and  the  hydraulic  ])rocess, 
the  hiring  of  laborers  began.     The  pan  and  the  rocker  recjuired    Hiring  of 
every  man  to  be  his  own  master ;  but  these  new  processes  led  to   'adorers. 
other  modes  of  employment. 

There  was  an  abundance  of  rocker  claims  in  1849  ;  but  three  years  later 
there  were  not  enough  good  sluice-claims  to  supply  one-third  of  the  miners. 
The  erection  of  a  long  sluice,  the  cutting  of  drains  (often  necessary  to  carr)' 
off  the  tailings),  and  the  purchase  of  water  from  the  ditch-company,  required 


683 


INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY 


capital ;  and  the  manner  of  clearing  up  rendered  it  possible  for  the  owner 
CauMt  Uad-  ^^  ^  sluice  to  prevent  liis  servants  from  stealing  any  considerable 
ing  to  tm-  portion  of  his  gold  before  it  came  to  his  possession.  Thus  it  was 
r'bor"""* "'  ^^^^  ^^^  custom  of  hiring  miners  for  wages  became  common  in 
the  placer-diggings. 
Placer-gold,  it  is  supposed,  is  nothing  but  loose  portions  which  have  been 
disintegratetl  from  rocks  by  the  operations  of  nature,  and  is  only  a  very  small 

])ortion  of  the  gold  not 
yet  gathered.  When 
Murchison    wrote     his 

PUcer-goid,  work  upon 
what  It  u.       ti,e  rocks 

of  the  Silurian  age,  he 
declared  that  gold-veins 
were  confined  chiefly  to 
the  Silurian  rocks,  and 
that  the  (juantity  capa- 
ble of  extraclion  from 
them  at  no  distant  day 
would  be  exliausted. 
The  gold-bearinn  rocks 
in  the  I'ral  Mountains 
in  Australia,  and  to  a 
considerable  extent  in 
California,  belong  to  the 
Silurian  perioil.  If  "we 
cast  our  eyes  to  the 
co)mtries  watered  by 
the  Pactolus  of  Ovid, 
to  the  Phrygia  and 
Thrace  of  the  (Jreeks, 
to  the  Alps  and  golden 
Tagus  of  the  Romans, 
to  the  Pohemia  of  the 
middle  ages,  to  tracts  in 
Britain  which  were  worked  in  old  times,  and  have  either  been  long  abandoned 
or  are  now  scarcely  at  all  productive,  or  to  those  chains  in  America  and  Aus- 
tralia, which,  previously  unsearched,  have  in  our  times  proved  so  rich,"  —  in 
all  these  lands  gold  has  been  imparted  abundantly  to  only  the  silurian  or  the 
associated  eruptive  rocks.  Yet  it  has  been  conclusively  proved,  since  the  time 
when  the  first  edition  of  Murchison's  "  Siluria "  was  j^ublished,  that  gold 
abounds  in  rocks  of  every  geological  age.  The  explorations  of  Trask  and 
Whitney  in  California  in  1853  and  1854,  and  subsequently  the  discovery  of 


FLrMR   NEAK   SMARTVILI.E,   CAl.. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


683 


secondary  fossils  in  the  main  belt  of  gold-bearing  States,  together  with  the 
discoveries  in  Hungary  in  1862,  prove  that  rotks  belonging  to  the  latest 
geological  periods,  even  as  late  as  the  tertiary,  contain  productive  gold-bearing 

veins. 

Again :  later  geological  investigation   has  shown   that   the  quantity  con- 
tained in  the  rocks,  anil  which  is  accessible,  is  more  abundant  than  geologists 
formerly  supposed.      Murchison    maintained  that  the  gold-veins  Quantity  of 
parted,  as  ti  ;y  descended  into  the  rocks,  till  they  became  mere  k«»'«i  "><"• 
threads,  that  could  not  be  followed  or  worked  to  advantage.     Mr.  *,,,„  ^„ 
Sclwyn,  in  his  report  to  the  Knglish  (Jovernment  at  Australia,  in   once  tup. 
1856  and  1857,  on  the  mining  resources  of  the  colony  of  Victoria,   ''°**  " 
declared  that  there  was  no  eviilence  from  the  mines  in  that  place  to  sustain 
Murchison's  position,  that  any  vein  rich  at  the  surface  dies  out,  or  suddenly 
becomes  unprofitable.     It  was  true  that  the  upper  portion  of  many  veins  were 
once  fiir  richer  than  they  are  now.     But  the  reason  was  very  apparent :  the 
^olil  had  been  removed  by  denudation.     The  very  fact  that  many  veins  even 
thus  abraded  were  still  often  very  rich  on  their  present  surface,  went  far,  in 
ills  opinion,  to  prove  that  the  diminution  of  yield  in  dejuh,  even  though 
admilteil  to  be  true  on  a  large  scale,  was  still  so  slow  as  not  to  be  appre- 
ciable within  any  deptii  to  which  ordinary  mining  operations  might  be  carried. 
Raymond,  in  his  report  to  the  United-States  Government  in  1870,  said  that 
most  of  the  gold-veins   might  be  considered  as  practically  inexhaustible  in 
depth  :    indeed,  the   statement   of  Murchison,    according   to  this   authority, 
"is  completely  overthrown   by  experience."     Mr.  (1.  Arthur   Phillijjs  speaks 
the  opinion  now  universally  acknowledged,  that   gold-ledges  are  not  more 
liable  than  ordinary  metalliferous  veins  to  become  imijoverished  in  depth. 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  original  home  of  gold,  the  extraction  of  it 
therefrom  has  been  carried  on  in  a  more  scientific  manner  than  placer-mining. 
It  is  true  that  many  of  the  earlier  enterprises  in  the  way  of  quartz-   p,og„s,  „{ 
mining  were  iailures.     Large  and  costly  mills  were  erected ;    a  scientific 
multitude  of  laborers  were  employed ;    but  they  did  not  know   """'"*• 
how  to  select  the  rich  from  the  poor  quartz,  and  too  often  located  their  mills 
where  there  was  only  a  small  pocket,  which  was  soon  exhausted.     Besides, 
the  mills  were  too  large  to  be  fully  operated  without  receiving  all  the  poor 
as  well  as  the  rich   rock  accessible   in  the  vein  ;   the  amalgamator  did   not 
understand  his  business ;  the  rich  rock  in  which  the  Mexicans  had  worked 
often  failed  ;  the  creditors  who  had  loaned  money  for  the  erection  of  these 
structures   brought  suit  to  foreclose  their  mortgages ;  the  work  stopped  ;  the 
titles  of  the  property  became  insecure ;  and  the  people  in  the  neighborhood 
declared  that  quartz-mining  would  not  pay.     What  a  wonderful  change  has 
occurred  since  those  early  and  disastrous  days  ! 

In    the    mode   of    pulverizing    and    reducing    quartz    comparatively   few 
changes  have  been   made.     In  some  mills  the   same  machinery  and   pro- 


684 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


cesses  have  been  used,  without  alteration  or  addition,  for  a  long  period. 
Failure!  in  1'here  is,  however,  a  general  belief  that  the  business  has  not  been 
early  quarts,  properly  Studied  by  any  one ;  and  it  is  certain  that  there  is  much 
n>  n  ng.  difference  of  opinion  in  respect  to  various  important  questions 

concerning  the  reduction  of  ores.  The  practice  is  not  uniform  in  regard  to 
the  fineness  of  pulverization,  or  the  size  and  speed  of  the  stamps,  or  the 
mode  of  amalgamation.  Wood,  as  a  material  for  the  shafts  of  stamps,  has 
given  way  to  iron ;  the  square  form  has  been  replaced  by  the  cylindrical ; 
and  the  stamps,  instead  of  falling  with  a  simple  downward  motion,  now  come 


TAIL  SLUICES,  VUBA  KIVER. 


down  with  a  twist.  The  mortar  into  which  the  stamps  fall  is  now  always  of 
iron  ;  and  the  stamps  stand  in  a  straight  line,  instead  of  forming  a  circle  as 
they  did  in  some  mills  years  ago. 

Tiiere  are  other  modes  of  obtaining  gold,  which,  however,  are  so  nearly 

obsolete  as  to  reciuire  only  brief  notice.     The  arastra,  for  instance,  was  used  in 

the  earlv  days   to  i)ulverize  the    ore.     It   is  a    Mexican  contriv- 

The  arastra.  \  rr 

ance,  rude,  but  (so  mujers  say)  effective.  \\  innowing,  or  "dry- 
washing,"  was  i)ractised  also  by  the  Mexicans.  It  is  still  used  in  some 
parts  of  Southern  and  Lower  California,  where  the  ore  is  found  too  far  away 
from  a  sufficient  supply  of  water  to  make  any  other  practice  possible.  The 
wind  bears  away  the  dust  anil  iight  particles  of  earth,  and  leaves  the  gokl- 
dust,  which  is  heavier. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


68s 


so  nearly 
.s  used  in 
contriv- 
or  "dry- 
in  sonic 
{ax  away 
)le.     'Hi^' 
the  gokl- 


During  the  progress  of  geological  surveys  gold  has  been  found  in  many 
places,  but  nowhere  in  such  quantities  as  in  California.     It  has  been  found 
in  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire,  in  Vermont,  in  New  vvhire  gold 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  still  larger  quantities  in  the   h"  been 
remaining  Southern  seaboard  States,  as  far  as  Alabama.     Doubt-    """  " 
less,  in  the  years  to  come,  unless  its  value  diminishes  very  much,  vast  qtiantities 
will   be   extracted  from   the  AUeghanies,  especially  with   the  more  scientific 
processes  now  in  use.     Gold-mining  contains  more  of  the  gambling  element 
than  any  other  regular  industry ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  it  has 
always  possessed  such  a  singular  fascination  for  many.     But  quartz-mining  is 
robbed  essentially  of  this  uncertain  element ;    for  the  business,  if  properly 
conducted,  yields   more  regular  profits   than  any  other  mode  of  gathering 
the  precious  metal. 


68tf 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  III. 


SILVER. 


Latest  metal 
t3  attain 
prominence 
in  United 
State*. 


SILVER  is  the  latest  of  all  the  mineral  products  to  attain  prominence  in 
the  mining  industries  of  the  United  States.  Prior  to  the  year  1859  the 
silver  produced  in  this  country  was  utterly  insignificant.  Only 
faint  traces  of  it  had  been  found  here  and  there,  and  it  was  rarely 
made  the  object  of  special  exploration.  The  silver  coin  in  circu- 
lation was  almost  exclusively  of  foreign  metal,  as  was  also  the  plate 
in  common  use. 

The  early  Spanish  invaders  of  this  continent  found  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico, 
and  Toltecs  of  Peru,  possessed  of  great  quantities  of  this  precious  metal,  which 
Spanish  was  obtained  from  the  great  mountain-range,  which,  under  different 
discoveries,  names,  extends  from  the  southern  to  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
New  World.  Mining  was  carried  on  even  more  extensively  under  the  new 
governments,  and  immense  quantities  of  treasure  were  carried  home  to  Europe 
in  Spanish  ships.  But  that  portion  of  this  great  treasure-vault  of  nature 
included  within  our  present  boundaries  remained  almost  entirely  free  from 
investigation  until  1849,  ^i^^  for  ten  years  the  search  was  directed  almost  exclu- 
sively to  finding  gold. 

Silver  was  found,  however,  mixed  with  galena,  or  lead  ore,  in  small  quantities 
by  the  eastern  colonists  a  full  century  before.  Such  a  vein,  for  instance,  was 
discovered  in  Worcester  County,  Mass.,  in  1754,  and  worked  with 
profit.  Another  was  discovered  in  Columbia  County,  N.Y.,  as 
early  as  1 740 :  this  was  on  the  estate  of  Robert  Livingston. 
Near  it  was  an  iron  forge  for  the  reduction  of  metal  obtained  fiom 
Connecticut.  The  same  year  argentiferous  galena  was  found  in 
Dutchess  County  of  the  same  State,  and  later  in  Westchester  County;  the 
former  being  worked  by  the  Germans  of  that  vicinity.  In  a  vein  of  copper 
discovered  in  New  Jersey  in  1719  there  was  found  silver  in  the  proportion  of 
four  ounces  to  every  hundred-weight  of  ore.  The  Swedes  reported  the  discov- 
ery of  silver  in  Pennsylvania  in  their  day ,  and  it  was  found  in  small  quantities 
near  Davidson,  N.C.,  and  in  South  Carolina  along  the  Savannah  River.    Later 


Early 
discoveries 
in  New  Bng 
land,  New 
Yorl(,  &c. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


687 


the  great  galena-mines  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi  were  discovered  to 
contain  a  slight  proportion  of  this  precious  metal.  In  some  of  these  several 
localities  the  silver  was  abundant  enough  to  pay  for  extraction,  but  rarely.  In 
the  early  colonial  days  it  was  not  possible  to  eliminate  it  as  easily  and  success- 
fully as  now,  and  in  most  cases  such  experiments  were  soon  abandoned.  In 
later  days  it  became  more  profitable,  and  yet  in  few  cases  were  the  results 
more  than  tantalizing.  At  the  present  time  the  North-Carolina  mines  are  the 
only  ones  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  that  are  worked  for  this 
metal.  No  statistics  are  obtainable  showing  the  exact  amount  of  native  silver 
produced  in  this  country  in  1850  ;  but  it  is  asserted,  that,  at  that  period  of  our 
history,  ninety-nine  of  every  hundred  silver  dollars  then  in  use  in  the  United 
States  were  of  Mexican  or  Peruvian  metal. 

Just  previous  to  the  discovery  of  the  famous  Comstock  lode,  stock  com- 
panies were  organized  in  New  York,  Cincinnati,  and  many  other  cities,  to 
explore  and  work  abandoned  silver-mines  in  Arizona  which  had 
been  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  the  Gadsden  treaty.  The 
F  ^fora  Company  of  Cincinnati  was  the  most  prominent  of  these  j  but,  when  it 
began  operations  in  1858,  it  was  upon  a  new  mine,  seventy-five  miles  south  of 
Tucson,  very  near  the  Mexican  border.  Their  works  were  at  Arivaca,  seven 
miles  from  the  mi  les.  Operations  were  also  commenced  seventy  miles  north 
of  Tucson,  in  1870,  by  the  Maricopa  Mining  Company  of  New  York,  whose 
mines  yield  an  argentiferous  copper  ore.  The  outlet  for  the  product  of  both 
iliose  mines  was  by  wagon  to  Guaymas,  Mexico,  on  the  Gulf  of  California. 
These  mines  are  upon  the  Pacific  slope  of  the  silver-yielding  range  of  Sonora 
and  Durango  in  Mexico.  Other  mines  have  been  found  and  worked  with 
profit  in  Arizona,  farther  west,  near  the  Gila  River. 

The  greatest  event  in  the  history  of  silver-mining  in  America  was  the  dis- 
covery of  the  richest  deposit  in  the  world  —  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  —  in  1859.  The  crest  of  the  range  runs  along  the  eastern  comttock 
part  of  California ;  and  in  the  Washoe  country,  twenty-five  miles  '"''*• 
over  the  border  into  Nevada,  this  magnificent  vein  was  found.  All  during 
the  interval  between  1850  and  i860,  those  tireless,  even  heroic  investigators, 
tlie  prospectors,  had  ranged  the  whole  mountain-region  of  the  West  on  foot, 
with  knapsack,  hammer,  and  blow-pipe.  As  they  wandered  from  ledge  to 
ledge  they  picked  out  specimens  here  and  there,  cracked  them,  and  studied 
the  appearance  of  the  fracture,  and  now  and  then  reduced  a  bit  of  the  ore  with 
the  blow-pipe  on  a  piece  of  charcoal.  In  1858-59  a  party  of  these  prospect- 
ors was  working  its  way  up  Six-mile  Caflon,  in  the  Washoe  country.  There 
they  found  some  rich  sulphurets  of  silver  interspersed  with  free  gold.  Imme- 
diately Henry  Phinney  (or  Fennimore)  and  Henry  Comstock  filed  a  claim  to 
a  mine.  The  former  sold  out  his  claim  to  the  latter  for  a  pinch  of  gold-dust, 
not  realizing  the  immense  value  of  the  discovery ;  and  Comstock  himself  soon 
parted  with  the  property,  although  his  name  still  clung  to  the  whole  lode. 


683 


IND  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


Prospectors  keep  as  close  watch  of  one  another's  hick  as  so  many  coast 
fishermen.  Before  practical  operations  began,  the  great  possibilities  of  this 
region  began  to  be  suspected,  and  a  vast  number  of  claims  were  filed  all  along 
these  eastern  foot-hills  of  the  Sierra ;  and,  as  soon  as  mining  was  actually 
undertaken,  it  was  realized  that  the  richest  accumulation  of  this  precious 
metal  ever  known  was  beneath  the  feet  of  the  Washoe  operators.  Tidings  of 
the  marvellous  wealth  hid  away  there  spread  like  lightning,  not  over  California 
alone  (Nevada  was  not  then  a  State,  and  had  scarcely  any  population),  and 


illiilll'''il,iiiii'Nll'iii:'Pi;.it*il|iil(Ji>!|i|li,ii;l|;lli||illlili;il^^ 

SECTION  OF  COMSIOCK   VEIN. 

not  over  the  United  States  alone,  but  over  the  whole  civilized  world.  One  of 
those  periods  of  frantic  e.xcitement  and  wild  sensation  ensued  such  as  Mark 
Twain  has  made  us  all  familiar  with  in  his  "  Roughing  It."  A  most  extraordi- 
nary emigration  ensued.  Several  large  new  towns  sprang  up,  notably  Virginia 
City,  Carson  City,  and  Silver  City ;  Nevada  took  a  place  among  the  States  of 
the  Union  ;  and  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  was  extended  through  the  region, 
its  nearest  station  to  the  point  of  first  discovery  being  at  Reno,  on  the  Truckee 
River,  twenty  miles  away. 

In  "  The  Great  Industries  of  the  United  States  "  it  is  remarked,  "  There 
Is,  perhaps,  no  instance  so  striking  of  the  promptness  and  daring  with  which 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


689 


American  capitalists  launcli  their  money  into  an  enterprise  in  which  they  have 
confidence  as  the  development  of  this  Comstock  lode.  In  1861  this  lode  was 
a  wall  of  black  sulphuret,  bedded  primeval  granite  and  quartz,  on  the  steep 


slope  of  a  lonely  and  barren  mountain  two  hundred  miles  from  roads  and 
shops  and  wheat-fields,  parted  from  them  by  the  gorges  and  snowy  peaks  of 
the  Sierras :  four  years  afterward  a  city  of  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  was 


690 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


planted  on  that  wild  declivity,  and  nearly  two  millions  and  a  half  in  assess- 
ments had  been  paid  to  develop  the  mines." 

The  general  excitement  was  increased  by  the  discovery  of  argentiferous 
deposits  elsewhere  in  Nevada.  Many  thousand  claims  were  located,  not  a  few 
of  which  were  large  and  well-defined,  yet  of  little  or  no  value.  In  the  greater 
number  of  cases,  however,  they  were  contracted,  and  the  lodes  on  which  they 
were  staked  lacked  the  features  of  true  veins,  or  proved  poor  below  the  sur- 
face. Says  Mr.  Kimball,  "  Notwithstanding  wide  differences  in  merit,  most  of 
these  claims  —  the  best  as  well  as  the  worst  of  them  —  passed  at  greatly  in- 
flated valuations  into  the  possession  of  joint-stock  companies  organized  upon 
the  strength  of  extravagant  expectations.  During  three  years,  while  the 
excitement  lasted,  three  thousand  mining-companies  were  incorporated  in  San 
Francisco  alone  to  work  mines  in  the  Washoe  district,  their  nominal  capital 
amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  a  billion  dollars,  though  their  market-value  never 
exceeded  sixty  million  dollars.  Companies  still  more  numerous,  with  locations 
in  other  parts  of  Nevada,  were  formed  in  Eastern  cities.  Without  wailing  for 
the  result  of  exploration  or  development,  most  of  the  companies  hurried  into 
enormous  expenditures  for  mill  and  machinery,  of  which  a  great  deal  was  unfit 
for  any  use  whatever,  even  had  machinery  ever  been  needed ;  cities  were  built 
in  an  ambitious  and  luxurious  style  ;  and  speculation  in  city  and  town  lots  was 
scarcely  exceeded  by  the  traffic  in  mining-claims.  The  furore,  if  any  thing, 
grew  for  three  years,  rather  than  abated.  In  the  summer  of  1864  a  re-action 
set  in,  it  having  by  this  time  become  clear,  that,  in  the  Washoe  region,  the  only 
mines  of  any  conside  able  and  well-established  value  were  those  upon  the 
Comstock,  and  even  those  for  a  time  were  objects  of  distrust ;  while  the  other 
regions  of  Nevada,  of  which  such  high  hopes  had  been  entertained,  had 
together  failed  to  contribute  more  than  five  or  six  per  cent  of  the  total  pro- 
duction of  the  State,  the  rest  having  been  fuxnished  by  the  Comstock  lode 
alone." 

Among  the  more  prominent  companies  at  work  on  the  Comstock  lode  are 
Gould  &  Curry,  the  Ophir,  the  Savage,  the  Imperial,  the  Yellow  Jacket,  and 
Prominent  the  Belcher.  Up  to  1865,  Messrs.  Gould  &  Curry  had  realized 
companies,  ^s  much  as  all  the  other  companies  put  together.  To  get  an  idea 
of  the  enormous  profits  of  the  business,  it  may  be  stated  that  it  cost  about  ten 
dollars  a  ton  to  get  the  ore  mined,  and  each  ton  yielded  fifty  dollars'  worth  of 
silver.  An  idea  of  the  rapid  development  of  these  mines  may  be  derived 
from  the  following  figures.  Wells,  Fargo,  &  Company  received 
and  transported  for  these  companies  silver  bullion  amounting  to 
112,275,276  in  1861,  316,247,074  in  1872,  3112,486,238  in  1863,  $15,795,585  '" 
1864,  and  1115,184,877  in  1865.  Altogether  some  $70,000,000  worth  of  silver 
was  taken  from  the  Comstock  lode  from  its  discovery  up  to  1866. 

Thereafter,  for  a  few  years,  there  was  a  slight  subsidence  in  the  production ; 
the  lowest  point  touched  being  in  1869,  when  the  whole  lode  is  credited  with 


Production. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


691 


lode  are 
:et,  and 
realized 
an  idea 
)out  ten 
rorth  of 
derived 
received 
iting  to 

1.585  '" 
)f  silver 

luction ; 
ted  with 


69  a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Colorado, 
Idaho,  and 
Montana. 


only  117,528,607  of  precious  metal.  A  new  development  ensued,  however, 
which  was  very  rapid  between  1872  and  1875,  in  which  latler  year  the  yield 
was  ;926,023,036.  It  is  estimated,  however,  that  forty  per  cent  of  the  value  of 
the  product  of  the  Comstock  lode  is  in  gold,  which  would  make  the  propor- 
tion of  silver  for  that  year  about  $16,000,000.  The  $200,000,000  yielded  from 
1859  to  1876  is  divided  roughly  into  $80,000,000  gold  and  $120,000,000  silver. 
Within  two  years  there  have  been  rumors  of  still  richer  deposits  having  been 
discovered  on  this  lode  ]  but  the  facts  are  concealed  from  the  public,  probably 
for  stock-jobbing  purposes. 

Nearly  ten  years  after  the  Comstock  claim  was  first  entered,  silver  was 
found  abundandy  in  the  white-pine  district  of  Nevada.  In  some  places  the 
Wh-te-pine  deposit  was  so  rich,  that,  when  the  quartz  had  been  mined  away, 
district.  sheets  of  almost  pure  metal,  worth  $17,000  a  ton,  could  be  torn 
out  of  the  vein.  This  supply  was  limited,  however,  and  the  yield  has  not  been 
steadily  maintained.  Silver  has  also  been  found  in  other  parts  of  Nevada  in 
smaller  quantities. 

Colorado  in  the  Central-City  region,  and  Idaho  and  Montana  in  the 
Wasatch  region,  have  developed  silver-mines  of  considerable 
importance  since  1865  ;  but,  as  yet,  they  do  not  approach  Nevada 
in  the  total  yield. 

'"  the  present  time  the  United  States  produce  between  $20,000,000  and 
$25,000,000  of  silver  annually  (which  is  about  half  of  the  world's  product), 
Present  and  three-quarters  of  the  amount  comes  from  the  Comstock  lode, 
yield.  ^  contributor  to  "  The  Atlantic  Monthly  "  remarks  that  this  coun- 

try contains  the  largest  proportion  of  silver,  compared  with  other  metals,  of 
any  in  the  world ;  that  the  production  of  silver  is  more  steady  than  that  of 
gold,  taking  the  world  over ;  and  that  the  signs  of  our  silver-supply  holding 
out  well  for  years  to  come  are  much  more  promising  than  those  concerning 
gold. 

Political  influences,  however,  as  well  as  the  discovery  of  an  increased  sup- 
ply, have  tended  of  late  years  to  depress  the  price  of  silver  considerably ;  so 
Demonetu  *^**  \!ntxt  has  been  far  greater  variability  in  its  value  than  in  that 
lationof  of  gold.  Even  before  demonetization  in  1873  it  had  fallen  off,  so 
•liver.  ^j^^^  j^  ^^g  necessary  to  raise  the  ratio  between  silver  and  gold 

coinage,  in  weight,  from  15^  :  i  to  16  :  i.  But  the  removal  of  it  from  a 
place  in  our  dollar  coinage,  and  the  similar  action  of  Gentiany  in  1874,  had 
the  effect  of  reducing  it  by  degrees  nearly  one-eighth  of  its  former  price. 
Since  the  demonetization  act  of  1878  was  enacted,  however,  there  has  been  a 
tendency  toward  recovery  j  and  a  large  class  of  economists  think  it  will  regain 
its  old  value  and  place  in  the  coinage  of  the  world. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


693 


CHAPTER  IV. 


LEAD. 


led  sup- 
ibly;  so 

in  that 
,  off,  so 
nd  gold 

from  a 


574. 


had 


LEAD  is  found  in  this  country  all  along  the  Appalachian  range  from  New 
England  to  Georgia,  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  at  two  points  where 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley ;  but  the  principal  development  of  lead-  *■»""«•• 
mining  is  confined  to  the  last-named  region  and  to  the  last  fifty  years  of  our 
history. 

This  metal  was  discovered  by  the  colonists  along  the  Atlantic  coast  long 
prior  to  the  Revolution  ;  and  numerous  attempts  to  work  the  veins  were  made, 
though  often  with  such  poor  success  that  they  were  abandoned  after  a  few 
years.  The  re-discoveries  on  the  Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi  about  1826 
still  further  discouraged  Eastern  production  ;  and  the  late  civil  war  and  other 
causes  depressed  the  lead-mining  industry  in  the  seaboard  States,  especially 
the  Southern  ones,  even  more :  so  that  now  Carroll  County,  N.H.,  Wash- 
ington County,  N.Y.,  Pulaski  and  Wythe  Counties,  Va.,  are  the  only  Eastern 
producers ;  and  the  last-named  county  in  Virginia  is  the  only  one  of  the  num- 
ber whose  yield  is  of  consequence.  Kentucky  also  does  a  trifle  in  this  direc- 
tion still ;  and  Nevada  is  the  only  State  on  the  Pacific  sii.e  of  the  continent 
which  has  a  lead-product  large  enough  to  be  recorded,  and  even  this  is  slight, 
and  of  recent  development. 

The  earliest  accounts  we  have  of  a  lead-mine  being  actually  worked  in 
Massachusetts  was  in  Worcester  County  in  1 754 ;  although  the  existence  of 
deposits  had  been  known  long  previously.  This  vein,  like  that  at  Early  work. 
Southampton,  worked  in  1765,  was  of  argentiferous  galena.  Lead  '"Jtofminee. 
was  found  elsewhere  in  the  State,  and  also  up  in  New  Hampshire.  In  the 
latter  State,  beside  the  Carroll-county  mines  now  in  operation,  those  of  the 
town  of  Shelbume,  which  have  been  abandoned,  also  paid.  Little  was  made 
of  the  discovery  near  Middletown,  Conn.,  until  1775,  when  the  Assembly 
directed  the  mine  there  to  be  worked,  and  smelters  and  refiners  imported  from 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  as  a  war  measure.  The  enterprise  never  amounted 
to  much,  though.  In  New  York,  specimens  were  picked  up  to  send  to  the 
mother-country,  Holland,  as  early  as  1629 ;  but  though  it  was  found  in  Ulster, 


694 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Columbia,  Dutchess,  and  Washington  Counties,  no  attempt  was  made  to  work 
the  veins  until  a  party  of  Germans  developed  a  mine  near  North-east,  Dutchess 
County.  Similar  enterprises  were  undertaken  by  Livingston  farther  u])  the 
Hudson  about  the  same  time.  Profitable  mines  have  since  been  operated  in 
St.  Lawrence  County,  but  are  now  abandoned.  Penn  knew  of  the  existence 
of  lead  on  his  grants  as  early  as  1683  certainly;  but  no  mine  was  worked 
profitably  until  1778,  near  Frankstown,  on  land  once  surveyed  for  Penn.  This 
was  a  war  measure,  and  the  product  was  all  bought  up  by  the  State.  In  both 
Chester  and  Montgomery  Counties,  mining  has  been  kept  up  since  in  a  very 
desultory  way.  The  Chester-county  Mining  Company  began  operations  in 
1850,  and  kept  at  them  only  four  or  five  years.  Like  enterprises  of  a  previous 
date  had  been  equally  short-lived.  A  lead-mine,  which  was  worked  to  a  slight 
extent  for  a  time,  was  found  in  Virginia  as  early  as  1621  ;  but  at  the  time  an 
Indian  massacre  terminated  operations  at  the  first  iron-mine  near  Jamestown 
this  lead-mine  was  lost,  and  not  re-discovered  until  long  after.  Operations 
were  begun  at  Wytheville  as  early  as  1 754,  and  in  Montgomery  County  also 
about  the  same  time.  Lead-mines  are  known  to  have  been  worked  near 
Fincastle,  Botetourt  County,  during  the  Revolution.  Those  of  Eastern  Ken- 
tucky and  1  ennessee  we^e  probably  utilized  not  long  after.  Veins  were  found 
in  South-western  North  Carolina,  which  yielded  ore  containing  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  lead,  before  the  Revolution.  This  was  along  the  French  Broad  River. 
The  famous  Davidson  mines  are  located  near  the  centre  of  the  State.  These 
latter  are  noted  for  their  argentiferous  galena,  and  have  been  worked  as  much 
for  the  silver  and  minute  ([uantity  of  gold  to  be  obtained  as  for  the  lead. 
Work  has  been  revived  there  since  the  war,  and  the  mines  have  been  in  con- 
tinuous operation  nearly  a  century ;  but  the  procurement  of  lead  is  now  no 
object  whatever. 

Nineteen-twentieths  of  the  lead  produced  in  this  country  to-day,  however, 
comes  from  two  regions  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  One  includes  one  county 
Where  lead  °f  Illinois,  two  of  lowa,  and  three  of  Wisconsin,  contiguous  to  one 
principally  another,  and  yields,  perhaps,  twice  as  much  as  the  other,  which  is 
cornea  rom.    gpj.g^j  ^y^  ^jj  ^ygj.  ^^^  ^^^  qJ-  ^^  State  of  Missouri  south  of  the 

river  of  that  name,  although  mining  is  carried  on  in  only  eight  or  ten  counties. 
The  Indians  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  knew  of  the  existence  of  deposits 
of  galena,  for  the  ore  is  found  in  their  mounds ;  but  no  evidence  exists  that 
indi  ns  ^'^^y  knew  how  to  reduce  it  to  lead,  simple  as  is  the  process. 

knew  of  the    Galena  is  a  sulphuret,  and  can  be  reduced  by  merely  smelting 

with  charcoal.     It  is  in  this  form  that  we  find  most  of  the  lead 

in  this  country. 

In  1700  the  French  priest  Le  Sueur  made  his  voyage  of  exploration 
up  the  Mississippi,  discovering  many  lead-mines.  It  was  not  until  178S, 
however,  while  yet  all  the  region  west  of  the  river  belonged  to  France,  that 
Dubuque  began  operations,  having  obtained  a  grant  from  the  Indians.     He 


existence  of 
lead. 


OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


695 


Dubuqu*. 


worked  these  mines  until  1809,  when  he  died.  This  tract  of  land  —  on 
which  is  situated  the  city  that  now  bears  his  name  —  was  ceded 
by  the  Indians  to  the  United-States  Government  in  1807,  and 
shortly  afterward  the  representatives  of  Dubuc[ue  were  forcibly  ejected.  No 
leases  were  granted  until  1822,  and  mining  was  not  resumed  until  1836.  A 
government  survey  was  had  in  1839,  and  a  general  sale  allowed  in  1844.  But 
from  1826  the  progress  was  marked  and  rapid,  the  business  extending  over 
into  Illinois  and  Wisconsin ;  and  the  first  great  climax  of  the  development 
of  this  region  was  reached  in  1846,  when  the  tariff  was  taken  off  from  lead 
almost  entirely,  and  agriculture  began  to  draw  off  the  attention  and  labor 
of  that  region.  The  city  of  Galena,  111.,  as  also  other  cities  and  villages 
in  that  section,  was  the  product  of  that  period  of  industrial  growth,  which 
was  marked  by  much  of  the  excitement  and  speculation  which  have  charac- 
terized mining  in  this  and  other  countries  of  the  world  at  almost  all  known 
stages  of  history. 

Lead-mining  began  in  Missouri  in  1720,  while  that  country  belonged  to 
France,  and  under  the  patent  given  to  Law's  famous  Mississippi  Company. 
Mine  La  Motte,  in  Madison  County,  named  after  a  mineralo-  Lead-mininK 
gist  who  came  over  with  Renault,  was  among  the  first  discov-  *"  Miwouri. 
eries.  Little  was  done  there  up  to  the  time  of  Renault's  return  to  France 
in  1742.  Schoolcraft  estimates  that  in  1819  there  were  forty-five  mines  in 
Missouri,  including  the  region  in  and  about  Washington  County,  and  also  the 
locality  in  the  south-western  corner  of  the  State.  At  that  time,  he  estimates, 
there  were  eleven  hundred  persons  at  work  there  at  lead-mining ;  whereas 
in  1854  Dr.  Litton  thought  there  were  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred: 
yet  at  both  periods  the  average  product  was  fifteen  hundred  tons  annually. 
This  was  far  less  than  that  of  the  Upper-Mississippi  region.  During  the  late 
civil  war  the  mining-business  was  greatly  prostrated  in  Missouri,  and  recuper- 
ated but  little  till  nearly  1870. 

It  might  be  remarked  of  these  Missouri  mines,  that  for  a  long  time  the 
rich,  white,  almost  transparent  carbonate  found  in  some  of  them  was  rejected 
as  worthless ;  its  character  not  being  known  to  the  miners,  who  were  used 
only  to  lead  in  the  form  of  galena.  Another  great  source  of  waste  in  this 
country  has  been  the  dissipation  of  lead  by  the  process  of  cupellation,  when 
there  was  silver  enough  in  the  ore  to  make  that  the  principal  object. 
Processes  have,  however,  been  invented,  by  which  the  vapor  can  be  caught 
and  congealed,  and  the  baser  as  well  as  the  choicer  metal  be  procured. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  get  accurate  statistics  concerning  the  quantity  of 
metals  produced  in  this  country,  and  those  concerning  lead  are  regarded  as 
particularly  unreliable  ;   but  the  following,  taken  from  the  census   statistics  of 
of  1870,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  present  distribution  of  the  indus-   ?>•«»"«>«">• 
try,  although  the  production  has  nearly  quadrupled  since.     The  following  table 
shows  the  value  of  the  product :  — 


696  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

Wisconsin 1369,067 

Missouri 301,885 

Illinois 73,30a 

Iowa 50,350 

Other  States 36,500 

Total 1736,004 

This,  at  four  and  a  half  cents  a  pound,  would  make  but  16,265,423 
pounds,  or  scarcely  more  than  7,000  tons.  The  table  of  metallic  production, 
prepared  by  R.  W.  Raymond,  however,  sets  down  the  production  for  1869 
(which  is  what  is  really  credited  to  the  census  year)  as  15,653  tons. 

Previous  to  the  development  of  the  Mississippi-valley  mines,  England  and 
Spain  were  the  twg  great  lead-producing  nations  of  the  world,  although  neither 
England  and  of  them  obtained  as  soft  and  fine  an  article  as  we.  From  1845 
Spain.  ^Q  jgj2  England's  average  annual  production  was  55,000  tons: 

Spain's,  for  1847  and  1849,  was  30,000.  In  1845  the  United  States  produced 
36,500  tons,  or  fully  one-fifth  of  the  whole  quantity  produced  in  the  world. 
Twenty  years  before,  we  had  produced  only  1,281  tons  of  2,240  pounds;  in 
1832  we  produced  8,540,000  pounds  ourselves,  and  imported  5,333,588 ;  in 
1844  we  did  not  import  a  ton.  From  the  removal  of  the  tarifT  in  1846  to 
1854  there  was  a  steady  decline  in  our  production.  In  1845  it 
was,  as  above  stated,  26,500  tons;  in  1854  but  14,000,  at  which 
figure  it  kept  until  about  1869.  Our  importation  in  1844  was  nothing;  in 
1859  about  64,000,000,  or  29,000  tons,  —  twice  our  own  production.  In 
1875  ^^^  production  was  53,000  tons,  and  in  1877  our  importation  had 
dwindled  to  less  than  7,000  tons. 

Says  Kimball  regarding  American  lead-production,  "No  country  is  so 
richly  endowed  with  lead  as  this,  nor  any  so  little  justified  in  importing  a 
Remarks  of  pound  of  it.  In  the  Far  West,  where  its  development  is  enor- 
Kimbaii.  mous,  there  is  no  help  at  present  against  wasting  what  is  not 
utilized  for  the  extraction  of  silver ;  but  it  is  a  '  penny-wise-and-pound- 
foolish '  policy  indeed  which  in  the  Northern  and  Atlantic  States,  or  wher- 
ever transportation  is  at  hand,  estimates .  the  value  of  galenas  only  by  theii 
tenor  of  silver." 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


697 


CHAPTER  V. 

COPPER. 

COPPEP.  is  the  one  metal  discovered  and  put  to  a  practical  use  by  the 
aborigines  before  the  discoverers  from  Europe  came  to  this  country ;  and, 
what  is  a  still  more  interesting  fact,  the  native  Indians  of  long  ago  copper  used 
understood  the  art  of  hardening  and  tempering  copper  so  as  to  ^^  indi«ni. 
make  adzes,  chisels,  and  other  implements  therefrom,  —  a  step  in  civilization 
which  the  white  man  of  to-day  would  be  glad  to  retrace,  were  it  not  that  iron 
and  steel  subserve  all  these  purposes  so  admirably.  The  great  mounds  of 
Indian  relics  in  the  West  contain  articles  showing  conrlusively  that  the  abori- 
gines knew  of  the  existence  and  uses  of  copper,  which  they  doubtless  obtained 
from  the  Lake-Superior  region. 

The  search  for  metals  was  diligently  conducted  by  colonists  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  at  an  early  day ;  and  copper  was  among  the  first  of  their  findings, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  distributed  more  or  less  all  along  the  ocean-  £,,,y  j,,_ 
side  of  the  Appalachian  range.  Endicott  found  it  in  Massachu-  coverie*  of 
setts  in  1648,  and  imported  Swedish  workmen  to  smelt  and  refine  "PP"' 
it.  His  mine  proved  less  productive,  however,  than  he  anticipated.  Previous 
to  that  time,  copper  pyrites  were  found  in  New  York  ;  but  the  mineral  having 
been  mistaken  for  gold,  and  the  blunder  having  been  discovered,  it  was  little 
prized.  The  Shawangunk  Mountain  abounds  in  this  form  of  copper ;  and  it 
has  been  mined  to  some  extent  near  Ellenville,  Ulster  County.  The  Dutch  had 
found  pure  copper  near  Minisink,  Orange  County,  N.Y.,  before  they  surren- 
dered their  possessions  to  th  ^  English.  This  metal  was  found  nearly  a  century 
later  in  Dutchess  County,  in  veins  crossing  those  of  galena.  Copper  was  found 
in  Pennsylvania  in  time  and  in  sufficient  quantity  for  William  Penn  to  mention 
it  in  a  letter  of  1683.  The  remains  of  a  shaft  in  Lancaster  County  show 
that  copper  was  mined  by  the  French  or  settlers  from  Maryland  as  early  as 
Penn's  time.  An  extensive  vein  of  copper  was  found  in  Catocton  Mountain, 
Maryland,  soon  after  that  colony  was  first  settled.  Copper  was  found  in 
Virginia,  along  the  Roanoke,  in  Mecklenburgh  County  and  that  neighborhood, 
eariy  enough  for  three  thousand  pounds  of  ore  to  be  exported  in  1 730.    The 


69S 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


same  metal  was  also  discovered  along  the  banks  of  the  James.  The  Blue 
Ridge  has  long  been  noted  for  its  cupreous  deposits ;  and  they  were  discovered 
in  Polk  County,  Tenn.,  and  the  adjacent  districts  of  Georgia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, at  quite  an  early  date.  Copper  was  also  found  in  small  quantities  in 
South  Carolina. 

Among  the  first  mines  to  be  systematically  worked  for  copper,  excepting 
Endicott's  in  Massachusetts,  were  those  at  Granby,  Conn. ;  to  operate  which 
Early  work-  a  Company  was  incorporated  in  1 709.  About  the  middle  of  the 
inKofminea.  eighteenth  century,  these  mines,  having  been  abandoned,  were 
bought  by  the  colony  for  a  state-prison,  and  used  as  such  for  sixty  years. 


COPPER-MINING. 


Mining  was  resumed  there  in  1830,  but  soon  discontinued.  Most  of  these 
ores  were  shipped  to  England.  About  1719,  the  Schuyler  mine,  in  New 
Jersey,  near  the  Passaic,  was  discovered,  and,  prior  to  the  Revolution,  was 
among  our  most  famous  copper-producers.  1 1  was  in  a  machine-shop  at  the 
smelting-works  connected  therewith,  at  Belleville,  that  the  first  steam-engine 
was  built  in  this  country,  in  1793-94.  In  1751  a  copper-mine  was  opened 
near  New  Brunswick  ;  and  another,  near  Somerville,  was  operated  before  the 
Revolution.  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  also  produce  in  small  quantities 
the  green  carbonate  of  copper  called  "malachite,"  which  is  almost  as 
precious  as  a  jewel.    Siberia,  however,  is  the  great  producer  of  this  mineral. 


OF   THE    UNITED  STATES. 


699 


When  it  is  Icnown  that  in  1S30  our  total  production  of  -opper  was  not  over 
fifty  tons,  and  that,  even  in  1840,  it  was  but  a  hundred  tons,  it  will  be  realized 
how  recent  is  the  principal  development  of  the  copper- mining  industry  in  this 
country.  Besides  the  discoveries  we  have  already  njentior.ed,  there  were  many 
others  in  early  colonial  days ;  but  active  operations  were  not  undertaken  in 
many  of  them,  and  in  most  cases  they  were  abandoned  after  a  few  years  of 
unremunerative  labor. 

The  great  source  of  American  copper  is  Upper  Michigan.  Along  the 
nortliern  shore  of  that  great  peninsula  which  separates  Lake  Superior  from 
Lake  Michigan  stretches  a  rich  metalliferous  region.  In  Mar-  uppsr 
(luette  County  iron  abounds.  Farther  west,  in  the  trap-rock  which  Michigan, 
begins  at  Keweenaw  Point,  and  runs  through  Houghton  and  Ontonagon 
Counties,  metallic  copper  is  found  in  rare  abundance.  The  belt  containing 
it  is  from  one  to  twelve  miles  wide,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long. 
Alexander  Henry  was  the  first  white  man  to  operate  a  mine  there.  This  was 
in  1 771,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ontonagon  River;  and  his  success  led  Dr. 
Franklin,  our  minister  to  France  during  the  Revolution,  to  say,  in  connection 
with  the  probable  Canadian  boundary,  that  it  should  be  made  to  run  through 
Lake  Superior,  so  as  to  include  "  the  most  and  best  of  the  copper  to  the  United 
States." 

But  Houghton's  report  on  the  geological  features  of  this  region  first  drew 
general  attention  to  it,  and  it  began  to  be  noised  abroad  that  this  was  a  rare 
treasure-vault  of  copper  and  silver.  This  was  indeed  the  case,  although  the 
silver  —  found  in  distinct  nuggets  nearly  pure,  and  not  mingled  with  the  copper 
—  proved  to  be  much  less  in  proportionate  quantity  than  was  supposed.  Ne- 
gotiations were  set  afoot  by  the  government  to  extinguish  the  Chippewa  title  to 
tliose  lands ;  and  then  ensued  a  tremendous  rush  thither  of  miners  and  specu- 
lators, and  one  of  the  greatest  excitements  that  have  ever  agitated  American 
industry.     Says  Kimball, — 

"  The  copper-region  of  Lake  Superior  owes,  in  a  great  measure,  its  rapid 
and  energetic  development  to  one  of  those  popular  furores  so  frequent  in 
America,  —  the  '  copper-fever,'  as  it  was  termed,  which  became  epidemic  over 
the  whole  land  in  1845.  Preposterous  fables  as  to  the  occurrence  of  native 
silver  and  copper,  in  masses,  upon  and  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the  whole 
Lake-Superior  country,  to  be  had  only  for  the  picking  up,  were  bruited  about 
in  ail  the  cities,  unsettling  the  minds  and  habits  of  the  well-to-do  industrious 
folk  of  the  country,  and  opening,  for  the  first  time  in  the  United  States,  a 
])romising  field,  on  their  own  grounds,  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  adven- 
turers for  the  exercise  of  the  cunning  manoeuvres  of  their  several  rbUs.  '  The 
shores  of  Keweenaw  Point,'  says  Mr.  Whitney,  '  were  whitened  with  the  tents 
of  speculatois  and  so-called  geologists.'  Leases  of  .  ts  one  mile  square,  for 
mining-purposes,  were  taken  from  the  Federal  (lovemnient  with  great  avidity 
wherever  they  could  be  obtained,  regardless  of  all  intelligent  discrimination  as 


700 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


to  their  metalliferous  character,  and,  indeed,  of  the  entire  absence  of  mineral 
lodes  or  deposits,  or  of  the  logical  impossibility  of  their  existence  iu  crtain 
rocks.  These  leases  were  held  mainly  by  private  speculators  and  joint-stock 
companies,  whose  object  was  less  to  unearth  the  untold  metallic  wealth  which 
they  were  supposed  to  have  secured  than  to  profit  either  by  the  increasing 
market-value  of  their  mining-privileges,  or  by  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
corporation  shares.  Speculation  after  this  fashion  flourished  for  upwards  of  a 
year.  In  1847  the  bubble  burst  of  its  own  overstrained  distention ;  and  the 
collapse  overwhelmed  in  general  disaster,  and  swept  out  of  their  mock  exist- 
ence, several  hundred  distinct  corporations,  while  only  some  half  a  dozen 
survived  the  shock." 

Mr.  Hewitt  says  that  these  leases  were  granted  under  a  forced  construction 
of  existing  law,  but  were  soon  suspended  as  illegal,  doubtless  owing  to  abuses. 
He  adds,  "The  Act  of  1847,  authorizing  the  sale  of  the  mineral  lands  and  a 
geological  survey  of  the  district,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  more  substantial 
prosperity."  It  should  be  remarked,  though,  that  some  of  this  enthusiasm  led 
to  practical  results,  and  that  a  few  of  the  companies  operated  in  good  faith. 
This  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that  whereas,  in  1840,  the  whole  country  pro- 
duced but  a  hundred  tons  of  copper,  the  product  in  1850  was  six  hundred 
and  fifty  tons,  the  gain  being  chiefly  in  the  Lake-Superior  region.  The  great 
development,  however,  has  been  since  then. 

The  progress  made  in  mining  necessarily  gave  growth  to  the  population, 
built  up  towns  and  transportation-lines,  and  in  other  ways  gave  importance  to 
_  that  section.     The  Hon.  Alexander  Campbell  of  Marquette,  Mich., 

mentof  in  an  oration  delivered  early  in  1861,  thus  touches  on  this  point: 

M^^hV''  *"  "  ^'^  "^55  Portage  Lake  was  comparatively  unknown  (its  population 
less  than  a  thousand),  while  no  great  interest  was  yet  attracting 
special  attention :  to-day  they  have  a  population  of  over  six  thousand  souls, 
and  copper-mines  that  are  producing  a  monthly  product  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
to  three  hundred  and  thirty  tons.  No  man  can  now  go  to  this  interesting  point, 
and  behold  the  thrift  that  is  everywhere  apparent,  —  the  great  number  of  new 
buildings  being  erected,  the  stir  of  the  populace,  the  immense  investments  of 
capital,  the  copper-cars  as  they  thunder  down  the  train-roads  to  the  lake,  the 
prodigious  quartz-mills,  and  the  power  and  success  with  which  they  stamp  the 
copper  rocks  and  separate  the  copper  from  the  rock,  the  large  merchandise 
that  is  carried  on  to  supply  so  large  a  population,  the  new  enterprises  in  the 
form  of  spacious  docks,  new  hotels,  founderies,  stamp-mills,  smelting-works,  — 
without  receiving  a  deep  impression,  especially  if  he  possess  an  observing 
mind.  Nor  is  this  all.  As  these  developments  beg-'.n  to  assume  such  pro- 
portions, some  of  the  corporations,  and  a  few  of  the  enterprising  citizens 
of  the  place,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  commerce,  appropriated  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars  from  their  treasuries  and  pockets  to  open  the  harbor  known 
as  Portage  Entry,  fourteen  miles  below  the  villages  of  Houghton  and  Han- 


OP   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


701 


cock,  which  are  located  near  the  mines,  and  on  what  is  known  in  common- 
place as  Portage  Lake ;  so  that  steamers  of  the  largest  class,  with  a  full  freight, 
have  been  enabled  to  cross  the  bar,  run  up  to  the  mines,  discharge  their  cargo, 
and  receive  the  copper.  Previous  to  this  improvement,  tugs  and  scows  were 
used  to  transport  the  freight  to  and  from  the  steamers,  which  dropped  their 
anchors  in  the  lake  outside  the  '  entry,'  to  the  docks  at  the  mines,  at  a  cost  of 
two  dollars  per  ton.  When  the  lake  was  rough,  as  was  often  the  case,  steamers 
could  not  discharge  or  receive  freight.  This  difficulty  is  now  obviated,  and  the 
expense  saved,  while  the  business  has  much  greater  despatch.  ...  At  the 
other  points  on  the  copper  range  —  Eagle  Harbor,  Eagle  River,  and  Ontona- 
gon—  the  development  was  much  earlier  than  at  Portage  Lake,  and  first 
gave  prominence  and  importance  to  the  country.  The  celebrated  Cliff  mine, 
whose  annual  product  for  over  ten  years  has  exceeded  fifteen  hundred 
tons,  was  opene.^  m  1845.  The  Copper- Falls,  Central,  and  other  mines  in 
the  same  dist'ict,  known  as  Keweenaw  Point,  were  opened  at  a  later  day. 
The  equally  famous  Minnesota  mine,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Ontonagon 
district,  and  whose  product  the  last  year  was  twenty-one  hundred  and  eighty 
tons,  was  opened  in  1848.  The  National  and  Rockland,  whose  products  are 
now  large,  were  opened  some  years  after.  It  was  the  early  opening  of  these 
mines,  and  their  success  under  all  the  disadvantages  which  the  country  suffered 
at  an  early  day,  and  the  working  of  many  others  in  the  same  districts,  which 
have  not  yet  been  as  successful,  that  for  many  years  gave  business  and 
interest  to  the  country ;  and  now  that  other  points,  with  the  light  and  facility 
which  existed,  have  bounded  into  being  with  wonderful  development,  it  in 
no  way  detracts  from  those  whose  entire  success  gave  birth  to  all  that  has 
followed." 

Most  of  Michigan's  copper  is  metallic,  embedded  in  quartz;  but  in  1846 
a  vein  of  black  oxide  was  discovered,  which  was  exhausted  after  twenty  tons 
were  taken  out.  It  was  exceedingly  rich,  and  had  much  to  do  with  the  sensa- 
tion of  that  period. 

It  now  remains  to  consider  the  progress  made  by  the  copper-mining  indus- 
try of  the  country  as  a  whole  for  the  past  few  years,  and  note  in  what  other 
regions  besides  this  the  business  is  carried  on. 

As  we  have  already  remarked,  the  United  States  produced  but  fifty  tons  of 
copper  in  '.830,  a  hundred  in  1840,  and  six  hundred  and  fifty  in  1850.  During 
the  two  decades  thus  included,  the  product  of  the  whole  world  had  statiitict  re- 
increased  from  25,500  to  54,700  tons.  In  1853  weproduced  2,000  uttngto 
out  of  the  whole  55,700  tons.  Our  product  for  1866  was  10,790  ''"'  ""'"• 
tons.  The  census-returns  for  1870  put  the  total  value  of  our  copper- product 
at  15,201,312,  which,  at  $400  a  ton,  makes  about  13,000  tons;  which  is,  per- 
haps, an  under-estimate  as  to  quantity.  Dr.  Raymond  estimates  that  the 
copper-product  of  the  country  in  1875  was  15,625  tons.  In  1870  the  census 
accredited  four-fiilhs  of  the  whole  country's  yield  to  Michigan ;  and,  of  the 


7oa 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


SUf AWATIVG  COPPSR   ROCKS. 


three  counties  that  monopolized  that  State's  supply,  —  Houghton,  Keweenaw, 
and  Ontonagon,  —  the  first-named  produced  three-quarters  of  it. 

It  should  be  noted  in  this  connection,  that  competition  with  the  Lake- 
Superior  region  of  America  has  seriously  cut  down  tlie  British  production.  At 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  from  that  time  to  1865,  Great  Britain  was 
the  greatest  producer  of  copper  in  the  world.  In  1864  her  yield  was  14,247 
tons,  the  joint  contribution  of  196  mines.  The  next  year  203  mines  aggre- 
gated only  11,888  tons,  and  their  product  is  diminishing.     In  1865  the  United 

States  produced  8,472  tons,  in  spite 
.-;^'X^>^  of  peculiar  disadvantages  that  are 

^—  '-^"^-^  estimated    to    offset    3,000    more 

tons;  and  in  1866  we  had  raised 
our  figure  to  10,790.  Chili  has  of 
late  years  come  to  be  the  great 
rival  of  great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  having  produced  1 2,500  tons 
in  1850,  and  14,000  in  1853.  The 
blockade  of  the  Chilian  ports  in 
1866  by  Spain  cut  off  this  supply, 
and  gave  a  temporary  stimulus  to 
American  and  British  production ; 
but  the  cessation  of  hostilities  a 
few  months  later  was  followed  by  a  corresponding  re-action. 

In  1861,  in  the  midst  of  the  Washoe  fever,  copper  was  found  in  Calaveras 
County,  Cal.,  in  sufficient  quantities  to  create  a  great  sensation,  and  to  incite 
Discovery  of  ^  search  for  similar  deposits  all  along  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The 
copper  in  result  was  to  develop  a  belt  of  copper  lodes  all  the  way  from 
•iifornia.  Southcm  California  up  into  Oregon.  Nevada  and  Arizona  were 
also  found  to  contain  the  metal.  Few  of  the  mines  begun  proved  remunera- 
tive, however.  Says  Kimball,  "  Work  was  energetically  begun  in  many  dis- 
tricts, and  soon  sufficient  was  accomplished  to  demonstrate  the  extent  of  the 
copper-resources  of  California  and  neighboring  territories  to  be  nowhere 
equalled,  and  at  the  same  time  the  premature  character  of  an  extensive 
copper -industry  in  interior  sections  of  the  country  neither  supplied  with 
mineral  coal,  nor  ready  means  of  transportation.  The  Copperopolis  (Cala- 
veras County,  Cal.)  mines,  which  had  been  the  first  to  attract  attention, 
sustained  the  high  opinions  which  had  been  formed  of  their  capabilities; 
though,  up  to  this  time  (1867),  the  Union  appears  to  be  the  only  mine  that 
has  yielded  profit,  it  having  done  so  from  the  first  on  a  scale  hitherto  unknown 
in  copper-mining,  notwithstanding  the  many  commercial  obstacles  it  has  at 
present  to  encounter." 

The  census  of  1870  gave  the  following  returns  of  the  copper-production 
of  the  country  for  the  year,  by  value ;  — 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


7^>3 


Michigin  . 
Vermont    . 
Tennessee . 
North  Carolina 
Maryland  . 
Nevada 
Virginia     . 
Pennsylvania 
Arizona     . 

Total . 


358,845 

310,000 

96,000 

71,000 

30.000 

8,000 

7,800 

7,000 

■^i;.20i,3i2 


As  the  price  was  then  about  four  hundred  dollars  a  ton,  or  less,  it  is  a 
simple  matter  to  reduce  these  figures  to  tons.  The  census  commissioner 
remarks,  however,  that  his  estimates  are  not  altogether  trustworthy.  It  will  be 
observed,  for  instance,  that  he  omits  California  altogether ;  and  other  accounts 
indicate  that  Calaveras  County  in  that  State  alone  yields  as  much  as  either 
Vermont  or  Tennessee.  Vermont's  production,  nearly  a  thousand  tons  annu- 
ally, is  confined  to  Orange  County  in  that  State ;  Tennessee's,  to  Polk  County ; 
North  Carolina's,  to  Chatham ;  Maryland's,  to  Carroll  and  Frederick  j  Ne- 
vada's, to  Humboldt ;  Pennsylvania's,  to  Berks  and  Lebanon ;  Virginia's,  to 
Louisa;  and  Arizona's,  to  Yuma  and  Mohave. 

Our  production  of  copper  exceeds  our  needs  at  the  present  time  by  nearly 
one-half,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  statement  of  our  exports  and  im- 
ports for  1877  :  — 


Ore     . 

Pigs,  bars,  &c.     .        • 
Manufactured  articles . 


Total 


■X  FORTS. 


5159.550 
2,295,711 

226,059 


$2,681,320 


Balance  of  exports 

Value  of  our  production,  about 


IMPORTS, 


$70,913 
163,104 
363.250 


$596,266 

$2,085,054 
6,000,000 


The  little  ore  we  import  is  mostly  smelted  at  Boston,  Bergen  Point  (near 
New  York) ,  and  Baltimore. 


704 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


CHAPTER  VI. 


COAL. 


in  the  cole 
niei. 


THE  discovery,  mining,  and  transportation  of  coal  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  as  well  as  instructive  chapters  in  American  industrial  history. 
Importance  As  coal  is  the  product  of  some  of  the  grandest  growths  and  trans- 
o(  coal.  formations  in  the  natural  world,  so  does  it  play  an  equally  important 

part  in  modem  industries  and  civilization.  Its  history  is  crowded  with  interest 
from  that  far-off"  time  when  gigantic  coal-ferns  grew  in  the  greatest  profusion, 
and  during  the  steaming  and  fiery  period  when  this  enormous  growth  was 
decaying,  and  transforming  into  fuel,  to  our  time,  when  the  product  is  col- 
lected, transported,  and  brought  to  our  doors,  to  serve  a  highly  useful  purpose. 

A  single  fact  will  reveal  its  importance  ;  namely,  that  the  value  of  the  coal 
mined  in  the  United  States  is  equal  to  that  of  all  the  gold,  silver,  and  iron 
Coai-mining  Produced  in  the  country.  The  colonists  were  amply  supplied  with 
fuel  from  the  forests;  and  it  was  not  until  1750  that  coal  was 
discovered  near  Richmond,  Va.  Not  much  was  done  in  the  way 
of  coal-mining  until  after  the  Revolution,  when  it  was  exported  to  Philadel- 
phia, New  York,  and  Boston  :  indeed,  the  demand  at  these  ports  for  Virginia 
coal  continued  until  thirty  years  ago. 

Perhaps  some  of  our  readers  will  be  surprised  to  learn  how  short  is  the 
history  of  anthracite-coal  mining  in  Pennsylvania.  It  is  true,  the  existence 
DUceveryof  ^^  ^^^  ^tx^  was  known  long  before  the  close  of  the  last 
enthraeite  century.  To  fix  the  date  more  definitely,  it  was  in  the  year  1791 
""''  when  Philip  Gunter  discovered  it.    He  was  a  hunter,  and  lived 

on  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountain  drained  by  the  Lehigh  River.  On  the 
day  of  this  great  discovery,  which  must  certainly  be  reckoned  among  the 
greatest  eyer  made  on  this  continent,  he  had  spent  the  hours  in  the  woods 
without  finding  any  game.  His  heart  was  depressed  (so  the  story  goes) ; 
for  he  had  left  his  wife  and  children  in  the  morning  with  a  scanty  breakfast, 
and  both  he  and  they  were  in  sore  need  of  food.  As  night  drew  on  he  was 
still  several  miles  from  home,  on  the  summit  of  Sharp  Mountain.  As  rain 
was  falling,  and  darkness  approaching,  he  quickened  his  steps ;  but,  as  he  was 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


7«8 


running  along  through  the  woods,  he  stumbled  over  the  roots  of  a  tree,  and 
fell  near  enough  to  a  large  black  stone  for  him  to  recognize  its  color.  He  had 
heard  of  such  a  thing  as  stone-coal,  and  he  thought  that  this  must  be  a  speci- 
men. Giving  it  a  few  days  after  to  Col.  Jacob  Weirs,  who  then  lived  near 
the  present  site  of  Mauch  Chunk,  it  was  forwarded  to  Philadelphia :  and  in 
due  time  it  was  learned  that  Gunter's  sad  hunting-day  was  not  fruitless,  after 
all ;  for  he  had  really  discovered  coal.  Soon  after,  several  thousand  acres  of 
land  in  that  vicinity  were  purchased  at  a  very  low  figure,  as  it  was  not  regarded 
valuable  ;  and  tiie  Lehigh  Coal-Mine  Company  was  formed,  containing  among 
other  members  Robert  Morris,  the  famous  financier  of  the  Revolution. 


.   FOSSIL  FISH. 


mine  an- 
thracite. 


Four  laborers  were  employed  in  the  beginning  in  mining  coal :   yet  these 
soon   proved  too  many ;    for  where  was  the  market  ?     Of  coal   ^^^^^  ^^^ 
there  was  an  abundance ;    but  where  the   customers  ?   and   how  tempt  to 
could  it  be  brought  to  them  ?     There  were  no  roads  ;   and  the 
river  ran  a  wild  career,  and  would  not  suffer  the  intrusion  of  any 
kind  of  boat  for  a  moment.     After  a  short  time  the  mine  was  suspended. 

In  1 798  a  company  was  organized  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the  Lehigh 
River,  and  the  prospect  of  opening  a  watery  highway  for  the  transportation 
of  coal  revived  the  expiring  hopes  of  the  coal  company.     The 
improvements  were  completed  four  years  later ;  and  a  committee,  ^^"^^ 
consisting  of  five  persons,  was  appointed  to  examine  and  report  navigation 
the  condition  of  the  river.     A  canoe  was  launched,  and  the  party  rj^^"   '^ 
began  to  descend  the  stream.    The  boat  glided  along  gracefully  at 
first ;  but  before  going  far  the  frail  craft  upset,  and  the  committee,  notwith- 
standing the  important  capacity  in  which  they  were  serving,  took  a  >ery  sudden 
and  unwelcome  bath.     It  is  said  that  two  of  them  narrowly  escaped  drowning  ; 
but  all  succeeded  in  rescuing  themselves,  when  they  halted  in  their  labors, 
and  betook  themselves  to  the  nearest  inn,  where  they  warmed  the  inner  and 


7o6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


dried  the  outer,  man,  and,  nov/  that  the  danger  was  passed,  laughed  heartily 
over  the  occurrence.  As  they  soon  after  sought  their  homes,  it  is  highly 
improbable  that  the  examination  was  continued,  especially  in  a  boat  of  the 
canoe  style. 

Whatever  report  was  made  by  the  committee,  it  is  certain  that  the  coal 
company  resumed  operations  ;  and  the  next  spring  it  was  determined  to  send 
Lively  ex.  ^'^  ^rk-loads  of  coal  to  Philadelphia  during  the  time  of  freshet, 
perimentin  when  the  rivcr  was  high,  and  many  of  the  rocks  impeding  its 
loa".*'""""'^  course  were  submerged.  Having  hauled  the  coal  to  the  boats  by 
means  of  horses,  one  hundred  tons  were  put  on  board  of  each 
vessel,  and  then  the  voyage  began.  For  the  first  fifteen  miles  the  river 
descends  three  hundred  feet,  and  the  current  always  runs  rapidly;  yet, 
swollen  as  the  stream  was  by  heavy  rains,  the  current  was  very  much  wilder 

than  upon  ordi- 
nary occasions. 
Six  men  went  on 
board  of  each 
vessel ;  and,  hav- 
ing cut  them 
loose  from  their 
moorings,  they 
started  on  a  very 
exciting  voyage. 
We  can  easily 
imagine  how  ani- 
mated they  were 
as  their  vessels 
began  to  descend 
the  stream.  Being  sheltered  from  the  current  at  their  place  of  mooring, 
they  moved  slowly  at  first,  like  a  steam-engine  when  a  long  train  is 
behind ;  but  after  a  little  they  floated  into  deeper  water,  where  they  were 
suddenly  caught  by  the  current,  and  swept  along  with  great  speed.  The 
stream  was  not  very  wide,  but  it  roared  furiously ;  and  not  only  were  its  sides 
lined  with  rocks,  but  its  bottom  also  ;  while  many  an  ugly  monster  peered  up 
through  the  foaming  waters  to  frighten  the  daring  navigators.  The  boats 
whirled  aroimd  and  past  these  rocks  in  safety,  yet  receiving  many  a  thump 
and  bump,  which  caused  them  to  shake  worse  than  Harry  Gill  or  a  man 
stricken  with  the  palsy.  Every  moment  they  bent,  twisted,  and  cracked  ;  and 
those  who  embarked  thinking  they  were  going  to  have  such  a  lively  trip  were 
realizing  their  anticipations  to  a  painful  excess.  Oars,  and  whatever  means 
they  had  to  guide  their  boats,  were  of  as  little  account  as  feathers.  They  were 
utterly  unmanageable,  and  were  swept  along  in  so  rude  and  unceremonious  a 
manner  as  to  make  the  heads  of  the  boatmen  fairly  dizzy.    As  the  descent 


PLANT-lMrKKSSIONS  IN  COAL. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


1Q1 


grew  more  rapid,  and  the  rocks  —  some  half  submerged,  while  others  were  in 
full  sight  —  became  more  plentiful,  the  danger  seemed  more  apparent.  First 
one  boat,  and  then  another,  swung  round  against  the  rocks,  and  the  current 
rushed  over  her ;  while  the  boatmen  managed  to  get  to  the  shore  as  best  they 
could,  leaving  their  treasures  to  their  unkindly  fate.  Of  the  six  boats,  only 
two  reached  Philadelphia ;  and  these  were  nearly  shaken  to  pieces. 

But,  when  the  market  was  reached  through  such  great  perils,  the  cargo  met 
with  a  very  slow  sale,  and  most  of  the  purchases  were  simply  for  trial.  Finally, 
the  municipal  authorities  bought  a  quantity  to  feed  an  engine,  Failure  to 
which  was  then  in  use  pumping  water  to  supply  the  city ;  but  it  is  "*"  ""'• 
said  that  all  tlieir  attempts  to  burn  it  proved  unavailing.  "  Disgusted  with 
what  they  esteemed  a  nuisance,  they  caused  what  remained  of  it  to  be  broken 
up,  and  scattered  over  the  foot-walks  of  the  grounds.  And  here  and  thus 
ingloriously  terminated,  for  a  period  of  seventeen  years  thence  ensuing,  the 
operations  of  the  Lehigh  Coal-Mine  Company."  Such  is  the  history  of  tlie 
early  movement  to  open  the  great  anthracite  coal-region  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
find  a  market  for  this  now  highly-prized  fuel. 

In  1 8 to  coal  was  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Pottsville,  which  was  tested  by 
the  blacksmiths  there,  wlio  proved  able  to  ignite  it.      It  seems  almost  unbe- 
lievable to  us  in  these  days  that  there  should  ever  have  been  any  Diicovery  of 
<loubt  about  the  burning-qualities  of  coal ;  yet  in  truth,  during  the  coai  at 
early  part  of  this  century,  this  was  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the  ^'''"•^*"*' 
way  of  introducing  it  into  market.     In  1817  Col.  (ieorge  Shoemaker  loaded 
several  wagons  with  coal  from  Pottsville,  and  sent  it  to  Philadelphia.     But 
tliey  had  not  forgotten  their  experience  with  the  coal  from  Lehigh  Early  effort 
Valley.     Still  he  was  able  to  sell  considerable  quantities  by  guar-  *"  "*"  '*• 
anteeing  to  all  who  insisted  upon  it  that  the  "  stones  "  would  burn.     Some, 
however,  who  bought,  failed  to  ignite  them,  and  their  indignation  was  kindled. 
Their  friends  tormented  them  for  their  exhibition  of  folly,  and  the  clouds  began 
to  grow  black  around  the  colonel's  head.     Writs  were  issued  for  his  arrest,  and 
he  beat  a  retreat.     By  pursuing  a  circuitous  path,  he  was  able  to  reach  his 
home  without  falling  into  the  clutches  of  the  law-officers  of  the  town,     .'\mong 
other  purchasers  was  the  Fairmount  Nail- Works.     A  whole  morning  was  spent 
by  the  proprietor  and  his  men  in  trying  to  light  the  stone,  but  without  success. 
.^11  sorts  of  experiments  were  tried :  it  was  raked,  poked,  and  blown  upon  with 
huge  blowers,  but  all  in  vain.     Finally,  the  men,  disheartened  and  desperate, 
shut  the  furnace-door,  and  went  off  to  dinner.     All  the  while  they  are  gone, 
we  imagine  we  can  hear  them  talking  about  those  black  stones  which  would 
not  bum,  and  how  the  proprietor  had  been  imposed  upon,  and  ui,goy,,y  „, 
had  thrown  away  his  money  ;  how  their  forenoon  had  been  wasted  ;  true  method 
and  what  would  have  been  accomplished  had  they  gone  on  their  °f '«»'""« 
regular  track,  and  not  attempted  to  try  uncertainties.    But,  when 
they  come  back,  imagine  their  consternation  in  beholding  the  furnace-door 


7oS 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


II 


I 


CUVI^MININU  AND  COKB-IIUKNING. 


OF    THE    i'X/TF.D    srATFS. 


709 


-l 


red-hot,  and  the  fire  within  glowing  with  intensest  heat !     There  they  stand, 
wonder-stricken,  all  their  many  prophecies  overthrown,  with  the  secret  of 
burning  coal  at  last  foiuid  out,  and  which  was  now  to  work  such  a  mighty 
revolution  in  the  industries  of  the  country.     The  secret  was  soon  l)lazoned 
abroad  through  the   press ;   and  the  next  time  Col.  Shoemaker  appeared  in 
the  streets  of  Philadelphia  he  was  not  chased  by  indignant  coal- purchasers, 
nor  comi)elled  to  take  lodgings  in  jail.     His  guaranty  had  proved  good,  and 
from  that  hour  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  the  production  of  anthracite  coal. 
As  wood  near  Philadelphia  was  growing  scarce,  the  price  was   Resumption 
raised  so  high,  that  the  Lehigh  Coal-Mine  Company  once  more   °'  coai-min- 
renewed  operations.     In  1S20  they  shipped  365  tons  to  Fhiladel-   i"ghCo«i- 
phia,  and    1,000  tons  the  following  year.     In   1822   the  amoimt   Mine  Com- 
reached  2,240  tons,  and  as  much  more  the  year  following.     Pre-    ''*"*'* 
vious  to  this  time  a  company  had  been  formed  to  improve  the  navigation  of 


-:y^ 


Mill, IN),    CCMI.. 


the  Schuylkill  River;  and  in  1823  the  two  concerns  were  merged  under  the 
title  of  the  "  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company  ;  "  and,  having  a  large 
capital,  they  began  such  improvements  as  the  rapidly-increasing  business 
demanded. 

The  river  was  made  navigable  for  boats,  which  were  but  little  more  than 
square  boxes  twenty-five  feet  long  and  eighteen  feet  in  width.     A  writer  says, 
"  .^t  first  two  of  them  were  joined  together  by  hinges,  so  as  to 
allow  them  to  bend  up  and  down  in  passing  over  the  sluices  ;  but  n^ntjn' 
as  the  boatmen  became  more  accustomed  to  the  work,  and  the  modes  of 
channels  continued  to  be  improved  from  time  to  time,  the  number  |['^'''°'^**" 
of  sections  thus  lashed  together  was  increased,  until  their  whole 
length  reached  a  hundred  and  eighty  feet.     They  were  j^iloted  and  steered 
with  long  oars  like  a  raft.     Machinery'  was  devised  for  jointing  and  putting 
together  the  planks  of  which  the  boats  were  made ;   and  the  men  were  so 
expert  at  it,  that  five  of  them  could  put  together  one  of  the  sections  and 


7IO 


WDUSTHIAL    HISTORY 


■t  Sharp 
Mountain. 


launch  it  in  forty-five  minutes.  Boats  of  this  description  were  used  until  1831, 
when  the  coal- production  had  increased  to  such  un  extent,  that  the  boats 
employed  to  transport  it,  had  they  all  been  stretched  out  into  line,  would 
have  reached  over  fourteen  miles  in  IcMigth.  Upon  the  completion  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Canal  in  this  year  the  Lehigh  was  converted  into  a  slack-water 
navigation,  with  locks  and  towing-path  for  horses.  It  has  been  operated  in 
this  way  ever  since,  with  no  less  advantage  to  the  public  than  to  the  company 
themselves." 

The  next  improvement  worthy  of  note  in  the  way  of  transporting  coal  was 
nothing  less  than  the  construction  of  a  railway,  nine  miles  in  length,  from 
Conitruction  ^^^  summit  of  Sharp  Mountain  to  the  river.  This  was  begun  in 
of  railroad  January,  and  finished  nine  months  afterward.  With  a  single  ex- 
ception, it  was  the  first  railroad  built  in  the  United  States.  F^or 
many  years  it  drew  visitors  from  every  part  of  the  country ;  and  it 
is  said,  that,  whenever  a  railroad  was  proposed,  a  preliminary  committee  was 
appointed  to  examine  and  report  its  characteristic  features.  The  grade  was 
very  great  (about  a  hundred  feet  to  the  mile),  so  that  loaded  cars  moved  by 
their  own  gravity ;  while  they  were  drawn  back  by  mules,  which  were  favored 
with  a  free  ride  in  the  other  direction.  It  is  recorded  that  they  enjoyed  their 
ride  exceedingly,  expressing  their  approbation  of  the  arrangement  by  all  the 
tokens  which  long-eared  animals  are  capable  of  using.  They  learned  to  regard 
the  privilege  of  riding  down  as  an  inalienable  right,  and  no  earthly  pretext 
could  induce  them  to  go  on  foot. 

While  the  affairs  of  the  company  operating  in  the  Lehigh  region  were 
going  on  swimmingly,  the  coal-deposits  in  Schuylkill  County  were  not  neg- 
lected. In  1822  1,500  tons  were  shipped  over  the  Schuylkill  Ca- 
nal ;  and  four  years  later,  when  the  cai>al  had  been  thoroughly 
repaired,  1 7,000  tons  were  sent  to  market ;  and  the  amount  swelled 
to  60,000  tons  the  year  following.  As  the  coal-trade  was  now  thoroughly 
established,  stoves  and  hearth-grates  adapted  for  such  fuel  were  made ;  anil 
the  public,  very  slow  at  first  in  using  it,  had  become  excited.  The  coal-region 
was  explored,  and  lands  which  had  long  been  regarded  as  worthless  found 
eager  purchasers  at  fancy  prices.  Towns  were  laid  out,  roads  were  built  over 
mountains  and  along  their  steep  sides,  railroads  and  canals  were  projei 
new  mines  were  opened ;  in  short,  the  fever  of  speculation  set  in  almost 
strongly  as  it  did  in  California  when  the  gold-discoveries  were  blazoned  abroa 
It  is  said  that  within  a  period  of  six  months  from  the  outbreak  of  the  specu- 
lative movement,  which  continued  active  for  nearly  three  years,  five  million 
dollars  had  been  invested  in  the  coal-lands  in  Schuylkill  County.  Tracts 
which  were  purchased  in  1827  for  five  hundred  dollars  were  sold  two  years 
afterward  for  sixteen  thousand.  This  fact  will  show  to  what  height  speculation 
had  been  carried. 

The  mode  of  conducting  mining-operations   in  this  coal-field  was  quite 


Coal-mining 
in  Schuylkill 
region. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


711 


difTerent  from  those  in  the  Lehigh  region.  There  a  single  company  mined  all 
the  coal ;  while  in  the  Schuylkill  region  a  large  number  of  operators 
were  engaged  in  the  business.  It  is  true  that  a  couple  of  concerns  ju*ct*nf  **" 
were  organized,  possessed  of  a  considerable  amount  of  capital ;  mininc  in 
but  there  were  many  beside  who  leased  their  lands,  and  who  pro-  ^,'!',^}["*  " 
duced  only  small  {]uantities  compared  with  the  output  of  the 
present  day.  The  expensive,  wasteful,  and  slow  mode  of  mining  can  l)e 
comprehended  from  the  single  fact,  that  the  same  number  of  master  colliers 
were  required  to  produce  a  hundred  thousand  tons  as  are  now  engaged  in  pro- 
ducing forty  times  that  quantity.  Still  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  this  new 
industry  would  be  economically  conducted  in  the  beginning.  Perfection  in 
mining,  like  perfection  in  every  other  pursuit,  was  to  come  only  by  manifold 
experiment.  The  leases  of  the  operators  usually  covered  a  "  run  "  upon  the 
out-crop,  or  strike  of  the  vein,  of  from  fifty  to  seventy  yards,  with  an  allowance 
of  sufficient  space  to  perform  the  necessary  outside  functions  of  a  mine  con- 
ducted on  strictly  ancient  principles.  The  pits  varied  from  thirty  to  forty  feet 
in  depth,  and  the  coal  was  hoisted  in  wooden  buckets  by  means  of  a  rope 
and  windlass.  The  same  "  machinery  "  drained  the  mine  of  water,  unless  the 
influx  was  extraordinary ;  in  which  emergency  its  abandonment  became  a 
matter  of  necessity.  A  few  of  the  more  enterprising  operators  —  such  as  had 
a  "  run  "  of  one  or  two  hundred  yards  on  the  vein  —  erected  gins,  and 
raised  their  coal  and  water  by  horse-power.  These,  however,  were  the  Na[)o- 
leons  and  Caesars  of  the  trade,  who  thought  nothing  of  shipping  two  or  three 
thousand  tons  per  annum.  Every  thing  proceeded  cheerfully  and  satisfactorily 
until  1830,  when  the  market  became  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  overstocked. 
The  increased  production  was  frightful,  —  63,000  tons  over  the  previous 
year.  Prices  fell  to  a  ruinous  figure.  The  paper  of  the  shippers  was  protested, 
and  many  of  the  mines  were  discontinued.  The  implements  employed  in 
mining  were  converted  into  cash,  and  more  than  one  operator  fled  from  the 
region  to  some  other  which  afforded  a  safe  immunity  from  imprisonment  for 
<1' '  Among  other  consequences,  there  was  a  large  diminution  in  production 
ag  the  following  year. 

I'wo  years  later  the  business  revived,  and  the  shipments  exceeded  209,000 
;   which  was  more  tlian  double  the  quantity  mined  during  Revival  of 
Uie  previous  year.      In   the    same  year,  many  marked  improve-   business, 
ments  were  effected  in  the  mining  and  transportation  of  this  "  stone  "  fuel. 


COAL-MINERS. 


Miner?  xclusively  foreigners,  who  come  chiefly  from  England,  Ireland, 

Scotland,  \,  >,  and  Germany.  There  is  nothing  peculiar  about  their  appear- 
ance, except  ,iat,  when  at  work,  a  lamp  is  attached  to  the  side  of  their  cap, 
and  they  are  usually  besmeared  with  coal  and  mud.     They  are  a  healthy  class 


712 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


li 


and  habitt 
of  miners. 


of  people  ;  and,  though  their  life  is  one  of  unusual  peril  and  gloom,  they  rarely 
Nationality  abandon  it  for  any  other  pursuit.  In  the  West,  during  dull  sea- 
sons, efforts  have  been  made  to  employ  them  in  farming,  but  with- 
out success.  They  prefer  to  live  below  ground,  amid  the  darkness, 
dirt,  and  danger  of  the  coal-regions,  to  a  life  above  in  the  sweetness  of  sun- 
light, and  surrounded  with  greater  excitement.  So  much  for  the  force  of  habit. 
Indeed,  they  have  become  so  accustomed  to  their  toil,  and  to  the  positions 
often  necessary  for  them  to  assume  in  the  course  of  their  daily  tasks,  that  pain- 
ful as  these  would  be,  especially  after  a  few  moments,  to  other  people,  miners 
are  often  seen  even  in  their  hours  of  leisure  occupying  them.  One  may  go 
into  a  saloon  where  miners  are  in  the  habit  of  congregating  during  the  even- 
ing, and  he  will  see  perhaps  half  a  dozen,  or  twice  or  thrice  that  numl)er,  sitting 
around  in  the  form  of  a  circle  on  the  floor,  their  legs  bent  under  them ;  and 
there  they  will  sit  for  hours  engaged  in  social  conversation. 

The  miner  has  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  a  lawless  man,  whose  hand 
is  against  every  one  outside  of  his  own  class ;  but  this  is  an  altogether  one- 
Bravery  of  sided  view.  They  are  quite  as  inuustrious  and  law-abiding  as  other 
miners.  workmen ;   and  though   many  of  !hem   a'-e   (piite   ignorant,  and 

steeped  in  prejudice,  yet  they  possess  many  noble  qualities',  and  constantly  are 
performing  deeds  in  the  way  of  rescuing  their  imperilled  brethren  whicli  testify 
in  the  strongest  manner  to  their  sympathy  and  heroism.  As  their  work  is  amid 
constant  danger,  they  are  schooled  in  bravery ;  and  every  now  and  then  an 
instance  occurs  of  devotion  to  the  suffering,  I'nd  heroism  displayed  in  their 
rescue,  which  is  thrilling.  Who  does  not  remember  the  account  reported  in 
"The  New- York  Tribune  "  last  year?  One  evening,  as  the  men 
were  on  the  point  of  leaving  work  in  a  mine  in  Wales,  the  roar  of 
rushing  water  was  heard,  and  the  galleries  and  tunnels  suddenly 
began  to  fill.  The  water  had  broken  through  from  an  abandoned  and  flooded 
mine,  and  of  course  rose  in  the  main  shaft  and  the  lateral  workings  until  it 
found  its  level.  Most  of  the  men  made  their  escape  ;  but  when  the  roll  was 
called  fourteen  were  missing.  An  exploring-party  went  down  to  look  for  tliem. 
They  found  all  the  galleries  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  bottom  filled  to 
the  roof;  but  a  knocking  heard  behind  a  wall  of  coal  indicated  tliat  some  of 
the  missing  men  were  imprisoned  alive  in  a  gallery  which  sloped  upward,  its 
mouth  being  under  water.  The  wall  was  several  yards  thick.  Volunteers  went 
at  it  with  their  picks.  The  prisoners  worked  from  within.  In  a  few  hours  they 
could  hear  one  another's  voices.  But,  the  moment  a  hole  was  broken  through, 
the  confined  air,  kept  under  great  pressure  by  the  rising  water,  burst  out  with  a 
terrific  explosion,  and  one  of  the  imprisoned  miners  was  shot  into  the  opening 
as  if  he  had  been  blown  from  a  gun.  He  was  taken  out  dead.  Four  others 
in  the  chamber  with  him  were  rescued  uninjured.  Knockings,  however,  were 
heard  farther  on  ;  and  it  appeared  that  other  missing  men  were  in  a  similar  but 
still  worse  predicament.  —  shut  into  a  chamber  of  compressed  air.     It  is  with 


Rescue  of 
miners  in 
Wales. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

713 

i>   ■       ! 
> 

-J        ,      •    1 

Si 

s^. 

1  .  -,  - 

lu      ■ 

^" '  ''ii'T' 

n 

'§•■';.;  „; 

i' 

:'it'..;" 

i 

'  H^OTi.']- 

^'^'':' 

f,  -^   ■  •  ■■ 

1  '\^ 

lir'i''i'lM 

-I 

i  i 

^'itlii 

.1  :f 

1 

'^1 

H 

1^  ^'pH^hp^ 

1 

'    •   ■       ■■■:  :;^ 

''''         ■'  ^c 

"■  , 

■  ■  ■^ftife^"------''^ 

■  -      V.        ■'■.■"(■/ 

t^'w'^^^"  "■''■' 

"'5' 

'■.V  ■  1  ''-i 

■  '      I':,  '  ..  1' 

...  <-  ■                                  s 

1 

f 

■1,         ,    -l'     . 

^■i^^^^H 

1  ti , 

;■'■■■  - 

Ittlni  i^^Hl^^^^^^^^l 

i 

i 

m 

714 


/.VZ?  615-  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


the  efforts  to  release  this  second  party  that  the  chief  interest  of  the  story 
begins. 

The  wall  behind  which  they  were  confined  was  in  a  heading  that  was 
flooded,  and  nothing  could  be  done  with  the  pick  until  the  water  had  been 
Extraordi-  puniped  Out.  Divers  first  attempted  the  perilous  feat  of  reaching 
nary  energy  the  opening  from  the  main  shaft  through  half  a  mile  of  water,  and 
i»p  aye  .  j^  ^^^  afterward  ascertained  that  one  of  the  men  within  had  tried 
to  escape  in  the  same  way.  This,  however,  was  impossible.  It  was  not  until 
the  fifth  day  that  the  volunteers  were  able  to  begin  digging.  I'he  distance 
to  be  cut  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  The  work  went  on  day  and  night 
with  an  eagerness  that  seemed  like  desperation  ;  and  yet  it  was  so  slow  !  Cut- 
ting through  the  solid  coal  in  a  gallery  not  more  than  three  feet  high,  where 
the  water,  only  kept  down  by  constant  pumping,  threatened  every  moment  to 
rise  and  ingulf  them,  with  trouble  from  gas,  and  the  danger  of  another  explo- 
sion of  air  always  before  them,  the  rescue- parties  took  their  lives  in  their  hand 
whenever  they  went  into  the  mine ;  and  their  wives  followed  them  with  sad 
eyes  as  they  entered  the  shaft,  doubting  if  they  would  come  up  alive.  The 
hope  of  saving  their  comrades,  shut  up  so  long  without  food,  was  at  best  but  a 
forlorn  one.  To  reduce  the  danger  from  the  sudden  liberation  of  the  air, — 
danger  not  only  of  a  violent  explosion,  but  of  a  sudden  rise  of  the  water  in  the 
chamber  as  soon  as  the  pressure  should  be  relieved,  —  air-tight  doors  were 
constructed  in  the  cutting,  and  an  air-pump  was  set  in  operation  to  establish 
an  equilibrium  on  both  sides  of  the  wall.  A  week  after  the  accident,  voices 
were  heard ;  and  the  working-party  were  cheered  by  a  faint  cry,  "  Keep  to  the 
right  side  ;  you  are  nearly  through."  The  next  ilay  the  work  had  made  such 
piogress,  that  an  iron  tube  was  forced  eight  feet  through  the  barrier  of  coal, 
and  an  attempt  was  made,  but  without  success,  to  introduce  milk  through  it  to 
the  famishing  prisoners.  The  miners  learneil  then  that  there  were  five  of  their 
comrades  in  the  chamber,  all  alive,  but  two  of  them  nearly  exhausted.  Sx 
night  there  remained  only  eighteen  inches  to  be  cut  away,  and  the  excitement 
rose  to  fever-heat.  An  enormous  assemblage  of  people  surrounded  the  mouth 
of  the  mine  ;  physicians  were  in  readiness  ;  a  temporary  hospital  was  prepared  ; 
and  a  house  near  by  was  j)ut  in  order  for  the  sufferers,  if  haply  they  should  be 
got  out  alive.  The  state  of  the  work  was  discussed  in  Parliament,  and  bulle- 
tins were  flashed  at  short  intervals  to  the  farthest  ends  of  the  kingdom.  V,wX, 
just  when  it  seemed  that  a  few  strokes  of  the  pick  might  complete  the  labor, 
an  eruption  of  gas  took  place,  and  the  working-party  had  to  run  for  their  lives. 
In  time,  however,  the  air  was  renewed,  and  the  work  went  on.  The  afternoon 
of  the  tenth  day  a  hole  was  knocked  in,  antl  one  of  the  cutting-party  entered 
the  cavern.  All  was  still.  In  their  weak  condition,  the  agitation  of  the  moment 
made  th^  imprisoned  men  speechless.  The  rescuer  felt  about,  and,  not  finding 
any  one,  shouted,  "  Don't  be  afraid  !  "  The  answer  came,  "  .\11  right,  we  arc 
not  afraid ;  "  and  then  a  pair  of  rough  arms  were  thrown  about  his  neck.     The 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


7»S 


ent,  voices 
cep  to  the 


1'.  ■     c 

mm' 

f^M];-'^'   ■  -■■■ 

Ipi'/:' 

' 

:'■"•!■       ''       , 

;■  "  VkJ 

'  J 

It 

# 

'  \ 

^^ 

k 

^      '  'v       % 

%-c*" 

1^ 

■'1;!  y.- 

).:;;i:j:':# 

''*^^i'*»:)W.«,.,„ 

■■-'--/■■  ■:■»'■;■' ■^■- 

^.  --'"-1^^:*;:^,. ::.:-;: 

'.-It,,,  'i 

.  •"■i'^ 

•::.;r 

■         ;#ii;!!i?.ii^!&i  ■■•■  ■• 

■Ms  :-*4^;:::    - 

;,i:,i,i' 
i  ■  < 

■■''.. 

,''i.'i;  ■■: 

'.'  1.' 
■  '.'■'•'  ,.<  ■ 

'■■".■''i'iS.x';' 

:■        "         ■  in*''  ,'.    ''^ 

::;,.H 

■'.''■... "' 

li  il'i!    '  ■                         ''.i-.i    ■  "     '.            '  ,  . 

••  „■%  y/ 

J.-,.  ■      -^  ■"■■■■  '■■■>■- 

Ia'".  ',  , '  ,,'.,:*i':,'"'':'     '■ 

rOLUSION   OK  TUIIS   IN    A   SHAH. 


7i6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


.0 


firsi  to  be  taken  out  was  a  boy  named  Hughes  :  and  it  is  related  that  when  the 
car  came  to  the  surface,  and  t!ie  long  suspense  was  over,  the  vast  crowd  of 
spectators  "  did  not  che<;r,  nor  use  any  of  the  ordinary  means  of  showing 
enthusiasm  ;  all  seemed  too  serious  for  that." 

Miners  usually  receive  a  certain  sum  per  ton  for  mining  coal ;  but  for 
several  years  disagreemenis  between  them  and  their  employers  in  respect  to 
Difficulty  wages  have  been  numerous,  leading,  in  some  instances,  to  very 
in  adjuitioK  serious  conscqucnces.  It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  ascertain  the 
*"'*"■  exact  truth  concerning  these  controversies ;   but,  if-  the  account 

which  we  shall  now  proceed  to  give  does  not  perfectly  square  with  the  facts, 
it  is  not  because  we  have  failed  to  make  many  inquiries,  nor  through  indiffer- 
ence to  present  correctly  so  important  a  page  of  our  history. 

When  prices  rose  during  the  war,  including  the  price  of  coal,  it  is  affirmed 
upon  good  authority  that  miners,  notwithstanding  the  greatly  enhanced  cost  of 
Advance  of  l'^'"g>  received  no  higher  wages  without  first  making  a  demand, 
wages  dur-  and  then  following  it  up  with  a  strike,  or  a  threat  of  that  nature, 
ing  the  war.  ^^^  operators  were  making  large  profits,  they  were  very  unwilling  to 
suspend  operations ;  and  so  the  demands  of  the  miners  were  complied  with, 
and  wages  were  several  times  advanced. 

Production  in  a  few  years  enormously  increased  ;  and  during  the  spring  of 
1868  the  coal-market  was  glutted,  and  prices  went  down  as  low  as  they  were 
Strikes  dur-  in  1 844,  with  the  single  exception  of  a  short  period  at  the  outbreak 
ing  1868.  Qf  tj^g  ^yj^j.  j^^j  {j^g  coal-mining  business  been  in  the  hands  of  a 
few  operators,  as  it  was  ten  years  before,  the  market  would  have  been  obliged 
to  suspend  production ;  but  the  business  was  now  carried  on  chiefly  by  five 
companies,  which  had  a  large  amount  of  capital  invested,  and  which  could  not 
suspend  operations.  It  was  deemed  necessary,  however,  to  reduce  the  wages 
of  the  miners.  The  latter  contended  that  a  reduction  of  their  wages  would 
not  prevent  the  glut  of  coal ;  that  as  long  as  all  the  companies  continued  to 
work  every  mine,  and  to  open  new  ones,  there  would  be  an  incessant  glut,  ami 
it  would  be  impossible  to  find  a  market  for  coal,  even  if  the  workmen  con- 
sented to  work  without  wages.  Twice  did  the  workmen  submit  to  reductions, 
but  urged  each  time  the  folly  of  overloa  /  g  the  market.  But  the  companies 
were  determined ;  and  the  history  of  1868  was  a  succession  of  strikes,  suspen- 
sions, agreements,  resumptions,  and  again  suspension,  accompanied  by  violent 
fluctuations  in  price,  and  at  one  time  an  advance  to  the  very  highest  figures  of 
war  times. 

The  following  year  (1869)  things  grew  worse.  The  winter  had  been  mikl. 
and  there  was  an  accumulation  of  more  than  seven  hundred  thousand  tons  ot' 
The  strike  coal  belonging  to  the  five  principal  companies.  After  vain  efforts 
of  1869.  among  themselves  to  agree  upon  a  reduction  of  the  supply,  tlic 

miners,  with  great  shrewdness,  offered  a  voluntary  suspension  of  thirty  days  to 
enable  the  companies  to  work  off  their  acculnulated  stocks.     The  offer  \\;is 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


7»7 


accepted ;  and,  under  pretence  of  this  so-called  strike,  the  companies  increased 
the  freight-charges  over  their  roads  nearly  one-half,  ran  up  the  price  of  coal  to 
very  high  figures,  and  reaped  a  small  fortune  from  the  suspension.  When  the 
thirty  days  had  expired,  the  companies  expected  the  men  to  go  to  work  at  the 
old  wages  :  but  the  men  declared,  not  without  an  appearance  of  justice,  that,  if 
the  market-price  of  co:-'  was  to  depend  upon  their  suspending  and  resuming 
work,  they  were  certainly  entitled  to  some  portion  of  the  advantages  of  their 
action ;  and  they  demanded,  that,  if  coal  advanced  beyond  that  price,  their 
wages  were  to  advance  in  proportion,  —  on  precisely  the  same  principle  as  that 
which  the  companies  had  invariably  enforced  in  reducing  wages  the  moment 
the  selling-price  of  coal  declined.  This  was  called  the  "  basis  system,"  the 
supposed  lowest  price  of  coal  being  taken  as  the  basis  of  wages.  The  com- 
panies at  first  were  unwilling  to  accede  to  this  proposition ;  but,  after  a  long 
struggle,  several  of  them  submitted.  Others  have  refused  to  this  day,  prefer- 
ring to  pay  the  men  higher  wages  rather  than  recognize  the  hated  basis. 

For  the  next  three  years  no  very  serious  strikes  occurred,  although  grum- 
blings were  heard,  and  occasionally  there  was  an  outbreak.  No  very  general 
disturbances  arose,  however,  until  the  close  of  1874.  As  the  year  strike  of 
was  drawing  to  a  close,  another  strike  was  inaugurated,  against  ^^^^■ 
the  advice  of  the  Labor  Union  which  had  been  formed,  and  without  the 
faintest  realization  of  the  long  and  bitter  contest  which  was  to  come  before 
even  a  short-lived  peace  was  secured. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  was  not  long  after  the  panic,  when  neariy 
every  kind  of  business  was  depressed,  and  when  prices  were  tending  down- 
ward, with  no  probability  of  a  recovery.  Notwithstanding  this  commence- 
very  clear  outlook,  the  miners  demanded  an  incense  of  wages ;  ment  o( 
and,  the  demand  being  refused,  a  strike  took  place.  The  strike,  *"  ***' 
Iiowever,  in  the  beginning,  was  not  regarded  as  serious,  although  at  an  early  day 
the  workmen  were  informed  that  not  only  would  their  demands  not  be  acceded 
to,  but  that  wages  wouiu  be  reduced.  This  was  not,  however,  believed,  and 
matters  remained  quiet ;  good  humor,  in  the  first  instance,  prevailing.  The 
strike  was  inaugurated  at  a  time  when  the  great  body  of  workmen  expected  to 
be  idle  ;  navigation  had  closed  ;  the  winter  stock  of  coal  of  the  East  and  South 
had  been  laid  in :  it  was  the  period  of  limited  demand,  of  what  is  termed 
"  dead  work,"  in  preparation  for  the  coming  season.  As,  however,  the  attitude 
of  the  Coal  Exchange  was  firm,  very  early  came  annoyances  in  the  refusal 
of  the  men  to  allow  even  sufficient  coal  to  be  mined  for  the  use  of  tlie  furnaces 
on  the  line  of  the  road  and  for  the  locomotives  of  the  railroad  companies. 
In  the  mean  time  the  general  business  and  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
country  were  still  more  depressed.  By  the  latter  part  of  February,  1875,  all 
hopes  of  even  a  partial  revival  of  business  in  the  spring  had  died  out,  Many 
of  the  large  manufacturing  and  iron  establishments  of  the  country,  which  had 
struggled  through  the  past  year  on  the  accumulated  capital  resulting  from 


7i8 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


RESCUE  WITH  CIt,BBRT's  APPARATUS. 


OF    THF    UNITED   STATES. 


719 


seasons  of  prosperity,  either  totally  stopped  work,  or  ran  on  half-time  ;  whilst 
the  area  of  the  anthracite  coal-market  had  somewhat  extended,  the  uses  were 
being  curtailed,  and  a  large  falling-off  in  the  demand  during  the  coming  year 
was  felt  to  be  a  certain  prospect.  The  facilities  for  mining  coal  created  a 
suppl)  largely  in  excess  of  the  demand  ;  and  the  fact  was  perfectly  understood, 
that  no  c  ombination  of  the  coal-mining  companies  would  enable  coal-operators 
to  run  on  full  time,  and  maintain  prices  of  coal  or  wages. 

"As  a  consequence,  in  the  beginning  of  March,  1875,  when  the  policy  of 
the  coal-operators  was  fully  developed,  the  struggle   began  in  earnest,  the 
operators  maintaining  that  the  reduction  of   wages  was  to  them   Growing  in- 
a  matter  of  necessity ;  whilst  the  Labor  Union  remained  firm  in   tensity  of 
the  demand  that  at  least  the  prices  of  the  preceding  year  should  ""''*• 
be  maintained.     The  stock  of  money  accumulated  by  very  many  of  the  work- 
men was  now  exhausted,  and  a  call  was  made  on  kindred  associations  for 
assistance.     These  associations  sympathized  with  the  struggles  of  tlie  miners 
and  laborers  ;  but  they  had  their  own  interests  to  guard,  and  in  most  instances 
had    themselves  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  the   times.     The   response  was, 
therefore,  made  with  a  necessarily  sparing  hand." 

Many  were  willing  to  go  to  work,  but  feared  the  Molly,  whose  history 
will  soon  be  sketched.  "  Intense  feeling  began  to  manifest  itself  on  both  sides. 
The  Labor  Union  yielded  the  position,  so  far  as  the  question  crhis 
of  reduction  was  concerned,  but,  as  a  question  upon  which  its  reached, 
existence  was  involved,  demanded  to  have  a  voice  in  the  setUement  of  the 
basi<;  of  wages.  A  number  of  coal-operators  were  willing  to  commence  work 
on  these  terms  ;  but  the  great  coal-mining  companies,  with  the  entire  approval 
of  many  individual  operators,  refused  to  treat  witii  the  Labor  Union  at  all. 
By  the  action  of  the  great  carrying  companies  in  the  regulation  of  freights  thij 
policy  was  enforced." 

At  length,  in  June,  1875,  the  miners  yielded.  This  was  the  most  severe 
defeat  the  miners  had  experienced.  "  Most  of  the  '  lalior-strikes '  previously 
inaugurated  had  been  local  in  their  character;  in  some  instances,  Defeat  of  ths 
confined  to  particular  collieries  ;  in  others,  to  districts  ;  and  again,  "i'"*"- 
in  others,  to  the  coal-shipments  by  particular  lines  of  railway.  In  none  of 
these  contests  had  the  men  s'.iffered  overwhelming  defeat :  they  had  not 
always,  it  is  true,  obtained  their  full  demands  ;  but  ihe  result  iiad  generally 
been  a  compromise,  in  which  their  power  wx:-,  acknowledged,  and  the  out- 
rages committed  either  by  unruly  members  of  the  Union,  or  indirectly  result- 
ing therefrom,  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  condoned-"  But  in  this,  liie  longest 
and  mor;t  expensive  strike  to  miners  as  well  as  to  operators,  the  former  were 
compelled  to  succumb.  Yet  it  had  been  begun  contrary  to  the  advice  of 
many  of  the  leaders ;  for  they  saw  with  the  eye  of  a  prophet  the  whirlwind 
that  was  to  come.  With  declining  markets  and  an  over-production  of  coal, 
what  could  the  miner  expect  beside  lower  wages,  unless  it  were  no  wages 
at  all? 


jao 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


THE   MOLLY    MAGUIRES. 


This  is  not  a  lovely  or  engaging  theme  :   yet  no  pursuit  is  without  its 
darker  side  :  and,  if  the  history  of  coal-mining  be  shaded  more 

Why  •  con-      ,         .,       ,  -  ....  , 

•{deration  of  heavily  than  most  of  our  numerous  mdustries,  it  must  be  remem- 
the  Monies  bered  that  most  of  the  workers  in  it  live  a  dark,  sunless  life,  and 
■  neceitary.  .^  .^  quite  in  keeping  with  the  industry  itself  for  terrible  incidents 
to  arise  therein. 

The  record  of  the  Molly  Maguire  in  this  country  is  very  brief,  but  very 
sad  and  terrible.     The  society  to  which  he  belongs  is  neither  new  nor  recently 

known  ;  for  it  had  its  birth  long  ago  in 
the  Emerald  Isle,  and  many  an  inci- 
dent of  thrilling   interest 
has   been   wafted   to   our 


duration. 


Record  of 
MoUiet  in 

thii  country    shore.      These    we    have 
of  brief  j^Q^  space  to  relate  :    be- 

sides, the  cup  of  their  mis- 
deeds, notwithstanding  their  short  ex- 
istence in  the  anthracite  regions  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  long  ago  filled  to 
overflowing. 

All  of  our  readers  have  heard  of 
the  famous  Ribbonmen  of  Ireland, 
Ribbonmen  whose  deeds  fill  so  large 
of  Ireland.  ^  space  in  the  annals  of 
crime  in  that  country.  The  society 
was  organized  to  maintain  the  rights  of 
tenants,  which  the  landlord,  according 
to  general  belief,  sought  to  crush  out. 
He  was  regarded,  not  as  the  rightful 
JAMES  KKRKiGAN.  owttcr  of  the  land,  but  as  a  usurper. 

who,  if  possible,  was  to  be  extirpated 
■  from  the  soil.  Time,  instead  of  burying  this  belief,  only  strengthened  it ;  while 
the  breach  between  the  two  classes  was  still  further  widened  by  differences  in 
religion  and  education,  and  the  rank  and  poisonous  growth  of  prejudice. 
"  Under  the  influence  of  such  prejudice  and  feelings,"  says  a  writer  who  has 
thoroughly  studied  the  subject,  "  a  certain  unwritten  code  of  laws,  or  *  tenant 
rights,'  came  into  being,  by  which  the  tenant  claimed  to  possess  his  leasehold 
estate,  without,  under  any  circumstances,  the  right  of  dispossession  existing  in 
the  landlord.  The  landlord  might  be  desirous  of  improving  his  estate,  or  rent 
be  largely  in  arrears :  nevertheless,  any  action  on  his  part  in  maintenance  of 
his  right  of  property,  was,  under  the  Ribbon  code,  to  be  resisted  to  the  death. 
But  not  only  upon  the  landlord  did  the  Ribbonmen  exercise  their  deadly  ven- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


721 


geance :  other  tenants  entering  upon  the  possession  of  the  disputed  property 
were,  equally  with  the  landlords  and  land-agents,  the  victims  of  murderous  and 
generally  fatal  attacks.  This  society  sprang  into  existence  in  the  early  part  of 
the  present  century,  maintained  its  unhallowed  existence  for  many  years,  and 
only  received  permanent  check  upon  the  execution  of  Hodgens  and  Brun, 
convicted  of  conspiracy  to  murder  Patrick  McArdle,  at  Carrickmacross,  in 
1852."    Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  rise  of  this  world-famous  society. 

How  long  it  was  after  their  appearance  in  the  anthracite  regions  before 
they  obtained  control  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians  is  not  known ;  but 
the  history  of  this  association  under  the  new  regime  deserves  x„eje„j 
notice,  for  it  has  been  very  imperfectly  understood  by  the  public,  order  of 
Previous  to  its  capture  by  the  Mollies,  this  society  had  borne  an  ""*""'•"•• 
honorable  record  for  its  many  deeds  of  disinterested  benevolence.  It  was 
because  of  its  good  name  that  the  Mollies  were  so  desirous  of  getting  control 
of  it ;  for  they  hoped,  under  the  guise  of  its  fair  reputation,  to  do  many  things 
which  could  not  be  easily  done  in  any  other  manner.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
describe  here  how  the  Mollies  executed  their  design  :  suffice  it  to  say,  that  in 
due  time  this  order  was  completely  under  iheir  baneful  control,  and  in  its 
name  a  series  of  outrages  were  committed  which  the  entire  land  vividly  but 
sadly  remembers.  It  has  been  questioned,  however,  whether  any  organiza- 
tions belonging  to  this  order  existing  beyond  the  anthracite  regions  were  drawn 
into  the  fatal  net.  Doubtless  assistance,  in  the  way  of  contributing  money  to 
defend  tiie  Mollies  when  their  crimes  were  exposed  and  they  were  brought  for 
trial,  was  rendered  by  many  members  who  resided  elsewhere  ;  but  certainly  it 
has  never  appeared  that  any  society  in  an  organized  capacity  furnished  such 
assistance.  It  was  contributed  personally,  not  in  a  corporate  or  organized 
way ;  and  therefore  there  is  no  reason  for  charging  the  societies  belonging  to 
this  order,  lying  beyond  those  directly  implicated,  as  guilty  of  sympathizing 
with  the  Molly  Maguires,  or  furnishing  any  assistance.  The  sins  of  members 
individually  are- not  to  be  visited  upon  the  organizations  themselves;  for,  if 
tliey  are,  what  church  or  other  social  organization  can  plead  innocence? 

The  conquest  of  the  Labor  Unions  ere  long  by  the  Mollies  was  as  easy 
and  successful  as  the  subjection  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians.  Yet  the 
public  generally  have  formed  a  wrong  idea  of  these  Labor  Unions,  L«bor 
on  accourt  of  the  presence  and  activity  of  the  Mollies  amongst  Un'"""- 
them ;  just  as  the  worthy  fame  of  the  Hibernian  Society  was  blasted  by  the 
conduct  of  the  Mollies,  who  in  an  evil  hour,  and  when  no  wrong  was  sus- 
pected, came  in  and  stealthily  took  possession  of  the  organization.  It  may  be 
thought  singular  how  so  small  a  number,  compared  with  all  the  miners,  were 
able  to  effect  this  result ;  and  hence  many  have  believed  that  the  Mollies  were 
far  more  numerous,  even  in  the  beginning,  than  they  were  in  fact,  or  else  that 
very  many  of  the  miners  were  in  sympathy  with  them.  Either  alternative  is 
without  much  foundation,  as  we  shall  endeavor  to  prove  before  concluding  this 
chapter. 


733 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Wrong 

Impraiiion 

raaptctlni 

thair 

ifnaranca. 


Object  of 
••  Labor 
Unlona." 


Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  coal-workers,  though  for  the  most  part 
foreigners,  are  not  so  densely  ignorant  as  to  be  unable  to  perceive 
their  rights,  and  comprehend  their  surroundings.  Though  possess- 
ing less  education  than  the  average  American,  they  are  neither  so 
ignorant  nor  lawless  as  many  suppose  them  to  be ;  and  one  who 
is  well  qualified  to  judge  declares  that  none  rejoice  more  earnestly 
than  they  in  the  belief  that  a  reign  of  terror  is  over,  and  that  law  and  order 
will  rule  once  more. 

Keeping  this  point  in  sight,  we  proceed  to  note  that  the  Labor  Unions 

arose  as  a  defence  to  the  demands 
of  capital,  which  was  massing  itself  to 
control  the  entire  anthra- 
cite-region. When  almost 
the  whole  field  was  ab- 
sorbed by  five  companies,  representing 
an  enormous  amount  of  capital,  and 
capable  of  dictating  any  terms  it 
pleased  to  the  workmen,  so  long  as 
they  continued  in  their  old  ways,  was 
it  not  about  time  for  them  to  do  some- 
thing to  meet  this  mighty  power  which 
hung  over  them  like  a  thunder-cloud, 
and  which  grew  blacker  every  mo- 
ment ? 

We  do  not  see  how  any  one  can 
blame  them  for  combining.  If  they  did 
wrong,  it  was  not  in  taking  this  step,  but  in  subsequent  ones.  At  first  they 
Not  to  ba  ^^^  "^o  hostile  intentions  against  life  or  capital :  it  was  only  to  pro- 
biamad  for  tect  themselves,  and  prevent  future  aggression.  Unluckily  they  had 
com  n  n(.  ^^^  \ittn.  going  long  before  the  Mollies  stole  in,  and  announced 
their  unwelcome  presence.  Under  their  evil  sway  the  Unions  made  new 
demands,  founded  harsher  rules  for  the  government  of  members,  and  extended 
Their  da-  *^®''"  po^cr  over  the  miners  who  held  aloof  from  the  organization, 
manda  and  Thus  they  Went  on  until  they  demanded  of  the  mining-companies 
powera.  ^^^  ^^  ^^^  should  be  employed  or  discharged  without  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Union.  To  this  demand  others  were  added  of  hardly  less  impe- 
rious nature.  The  manner  and  hours  of  working,  and  the  superintendents 
and  bosses,  were  regarded  as  under  their  control.  Moreover,  they  claimed 
the  right  to  determine  the  rates  of  wages,  and  times  of  payment,  and  other 
equally  extravagant  and  surprising  demands.  Says  Mr.  Dewees,  "  Some  of 
these  acts  are  attributable  to  the  circumstances  which  gave  them  the  power, 
and  others  to  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  band  of  criminals  who  foisted 
l3iemselves  among  them.    Whilst  it  is  an  act  of  simple  justice  to  the  leaders 


MANUS  KULL. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


7*3 


of  the  Labor  Union  to  acknowledge,  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the  true  inter- 
ests of  the  working-men,  from  their  stand-point,  were  sought  to  be  obtained 
peaceably  and  through  compromise,  and  whilst,  in  such  efforts,  they  had  the 
approval  of  the  great  body  of  the  society,  unreasonable  demands  were  pressed 
through  the  influence,  an<l  granted  through  fear,  of  the  Molly.  Maguire. 

"  Under  the  influence  of  organization  and  of  general  prosperity,"  continues 
Mr.  Dewees,  "  the  Mollies  increased  in  numbers  and  in  power,    lliroughout 
the  coal-regions  they  completely  controlled  the  organization  known  Aimaoftha 
as  the  A.  O.  H.,  or  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  and,  using  that  *•*"•••• 
order  as  a  cloak,  endeavored  to  increase  still  further  their  numbers  and  their 
influence,  on  the  pretext  that  the  order 
was  chartered   by  the  legislature  for 
legal  and  proper  purposes  as  a  benev- 
olent association.      The   ambition   of 
the  leaders    among    them,   many  of 
whom  deserted  labor  and  the  mines 
for  the  more  congenial  and  influential 
positions  of  small  tavern  and  saloon 
keepers,  kept  pace  with  their  increased 
power.     They    sought    not    only    to 
control  the  movements  of  the  Labor 
Union,  to  inspire  whole   coal-mining 
interests  with  a  fear  of  their  displeas- 
ure, but  also  to  have  a   potent  voice 
in  politics."    Their  more  especial  am- 
bition was  to  control  the  affairs  of  the 
township,  and  control  the   collection 
and  expenditure  of  the  public  funds. 
Possessed  of  but  little  taxable  property 
themselves,  it  was  of  immense  impor- 
tance to  them   to   get   hold  of  the 
public  purse,  and  be  able  to  empty    . 
and  replenish  it  according  to  their  own  wiH  and  pleasure. 

As  they  were  successful  in  an  eminent  degree  in  their  designs,  the  history 
of  their  management  is  but  little  more  than  a  repetition  of  the  man-  ooinga  of 
agement  of  the  Tweed  ring  on  a  smaller  though  not  less  frightful  **oiiiet. 
scale.  Large  sums  were  assessed  to  repair  roads  which  needed  only  a  small 
outlay  for  this  purpose  ;  and  even  the  school-funds  were  perverted,  though  it  is 
believed  the  misapplication  was  not  as  extensive.  They  almost  succeeded,  in 
Schuylkill  County,  in  electing  as  associate  judge  a  notorious  Molly  who  has 
since  been  convicted  of  cri.ne.  Both  of  the  great  political  parties  bid  for 
their  support,  and  the  rewards  demanded  and  received  were  neither  few  nor 
small.    "  Rumors  of  a  vote  to  be  given  on  account  of  a  pardon  to  be  extended 


THOMAS  P.   FISHER. 


724 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


to  some  ofTender  or  ofTenders  whom  no  perjury  could  save  from  the  meshes 
of  the  law  have  been  common ;  and  such  pardon,  following  quickly  after  the 
result  of  an  election  has  become  known,  has  given  those  rumors  a  force  and 
effect  they  would  not  otherwise  possess." 

The  effect  of  such  an  accession  of  power  to  an  organization  so  irrespon- 
sible, corrupt,  and  desperate,  may  be  easily  imagined.     Nor  is  it  difficult  to 

trace  the  devastating  effects  of  the  or- 
ganization upon  the  property,  designs, 

Bfftctof         ^"^  ^^^"  lives,  of  those 
th«ir  who  dwelt   in   the   coal- 

oper«t  ont.  fggjons.  "  The  owner  of 
productive  coal-lands,"  says  Dewees, 
"  wearied  by  the  continual  struggle 
between  his  tenants  and  the  men, 
whereby  his  income  was  seriously  im- 
paired, was  glad  to  sell  his  lands  at  a 
moderate  figure  in  comparison  with 
their  true  value  ;  whilst  the  owner  of 
unproductive  lands,  borne  down  by 
taxes,  and  seeing  no  hope  in  the  fu- 
ture, was  glad,  at  a  comparatively 
small  price,  to  dispose  of  property 
that  was  becoming  an  intolerable  bur- 
den. The  control  and  management  of  the  mines,  the  manner  of  their  work- 
ing, the  right  to  employ  and  discharge  hands,  were  passing  away  from  the 
owners,  and  were  fast  resting  in,  not  the  Labor  Union  proper,  but  the  Labor 
Union  under  the  direction  of  the  Molly  Maguires." 

The  time  had  come  for  the  great  companies  to  make  a  determined  effort 
^  ,       to  rescue  their  property.    After  a  long  period  of  suffering,  and 

of  Mollies  by  another  of  preparation,  the  blow  was  struck  which  delivered  them 
railroad-         of  an  enemy  whose  history,  though  short,  had  been  truly  terrible, 
and  whose  long  catalogue,  of  misdeeds  the  public  have  read  and 
remember  with  horror. 

Two  causes  ^^  ™^y  ^^  wondered  how  it  was  possible  for  any  organization 

of  success  of  in  this  late  age,  in  a  county  of  Pennsylvania,  —  whose  courts  were 
Mollies.  supposed  to  be  always  open,  and  where  the  law  never  failed  of 
eJcecution  through  lack  of  force,  —  to  continue  such  hellish  work  for  so  long  a 
period.  Two  causes  conspired  in  a  remarkable  degree  to  aid  them  in  their 
dark  and  bloody  work,  the  absence  of  either  of  which  would  have  proved  fatal 
to  their  plans. 

The  first  was  secrecy.     It  is  difficult,  perhaps,  for  many  to 
realize  how  thoroughly  this  idea  is  engraved  into  the  texture  of  the 
Irish  race.    To  inform  of  a  crime,  in  many  instances,  is  regarded  a  wrong  as 


rATRICK  HESTBR. 


Secrecy. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


7«5 


great  as  the  crime  itself;  and  to  such  an  extent  has  this  feeling  developed,  that 
it  has  tnily  become  a  put  of  the  Irish  character.  In  the  plottings  of  the 
Mollies  a  large  number  were  engaged,  yet  the  utmost  secrecy  was  preserved  ; 
and  their  ways  and  movements  would  have  been  unknown  to  this  day,  for 
aught  we  know,  had  not  a  detective  been  sent  among  them.  From  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  their  fearful  career  they  kept  their  own  secrets  until  secrecy 
would  no  longer  avail  any  thing.  It  is  a  wonderful  trait  of  character  which 
they  have  exhibited,  nor  could  it  have  bloomed  so  perfectly  on  American  soil 
(luring  the  short  period  the  organization  has  existed.  This  trait  is  the  product 
of  many  years  of  education,  —  education  of  a  fearful  sort,  in  which  tyranny 
and  revenge  were  the  twin  stimulating  forces. 

The  other  cause  is  the  secrecy  afforded  by  nature  for  executing  their 
designs.  Vast  forests  lie  in  close  proximity  to  the  villages,  to  which  the  Mollies 
could  flee  and  find  sure  protection.  It  was  not  possible  to  fill  the 
woods  with  police  ;  and  a  hunt  there  after  the  law-breaker  would 
have  proved  a  fruitless  undertaking.  Thus  a  shelter  was  afforded 
for  the  criminal,  so  secure  as  to  stimulate  him  in  executing  his  lawless 
purposes. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  paid  less  attention  to  the  Molly-Maguire  move- 
ment (as  that  is  known  to  all)  than  to  underlying  causes  of  it,   _| 
as  well  as  the  machinery  employed  to  accomplish  their  designs.   ofMoiiy- 

It  is  a  singular  blur  upon   the   industrial   history  of  the  United   **■«"'" 

.  ,  .   ,       ...  ,      .-  movement. 

States,  and  one  which  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 


Secrecy 
afforded  by 
nature. 


LATER   HISTORY. 

Having  traced  the  history  of  mining  and  transporting  coal  to  1830,  let  us 
take  up  the  thread  at  that  point,  and  follow  it  until  the  present  time.  The 
anthracite-coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  which  embrace  nearly  all  Extent  of 
that  kind  of  coal  known  in  the  world,  lie  in  three  basins,  or  =o«i-iiei<i«' 
valleys,  which  are  called  the  southern,  middle,  and  northern  coal-fields. 
Though  the  total  area  is  only  472  miles,  the  coal  is  of  such  great  average 
thickness,  varying  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  feet,  that  the  entire  region  is  esti- 
mated to  contain  26,361,070,000  tons;  from  which  amount,  after  deducting 
one-half  for  waste  in  mining  and  breaking  the  coal  for  market,  and  for  other 
losses  occasioned  by  faults  and  irregularities  in  the  beds,  13,180,538,000  tons 
are  left.  Subtracting  from  this  amount  the  206,666,325  tons  mined  between 
1820  and  1870,  there  is  still  remaining  a  sufficient  supply,  allowing  consump- 
tion to  go  on  at  the  rate  of  25,000,000  tons  per  year,  to  last  for  525  years. 

It  was  in  the  southern  or  Schuylkill  region  that  mining-operations  of  any 
importance  first  began.     In  1833  a  charter  was  granted  for  build-   Reading 
iiig  a  railroad  from  Philadelphia  to  Reading ;   and  a  year  or  two  R""'"''*- 
later  it  was  empowered  to  extend  its  road  farther,  so  as  to  pierce  the  anthra- 


ja6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


\i 


^  m 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


727 


cite-coal  regions  of  Schuylkill  County.  The  road  was  completed  in  1842,  and 
was  fifty-eight  miles  in  length  ;  but  it  has  stretched  itself  out,  by  building  addi- 
tions ?nd  leasing  other  roads,  until  it  has  found  its  way  into  every  valley  of  the 
southern  and  middle  coal-fields,  and  in  the  year  1870  operated  1,168  miles  of 
single-track  railroad,  of  which  466  miles  were  located  in  the  coal-regions. 

The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  was  chartered  as  early  as 
March,  1823,  to  run  from  Rondout  on  the  Hudson  to  Honesdale 
on  the  Delaware  River ;  from  which  point  the  northern  or  Wilkes-   ,„j  Hudson 
barre  coal-field  was  entered  by  the  addition  of  a  short  railroad  Canai 
extending  to  Carbondale.     About  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  the     '""P""^' 
I'ennsyivania  Coal  Company  was  formed,  being  composed,  either  wholly  or 
nearly  so,  of  stockholders  and  directors  of  the  Hudson  and  Dela-   pennsyi. 
ware  Canal  Company,     To  this  new  concern  was  leased  a  portion   vania  Coaj 
of  the  coal-lands  owned  by  the  present  organization  upon  condi-     -""P^ny- 
tion  that  the  coal  mined  should  be  always  transported  over  its  line  to  Rondout. 

A  few  ye;'  later,  however,  when  the  Erie  Railroad  was  in  full  operation, 
and  the  orgui.izatiuu  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  had  somewhat 
changed,  it  began  shipping  coal  over  the  new  route  to  Jersey  City 
and  other  points.  This  action  of  theirs  gave  rise  to  a  famous 
lawsuit  between  the  two  companies,  which  lasted  for  a  long  time, 
and  was  conducted  with  a  great  deal  of  ability  as  well  as  bitterness. 
The  president  of  the  coal  company  studied  law,  so  it  is  said,  for 
the  very  purpose  of  taking  an  active  part  in  the  defence  of  the  suit, 
and  was,  in  fact,  the  cliief  counsel  in  defending  the  company  from  its  enemies. 
In  the  end  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  won  their  cause,  which  virtually 
ended  the  agreement ;  and  since  that  time  it  has  transported  coal  over  the 
Krie  Railway  without  any  further  interference  by  the  rival  concern. 

The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Comi)any  was  not  simply  a  carrier  of 
coal,  but  mined  it  also,  having  purchased  large  tracts  in  the  begin-   y^^x^^^  and 
ning,  and  added  more  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the  judg-   transporter 

c  ■.  of  coal. 

mem  of  its  managers. 

In  1853  two  other  railroads  were  chartered,  which  also  engaged  in  the 
business  of  mining  coal,  as  well  as  in  transporting  it,  —  the  Dela-   j^^^  ^ 
ware,  Lackawanna,  and  Western  Railroad,  which  entered  the  north-   Lackawan- 
ern  coal-fieM  at  Scranton  ;  and  the  Lehijifh-Valley  Railroad,  which   '"*"•  """^ 

'  b  J  >  Western. 

confined    its   operations    to   the    middle   coal-held.     Although    il 
was  simply  a  carrier  of  coal  in  the  beginning,  a  union  was  effected  with  the 
iJeavei-Meauow  Railroad,  which  was  also  a  miner ;  and  thus  the  fifth  great 
mining-concern  was  engaged  in  this  great  and  rapidl\  growing  industry. 

The  vear  I'cvious,  however,  the  New-Jersey  Central  Railroad,  concerning 
which  so  much  has  been  heard  of  late,  was  chartered  to  extend  New  jersey 
from  the   sea-coast  to    Easton,   Penn.,  on   the   Delaware  River.   Central. 
.\t  first  it  was  simply  a  transporter  of  coal ;  but,  not  content  with  doing  this,  it 


Lawsuit  be- 
tween Dela- 
ware and 
Hudson 
and  Pennsyl- 
vania Coal 
Company. 


I 


728 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Five  com- 
panies chief 
miners  and 
transporters 
of  coal. 


aware  and 
Hudson. 


was  possessed  yith  a  more  ambitious  aim,  and  accordingly  leased  the  Lehigh 
Canal  and  the  Lehigh  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  Company,  together  with  the 
mines  which  these  concerns  were  operating,  and,  in  addition,  the  Wilkesbarre 
Coal  Company,  which  was  chartered  in  March,  1849.  These  six 
companies  have  been  the  chief  miners  and  transporters  of  anthra- 
cite coal  for  several  years,  although  other  concerns  have  also 
mined  and  transported  considerable  quantities.  The  chief  interest 
of  anthracite- coal  mining,  however,  centres  around  the  railroad 
corporations  above  mentioned,  which  united  the  business  of  mining  with  that 
of  transporting  coal. 

Until  within  a  very  few  years,  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company 
had  been  uniformly  prosperous.  Its  affairs  have  always  been  conducted  by  a 
Later  his-  Conservative  board  of  directors  ;  and  with  its  short,  easy,  and  cheap 
tory  of  Del-  mode  of  getting  coal  to  tide-water,  for  years  it  yielded  rich  returns, 
and  all  of  its  affairs  were  highly  prosperous.  But,  when  other 
railroads  undertook  to  mine  as  well  as  to  transport  coal,  this  con- 
cern also  believed  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  retain  its  markets,  to  lease  and 
build  railroads  ;  and,  accordingly,  the  Albany  a  id  Susquehanna  Railroad  was 
leased,  and  other  roads  extending  northward  to  Whitehall  and  Rutland,  while 
a  railroad  was  built  from  the  former  point  to  Montreal.  This  was  a  bold  push, 
and  the  experiment  has  not  yet  proved  successful ;  but  it  is  too  early  to  pro- 
nounce final  judgment  upon  the  scheme.  The  new  policy  has  its  friends  and 
its  enemies  ;  and  a  much  longer  space  is  required  to  determine  whether  it  will 
fulfil  the  anticipations  of  its  projectors,  or  continue  a  burden  from  which  relief 
in  some  way  must  ultimately  be  sought. 

Concerning  the  New-Jersey  Central,  its  history  is  fresh  in  the  public  ear ; 
for  its  terrible  collapse  occurred  only  a  short  time  ago.  For  several  years  after 
its  plans  were  developed,  it  was  successful.  Enormous  quantities 
of  New-  ^f  ^'^'^  ss^x^  mined  and  transported  ,  its  stock  rose  very  iiigh,  ami 
was  regarded  so  secure,  that  large  numbers  of  persons  along  the 
line  of  the  road  invested  in  it,  in  some  cases,  all  they  possessed  ; 
tnist-funds  were  put  into  it  ;  and  it  was  supposed  to  be  une  of  the  most 
profitable  concerns  of  the  day.  But  the  company  saw  its  unlucky  hour,  and 
collapsed,  scattering  ruin  and  misery  far  and  wide.  The  uumediate  causes  of 
this  sudden  decline  will  be  soon  given. 

The  history  of  the  Reading  Railroad  is,  perhaps,  the  most  astonishing  of 
all  the  railroads  concerned  in  mining  coal.  In  tiie  beginning  it  was  simply  a 
carrier,  the  mining  of  coal  being  done  by  a  large  number  of  operators,  who.  for 
Later  his-  ^^'^  most  part,  leased  the  privilege  of  mining,  as  we  have  previous- 
toryofRead-  ]y  describeil.  But,  like  the  Delaware  anc-  Hudson  Canal  Com- 
ing Railroad,  pj^y^  jj  fg](  impelled  to  unite  the  two  branches  of  .nining  and 
transporting  coal:  so  another  company,  called  the  Reading'  C  lal  and  Iron 
Company,  which  was  really  the  same  thing  as  the  railroad  itself,  was  organized. 


tory 

Jersey 

Central 


OF    THE    U VI TED   STATES. 


t»9 


principally  to  engage  in  the  business  of  mining  this  fuel.  At  once  it  began 
the  purchase  of  coal-lands,  and  this  policy  was  continued  until  large  tracts 
were  acquired.  New  mines  were  opened  in  every  direction,  railroads  were 
built  and  leased,  and  large  tracts  in  the  anthracite-coal  field  were  purchased. 
Pretty  nearly  the  entire  anthracite-coal  field  is  now  owned  by  the  five  com- 
pr-^'es  which  have  been  already  described. 

The  Northern  Central  Railroad  of  Pennsylvania  owns  some  coal-land  in 
the  Shamokin  Valley,  which  lies  in  the  middle  coal-field ;  and,  as  penn»yiv«. 
this  company  is  leased  to  the   Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  it  «>>•  Central, 
may  be  reckoned  as  the  sixth  largest  concern  engaged  ;n  the  business. 

While  the  Reading  Railroad  was  merely  a  transporter  of  coal,  'ts  dividends 
for  many  years  were  regularly  earned  and  paid ;  but,  with  a  charge  of  policy 
(whether  necessary  or  not  is  a  question  lying  outside  of  our  prov-  Effector 
ince),  the  ouday  for  the  extension  of  roads  and  leases,  the  purchase  "'^  policy, 
of  coal-lands,  and  the  opening  of  new  collieries,  were  attended  with  enormous 
expense.  Then  the  strikes  occurred  which  we  have  already  described,  and 
the  prices  of  coal  began  to  decline  ;  and  the  railroads  which  were  engaged  in 
this  business  of  mining  coal  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  do  something  in 
order  to  continue  the  payment  of  dividends.  The  production  of  coal  had 
enormously  inf^reased,  and  so  had  their  expenses :  what,  then,  was  to  be 
done? 

■K  It  was  finally  determined  to  form  a  combination  for  the  purpose  of  limiting 
the  production  of  coal,  the  amount  which  each  of  the  five  companies  should 
furnish,  and  the  rates  for  selling  the  same.  This  seemed  a  bold  combina. 
measure,  and  was  strenuously  opposed  by  many  of  the  newspapers  ;  ^'°"- 
but  the  companies  saw  no  other  mode  of  relief  Such  a  combination  was  no 
new  thing  ;  for  long  ago  English  mine-owners  united  for  the  purpose  of  fixing 
the  price  of  coal. 

This  modern  combination,  which  was  formed  in  1873,  had  only  a  short  life  ; 
though,  during  the  three  years  in  which  it  held  together,  it  had  a  very  remarka- 
ble history.     Great  as  the  necessity  for  its  existence  seemed  to  be   short  life  of 
among  those  who  entered  into  it,  they  were  constantly  violating  it  combina. 
in  one  way  and  another,  each  being  anxious  to  dispose  of  more 
coal  than  was  permitted  by  the  agreement.     All  sorts  of  schemes  were  de- 
vised for  escaping  from  it ;  while,  of  course,  each  concern  strenu-   Evasion  of 
ously  maintained  that  the  others  should   maintain  the  compact  agreement, 
inviolate.     All  the  railroad-companies  transported  more  or  less  coal  for  ]»rivate 
operators  ;  and,  as  the  quantity  which  they  were  allowed  to  mine  \»as  not  fixed 
in  the  stipulation,  in  some  cases  their  product  enormously  increased,  although 
it  was  generally  believed  that  the  railroad-companies  tiiemselves  were  carrying 
and  selling  their     wn  coal  under  other  nr.mes.     Then  rates  were  cut.  and 
various  expedients  were  resorted  to  by  the  several  companies  to  increaso  their 
sales  beyond  the  limit  fixed  by  agreement. 


730 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


\ 


One  of  the  new  phases  which  appeared  in  the  business  was  the  cutting-out 
of  the  middlemen,  in  great  measure,  by  the  Reading  Raihoad  Company.  It 
War  on  sold  coal  by  retail,  as  well  as  in  larger  quantities,  at  Philadelphia 

middlemen,  ^nd  Other  places,  and  sought,  so  far  as  possible,  to  bring  consumers 
into  direct  communication  with  themselves,  thus  saving  the  profits  of  the 
middlemen.     This  caused  some  ill  feeling  among  them,  as  one  may  readily 


STABLE   IN  A  MINH. 


imagine  who  knows  any  thing  about  human  nature  ;  and  they  succeeded  in 

investiga-       procuring  an  investigation,  by  order  of  the  legislature  of  the  State 

Hon  of  Read-   gf  Pennsylvania,  into  some  of  the  doings    of  the  Reading  Rail- 
ing Railroad  ...  ^ 

by  legisia-       road,   particularly    their   mode   of    selling   coal.      The    company 
turc.  emerged  from  the  contest  completely  victorious ;  antl  since  then 

nothing  has  been  said  about  short  weights  and  other  practices  on  the  part  of 
this  concern. 

The  repeated  violations  of  the  agreement  among  the  companies  concern- 
ing the  production  and  sale  of  coal  led  to  an  abandonment  of  it,  and  at  once 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


731 


the  price  of  coal  began  to  decline.     This  also  affected  the  price  of  stocks ; 

and  after  a  short  time  the  New-Jersey  Railroad  succumbed,  and  _  .   . 

•"       ■'  '  End  01  com- 

passed into  the  hands  of  a  receiver.    Thousands  who  had  invested  bin«tion,  and 

their  fortunes  in  it  were  either  seriously  crippled  or  ruined :   for  *''•'* "'    . 

•^         ^^  '  diiMlving  it. 

the  stock  rapidly  fell  from  116  to  23.     Never  was  the  collapse  of 
a  vast  corporation   more   unexpected,   sudden,  or  terrible ;  never  were  the 
judgments  of  men  more  completely  set  at  nought ;  never  was  a  solid  enter- 
prise more  speedily  ruined  by  too  sanguine  calculations,  and  what  proved  to  be 
unwise  management. 

BITUMINOUS-COAL    MINING. 

The  bituminous  coal  field  is  far  more  extensive  than  the  anthracite ;  for  it 
underlies  the  western  half  of  Pennsylvania,  the  eastern  portion  of  Ohio,  West 
Virginia,    Eastern    Kentucky,  and,   stretching    through    Eastern  Extent  oj 
Tennessee,  extends  as  far  as  Alabama,  embracing  an  area  of  coal-  bituminous- 
bearing  rocks  of  nearly  fifty-tight  thousand   square  miles.     Coal  '^'"'  ''''"'■ 
of  this  kind  is  also  found  in  Michigan  and  Indiana ;   the  bed  in  the  latter 
State   being  a   continuation   of  that   in   Illinois,  where  was   made   the   first 
discovery  of  coal  of  which  any  written   account  is  preserved.     It  was  dis- 
covered by  Father  Hennepin  in  1669 ;  and  in  his  Journal,  published  in  1698, 
there  is  a  map  on  which  is  located  a  coal-mine  by  the  side  of  the  Illinois 
River,  near  Ottawa.     This,  unquestionably,  is  the  earliest  notice  on  record 
of  the  existence  of  coal  in  America.    The  coal-bearing  strata  comprise   a 
larger  area  than  in  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  although  the  coal-measures 
of  Iowa,  Kansas,  and  some  of  the  other  States,  are  very  extensive. 

Along  the  eastern  border  of  the  field  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  are 
several  small  areas  which  contain  a  semi-bituminous  coal,  which  lie  between 
the  pure  bituminous  coal  farther  west  and  the  anthracite  regions  semi- 
on  the  east.  The  position  of  this  coal,  thr.s  lying  between  tb  i  two  bituminous- 
so  differently-formed  coals,  has  given  rise  to  a  great  deal  of  specu- 
lation concerning  the  formation  of  coal ;  but  no  theory  has  yet  gained  exten- 
sive currency.  'I'he  two  localities  most  extensively  worked  are  Blossburgh  on 
the  north,  and  Cumberland,  Md.,  on  the  south  ;  but  there  are  other  jioints 
wiiich  have  been  worked  to  advantage,  —  at  Broad  Top,  Johnstown,  Towanda, 
and  Ralston.  The  Blossburgh  region  was  oj)ened  by  railway  in  1840  ;  and  two 
years  later  the  Cumberland  field  was  pierced  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio, 
which  first  brought  this  coal  to  tide-water,  displacing  the  bituminous  coal  of 
Virginia. 

This  enormous  area  of  bituminous  coal,  which,  including  lignite,  stretches 
across  the  continent,  and  as  far  north  as  Alaska,  is  being  continu-   y^^ea  of 
ally  opened  up  and  employed  for  a  highly  useful  purpose.     The   bituminous 
mode   of  extraction   somewhat   differs  from  that  in  the  anthra- 
cite mines;   and  as  ithe  openings  are   far  more   numerous,  while  the   men 


732 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


UKSCENT  OF  A   HORSE   DOWN  A  MINK-SHAFT. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


733 


Strike*  lets 
frequent 
than  in 
anthracite- 
coal  fleldt. 


employed  in  each  are  fewer,  no  such  extensive  combinations  among  them 
have  arisen,  nor  have  strikes  been  so  numerous  or  disastrous.  Still  there 
have  been  some,  especially  in  Ohio,  and  of  a  very  serious  nature  too, 
requiring  the  presence  of  troops  to  protect  the  property  of  the  operators 
and  of  those  who  were  willing  to  work.  But  a  more  curious 
condition  of  things  happened  in  the  autumn  of  1876  in  the 
coal-districts  of  St.  Clair  and  Madison  Counties,  111.,  from  which 
St.  Louis,  the  manufacturers  around  there,  and  the  steamboat 
interest,  chiefly  derive  their  supplies.  It  is  not  often,  especially 
in  these  "  hard  times,"  that  the  spectacle  is  presented  of  a  numerous  body 
of  workmen  voluntarily  going  into  idleness  in  order  to  get  lower  rates  of 
wages  ;  yet  that  is  precisely  what  happened  in  this  instance. 

Until  February,  1876,  the  miners  were  getting  out  coal  at  the  rate  of  two 
cents  per  bushel.  They  had  formed  a  Union  among  themselves ;  but,  as 
there  never  was  a  Union  yet  which  did  not  generate  a  non-Union,  singular 
it  was  not  long  before  it  was  discovered  that  a  numerous  body  of  »*'"'''«• 
"  blacklegs  "  (the  sobriquet  of  men  not  belonging  to  the  society)  were  at 
work  for  less  than  the  regulation  prices.  Thereupon,  in  order  to  beat  them 
with  their  own  weapons,  the  Union  men  proposed  to  the  operators  to  work  for 
one  cent  and  a  half  per  bushel.  Their  intention,  of  course,  was  to  starve  out 
the  non-Unionists ;  but  the  operators,  failing  to  discover  how  their  interests 
would  be  promoted  by  the  adoption  of  a  crushing-out  policy  of  this  kind, 
refused  to  accede.  The  Union  men  then  quit  work,  and  remained  idle  for 
a  fortnight  or  so ;  when,  failing  to  carry  their  point,  they  returned  to  work 
at  two  cents  a  bushel. 

The  Western  coal-miner  has  been  more  fortunate  in  obtaining  and  retain- 
ing higher  prices  for  his  work  than  his  fellow-laborer  in  the  anthra- 
cite regions.     Yet,  since  this  strike  occurred,  several  reductions  ^Jlg*' 
have  been  made  ;   though  it  is  probable  that  in  every  case  these   received  by 
were  necessary  in  order  to  save  operators  from  a  loss.     Heavy  as  ^^"'^in  ^ 
the  decline  in  wages  has  been,  those  operating  mines  in  many 
cases  have  lost  much. 

Concerning  other  strikes  among  the  miners,  as  we  shall  consider  them  in 
another  place,  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  here.  The  devel- 
opment of  bituminous-mines  has  never  involved  so  much  risk 
and  large  preparatory  outlay  as  anthracite-mining,  and  produc- 
tion has  kept  more  nearlv  apace  with  the  wants  of  the  people  : 
consequently  no  great  panics  or  collapses  have  occurred  ;  and 
the  history  of  the  business,  as  a  whole,  has  been  peaceful,  and  fairly  pros- 
perous. It  is  true  that  disturbances  in  some  localities  have  arisen  from  strikes 
and  other  ditficulties  with  the  miners  ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  these  have  been 
short,  and  no  severe  losses  have  followed  in  their  train. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  collect  statistics  concerning  the  production  of 


Bituminoua 
and  anthra- 
fite-coal- 
mining  com* 
pared. 


734 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


bituminous  coal  than  anthracite,  on  account  of  the  much  larger  number  of 

mines,  and  varied  regulations  of  the  different  States :  but  we  will 
BtatiitUt.         ,        '  ,  ,         ,..  ,  , .  ,  , 

close  the  chapter  by  addmg  a  few,  which  at  once  show  the 

importance  of  this  branch  of  coal-production  :  — 


I 


8TATB. 

Pennsylvania 
Maryland    . 
West  Virginia 
Ohio    . 

East  Kentucky 
Tennessee  . 
Alabama     . 
Michigan    . 
Indiana 
Illinois 

West  Kentucky 
Iowa   . 
Missouri 
Nebraska    . 
Kansas 
Arkansas    . 
Texas  . 
Virginia 
North  Carolina 
Massachusetts 
Rhode  Island 


TONS. 
7,800,356 

2.345. 'S3 

608,878 

2,527.285 

35.488 

133.418 

11,000 

28,150 

437.870 

2,624,163 

"S.094 

263,487 

621,930 

1.425 

32.938 


61,803 


14,000 


'  to 


The  above  table  represents  the  production  of  bituminous  coal  during  the 
year  1869 :  the  production  of  anthracite  for  the  same  year  was  16,375,678 


tons. 


VBAR.  TONS. 

1870 17,819,700 

«87i J7.379.35S 

1872 22,084,083 

1873 22,880,921 

1874 21,667,386 

1875 20,643,509 

1876 19,000,000 

1877 21,323,000 


'■(V 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


735 


CHAPTER  VII. 


IRON. 


THERE  is  no  known  variety  of  iron  ore  entering  into  the  commercial 
and  industrial  transactions  of  the  world,  no  matter  how  famous  or  rare, 
which  does  not  have  its  exact  counterpart  in  the  United  States.  The  cele- 
brated ores  of  Sweden,  which  supply  to  England  the  best  iron  varistyef 
she  makes,  have  an  exact  facsimile  in  those  of  Central  North  *»••• 
Carolina ;  while  New  York  and  other  States  possess  ores  substantially  resem- 
bling them  in  great  abundance.  The  equally  famous  blackband  iron  of 
Scotland  is  duplicated  in  Ohio,  Vii'ginia,  and  Alabama  j  the  titaniferous  ores 
of  Norway  lie  in  great  beds  of  incalculable  richness  and  value  in  Northern 
New  York  and  Virginia;  the  spathic  ores  for  steel-making  (carbonates)  are 
abundant  in  Connecticut  and  New  York ;  and  the  manganiferous  varieties,  so 
desirable  for  the  manufacture  of  spiegeleisen  (consumed  in  the  Bessemer 
steel-works),  exist  in  Missouri  and  elsewhere  in  all  luxuriance.  The  whole 
Lake-Superior  region  abounds  in  hematites  and  magnetic  ores  of  the  richest 
character,  and  Missouri  contains  deposits  unequalled  in  extent  and  purity  in 
the  most  celebrated  regions  of  other  parts  of  the  world.  Bog-iron  ores  are 
scattered  all  along  the  northern  Atlantic  seacoast.  Not  only  in  quantity,  but 
in  variety,  the  iron  of  America  is  the  most  remarkable  in  the  world  j  and  when 
we  consider  that  its  quantity  is  so  enormous  that  it  cannot  be  exhausted  for 
centuries  to  come,  nor  the  fuel  required  in  its  manufactures,  it  will  be  seen 
how  favored  a  part  of  the  earth  is  this  republic.  Its  people,  with  such  sup- 
plies of  iron  to  manufacture,  are  certain  to  be  rich,  strong,  free,  and  aggressive, 
even  if  there  were  nothing  in  the  character  of  the  race  to  make  them  so. 

The  first  iron-mining  in  the  United  States  was  done  in  Virginia  by  the 
early  colonists  of  Jamestown.     The  little  band  of  white  men  who  emerged 
from  the  ship  which  had  brought  them  from  England,  like  the  Early  iron- 
animals  from  Noah's  ark,  to  populate  and  occupy  a  new  and  mining  in 
strange  world,  kept  their  eyes  wide  open  and  their  wits  about      '*  °  '" 
them  when  they  took  up  their  residence  in  Virginia ;  and  they  were  soon  aware 
of  all  the  resources  of  the  region  of  which  they  had  taken  possession.    John 


736 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


:« 


liJ 


111 
|! 


Smith,  having  returned  from  his  voyage  up  the  Chiclcahominy  River,  which  he 
had  thought  was  a  water-way  leading  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  settled  down  to 
the  conviction  that  the  Virginia  Colony  would  have  to  depend  for  its  future 
wealth  on  the  resources  of  Virginia  alone,  and  not  on  those  of  India ;  and  he 


Hkm^Si^ 


IRON-MINB. 


set  about  with  his  people  to  labor  truly  to  get  a  living  in  thtt  part  of  the  world 
to  which  it  had  pleased  God  to  call  them.  One  of  the  first  discoveries  which 
was  made  created  a  great  excitement  in  the  colony,  which  took  the  form  of 
what  would  be  called  in  the  Territories  in  these  times  a  gold  "  stampede." 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


737 


Iron  pyrites  had  been  found  ;  ami  the  excited  colonists,  who  immediately 
saw  themselves  rolling  in  wealth  in  their  mind's  eye,  sent  a  ship-  The  gold 
load  of  it  to  Kngland.  This  was  the  first  iron-mining  in  America,  ""tampede." 
Gloom  followed  the  tliscovery  of  the  true  character  of  those  yellow  crystals ; 
but  that  did  not  prevent  Virginia  from  being  the  first  colony,  after  all,  to  begin 
iron-mining  seriously.  The  bog-ores  and  brown  hematites  of  the  vicinity  were 
soon  brought  to  light;  and  in  1608  a  (piantity  of  them  was  sent  to  lCnglan<l, 
and  seventeen  tons  of  good  merchant-iron  extracted  therefrom.  In  1620  iron- 
works were  erected  to  utilize  these  ores.  In  1  702  the  bog-ores  of  Massachu- 
setts were  put  to  use  ;  and,  for  a  century  at  least  after  that  date,  the  spongy 
iron  crusts  from  the  bottoms  of  the  bogs  all  along  the  whole  North-.Atlantic 
coast  were  taken  out  freely,  and  converted  into  pig  and  bar  iron  by  the 
colonists. 

The  stony  ores  of  iron  in  Connecticut  were  discovered  as  early  as  1651, 
when  (iov.  Winthrop  obtained  a  license,  with  extraordinary  privileges,  for  the 
working  of  any  mines  that  he  might  choose  to  open.  The  legis-  sa,j,bury 
lature  took  cognizance  of  the  ores  of  the  State  several  times  ore»ofCon- 
afterward.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any  iron-mines  were  ""=*"="'• 
worked,  in  consequence  of  the  charters  and  privileges  granted,  until  very 
nearly  the  time  of  the  Revolu^'onary  war.  The  famous  Salisbury  beds  of 
brown  hematite  (a  hy<lrated  pc. oxide  containing  fifty  or  sixty  per  cent  of 
metallic  iron)  were  then  opened.  These  beds  were  a  great  source  of  strength 
to  our  forefathers  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  they  have  now  been  the 
means  of  supporting  the  population  of  that  part  of  Connecticut  in  active  and 
profitable  industry  for  a  period  of  over  a  hundred  antl  thirty-five  years.  The 
Salisbury  ore-hill  still  supplies  the  fiirnaces  of  the  Barnum-Richardson  Cpm- 
pany,  and  the  metal  retains  its  reputation  to-day  for  a  good  tough  car-wheel 
iron.  The  quantity  of  shot,  shell,  and  cannon,  cast  from  Salisbury  iron  during 
the  fight  for  independence,  was  very  large.  .Another  iron-mine  of  Connecticut 
was  also  worked  at  a  very  early  dale.  It  was  opened  at  Mine  Hill  in  Roxbury 
in  1760,  as  a  silver-mine,  by  Hurlbut  and  Hawley,  and  was  worked  again  in 
1764  under  a  German  jeweller  named  Feuchter.  It  is  said  that  this  latter 
ingenious  person  supplied  tlie  company  from  time  to  time  with  a  small  ingot 
of  silver,  which  he  said  he  had  obtained  from  the  mine,  but  which  is  at  present 
believed  to  have  been  obtained,  if  at  all,  from  Mine  Hill,  by  a  i)rocess  which 
is  popularly  termed  in  these  days  "  salting."  These  ingots  affected  the  com- 
pany as  the  bag  of  oats  on  the  wagon-tongue  affects  the  charger  harnessed 
behind  it.  They  were  a  stimulus  to  renewed  efforts  to  reach  the  rich  stores  of 
silver  which  were  ever  thought  to  be  only  a  few  feet  farther  down  in  the  rock  ; 
and  the  company  kept  on  until  it  had  sunk  a  shaft  a  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet  deep :  it  then  gave  up  in  disgust.  A  New- York  company  afterwards 
tried  its  hand  at  silver-mining  here,  and  still  later  a  Goshen  comjjany.  Finally 
a  resident  of  the  locality,  by  the  name  of  .\sahel  Bacon,  who  realized  better 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


/. 


10    li:'- 


l.l 


2^ 
1 2.2 

M 

1.8 


1.25      1.4      1.6 

.4 6"     

► 

PhotDgraphic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


Aj 


V 


's. 


23  Wis;  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTEUN.Y.  14560 

(716)  873-4503 


738 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


than  the  other  owners  of  the  mine  that  the  way  ad  astra  was  not  up  a  step- 
ladder,  and  who  saw  more  wealth  in  hunting,  per  aspera,  for  a  humbler  metal 
than  silver,  tried  the  mine  for  iron,  and  got  out  an  ore  which  yielded  a  very 
tough  iron  and  an  excellent  steel.     It  was  thereafter  mined  only  for  iron. 

New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  and  Maryland  were  also  mining 
iron  twenty  or  thirty  years  before  the  Revolution.  The  first-named  State  has 
Iron  mining  always  been  the  main  dependence  of  the  furnaces  of  the  great 
before  th.  Lehigh  region  in  Pennsylvania.  Its  ores  are  the  rich  magnetic 
e<  uton.  (jjjjjgg^  ^yj(|^  some  specular  peroxides  and  limonites,  and  are 
needed  in  Pennsylvania  for  mixture  with  the  brown  hematites  of  that  region. 
In  New  York  the  mines  of  the  northern  part  of  the  State  were  opened  after 
1800.  The  iron  of  the  other  States  of  the  Union  was  taken  from  the  ground, 
and  manufactured,  as  fast  as  the  wave  of  population  flowing  in  from  the  East- 
ern States  and  from  Europe  had  subdued  the  soil,  and  had  given  the  different 
localities  a  census  large  enough  to  demand  the  creation  of  other  industries 
besides  agriculture. 

The  citizen  who  is  interested  in  the  resources  of  his  country,  and  desires  a 
general  idea  of  the  subject  now  under  discussion,  would  not  be  edified  by  a 
minute  account  of  the  beginning  of  the  mining-industry  in  each  of  the  several 
States  of  the  Union.  The  details  would  be  confusing,  and  no  useful  end 
would  be  subserved  by  relating  them.  Instead  of  going  into  the  subject  in 
that  way,  it  is  proposed  to  give  merely  a  general  account  of  the  character  of 
the  principal  ores  found  in  the  United  States,  and  of  their  distribution.  The 
character  of  the  deposits  of  a  few  of  the  great  iron  States  will  be  glanced  at 
afterwards,  with  jxissibly  some  detail. 

There  appears  to  be  no  better  practical  classification  of  the  ores  than 
cresaiflca-      Professor  J.  P.  Lesley's.     It  is  as  follows  :  — 
tion  of  ort.8.  ,_  Primary  ores,  including  the  specular  and  magnetic,  and  the 

red  oxides  or  red  hematites. 

2.  Brown  hematites  (limonites). 

3.  Fossil  ores. 

4.  Carbonates,  including  those  of  the  coal-fields. 

5.  Bog-ores. 

Three-quarters  of  the  iron  made  in  the  United  States  is  from  the  first  two 
classes.  The  magnetic  ores  are  the  richest  of  all.  They  are  an  oxide  of  iron 
containing  about  seventy-two  per  cent  of  iron  and  twenty-eight  per  cent  of 
oxygen.  They  are  heavy,  black,  compact,  or  in  coarse  crj'stalline  grains,  and 
mixed  with  quartz  and  other  rocks.  Chunks  of  the  ore  are  magnetic,  and 
not  only  affect  the  needle,  b'.t  often  support  sinail  bits  of  iron  like  nails.  The 
richness  of  this  variety  of  iron  ore  makes  it  peculiarly  fit  for  working  in  a 
bloomary-furnace.  The  Catalan  forge,  invented  in  old  Spain,  was  set  at  work 
upon  this  class  of  ore ;  and  in  Northern  New  York  and  North  Carolina,  where 
it  abounds,  a  large  number  of  bloonuuries  are  still  employed  in  its  reduction. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


739 


It  is  often  difficult  to  work,  and  is  consequently  more  generally  smelted  with 
the  hematites. 

Specular  ore,  so  called  from  the  shining  plates  in  which  it  is  often  found,  is 
a  peroxide  of  iron  containing  seventy  per  cent  of  the  metal  and  thirty  per 
cent  of  oxygen.  It  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  the  magnetic  va-  specuUr 
riety,  but  differs  from  it  in  being  red  (making  a  red  powder  instead  •"■*• 
of  a  black  powder),  and  having  distinct  qualities,  which  are  observable  in  smelt- 
ing. It  makes  metallic  iron  very  fast.  It  is  generally  found  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  magnetic  ore,  and  is  widely  distributed  throughout  the  United  States.  The 
red  hematites  are  merely  a  variety  of  the  specular  ores. 

The  fossil  ores,  which  comprise  the  so-called  red  fossiliferous  and  oolitic 
ores,  are  found  in  shale,  limestone,  and  sandstone  formations,  in  bands  of  ore 
which  are  generally  from  one  to  six  leet  in  thickness.  Attention  has  been 
recently  called  to  the  enormous  deposits  of  red  fossiliferous  oxides  in  the  State 
of  .Alabama,  where  they  exist  in  bands  from  fifteen  to  twenty  and  thirty  feet 
in  thickness  The  fossiliferous  ores  appear  to  have  been  formed  by  the  filtra- 
tion of  iron  u  >  eds  of  marine  shells,  which  they  gradually  replaced  in  the 
forni  of  peroxicic  •  Ton.  They  vary  in  richness  from  twenty  to  sixty  percent 
of  metallic  iron.  \\  isconsin  has  seventy-five  per  cent  ores.  The  beds  abound 
in  the  forms  of  organic  lift,  encrinital  stems,  and  fossil  shells.  The  oolitic 
variety  is  often  found  compact ;  but,  both  in  Middle  Pennsylvania  and  Wis- 
consin, it  appears  often  in  the  form  of  grains  resembling  flaxseed.  The  fos- 
siliferous variety  is  divided  into  hard  and  soft  ores,  the  former  often  resembling 
red  hematite  ;  but  its  blood-red  powder  always  betrays  its  true  character. 
The  red  oxides  are  eagerly  sought  after  wherever  found.  Tliey  contain  car- 
bonate of  lime  and  silica,  and  are  therefore  easily  worked  ;  and  their  richness 
and  good  qualities  make  them  desirable  ores. 

The  hematite  ore  is  a  peroxide  of  iron  containing  from  seventy-two  to 
eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  metal.  This  class  of  ore  constitutes  the  great  body 
of  the  iron  of  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  and  Tennessee,  and  is  Hematite 
found  in  greater  or  less  degree  in  all  the  iron-producing  States.  It  "'■'• 
occurs  in  large  deposits  of  irregular  form,  sometimes  in  ledges  and  strata  of 
great  size,  as  in  Missouri  and  Pennsylvania,  and  often  in  scattered  lumps  and 
blocks.  In  Michigan  it  occurs  in  lens-shaped  masses  of  great  extent.  The 
hematites  are  readily  and  cheaply  worked  ;  but,  as  they  contain  very  little  silica, 
the  magnetic  ores  are  generally  added  to  them,  these  ores  containing  (luartz ; 
;ind  a  silicious  limestone  is  employed  for  a  flux  in  smelting. 

The  carbonates  are  not  of  the  highest  importance  ;  but  they  are  good  ores 
wherever  found,  and  are  so  readily  reduced,  owing  to  the  amount  of  'ime  they 
contain,  as  often  to  require  no  flux  whatever.  They  occur  in  Great  Britain  in 
enormous  quantities,  but  occupy  a  minor  position  among  the  ores  of  the  United 
States.  The  carbonates  are  found  in  seams,  in  balls,  or  flattened  spheroidal 
masses,  and  ^-e  often  called  the  "  kidney  "  ores  in  consequence.    They  are 


74° 


IND  US  TRIA  I.    HIS  TOR  Y 


Bog-orei. 


easily  picked  out  of  the  shales  in  which  they  exist.  The  spathic  ore  is  a  car- 
l)onate.  The  mine  in  Roxbujy,  Conn.,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  is  of 
this  variety.  It  contains  sixty  per  cent  of  the  protoxide  of  iron,  thirty-six  of 
carbonic  acid,  and  some  manganese,  lime,  and  magnesia. 

The  bog-ores  form  at  the  l)ottom  of  i)onds  or  in  sandy  loam,  being  depos- 
ited by  chalybeate  waters.  They  formerly  were  worked  to  a  large 
extent  in  the  coast  States,  but  attract  little  attention  now,  except 
in  Wisconsin,  where  they  are  found  in  extraordinary  abundance  in  Wood, 
Portage,  and  Juneau  Counties. 

As  for  the  distribution  of  the  iron  ores  of  the  United  States,  it  would  be  far 
easier  to  tell  where  iron  does  not  exist  than  to  set  forth  where  it  does.  The 
Diitrtbution  great  magnetic  iron-range  of  North  America  begins  in  Maine,  and 
of  ores.  courses  thence  southward  through  the  coai-t  States  in  a  massive 

rampart  until  it  terminates  in  an  abutment  upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  this 
range  the  magnetic,  specular,  red  hematite,  and  limonite  (brown  hematite)  ores 
are  found  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  and  in  masses  which  set  figures  at 
defiance,  and  absolutely  overwhelm  the  imagination.  In  Pennsylvania  the 
magnetic  and  specular  ores  about  entirely  disappear  from  the  range,  though  they 
are  present  in  it,  and  are  occasionally  worked.  They  re-appear  after  jjassing 
the  border  of  the  State,  however,  and  are  found  in  every  commonwealth  lying 
between  Pennsylvania  and  the  (lulf,  including  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  As 
though  Providence  had  designed  that  this  republic  should  present  a  front  of 
iron  to  the  foreigner  in  every  direction  from  which  a  foe  might  invade  our 
soil,  the  immense  metallic  deposits  of  the  Atlantic  States  repeat  themselves  in 
the  Lake-Sup<;rior  region  in  the  States  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Missouri, 
extending  as  far  south  as  into  Arkansas.  The  ores  are  magnetic,  specular,  and 
hematite.  Farther  westwanl,  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  Oregon  and 
California,  these  ores  have  been  discovered  in  inexhaustible  bed.; ;  anil  in  the 
Territory  of  Utah  a  deposit  has  been  recently  brought  to  light  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  Territory,  which  presents  an  iron  scowl  toward  Mexico,  and  whi<h 
is,  perhaps,  the  richest  discovery  of  iron  yet  made  on  this  continent.  Twenty- 
eight  mountains,  the  smallest  the  size  of  the  famous  Iron  Mountain  of  Mis- 
souri, stand  in  a  group,  absolutely  laden  with  the  richest  forms  of  the  ore  ;  and 
China,  Japan,  India,  and  Mexico  could  draw  their  supplies  of  iron  and  steel 
from  that  group  of  peaks  alone  for  ages.  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Iowa,  lying 
within  the  iron  rampart  which  seems  to  rear  its  heat!  upon  every  border  of  the 
republic,  contain  no  important  bodies  of  iron  ore.  Indiana  and  Iowa 
contain  carlxinates  and  bog-ores  whi<h  are  workable ;  but  Illinois  has  very 
little  iron  of  any  character,  and  that  little  so  contaminated  with  sulphur  as  to 
be  worthless.  All  except  Iowa  are  great  iron-working  States ;  but  they  get  tluir 
ores  from  Michigan  and  Missouri.  Ohio  receives  about  five  hundred  thousaml 
tons  from  Michigan.  The  position  of  these  three  States  as  iron-manufacturinu 
regions  is  due  '.o  their  beds  of  coal,  it  being  found  as  a  rule  that  it  is  cheapc^ 


OF  THE    UNITED    STATES. 


741 


to  transport  the  ore  to  the  coal,  and  that  conse(|uently  the  great  coal  States  are 
more  hkely  to  be  filled  with  blast-furnaces  and  rolling-mills  than  those  which 
have  iron,  but  no  fuel,  and  are  distant  from  the  coal-measures  of  the  country. 
The  carbonates  appear  all  to  lie  within  the  basin  surroimded  by  the  magnetic 
iron-range.  'Ihey  are  abundant  in  Kastern  Kentucky,  in  the  Hanging-Rock 
region  of  Ohio,  and  in  Central  I'ennsylvania ;  and  they  exist  in  West  Virginia, 
Connecticut,  and  Indiana.  The  fossil  ores  are  found  in  Western  New  York, 
iVnnsylvania,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Alabama,  and  Wisconsin.  I'itaniferous 
iron  is  found  in  large  (|uantities  in  Northern  New  York,  and  also  in  North 
Carolina,  Virginia,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island.  Pennsylvania,  and  probably  else- 
where ;  while  the  manganiferous  ores,  so  valuable  for  the  purposes  of  Bessemer 
steel-making,  exist  in  (leorgia,  Missouri,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  .Arkansas,  and 
Maine.  Jllackband  veins  are  found  in  Muhlcnlnirgh  County  and  on  the  east 
fork  of  the  Little  Sandy,  in  Kentucky ;  in   I'uscarawas  County,  O.,  where  the 


IKiiN-DIMI'S. 


largest  supply  in  the  country  is  found  and  worked  ;  and  in  small  quantities  in 
Virginia,  Alabama,  and  IVnnsylvania.  The  last  ore  of  any  accoimt,  the  first  one 
worked  in  this  country  (namely,  that  taken  from  the  bogs),  was  once  worked 
extensively  in  Oclaware,  where,  between  1814  and  1.S41.  about  three  !iimdre»j 
thousand  tons  were  taken  out.  Kxtensive  deposits  are  found  under  a  black 
mould  near  Oeorgetown  ;  but  they  a'c  neglected  now,  and  there  is  not  a  blast- 
furnace in  the  State.  Bog-ores  are  found  in  all  the  northern  coast  States, 
though  they  are  no  longer  worked,  and  also  in  Indiana  and  Wisconsin. 

In  some  of  the  States  of  the  Union  tne  deposits  are  of  such  enormous 
extent,  and  so  interesting  in  character,  that  they  deserve  special  mention. 

New-York  State  has  long  been  celebrated  for  its  mines,  especially  for 
those  of  magnetic  and  specular  ores  in  the  wild  region  lying  between  I^ke 
Champlain  and  Lake  Ontario.  Not  only  has  New  York  supplied  Lake-Cham. 
her  own  furnaces  from  these  mines,  but  also  those  of  other  States  ;  p'"'"  ••««'«»"• 
and  she  has  also  furnished  all  the  rolling-mills  east  of  the  Alleghanies  from 


74* 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


them  with  the  material  for  fettling  or  lining  the  plates  of  the  puddling-fumace. 
So  important  are  these  ores  to  the  iron-makers  of  the  country,  that  they  con- 
tract for  them  regularly  at  the  beginning  of  every  year  ;  and  the  mine-owners 
pay  no  attention  to  orders  received  after  a  certain  date.  The  most  extensive 
deposits  are  in  E)ssex  and  Clinton  Counties,  where  they  occur  in  vast  cliffs  and 
ledges,  in  masses  and  veins,  as  black  oxides,  also  as  a  red  jjowder,  and  in  steel- 
bright  crystalline  masses.  West  of  Port  Henry  are  beds  of  great  purity,  now 
the  property  of  the  Port  Henry  Iron  Company,  where  the  ore  is  sixty  feet 
thick,  and  is  worked  in  an  excavation  a  hundred  feet  deep,  and  from  a  hundred 
to  three  hundred  feet  wide.  This  ore,  mixed  with  phosphate  of  lime,  makes 
an  excellent  fertilizer ;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact,  that  works  were  once  built  at  this 
mine  to  manufacture  fertilizers,  to  the  neglect  of  the  iron.  Immense  deposits 
occur  also  in  Franklin,  Jefferson,  St.  Lawrence,  and  Warren  Counties,  all  in 
that  region  ;  but  they  have  been  scarcely  touched  as  yet.  In  Warren  County 
there  is  a  bed  of  magnetic  ore  at  least  eight  hundred  feet  thick.  Work  upon 
it  began  some  time  ago,  but  wis  abandoned  for  the  reason  that  titanic  acid  was 
found  present  in  it  in  considerable  quantities,  and  the  furnace-men  did  not 
know  how  to  treat  the  ore.  The  same  is  true  of  other  deposits  of  this  region. 
Titanic  acid  has  been  a  great  terror  of  the  furnace-men  of  the  United  States ; 
and  they  have  hitherto  neglected  ores  containing  it,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  pig-iron  made  from  them  is  worth  twice  as  much  in  the  market  as 
other  iron.  The  celebrated  titanic  ores  of  Nonvay  have  been  successfully 
worked  in  England  ;  and  the  product  brings  a  price  three  times  as  great  as  any 
other  iron,  owing  to  the  circumstance,  that,  when  worked  into  armor-jjlales,  the 
iron  will  sustain  a  terrible  strain,  equal  to  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  to  the 
square  inch.  The  strongest  cast-iron  ever  tested  in  America  stood  no  more 
than  fifty  thousand  pounds'  strain.  It  is  believed  that  the  titanic  ores  of  New 
York  will  now  no  longer  be  neglected.  Sheffield  capital  has,  it  is  said,  been 
attracted  to  the  region  within  the  last  five  years ;  and  the  ores  will  probably  be 
mined  ere  long,  on  a  large  scale,  for  steel-making.  Iron-men  claim  that  the 
working  of  titanic  ores  constitutes  to-day  one  of  the  most  inviting  fields  for 
the  employment  of  capital.  In  Southern  New  York,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Hudson  River,  magnetic  ores  exist  in  Putnam,  Orange,  and  Westchester 
Counties,  and  red  and  brown  hematites  in  Columbia  and  Dutchess  Counties,  in 
astonishing  abundance.  The  Stirling  mines  of  Orange  County  were  discov- 
ered in  1 750  by  Lord  Stirling,  who  owned  them.  The  iron  was  sent  to  Eng- 
land, and  was  noted  for  its  strength  and  polish. 

Rhode  Island,  without  a  single  blast-furnace,  and  almost  wholly  given  up  to 
cotton  spinning  and  weaving,  contains  more  iron,  in  proportion  to  her  popula- 
Rhode  tion,  than  any  State  in  the  Union.     The  principal  deposit  is  at 

uiand.  Cumberland  Mountain,  which  is  one  great  bed  of  iron.     The  ores 

of  the  State  are  magnetic  and  red  hematite.  As  early  as  the  French  war  in 
1755,  the  colony  worked  the  Cumberland  mine,  mixing  the  ore  with  hematite 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


743 


from  Cranston,  R.I.,  and  casting  cannon  tlrerefrom  to  be  used  in  battle  against 
the  French  and  Indians.  In  1800  cannon  were  again  cast  from  these  ores,  at 
the  villaj.'e  of  Hope,  by  Mr.  John  Brown,  who  had  a  contract  with  the  govern- 
ment, and  who  cast  his  guns  hollow.  One,  perhaps  more,  of  these  old  guns,  is 
still  in  existence.  Rhode  Island  entirely  neglects  her  mines,  owing  to  the 
lack  of  coal ;  but  her  lines  of  coal-steamers  from  Philadelphia  ought  now  to 
supply  her  with  the  means  for  working  these  deposits.  The  industrial  i)roduc- 
tion  of  the  State  could  be  easily  doubled  by  the  mining  of  iron. 

Pennsylvania  contains  more  than  one-third  of  the  blast-furnaces,  and 
produces  fully  one-half  of  th^^  pig-iron,  of  the  United  States.  Nevertheless, 
without  her  priceless  mines  of  coal,  she  would  scarcely  be  a  great  pennaytva. 
iron-manufacturing  State.  She  is  surpassed  in  wealth  of  iron  ore  "'■• 
by  at  least  fifteen  other  States  in  the  Union,  and  is  obliged  to  import  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  tons  of  ore  annually  from  New  York,  Michigan,  and  New 
Jersey,  in  order  to  work  her  own  iron  successfully.  Magnetic  ores  are  rare  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  form  no  great  part  of  the  product  of  the  State.  The  prin- 
cipal dependence  of  the  furnaces,  as  far  as  local  ores  are  coni  erned,  is  "pon 
the  brown  hematites,  or  limonites,  which  are  found  in  limitless  cpiantities 
throughout  the  eastern,  south-eastern,  and  central  portions  of  the  State. 
Fossil  ores  are  found  in  Central  Pennsylvania  and  the  Broad-Top  region  of 
the  southern  prirt  of  the  State  in  great  abundance  ;  but  the  ores  are  lean,  and 
the  iron  of  this  great  State  is  principally  made  from  the  brown  hematites  mixed 
with  the  magnetites  of  other  regions.  Discoveries  of  iron  are  being  made 
every  year  by  the  Pennsylvanians.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  as  showing  the 
former  imperfect  state  of  information  about  iron  in  this  country,  that  the  old 
Cumberland  furnace,  built  in  1790  at  Dickinson  in  Cumberland  County,  had 
great  difficulty  in  its  early  years  to  obtain  ore.  Most  of  what  the  furnace 
consumed  was  taken  from  mines  miles  away,  and  hauled  over  bad  roads  at  a 
great  expense  of  trouble  and  time.  Recent  investigations  have  disclosed  the 
fact  that  the  furnace  was  itself  actually  planted  upon  a  bed  of  ore  of  vast 
extent,  of  the  existence  of  which  no  one  had  had  any  knowledge. 

The  New-Jersey  mines  have  yielded  as  much  as  670,000  tons  of  ore  in  a 
year,  that  being  the  case  in  1873;  but  never  has  there  been  a  production  of 
l)ig-iron  of  over  150,00-:  tons  therefrom,  anil  the  production  at 
present  is  only  about  30,000  tons  a  year.  This  result  is  due  to  the 
exi)ortation  of  the  greater  part  of  the  ores  to  Pennsylvania,  where  they  are 
consumed  by  the  great  furnace-companies  of  tiie  Lehigh  coal-region  in  admix- 
ture with  the  Lehigh  hematites.  The  ores  are  almost  entirely  magnetic  oxides, 
with  some  specular  peroxides  and  limonites.  They  lie  in  the  counties  of  Sussex, 
Passaic,  Morris,  and  Warren,  covering  an  area  of  four  hundred  square  miles, 
and  show  no  signs  of  exhaustion,  though  some  of  them  have  been  worked  for 
a  century  and  a  half.  The  Franklinite  magnetic  ore  of  the  Wallkill  Motmtain 
is  remarkably  curious  and  refractory.     It  is  a  black  ore  containing  sixty-six 


New  Jersey. 


744 


INDVSTRIAL    HISTORY 


per  cent  of  peroxide  of  iron,  sixteen  per  cent  of  zinc,  and  seventeen  per  cent 
of  red  oxide  of  manganese.  It  supplies  an  iron  of  wonderful  strenj^th  and 
hardness,  and  is  greatly  used  in  the  construction  of  burglar- proof  safes. 

The  two  Virginias  are  both  full  of  iron.  They  produce  little  in  the  manu- 
factured form  yet,  being  fourth-class  Slates  in  that  respect  ;  but  their  f\iture  is 
The  Vir-  a  great  one.  I'he  colonial  manufacture  was  of  lM)g  ores  and  brown 
Kinia>.  hematites  near  the  sea.     The  great  deposits  of  the  Virginias  were 

not  then  known  :  they  have,  in  fact,  only  been  brought  to  light  of  late  years. 
Kvery  effort  ai  examination  now  reveals  fresh  iron  in  some  part  of  the  State. 
As  far  as  discovery  has  gone  up  to  the  present  time,  it  indicates  the  existence 
of  the  most  'aluable  deposits  of  magnetic  and  red  oxides,  and  rich  brown 
hematites,  all  along  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Hlue  Ridge,  especially  along  the 
James-River  Valley  near  Lynchburg.  In  this  iron  belt  the  metal  is  found  in 
such  (juality,  that  in  1871  it  was  bringing  fifty-five  dol'ars  a  ton  in  Philadel- 
phia ;  while  Lehigh  iron  was  selling  for  thirty-five  and  forty  dollars.  Brown 
oxides  and  carbonates  are  also  found  in  the  Apjjalachian  coal  fields.  I'he  ores 
are  lean,  but  abundant.  In  West  Virginia  so  much  of  the  country  is  still  under 
timber,  that  its  resources  with  respect  to  iron  are  lil  understood  ;  but  rich  red 
and  brown  hematites  certainly  exist  in  Putnam,  (liles.  Craig,  Monroe,  Alle- 
ghany, Mercer,  and  Tazewell  Counties.  The  State  has  an  abuinlance  of  timber 
and  coal  for  working  them. 

The  great  magnetic  iron-range  which  we  have  so  far  been  following  goes 

on  through  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  North  Carolina,  endowing  each  of  those 

States  with  an  immense  wealth  of  ore.  an<l  ends  at  the  (lulf  of 

Kentucky, 

Tennesaee,  Mexico  in  the  magnificent  deposits  of  the  State  of  .Alabama, 
and  North       Alabama  is  still  a  virgin  region  ;  but  so  huge  are  her  stores  of  iron 

Carolina.  ,  ,  ,  i        .        •  .  ,    •■  ,• 

and  coal,  so  near  together  do  the  iron,  coal,  and  limest<me  lie. 
and  so  near  are  they  all  to  the  sea,  that  it  is  supjjosed  that  to  this  State  the 
world  may  look  for  its  future  supjjly  of  cheap  pig-metal.  Iron  can  be  made  in 
Alabama,  and  transported  to  Phigland  and  sold  there,  with  more  jirofit  than  the 
same  graile  of  metal  can  be  made  for  in  the  kingtlom.  Cajjital  could  be  more 
judiciously  invested  in  the  mines  of  this  young  and  aspiring  State  than  on 
lands  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  ores  are  the  red  hematites  and  the 
fossiliferous.  The  latter  of  these  extends  from  a  point  near  Pratt's  Ferry  in 
Bibb  County  to  the  upper  end  of  Wills's  Valley  in  De  Kalb  County:  on  the 
west  it  runs  up  to  Murphree's  Valley.  The  veins  often  "  pinch  "  to  one  foot 
in  thickness  ;  but  sometimes  they  are  six.  ten,  fifteen,  and  thirty  feet  in  thick- 
ness. The  hematites  occur  in  enormous  beds  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State.  In  the  Red-Mountain  region  the  stratum  is  of  solid  ore  thirty  feet 
thick,  yielding  about  fifty  per  cent  of  metallic  iron  of  the  very  finest  tlescrip 
lion.  The  ore  is  the  red  hematite,  soft,  and  remarkably  dry.  A  common 
laborer,  with  a  pick  and  crowbar,  can  get  out  a  ton  of  it  in  a  few  hours.  The 
brown  hematites  yield  about  fifty  or  sixty  per  cent  of  metallic  iron.     It  in 


OF    THE   V SITED   STATES. 


745 


claimed  that  pig-iron  can  be  produced  in  Alabama  at  twelve  dollars  a  ton,  the 
cost  in  Pennsylvania  being  twenty  dollars  a  ton. 

The   Lake-Superior  iron-mines  were  first  «)pened  alH)ut   1846.      The  first 
trials  of  their  ores  in  the  Kast  were  at  the  old  Sharpsville  (Penn.)  furnace  in 
1854.     In   1S56  the  shi|)nients  of  I*ike-Su|K"rior  ores  by  Kastern    LakcSup*. 
furnaces    had    fairly  begun,  and  amounted  to  7.000  tons:    since   ''"r  region, 
then  the  shii)ments  have  grown  tu  over  1,000,000  tons  a  year.     Michigan  and 


ll'T  IN   IRON  MOUNTAIN. 


Wisconsin  produced  190.000  tons  of  pig- iron  in  1X7^.  but  now  make  only 
about  150.000  tons.  Kive-sixths  of  the  ore  produced  is  exjiorted  to  Ohio. 
I'cnnsylvania,  Indiana.  Illinois,  and  other  States.  Only  two  classes  of  ores  have 
I)een  foimd  in  the  I -;ike- Superior  region,  and  they  the  richest  and  best :  they 
are  the  rich  hematites,  containing  about  seventy  per  cent  of  inetallic  iron,  and 
the  magnetic  oxides,  yielding,  when  nearly  pure,  seventy-two  per  cent.  S 
number  of  varieties  of  these  ores  are  recognized  .is  the  sjiec  ular,  the  slate,  the 
soft  red-ami-brown,  and  the  fine-grained  and  steely  ores :  they  all  occur  in 
enormous  beds,  lying  in  the  riilges  running  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake 


74« 


WDUSTRIAL    HlSTOh'Y 


Superior,  and  ofT  southerly  into  Wisconsin.  It  is  reported  by  the  geologists 
that  this  iron  was  probably  ilissolved  out  of  the  pre-existing  strata  by  chemical 
agency,  and  de|H)sited  by  filtration  in  great  horizontal  l)eds,  which  were  after- 
wards fX|)used  to  heat  and  pressure,  and  then  u])turned  in  folds  and  displaced. 
Hy  subset|uent  erosion  the  tops  of  the  ore-beds  were  removed,  giving  to  the 
folds  the  api)earance  of  fissure-veins.  The  largest  hematite  deposits  are  near 
Negaunee  and  Ishpening  and  at  Cascade.  Near  Negaunee  the  de])osits  are 
lens-shaped,  and  one  or  two  of  them  have  been  worked  out.  That  region 
has  sent  i  .300,000  tons  of  hard  and  soft  hematite  ore  to  market  since  1856. 
The  ore  of  the  Cascade  region  is  a  hard  slate.  In  the  vicinity  of  Humboldt 
and  of  Smith  Mountain,  eight  miles  therefrom  in  a  southerly  direction,  are  the 
largest  mines  of  magnetic  and  specular  ore  now  being  worked  in  the  State. 
At  Humboldt  a  tunnel  has  been  driven  into  the  mountain  to  get  access  to  the 
magnetic  and  specular  ores  of  the  Washington  mine,  which  lie  in  four  seams 
between  strata  of  talcose,  schist,  and  (piartzite.  The  tunnel  is  450  feet 
long,  and  cost  S  i  ,000,000.  \\  Smith  Mountain  the  richness  and  purity  of  the 
specular  ore  are  unparalleled.  The  deposit  lies  against  the  north  face  of  the 
ridge.  Upon  entering  the  openings. of  the  mine  the  visitor  is  confronted  with 
a  face  of  ore  as  glittering  and  splendid  as  metallic  silver,  whose  beauty  is 
unblemished  by  seams  of  rock  or  inferior  ores,  but  whose  texture  is  as  uniform 
as  refined  metal.  Other  rich  mines  are  found  to  the  westward  of  Smith  Moun- 
tain, in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Michigamme,  and  also  near  L'.\nce.  They  con- 
stitute what  are  called  the  mines  of  the  Marquette  District,  —  a  region  which 
contains  the  largest  deposits  of  rich  iron  ores  in  the  world.  Northern  Wis- 
consin contains  deposits  of  the  magnetic  oxides  similar  to  those  in  Northern 
Michigan :  they  are  found  principally  in  the  Pinokee  range.  The  State  has 
also  brown  hematites,  fossiliferous  ores,  and  bog-ores. 

The  only  other  region  that  need  be  referred  to  in  detail  is  Missouri.  The 
deposits  of  this  State  all  lie  south  of  the  Missouri  River,  with  the  single  unim- 
portant exception  of  the  red  hematite  beds  of  Callaway  County. 
The  celebrated  Iron  Mountain  is  the  largest  single  deposit  of  ore 
in  the  known  world  which  is  being  worked.  It  may  yet  find  a  rival  in  tlic 
iron-peaks  of  Utah  ;  but  at  present  it  stands  without  a  peer.  Dei)osits  are 
fretjuent  all  through  the  southern  portion  of  Missouri,  extending  also  into 
Arkansas.  Pilot  Knob,  Shepherd  Mountain,  Cedar  Hill,  and  Buford  Mountain, 
are  among  the  great  beds.  The  great  mines  are  all  being  actively  developed. 
The  ore  is  sent  out  of  the  State  almost  entirely  to  be  smelted,  the  export 
amounting  to  400,000  tons  annually.  The  principal  species  of  ore  are  the 
specular,  red  hematite,  and  limonite.  The  oldest  and  richest  deposits  are  in 
the  iron-bearing  porjihyries,  —  a  geological  formation  which  is  regarded  as 
being  of  the  same  great  age  as  those  of  Michigan,  New  Jersey,  and  Sweden. 
They  exist  in  all  sorts  of  shape^s,  veins,  beds,  and  pockets,  some  very  regular, 
and  others  broken  and  irregular.    At  Iron  Mountain  there  are  beds  of  specular 


Miiaouri, 


OF    THE    VNITLD   STATES. 


747 


[cologists 
chemical 
ere  after- 
lisplaced. 
\^  to  the 
i  arc  near 
posits  are 
lat  region 
Ke  1856. 
rtumboklt 
n,  are  the 
the  State. 
:ess  to  the 
four  seams 
;  450  feet 
rity  of  the 
"ace  of  the 
onted  with 
;  beauty  is 
as  uniform 
iiith  Moun- 
They  con- 
gion  which 
•them  Wis- 
Northcrn 
:  State  has 


ore  on  the  surface  from  four  to  twenty  feet  thick,  and,  within  the  mountain, 
masses  of  ore  with  decomposeil  porphyry  l)etween.  The  ore  is  nearly  a  pure 
l)ero.\ide,  containing  seventy  per  cent  of  metallic  iron.  There  are  2,000,000 
tons  of  it  in  tiiis  deposit.  Magnetic  particles  are  scattered  through  the  moun- 
tain. .At  Huford  Mountain  the  ore  is  rich  in  manganese.  The  I'ilot-Knoh, 
Henton-Creek,  and  Simmons-Mountain  mines  are  of  specular  ore,  and  contain 
from  500,000  to  1,500,000  tons  each.  'I'he  red  hematites  and  limonites  are 
scaltcrcil  throughout  the  iron  region  in  irrcg'jlar  deposits. 

It  ouglit  to  be  evident  from  this  hasty  glance  at  the  wonderful  resources 
of  this  republic  in  respect  to  iron,  and  from  the  adtlitional  fai  t  that  the  blast- 
furnace capacity  of  the  country  is  now  more  than  etjual  to  its  wants,  Richneti  of 
that  the  era  of  high-priced  metal  through  which  the  ( ountry  has  country  in 
been  passing,  and  which  appears  to  have  terminated  with  the  panic  *  '•""""■'• 
of  1873,  is  really  and  truly  at  an  end,  as  well  as  apj)ar<.'ntly  so.  With  more 
iron  ore  than  any  other  country  in  the  world,  with  coal  in  unsurpassed  abun- 
dance, and  with  means  for  ch?ap  transportation  fully  adequate  to  the  wants 
of  the  age,  and  an  abundance  of  labor,  we  have  all  the  re<|uisites  for  the 
working  of  iron  upon  an  enormous  scale,  and  consequently  for  its  production 
at  a  price  which  will  bid  defiance  to  foreign  competition.  It  could  only  be 
by  some  extraordinary  demoralization  of  the  labor  of  the  country,  or  some 
unwonted  demand  for  iron  in  other  i)arts  of  the  world,  that  iron  woulil  ever 
be  likely  to  rise  again  to  seventy-three  dollars  a  ton,  as  it  did  in  the  year  1864. 
The  probabilities  are,  that  .America  will,  in  the  course  of  the  next  five  years, 
become  one  of  the  world's  regular  sources  of  supply  for  i)ig-iron  in  competi- 
tion with  England. 


ouri.  The 
ngle  unim- 
ay  Comity, 
•osit  of  ore 
•ival  in  the 
icposits  arc 
also   into 

Mountain. 

developed. 

the  export 
jre  are  the 
osits  are  in 

garded  as 

d  Sweden. 

ery  regular, 

of  specular 


1 


748 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MINOR   METALS. 


AMONCf  the  minor  metals  produced  in  the  United  States,  zinc  is  the  most 
important.  Its  existence  in  this  country,  in  greater  or  less  abundance, 
Zinc,  where  was  discovered  at  a  very  early  day.  In  one  form  or  another,  and 
found.  often  in  combination  with  the  ores  of  other  metals,  it  was  repeatedly 

found  along  the  Appalachian  chain.  ,  It  was  known  in  colonial  days  to  be  stored 
away  in  the  (Imnd  .Monadnock  in  New  Hampshire  ;  but  only  the  most  insig- 
nificant (juantity  h.is  ever  been  practically  mined  in  that  State.  Northern  New 
Jersey  and  Ivistern  Pennsylvania  were  also  known  to  contain  several  com- 
pounds of  zinc  at  an  early  day.  'The  red  oxide  is  only  foimd  near  Franklin. 
Sussex  County,  of  the  former  State  ;  but  sulphides,  carbonates,  silicates,  and 
other  ores,  are  found  in  th.it  neighi)orhood  and  at  the  Wheatley  and  I'erkiomen 
mines  in  Pennsylvania.  The  one  county  above  specified,  and  Northampton 
County,  Penn.,  are  the  only  two  in  that  section  that  are  profitably  engaged  in 
the  proiluction  of  the  metal.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  lead-deposits 
of  Wythe  County,  Va. :  zinc  is  also  found  there  to  a  limited  extent.  The 
famous  Davidson  mines  of  North  Carolina  abound  in  this  metal,  and  they  arc 
credited  with  an  even  greater  product  than  those  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey.  Large  deposits  of  zinc  are  kncvn  to  exist  in  Kastern  'I'ennessec. 
One  locality  spoken  of  is  at  Mossy  Creek,  a  little  north-east  of  Knoxville  ;  and 
another  is  about  forty  miles  from  that  city,  at  Powell's  River,  Campbell  County. 
As  yet,  however,  this  resource  has  not  been  developed.  A  lead-mining  region 
in  Arkansas,  including  L.awrence,  Marion,  and  Independence  Coimties,  is  said 
to  show  the  same  very  favorable  indications,  but  without  their  having  been 
turned  to  account.  Zinc  is  obtained  in  small  (juantities  from  Iowa  and 
Lafayette  Counties,  Wis.  j  and  might  also  be  procuretl,  probably,  from  the 
Rocky-Mountain  range. 

While  this  useful  metal  is  by  no  means  rare  or  of  recent  discovery  in  this 
country,  its  systematic  and  profitable  production  dates  back  only  a  few  years. 
American  zinc,  or  spelter,  is  of  a  better  quality  for  some  purposes,  notably  gal 
vanic  batteries,  than  the  foreign  article  ;  and  we  now  produce  some  ;$8oo,ooo 


OF    THK    L'XITEO    STATES. 


749 


worth  annually,  whirh  is  enough  for  our  home-consumption  :  we  im|>urt  only 
a  very  small  <|iiantity  ;  but  the  «hararter  of  the  ores  was  such,  that  j^^  ^^^_ 
the  metal  could  not  easily  be  extracted.  In  i8,)K  ex|)eriments  tton  proitta- 
were  made  with  New-Jersey  ore  at  the  I'nited-Statvs  Assay  Oft'xe.  '>'««"»'y  •" 
/mc  was  obtained  ;  but  the  process  cost  m(»re  than  the  pro<luct, 
and  this  announcement  (juitc  discouraged  opcrati«)ns  for  over  tin  years.  In 
1S50  the  New-Jersey  Zinc  ('ompany  opened  mines  on  Stirling  Hill,  near 
whi<  h  the  I'assaic  t'ompany  afterward  sunk  shafts.  The  New-Jersey  Company 
have  taken  out  the  fmest  specimens  of  zinc  ore  the  world  ewr  New-jertcy 
saw.  In  1851  they  sent  to  the  (Ireat  Kxhil)iti()n  in  I/)n<i()n  a  Company, 
single  mass  weighing  16,400  pounds,  which  attracted  great  attention.  The 
I'Vanklinite  which  accompanied  this  rich  ore.  however,  proved  a  great  em- 
barrassment ;  and,  after  much  expenditure,  labor  was  temporarily  abandoned. 
The  New-Jersey  Company  aftenvard  worked  mines  in  the  Saucon  Valley,  north 
of  Friedensville,  Penn. ;  near  which  the  Pennsylvania  and  Lehigh  Zinc  Com- 
pany also  began  operations  simultaneously  in  1853.  For  this  latter  corjKjration 
a  Mr.  Hoofstetter  erected  a  smelting-furnace,  and  made  costly  exjKriments  in 
1856;  but  these  also  proved  failures.  Subsetpiently  Joseph  Wharton  of  the 
Pennsylvania  and  I^'high  Company,  and  Samuel  Wetherill  of  Hethlehem, 
where  the  company's  furnaces  are  located,  hit  upon  a  new  idea.  Neither  of 
them  met  with  encouraging  success  at  first ;  but  finally  the  obstacles  were  all 
overcome,  and  work  progressed  finely  thereafter.  The  Saucon  mine  was  the 
first  tc  get  under  way  again,  about  1858-59;  and  the  Lehigh  was  put  on  a 
juying  basis  in  i860.  Success  here  soon  encouraged  it  elsewhere  ;  but  these 
mines,  those  of  New  Jersey,  and  those  of  Davidson  County,  N.C.,  furnish  all 
but  about  one-fortieth  of  the  country's  product. 

The  manufacture  of  paint  from  white  oxide  of  zinc  as  a  substitute  for  lead- 
paint  was  conducted  profital.iy  by  the  three  corporations  above  named  before 
they  could  realize  any  thing  from  their  efforts  to  produce  metallic 
zinc.  The  New-Jersey  Company  was  organized  in  1849,  and  its 
success  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  Lehigh  Company  in 
1853  ;  and  the  two,  in  like  manner,  induced  the  organization  of  the  Passaic 
C()m|)any  in  1856.  The  di./overy  of  the  possibility  of  economically  utilizing 
tlie  red  oxide  for  this  purpose  was  made  in  P^urope ;  but  the  process  now  in 
extensive  use  was  invented  by  Richard  Jones  of  Philadelphia  in  1850. 

Tin  is  found  in  small  quantities  in  several  parts  of  this  country,  but  has 
never  been  mined  on  any  systematic  plan.  The  ores  are  of  too  |)oor  a  quality 
to  pay  for  working ;  although  specimens  were  found  some  years 
ago  near  Jackson,  N.H.,  containing  from  thirty  to  forty  per  cent  of 
tlie  metal  in  crystals.  It  has  also  been  discovered  in  appreciable  quantities  in 
California,  Idaho,  near  Paris  and  Hebron.  Me.,  and  near  Goshen  and  Chester- 
field, Mass.  Traces  of  it  have  also  been  detected  in  the  iron  ores  of  the 
Hudson  Valley  and  in  the  zinc  of  New  Jersey. 


Zinc-paint. 


7SO 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


I 


Quick'vilvei'. 


Quicksilver,  or  mercury,  is  a  metal  which  is  very  rare,  and  for  which  the 
world  is  largely  dependent  upon  this  country.    The  greatest  producer  known 

is  the  Almaden  mine  in  Spain,  from  which  the  Greeks  imported  the 

ore  —  red  cinnabar  —  seven  hundred  years  before  Christ.  About 
half  of  the  total  supply  comes  from  that  source.  .After  this  mine,  that  at  Idria 
in  Austria  long  ranked  second  ;  but  for  a  time  the  State  of  California  has  held 
this  position,  though  she  may  not  just  at  present.  This  metal  has  not  been 
discovered  anywhere  in  this  hemisphere,  except  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
Andes.  Peru  and  Mexico  yielded  large  quantities  before  California's  store 
was  revealed.  The  discovery  in  this  last-named 
quarter  was  particularly  opportune ;  for,  in  addition 
to  its  use  in  making  mirrors,  certain  forms  of  medi- 
cine, and  otherwise,  it  had  been  found  a  particularly 
valuable  agent  in  the  extraction  of  gold  from  quartz 
by  the  amalgam-process. 

The  existence  of  cinnabar  in  California  was  known 

long   before   its  value   was   understood. 

The  ore  was  found  in  a  range  of  hills  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Valley  of  San  Jose',  sixty  miles 


Cinnabar  in 
California. 


QUICKSILVER-WORKS. 


south  of  San  Francisco,  and  was  used  by  the  Indians  for  a  pigment,  its  ver- 
milion hue  rendering  it  particularly  valuable  in  the  adornment  of  their  persons. 
Indians  came  thither  from  as  distant  a  point  as  the  Columbia  River  to  obtain 
this  desirable  paint.  As  early  as  1824  the  whites  began  to  search  for  the  ore, 
havinq  learned  of  its  existence  from  the  aborigines,  and  hoping  to  extract  gold 
or  silver  from  it.  Its  real  character  was  not  discovered,  however,  until  1845  : 
whereupon  operations  were  immediately  begun  by  Andres  Castillero.  Little 
New  Alma-  was  accomplished,  however,  owing  to  the  Mexican  war,  until  1850, 
den  mine.  when  a  Company  of  Englishmen  and  Mexicans  engaged  exten- 
sively in  mining  and  smelting.    The  mine  was  named  "  New  Almaden." 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


751 


rhich  the 
er  known 
>orted  the 
t.     About 
It  at  Idria 
1  has  held 
not  been 
itains  and 
nia's  store 


This  whole  region  of  country  had  already  come  into  the  possession  of  the 
United  States ;  but  the  government  did  not  discover  the  flaw  in  the  miners' 
title,  and  stop  proceedings,  until  1858,  In  these  eight  years  mote  than  20,000,- 
000  pounds  of  quicksilver  were  extracted,  at  a  profit  of  more  than  S8,ooo,ooo. 
i'he  production  during  this  period  was  second  only  to  that  of  Sj)anish  Alma- 
(icn.  The  action  of  the  Federal  authorities  led  the  American  uiscoverers  to 
look  elsewhere  in  the  neighborhood,  and  they  found  cinnabar  within  a  mile  of 
tiiL-  first  mine.  A  shaft  was  sunk,  called  "  Enrequita,"  and  a  company  formed, 
in  June,  i860,  called  "  The  California  Quicksilver  Mining  Association."  Nearly 
500.000  pounds  were  obtained  the  first  year  from  this  mine ;  and  soon  after 
the  same  company  opened  another  mine,  called  "The  Providencia,"  from 
which  they  obtained  some  cinnabar. 

On  the  same  range  of  hills  the  Santa  Clara  Mining  Company  of  Baltimore 
opened  a  mine  which  yielded  200,000  pounds  the  first  year  ( i860).  s«nt«ciar« 
Prospecting  has  since  discovered  cinnabar  up  in  Lake  County,   Mining 
and  mining  and  smelting  are  now  carried  on  there  with  profit.  ompany. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  discoveries  of  cinnabar  has  been  made  at  New 
Idria,  in  Fresno  County,  on  the  Big  Panoche  Creek,  some  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  south-east  of  San  Francisco.  The  property  has  been  New-idria 
in  litigation  for  many  years.  One  McGarrahan  laid  claim  to  it  on  Company. 
the  pretence  of  having  a  title  from  the  Panoche  Indians,  (or  was  it  from  the 
Mexican  Government  ?)  but  the  United -States  Government,  not  regarding  the 
title  valid,  granted  the  land  to  the  New  Idria  Quicksilver  Mining  Company. 
The  courts  have  sustained  the  latter  in  all  contests  ;  but  the  controversy  is  not 
yet  ended.  The  New  Idria  Company  are  now  in  possession,  and  operating 
the  mines. 

It  is  impossible  to  get  accurate  figures  of  the  total  jjroduction  of  this 
country  ;  but  the  exports  of  quicksilver  for  1877  alone  ainounted  to  3,625,713 
pounds,  and  the  total  yield  could  hardly  have  been  'ess  than  5,000,-  Extent  of 
000,  which  is  only  equalled,  if  at  all,  by  Spain.  If  California  does  production, 
not  now  stand  at  the  head  of  the  producers  of  quicksilver  in  the  world,  she 
doubtless  will  shortly.  The  value  of  her  product  can  be  estimated  from  the 
Ijrice.  —  nearly  fifty  cents  a  pound. 

Platinum  is  found  in  this  countrv'  only  in  California  and  Oregon,  where  it 
exists  in  pure  scales  mingled  with  scales  of  gold  in  placers.  It  is  collected  in 
too  small  quantities  to  make  any  accurate  statement  of  its  value 

'  •'  Platinum. 

possible.     Its   presence   has  also   been   detected   in    Rutherford 
County,  N.C.,  and  in  the  copper  and  lead  of  Lancaster  County,  Penn.     Most 
of  our  supply  is  imported,  Russia  being  the  chief  producer  of  the  world.     It 
is  valued  principally  because  of  its  power  of  resisting  the  action  of  heat  and 
the  strongest  chemical  agents  ;  but  this  very  quality  makes  it  hard  to  work. 

Nickel  is  a  hard,  white  metal,  which  for  a  long  time  was  used  almost  exclu- 
sively to  make  the  alloy  known  as  "  German  silver,"  the  proportions  of  its 


75a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Nickel. 


ingredients  being  eight  parts  of  copper  to  three  each  of  zinc  and  nickel.  But 
since  1857  it  has  been  utilized  in  our  coinage  to  some  extent,  and 
still  more  recently  the  hardness  and  lustre  of  the  metal  have  led 
to  the  extensive  plating  of  steel  and  copper  ware  with  it.  For  this  purpose  it 
is  far  preferable  to  silver.  Says  "  The  Eighty  Years'  Progress,"  "  The  metal 
has  been  mined  at  Chatham,  Conn.,  and  is  met  with  at  Mine  La  Motte,  Mo., 
and  other  localities  where  cobalt  is  found.  It  occurs  in  the  greatest  abun- 
dance at  an  old  mine  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn.,'  where  it  is  associated  with 
copper  ores.  The  mine  was  originally  worked  for  copper,  it  is  said,  more  than 
a  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago,-'  and  was  re-opened  for  supplying  nickel  for 
the  United-States  mint  on  the  introduction  of  the  new  cent  in  1857.  The 
sulphuret  of  nickel,  containing,  when  pure,  64.9  per  cent  of  nickel  and  35.1 
per  cent  of  sulphur,  is  in  very  large  quantity,  in  two  veins  of  great  size,  one  of 
which  has  been  traced  six  hundred  feet  and  the  other  over  nine  hundred  feet 
in  length.  In  1859  it  was  producing  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  tons  of  nickel 
ore,  and  ten  tons  of  copper  ore,  per  month.  A  pyritous  variety  of  nickel  ore, 
called  seigenite,  is  found  at  Mine  La  Motte,  Mo.,  and  in  Carroll  County,  Md. 
In  Gaston  and  Lincoln  Counties,  N.C.,  similar  ore  was  found  by  Professor 
Wurtz." 

Two  exceedingly  hard  white  metals,  which  are  very  rare,  and  used  for 
Iridium  and  Scarcely  any  thing  but  pointing  gold  pens,  are  found  with  the  gold 
osmium.  a,^(j  platinum  washings  of  the  Pacific-coast  States :  these  are 
iridium  and  osmium,  and  are  generally  alloyed  by  nature  with  one  another. 

Cobalt,  prized  particularly  for  the  rich  blue  color  it  imparts  to  glass,  and  of 
rare  occurrence,  was  obtained  in  this  country  as  early  as  1787  at  Chatham 
Conn.,  where  it  is  found  in  combination  with  arsenic,  and  associatec'. 
with  nickel.  The  mine  has  been  worked  irregularly  in  the  present 
century.  Traces  of  it  are  found  also  in  Maryland.  Mine  La  Motte,  in  Mis- 
souri, furnished  for  some  time  an  oxide  combined  with  manganese ;  but  the 
vein  is  now  virtually  exhausted.  A  like  ore  is  found  in  Gaston  and  Lincoln 
Counties,  N.C. :  it  is  mingled  with  galena,  blende,  tin-bearing  iron,  and  other 
metallic  compounds. 

Chrome,  or  chromium,  occurs  in  combination  with  iron,  the  ore  being 
called  chromate  of  iron.  It  is  used  chiefly  as  a  coloring-matter  in  dyeing  and 
printing  calico.  The  deposits  are  generally  in  the  serpentine 
rocks  of  the  United  States.  The  Base  Hills  near  Baltimore,  tlie 
Maryland  line  just  south  of  Chester  and  Lancaster  Counties,  Penn.,  Hoboken, 
Staten  Island,  and  Northern  Vermont,  yield  it  in  greater  or  less  quantities. 
'I'he  locality  mentioned  along  the  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  border,  however, 
is  the  source  from  which  the  greatest  quantity  is  obtained.  In  this  region  the 
ore  was  not  only  embedded  in  the  rock  whence  it  was  mined,  but  was  found 


Cobalt. 


I  This  is  the  only  establishment  returned  in  the  census  as  producing  in  187a 
'  This  was  written  in  i860. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


753 


Manganeie. 


in  loose  fragments  among  the  serpentine  rocks  upon  the  tracts  called  the  "  Bar- 
rens." This  latter  supply  was  exhausted  about  "1854 ;  but  raining  still  continues 
at  a  small  profit. 

Manganese  is  a  metal  of  little  value  for  itself;  but  one  of  its  ores,  pyrolu- 
site,  by  giving  up  its  oxygen  readily,  is  of  great  use  for  chemical  purposes.  U 
is  largely  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  chloride  of  lime,  or 
bleaching-powder.  Its  faintly  reddish  color  makes  it  serviceable, 
also,  in  destroying  the  greenish  tinge  of  glass,  in  the  manufacture  of  which  it 
is  generally  employed.  Pyrolusite  is  found,  according  to  '*  Eighty  Years' 
Progress,"  along  the  range  of  hematite  ores  from  Canada  to  Alab  ma,  and  has 
been  minetl  to  a  considerable  extent  at  Chittenden  and  Henninlon,  Vt.,  W  -t 
Stockbridge  and  Sheffield,  Mass.,  on  the  Delaware  River  near  Kutztown, 
Berks  County,  Penn. ;  and  it  abounds,  also,  in  different  parts  of  the  gold 
region,  as  on  Hard-Labor  Creek,  Edgefield  District,  S.C. 


754 


INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY 


CHAPTER  IX. 


QUARRYING. 


mine  and 
quarry. 


MINERALOGISTS  are  accustomed  to  discriminate  between  the  deposits 
of  metals  and  stone  by  applying  the  term  "  veins  "  to  the  former,  and 
"  beds  "  to  the  latter.  Our  rocks,  being  mostly  of  sedimentary 
between  formation,  lie  in  horizontal  strata,  except  where  the  same  have 
been  upheaved  into  mountains  by  the  gigantic  subterranean  forces 
of  nature.  But  metals  are  usually  found  in  cracks  or  fissures  run- 
ning more  or  less  perpendicularly  through  the  stone  formations,  the  deposits 
having  been  made  by  injection  of  molten  matter  from  below,  or  by  infiltration 
and  accretion  brought  about  by  the  circulation  of  metal-freighted  currents  of 
water  at  a  time  when  the  rocks  were  submerged.  This  distinction  between 
veins  and  beds  is  carried  still  further  by  the  application  of  the  word  "  mine  " 
to  the  excavation  for  metals  and  carboniferous  deposits,  and  of  "  quarry  "  to 
that  made  for  the  removal  of  stone. 

It  needs  no  explanation  to  show  that  quarrying  could  not  have  been 
carried  on  in  this  country  until  stone  was  needed  for  building  and  paving 
Colonists  did  pinposes,  or  for  such  art  and  minor  mechanical  uses  as  the  rarer 
not  engage  stones  3X6  put  to.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  quarries  were  not 
in  quarrying.   Qpgj^^j  „^(i|  j^^g  ^fjgy  j)^g  w^tdi  was  felt.     Of  course  the  earl) 

settler  found  the  log-cabin,  the  corduroy  road,  and  the  wooden  bridge, 
sufficient  for  his  requirements ;  and  loose  stone  enough  for  foundation-walls 
could  easily  be  gathered  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Yet,  even  after  the 
desirability  of  more  handsome  and  durable  building-material  for  public  edifices 
'he  colonial  cities  was  keenly  appreciated,  the  ample  resources  which  nature 
.  afforded  in  this  country  were  slighted,  and  brick  and  stone  were  imported 
by  the  Dutch  and  English  settlers  from  the  Old  World.  Thus  we  find  the 
jcolonists  of  New  Netherlands,  afterwards  New  York,  putting  yellow  brick  on 
their  list  of  non-dutiable  imports  in  1648  ;  and  such  buildings  in  Boston  as 
are  described  as  being  "  fairly  set  forth  with  brick,  tile,  slate,  and  stone,"  were 
thus  provided  only  with  foreign  products.  Isolated  instances  of  quarrying  are 
known  to  have  occurred  in  the  last  century ;  but  they  were  rare.     The  edifice 


OF    7//E    Vf/JTED    STATES. 


7SS 


known  as  "King's  Chapel,"  Boston,  erected  in  i752,-Ts-the  first  one  on  record 
as  being  built  from  American  stone  :  this  was  of  granite,  brought  irom  Brain- 
tree,  Mass. 

Granite  is  a  rock  particularly  abundant  in   New  England,  though   also 
found  in  lesser  quantities  elsewhere  in  this  country.     The  first  granite  quar- 
ries that  were  extensively  developed  were  those  at  Quincy,  Mass.  ;  Granite 
and  work  began  at  that  point  early  in  the  present  century.     The  where 
fame  of  the  stone  became  wide-spread,  and  it  was  sent  to  distant  '"""**•  **=• 
markers,  —  even  to  New  Orleans.    The  old  Merchants'  Exchange  in  New  York 
(after>vards  used  as  a  custom-house),  the  Astor  House  in  that  city,  and  the 
Custom  House  in  New  Orleans,  all  nearly  or  quite  fifty  years  old,  were  con- 
stnjcted   of  Quincy  granite,  as  were  also  many  other  fine  buildings   along 
the  Atlantic  coast.     In  later  years,  not  only  isolated  public  edifices,  but  also 
whole  blocks  of  stores,  have  been  constructed  of  this  material.     It  was  from 
the  Quincy  quarries  that  the  first  railroad  in   this  country  was   built :    this 
was  a   horse-railroad,  three  miles  long,  extending  to  Neponset  River,  built 
in  1827. 

Other  points  in  Massachusetts  have  been  famed  for  their  excellent  granite. 
.•\fter  Maine  was  set  ofi"  as  a  distinct  State,  Fox  Island  acquired  repute  for 
its  granite,  and  built  up  an  extensive  traffic  therein.  Westerly.  R.I.,  has 
also  been  engaged  in  cjuarrying  this  valuable  rock  for  many  years,  most  of  its 
choicer  specimens  having  been  wrought  for  monumental  purposes.  Statues 
and  other  elaborate  commemorative  designs  are  now  extensively  made 
therefrom.  Smaller  pieces  and  a  coarser  quality  of  the  stone  are  here  and 
elsewhere  along  the  coast  obtained  in  large  quantities  for  the  construction  of 
massive  breakwaters  to  protect  harbors.  Another  |)oint  famous  for  its  granite 
is  Staten  Island,  N.Y.  This  stone  weighs  a  hundred  and  eighty  pounds  to 
the  cubic  foot,  while  the  (Quincy  granite  weighs  but  a  hundred  and  sixty- 
five.  The  Staten-Island  product  is  not  only  used  for  building-purposes,  but 
is  also  especially  esteemed  for  i)aving  after  both  the  Russ  and  Belgian  patents. 
New  York  and  other  cities  derive  large  supplies  from  this  source.  The  granite 
of  Weehawken,  N.J.,  is  of  the  same  character,  and  greatly  in  demand.  Port 
Deposit,  Md.,  and  Richmond,  Va.,  are  also  centres  of  granite-production. 
Near  Abbeville,  S.C.,  and  in  Georgia,  granite  is  found  (juite  like  that  at 
<^uincy.  Much  Southern  granite,  however,  decomposes  readily,  and  is  almost 
as  soft  as  clay.  This  variety  of  stone  is  found  in  great  abundance  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains ;  but,  except  to  a  slight  extent  in  California,  it  is  not  yet 
(luarried  there. 

Granite,  having  little  grain,  can  be  cut  in  blocks  of  almost  any  size  and 
shape.     Specimens  as  much  as  eighty  feet  long  have  been  taken  out,  and 
transported  great  distances.     The  quarrying  is  done  by  drilling  a   Process  of 
series  of  small  holes,  six  inches  or  more  deep,  and  about  the  same   Qu«"y'nB- 
distance  apart,  inserting  steel  wedges  along  the  whole  line,  and  then  tapping 


756 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


each  gently  with  a  hammer  in  succession,  in  order  that  the  strain  may  be 
evenly  distributed. 

A  building-material  which  came  into  general  use  earlier  than  granite  is 
brown  freestone,  or  sandstone ;  although  its  first  employment  probably  does 
Brown  not  date  back  farther  than  the  erection  of  King's  Chapel,  IJoston, 

sandstone.  already  referred  to  as  the  earliest  well-known  occasion  where 
granite  was  used  in  building.  Altogether  the  most  famous  of  American  sand- 
stone ([uarrics  are  those  at  Portland,  opposite  Middletown,  on  the  Connecti- 
cut River.  These  were  worked  before  the  Revolution ;  anil  their  product 
has  been  shipped  to  many  distant  points  in  the  country.  The  long  rows 
of  "  brown-stone  fronts "  in  New- York  City  are  mostly  of  Portland  stone  ; 
though  in  many  cases  the  walls  are  chiefly  of  brick  covered  with  thin  layers 
of  the  stone.  The  old  red  sandstone  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  is  distin- 
guished in  geology  for  the  discovery  of  gigantic  fossil  footjmnts  of  birds,  first 
noticed  in  the  Portland  (juarries  in  1802.  Some  of  these  footprints  measured 
ten  by  sixteen  inches,  and  they  were  from  four  to  six  feet  apart.  The  sand- 
stone of  Belleville,  N.J.,  has  also  extensive  use  and  reputation.  Trinity 
Church  in  New- York  City  and  the  Boston  Athenaeum  are  built  of  the  ])roduct 
of  these  ijuarries.  St.  Lawrence  County,  N.Y.,  is  noted  also  for  a  fine  bed 
Potsdam  of  saudstoue.  At  Potsdam  it  is  exposed  to  a  depth  of  seventy 
sandstone.  {^.q^..  There  are  places,  though,  in  New  England,  New  York, 
and  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  where  a  tlepth  of  three  hundred  feet  has  been 
reached.  The  Potsdam  sandstone  is  often  split  to  the  thinness  of  an  inch. 
It  hardens  by  exposure,  and  is  often  used  for  smelting-fiirnace  hearthstones. 
Shawangunk  Mountain,  in  Ulster  County,  yields  a  sandstone  of  inferior 
quality,  which  has  been  unsuccessfully  tried  for  paving ;  but  it  wears  very 
unevenly.  From  Ulster,  Greene,  and  Albany  Counties  sandstone  slabs  for 
sidewalks  are  extensively  quarried  for  city  use ;  the  principal  outlets  of 
those  sections  being  Kingston,  Saugerties,  Coxsackie,  Bristol,  and  New  Balti- 
more, on  the  Hudson.  In  this  region  quantities  amounting  to  millions  of 
square  feet  are  taken  out  in  large  sheets,  which  are  afterwards  sawed  into  the 
sizes  desired.  The  vicinity  of  Medina  in  Western  New  York  yields  a  sand- 
stone extensively  used  in  that  section  for  paving  and  curbing,  and  a  little 
for  building.  A  rather  poor  quality  of  this  stone  has  been  found  along  the 
Potomac,  and  some  of  it  was  used  in  the  interior  of  the  old  Capitol  building 
at  Washington.  Ohio  yields  a  sandstone  that  is  of  a  light  gray  color; 
Berea,  Amherst,  Vermilion,  and  Massillon,  are  the  chief  points  of  ])roduction. 
St.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  yields  a  stone  of  fine  grain,  and  of  a  light  straw-color, 
which  is  quite  equal  to  the  famous  Caen  stone  of  France.  The  Lake-Superior 
sandstones  are  dark  and  coarse-grained,  but  strong. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country,  where  neither  granite  nor  sandstone  is  easily 
procured,  blue  and  gray  limestone  are  sometimes  used  for  building,  and,  when 
hammer-dressed,  often  look  like  granite.    A  serious  objection  to  their  use,  how- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


757 


Limestone. 


ever,  is  the  occasional  presence  of  iron,  which  rusts  on  exposure,  and  defaces 
a  builciing.  In  Western  New  York  they  are  widely  used.  To- 
pelca  stone,  lilce  the  cotjuina  of  Florida  and  Hermuda,  is  soft  like 
wcod  when  first  cjuarried,  and  easily  wrought ;  but  it  harilens  on  exposure. 
The  limestones  of  Canton,  Mo.,  Joliet  and  Athens,  111.,  Dayton,  Sandusky, 
Marbk'head,  and  other  points  in  Oliio,  Kllittsville,  Ind.,  and  Louisville  and 
Bowling  (ireen,  Ky.,  are  great  favorites  West.  In  many  of  these  regions 
limestone  is  extensively  used  for  macadamizing  roads,  for  which  it  is  excellently 
adapted.     It  also  yields  excellent  slabs  or  flags  for  sidewalks. 

One  of  the  principal  uses  of  this  variety  of  stone  is  its  conversion,  by 
burning,  into  lime  for  building-purposes.  All  limestones  are  by  no  means 
e(iually  excellent  in  this  regard.  Thomaston  lime,  burned  with  Pennsylvania 
coal,  near  the  Penobscot  River,  has  had  a  wide  reputation  for  nearly  half  a 
century.  Tt  has  been  shipped  thence  to  points  all  along  the  Atlantic  coast, 
invading  Virginia  as  far  as  Lynchburg,  and  going  even  to  New  Orleans. 
Smitlifield,  R.I.,  and  Westchester  County,  N.Y.,  near  the  lower  end  of  the 
Highlands,  also  make  a  particularly  excellent  ([uality  of  lime.  Kingston,  in 
Ulster  County,  makes  an  inferior  sort  for  agricultural  jiurposes.  The  Ohio 
and  other  Western  stones  yield  a  poor  lime,  and  that  section  is  almost  entirely 
dependent  on  the  East  for  its  supplies. 

Marbles,  like  limestones,  with  which  they  are  closely  related,  are  very 
al)undant  in  this  country,  and  are  also  to  be  found  in  a  great  variety  of  colors. 
As  early  as  1804  American  marble  was  used  for  i)urposes  of  statu- 
ary.  luirly  in  the  century  it  also  obtained  extensive  employment 
for  gravestones.  Its  use  for  building-jKirposes  has  been  more  recent  than 
granite  and  sandstone  in  this  country,  and  it  is  coming  to  supersede  the  latter 
to  a  great  degree.  For  mantles,  fireplaces,  porch-pillars,  and  like  ornamental 
purposes,  however,  our  variegated,  rich-colored,  and  veined  or  brecciated 
marbles  were  in  use  some  time  before  exterior  walls  were  made  of  them. 
.Among  the  earliest  marble  buildings  put  up  in  this  country  were  Girard  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia,  the  old  City  Hall  in  New  York,  and  the  Custom  House  in 
the  latter  city,  afterwards  used  for  a  sub-treasury.  The  new  Capitol  building 
at  Washington  is  among  the  more  recent  structures  composed  of  this  material. 
Our  exports  of  marble  to  Cuba  and  elsewhere  amount  to  over  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  annually,  although  we  import  nearly  the  same  amount  from 
Italy.  And  yet  an  article  can  be  found  in  the  United  States  ftilly  as  fine  as 
the  famous  Carrara  marble.     We  refer  to  that  which  comes  from  Rutland,  Vt. 

This  State  yields  the  largest  variety  and  choicest  specimens.     The  marble 
belt  runs  both  ways  from  Rutland  County,  where  the  only  quality  fit  for  statu- 
ary is  obtained.     Toward  the  north  it  deteriorates  by  growing  Vermont 
less  sound,  though  finer  in  grain  ;  while  to  the  south  it  becomes  "arbiei. 
coarser.     A  beautiful  black  marble  is  obtained  at  Shoreham,  Vt.     There  are 
also  handsome  brecciated  marbles  in  the  same  State ;   and  in  the  extreme 


758 


IND  VS  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


: 


northern  part,  near  Like  C'hamplain,  they  become  more  variegated  and  rich 
in  hue.  The  j)cciiliar  variety  known  as  "  serpentine  "  is  also  very  plenty  in  the 
(Ireen- Mountain  State.  Serpentine  and  verd-antitpie  were  hewn  out  in  slahs 
for  fireplaces  at  .Milford,  Conn.,  before  1820,  and  taken  to  New  Haven,  New 
York,  and  elsewhere.  Such  other  marl)le  as  is  found  in  New  Kngland  is  of  an 
inferior  (luality.  That  cjuarried  near  Thomaston,  .Me.,  is  nothing  more  than 
limestone  ;  but  the  gray  and  clouded  tints  have  led  to  its  wide  use  for  mantles. 
Cilenn's  Falls.  N.Y.,  is  also  noted  for  a  limestone  that  passes  for  marble,  being 
black,  and  (juite  highly  prized  :  it  takes  a  good  polish.  The  ])illars  of  (lirard 
College  came  from  Berkshire,  Mass.,  which  ranks  ne.\t  after  Vermont  in 
reputation. 

The  marble-belt  extends  from  New  ICngland  through  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and 
Extent  of  the  Carolinas,  to  Cieorgia  and  /Mabama.  The  material  of  which 
marble-bed.  j|,(,  United-States  Sub-Treasury  of  New  York  was  built  came  from 
the  East-Chester  quarries,  and  the  main  portion  of  Girard  College  is  from 
Pennsylvania  marble.  Chester  County  in  that  State  yields  a  fine  quality  of 
serpentine  also.  Brecciated  or  veined  marble  is  found  on  the  Maryland  side 
of  the  Potomac,  at  the  Point  of  Rocks.  This,  and  some  of  the  varieg.ated 
and  high-coloretl  varieties  obtained  near  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  nearly  etjual  that 
of  Vermont.  The  Potomac  and  Tennessee  marbles  were  used  more  or  less 
in  the  new  Capitol  and  other  public  buildings  at  Washington.  Good  marbles 
in  the  South  and  West  are  of  exceptional  occurrence.  The  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, though,  contain  a  vast  abundance  and  variety. 

Slate  was  known  to  exist  in  this  country  to  a  slight  extent  in  colonial  days. 
It  was  then  largely  used  for  gravestones,  and  to  som;^  extent  for  roofing,  tiles, 
and  school-purposes.  But  most  of  our  supplies  came  from  Wales. 
Even  in  the  jiresent  century  it  has  been  quite  common  for  ship^ 
to  go  out  from  the  United  States  with  cargoes  of  cotton,  anil  bring  back  slate- 
in  return. 

It  is  stated  by  one  authority  that  a  company  was  formed  to  work  a 
slate-quarry  in  Northampton  County,  Penn.,  as  early  as  1805  ;  but  another 
says  no  quarry  was  opened  there  until  1826,  when  James  M.  Porter  and 
Samuel  Taylor  engaged  in  the  business,  obtaining  their  supply  from  Kittan- 
ninny  Mountain.  But  the  former  statement  seems  to  have  been  applied  ti) 
roofing-slate,  and  the  latter  to  the  manufacture  of  slates  for  schools.  From 
1826  the  business  developed  rapidly,  the  village  of  Slateford  being  an  out- 
growth of  it,  and  large  rafts  being  employed  to  float  the  products  down  tiic 
Schuylkill  to  Philadelphia.  By  i860  the  industry  had  reached  the  capacity  of 
twenty  thousand  cases  of  slates,  valued  at  ten  dollars  a  case,  annually  ;  and  in 
1854  three  hundred  thousand  feet  of  lumber  were  consumed  in  making  slate- 
frames  alone. 

In  1839  quarries  were  opened  on  the  Piscataquis  River,  forty  miles  nortii 


Slate. 


OF    THE    VMTED    STATES. 


759 


of  IJangor,  Mc. ;  but  |)oor  transportation  facilities  prevented  the  prodiut  reach- 
ing a  market  easily.  Vermont  Ix-gan  to  yield  pcrceinibly  in  1S52.  C'astlelon 
and  roultney  in  Rutland  County,  and  (luilford.  Windham  County,  are  the 
chief  points  of  production  in  that  State.  New  York's  (juarries  are  confuied 
to  Wash.in^ton  County,  near  the  \'erm<)nt  line.  Maryland  has  a  limited  supply 
from  Harford  County.  The  Huron  Mountaii.s,  north  of  Manjuette,  Mich., 
also  contain  slate  ;  and  fine  beds  are  said  to  exist  in  I'ike  County,  (la.  ;  but 
they  have  not  been  developed. 


niRR    Mll.l.STDNE. 


Cirindstones,  millstones,  and  whetstones  are  (juarried  in  New  York,  Ohio, 
Michigan,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  States.  Mica  is  found  at  .-Xcworth  and 
Cirafton,  N.H..  and  near  Salt  Lake:  but  our  chief  supi)ly  comes  Grindstones 
from  Haywood,  Yancey,  Mitchell,  and  Macon  Counties,  N.C.  ;  millstones. 
;uk1  our  product  is  so  large,  that  we  can  afford  to  export  it. 
Silcx,  or  (luartz,  for  the  finer  varieties  of  glass,  is  obtained  chiefly  from 
Lanesborough,  Mass.,  and  Stonington,  Conn. 


760 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  X. 


SALT. 


SALT  is  the  one  great  mineral  which  enters  into  the  diet  of  mankind,  and 
to  so  wide  an  extent  that  it  is  called  one  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  is 
Use  of  salt  known,  however,  that  the  American  Indians  never  used  it  until 
by  Indians,  jjfjg^  (^gy.  learned  the  habit  from  the  whites.'  Their  meat  was 
cured  by  smoke  and  drying,  or  "jerked;"  and  for  seasoning  they  sometimes 
used  the  ash  of  certain  plants.  The  craving  for  salt,  nevertheless,  seems  to 
be  natural  to  many  wild  and  domesticated  animals,  the  deer  of  this  country 
having  been  hunted  more  frequently  at  the  "salt  licks,"  about  which  they 
rendezvoused,  than  elsewhere. 

The  first  white  men  who  settled  on  this  continent  derived  their  supplies  of 
salt  from  the  old  country ;  but  the  great  distance  of  this  source,  and  the 
Salt  in  the  expense  of  the  commodity,  soon  stimulated  effort  to  make  it  for 
colonies.  themselves.  As  the  reader  is  well  aware,  the  principal  uses  of  salt 
are  for  the  table,  the  dairy,  preserving  meat,  and  curing  fish.  The  last-named 
was  the  more  prominent  need  of  the  early  colonial  days,  inasmuch  as  our 
fisheries  were  among  the  first  and  foremost  of  our  industries.  Accordingly 
there  was  a  great  demand  for  the  coarser  grades  of  salt,  especially  in  New 
England,  at  the  very  earliest  period  of  our  history. 

How  soon  the  manufacture  of  salt  first  began  here  is  not  positively  known  ; 
but  there  are  references  to  salt-works  on  Cape  Charles,  Va.,  as  early  as  1620  in 
the  colonial  records ;  and  to  such  an  extent  was  the  business  carried  on,  that, 
Ways  of  by  '^^iZi  t'l's  colony  was  exporting  salt  to  New  England.  Salt  is 
obtaining  obtained  in  three  different  ways,  —  from  solid  beds  of  the  mineral, 
from  springs  or  wells  which  have  their  origin  in  otherwise  inacces- 
sible salt-beds,  and  from  the  ocean,  which  may  have  acquired  its  saline  prop- 


•  The  Peruvians  made  and  ate  salt  when  Pizarro  made  his  famous  conquest  of  their  country',  and  Pe  Soto 
found  the  Florida  Indians  making  salt  from  springs  near  the  banks  of  the  Arkansas  River.  They  employed 
earthen  pans  in  the  manufacture,  and  moulds,  which  turned  out  small  square  cakes,  which  they  traded  for  furs 
and  mantles.  Long  before  the  mannfacture  of  salt  was  begun  by  the  whites,  it  was  brought  by  the  Indians 
of  Western  New  York  to  Quebec  and  Albany,  with  their  furs,  for  trade,  from  the  Onondaga  Springs,  which 
was  their  source  of  supply. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


761 


ertios  by  dissolving  great  deposits  of  this  substance,  or  have  retained  it  from 
the  days  of  the  creation.  Owing  both  to  the  preceilents  of  the  nunufiulure 
in  the  Old  World,  and  to  the  fact  that  as  yet  neither  salt-springs  nor  ro(  k-salt 
had  been  found  in  this  country,  the  first  attempts  made  by  the  American 
colonists  were  with  sea-water,  whi<  h  was  collected  in  ponds  and  ^.ats,  and 
subjected  to  artificial  heat.  Doubtless  these  first  suit-works  of  Virginia  were 
of  this  kind. 

The  first  beginnings  in  New  Kiigland  were  made  in  1621.  In  that  year  a 
company  erected  salt-works  on  the  present  site  of  Portsmouth,  N.H. ;  and  in 
1622  a  salt-maker  was  sent  over  to  Moston  by  the  London  proijrie-    „     ..       « 

^  '       '  Erection  of 

tors  to  begin  this  important  manufLicture.  'I'his  individual  appears  lait-worki 
to  have  made  great  boasts  of  what  he  would  accomplish,  and  yet  "*  ''"J*'" 
to  have  treated  the  art  as  a  peculiar  mystery  for  the  sake  of  blind- 
ing those  who  were  employed  to  assist  him.  Thus  the  colony  was  led  to  incur 
the  expense  of  erecting  a  storehouse  for  salt  before  any  had  been  manufac- 
tured. In  1623  he  was  sent  with  his  pans  to  Cape  .Ann,  so  as  to  be  nearer 
the  seat  of  the  fisheries ;  but,  before  summer  was  over,  he  burnetl  the  works, 
thereby  spoiling  most  of  his  pans.  This  and  other  early  enterprises  were 
under  the  control  of  the  government ;  a  fixct  which  has  many  parallels  in 
history.  The  greatness  of  Venice  was,  in  a  measure,  due  to  her  monopolizing 
the  salt-manuf;icture  of  her  domain  ;  and  for  a  time  that  of  Rome  was  under 
go\ernmental  regulation.  The  famous  salt-manufacture  of  Syracuse,  N.V'.,  and 
of  that  neighborhood,  is  partly  uniler  the  State's  auspices,  inasmuch  as  the 
gt)vernment  reserves  its  right  to  the  springs,  and  sells  the  salt  water  to  the 
manufactiuers.  .After  the  transfer  of  the  authority  over  Massachusetts  from 
London  to  Boston,  this  industry  appears  to  have  been  put  on  a  plane  with  all 
others,  and  to  have  been  conducted  by  i)rivate  enterprise.  This  was  the  case 
with  the  salt-works  founded  at  Salem  in  1636.  The  Colonial  Ciovernment 
encouraged  activity  and  ingenuity  in  this  direction  by  granting  especial  privi- 
leges to  inventors  of  new  methods.  We  find  the  .Assembly  of  Connecticut 
doing  the  same  thing.  The  younger  Winthrop  was  authorized  in  1647-4S  to 
take  land  for  the  establishment  of  salt-works  at  I'equod  (New  London)  and 
elsewhere,  and  the  State  commissioners  were  authorized  to  buy  two  hundred 
tons  a  year  of  him  at  the  rate  of  three  shillings  a  bushel.  How  far  he  availed 
himself  of  these  concessions  does  not  appear. 

French  people  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Raritan  River,  N.J.,  in  1631, 
wlio  began  salt-making  there.  The  Ssvedish  Ciovernment  instructed  the  gov- 
ernor of  its  colony  on  the  Delaware  to  engage  in  salt-making  in  sait-making 
1642.  In  the  Dutch  colony  on  the  Delaware,  at  New  Castle,  salt  at  mouth 
was  made  to  such  an  extent  in  1657,  that  shipping  stopped  there 
for  supplies.  In  what  is  now  New  York  attempts  to  make  salt  were  begun 
<iuite  early  by  the  Dutch  ;  but  as  early  as  1649  •'  was  charged  against  the  pro- 
prietary West-India  Company's  servants  in  the  New  Netherlands,  that  they  had 


76a 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


'vasteil  the  public  money  in  fruitless  attempts  to  manufarturc  salt  and  other 
commodities.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  Krench  missionaries 
had  discovered  the  saline  springs  in  Onondaga  C!ounty,  N.Y.,  and  rumors  of 
them  had  reached  the  Dutch  settlements;  Init  the  settlers  made  no  attempt 
for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  to  utilize  this  resource.  We  have  already  men- 
tioned the  early  attempts  in  Virginia.  That  colony  still  further  encouraged  the 
industry  by  prohibiting  the  importation  of  foreign  salt  after  16.S3.  The  New 
Sir  Nathan-  Netherlands  had  imposed  a  heavy  tariff  on  the  importation  long 
ioijohmoD.  before.  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  governor  of  the  Leeward  Islands, 
took  up  his  resideme  in  South  Carolina  in  1689,  and,  besides  rice,  wine,  and 
silk,  gave  son.e  attention  to  the  production  of  salt.  He  named  the  place  on 
Sewee  May,  where  he  conducted  his  operations,  the  "Salt  i'onds."  Colonial 
legislation  encouraged  the  industry  in  1725. 

Without  further  detail,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  business  of  making  salt 
from  ocean-water  was  carried  on,  with  more  or  less  governmental  encourage- 
Saitimpor-  ment,  in  all  the  .Atlantic  colonies  prior  to  the  Revolution.  Only  a 
tationi.  sm.-xll  proportion  of  what  was  needed,  however,  was  |)roduce<l  at 

home  ;  and  a  heavy  importation  was  carried  on,  mostly  as  ballast  in  the  ships 
returning  from  S|)ain  and  the  wine  islanils.  It  was  also  obtained  from  the 
West  Indies,  although  our  salt-trade  with  Turk's  Island  and  the  neighboring 
manufacturing  localities  has  been  mostly  of  a  later  period.  We  also  imported 
English  (Liverpool)  salt  somewhat  before  the  Revolution.  Koreign  salt  was 
prized  more  highly  than  that  obtained  from  Tortugas,  as  the  latter  impaired 
the  {piality  of  the  fish  cured  with  it  ;  and,  in  onler  to  sustain  the  (piality  and 
reputation  of  the  fish-exjjorts,  Massachusetts  declared  in  1670  that  no  fish 
cured  with  Tortugas  salt  should  be  merchantable.  So  small  was  the  accumu- 
lation, and  so  irregular  the  supply,  of  salt  in  those  days,  that  the  arrival  of  a 
cargo  of  salt  greatly  depressed  the  price.  Thus  (lov.  Winthrop  writes  in 
1646,  "There  arrived  yesterday  a  Dutch  ship  of  three  hundred  tons,  with 
two  hundretl  and  fifty  tons  of  salt,  sent  by  Mr.  Ongc  of  Lisbon,  so  as  salt  was 
abated  in  a  few  hours  from  thirty-six  to  sixteen  a  hogshead." 

During  the  Revolution  salt  was  very  scarce  and  costly  in  this  country, 
owing  to  the  check  put  upon  commerce,  to  the  withdrawal  of  men  from  the 
Sait-makinK  P'^^'is  of  productive  industry  to  military  pursuits,  and  to  the  occa- 
during  the  sional  destruction  of  salt-works.  .\  number  of  these  were  de- 
stroyed in  New  Jersey  by  British  troops  during  the  war.  A  special 
guard  of  a  hundred  men  was  applied  for  to  protect  salt-works  in  Cape- May 
County  in  1777;  and  Congress  urged  upon  the  colonies,  that  they  each 
encourage  salt-manufacturing.  Salt  ran  as  high  as  six  dollars  a  bushel  during 
most  of  the  Revolution,  and  even  as  high  as  eight,  and  was  always  in  demand  : 
indeed,  at  times,  it  formed  a  sort  of  currency. 

The  following  anecdote  is  related  of  those  dark  days.  During  the  encamp- 
ment at  Morristown,  N.J.,  in  1780,  provisions  were  exceedingly  scarce;  and 


OF    rim    IWlTEli    STATES. 


763 


c:ontincntal  mom'V  w  <Ic'|)ro<  iatcd,  that  lour  luuntliii'  pay  of  a  private  would  not 
Iniy  a  Imshol  of  whral  lor  Ins  family.  I'iic  oriliiiary  army  rations  were  |)oor 
i;n«>«gli  even  for  the  rank  ami  file  ;  but,  as  is  always  eustt)mary,  it  was  thought 
necessary  to  provide  the  ofticers  with  something  more  delieate.  punhased,  of 
< Durse,  at  their  i>rivate  expense.  "  U'e  have  notiiing  hut  the  rations  to  rook, 
sir."  said  Mrs.  Thompson,  a  very  worthy  Irish-woman  an<l  h«)usekeeper,  to 
(ien.  Washington  one  day.  "Well,  Mrs.  I'hompson,  you  must  then  cook  the 
rations;  for  I  have  not  a  farthing  to  give  you."  —  "  If  y«)U  please,  sir,  let  one 
of  the  gentlemen  give  me  an  order  for  six  bushels  of  salt."  —  "Six  bushels  of 
salt  I  l-'orwlial?"  —  "['o  preserve  the  fresh  beef,  sir."  One  «)f  the  aides  gave 
the  order.  The  next  day  his  JAcelleiu  y's  table  was  reniarkably  well  provided. 
Washin^^ton  misunderstood  the  source  of  this  bounty,  and,  sending  for  Mrs. 
I'hompson,  told  her  that  she  shouUl  not  have  expended  her  own  money  in  this 
way,  when  there  was  no  chance  of  her  being  repaid.  I  owe  you  too  much 
already  for  the  debt  to  be  inc  reased  ;  and  our  situation  is  not.  at  this  moment, 
such  as  to  induce  very  strong  hopes."  —  "Dear  sir,"  said  the  lady,  "it  is 
abvays  darkest  just  before  daylight ;  and  I  hope  your  Excellency  will  forgive 
me  for  bartering  the  salt  for  other  necessaries  which  are  now  on  the  table." 
She  had  sold  the  salt  to  the  country-people,  at  eight  dollars  a  bushel,  in 
exchange  for  provisions. 

With  a  few  slight  exceptions,  all  the  salt  made  in  this  country  until  near  the 
close  of  the  last  century  was  obtained  by  boiling,  or  evaporation  by  artificial 
heat.  As  early  as  1 671,  however,  there  had  Ik-cu  talk  in  .Massa-  Howi«it 
chusetts  of  making  salt  "  by  the  sun  ;  "  and  the  government  encour-  wa»formeriy 
aged  the  formation  of  a  company  to  try  this  process.  The  solar  ""^  '' 
method  was  employed  to  some  extent  on  Long  Island,  too,  by  exposing  the 
sea-water  to  the  sun  and  winil  in  shallow  \ats.  New  Jersey  also  resorted  to 
this  device,  the  salt  water  being  <  ondensed  by  natural  evaporation  in  jujiids  to 
nearly  ten  times  its  natural  strength,  and  then  being  boiled  in  kettles.  It 
reipiired  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hun<lre(l  gallons  of  sea-water 
to  make  a  bushel  of  salt.  The  discovery  of  particles  of  salt  on  clam-shells 
along  the  beach  suggested  the  i<lea  of  solar  evaporation  to  the  salt  boilers  at 
Harwich,  Cape  Cod,  and  led  to  experiments  win*  h  were  but  partially  success- 
ful in  1774  and  the  few  years  immediately  thereafter.  At  length  a  partnership 
was  formed,  in  which  John  Sears,  a  sailor,  was  the  leader,  and  which  erected 
salt-works  on  this  i)rinci|)le  at  Dennis,  Barnstable  County.  They  constnu  ted 
a  vat  one  hundred  feet  by  ten  in  size,  with  a  level  floor  and  a  curiously  con- 
stnict'T'  roof.  .At  first  the  sea-water  was  conveyed  thereto  by  buckets ;  but 
afterwa.  Is,  in  1790.  a  pump  was  obtained  from  the  stranded  British  ship-of- 
war  "  Somerset,"  and  a  windmill  erected  to  work  the  pump.  The  establishment 
met  with  great  ridicule,  and  was  long  known  as  "John  Sears's  Folly  ;  "  but  it 
was  successful,  and  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  large  number  of  similar  works 
on  Cape  Cod,  Cape  Ann,  near  New  Bedford,  and  elsewhere.    This  industry 


(64 


IND  US  TR  FA  L    tllS  TOR  Y 


was  carrietl  on  extensively  during  the  first  quarter  or  third  of  this  century,  but 
since  1830  has  declined.  A  few  years  ago,  however,  there  were  to  be  seen  some 
of  these  old  windmills  still  standing.  The  discovery  of  richer  salines  than 
ocean-water  very  naturally  destroyed  the  more  costly  and  laborious  enter- 
l)rises. 

A  great  revolution  in  salt-manufacture  was  wrought  by  the  utilization  of  the 
valuable  salt-springs  of  Onondaga  County,  N.Y.,  to  which  we  have 

Utilizing  ,  ,  ^  \ 

salt-springs  already  referred.  These  were  known  very  early  to  the  Indians, 
in  Onondaga    l-'athcr   Lallcmant    is  the  first  white  who  is   recorded   as  having 

County.  ..,,  ,,,  ,         ■  ,  .,  T 

visiteil  tiK-ni  Le  Moyne,  a  Jesuit,  mentions  them  in  1653.  In 
1770  Onondaga  .saii:  was  well  known  in  Quebec  and  .Albany,  whither  the 
Indians  brought  it.  'I'he  whites  first  made  salt  there  in  1787  ;  in  which  year, 
or  the  following  one,  the  Oneida  Indians  ceded  the  lands  to  the  State. 
Leases  were  then  granted  to  manufacturers,  who  sunk  wells,  and  went  to  pump- 
ing from  the  rich  salines  beneath.  Kut  the  State  reservetl  the  control  of  this 
mineral  production  to  itself,  and  soon  took  charge  of  the  pumping.  It  still 
maintains  the  management  of  this  work,  and  sujjplies  the  water  to  consumers, 
who  pay  the  State  a  tax  on  the  salt  produced.  .At  one  time  the  tluty  was 
twelve  cents  on  a  bushel  of  fifty-six  pounds  ;  then  it  was  reduced  to  six  cents, 
and  then  to  one  :  but  to  such  an  extent  has  the  business  developed,  that  the 
State  has  thus  ol)tained  an  enormous  revenue.  At  first  the  system  of  solar 
evaporation  adopted  on  C'ape  Cod  was  employed  ;  but  now  seven-eighths  of 
the  s:ilt  produced  at  Syracuse,  Salina.  and  the  adjacent  centres  of  manufacture, 
are  obtained  by  boiling.  Here,  as  with  the  sea-water,  expedients  have  been 
devised  for  separating  the  other  mineral  substances,  such  as  Epsom  and 
(ihuber  salts,  from  the  article  manufactured  for  the  market. 

In  I  789  the  product  from  the  Onondaga  springs  was  about  five  hundred  or 
six  hundred  bushels,  and  the  price,  anywhere  within  sixty  miles,  was  reduced 
Extent  of  to  half  a  dollar  a  bushel,  —  a  remarkable  reduction.  In  1859.  the 
production,  culminating  date  of  production  in  this  region,  the  annual  product 
was  7.521,335  bushels,  which  cost  the  manufacturers  to  make  about  six  cents  a 
bushel.  To  such  dimensions  has  the  business  grown,  that  whole  villages  of 
vats  and  brick  "blocks"  for  containing  the  kettles  have  sprung  up  around 
Syracuse.  The  commerce  in  salt,  and  supplies  for  the  salt-makers,  has  done 
much  to  pay  the  expense  of  constructing  the  Iilrie  Canal  and  the  railroads 
of  that  section. 

An  interesting  story  is  told  in  connection  with  the  early  development 
of  the  Onondaga  salines.  Towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  the  Federal 
Government  let  contracts  for  the  supply  of  the  Cnited-States  troops  with 
provisions  at  Oswego.  .At  this  time  Gen.  James  O'Hara,  an  enterprising  and 
well-informed  citizen  of  Pittsburgh.  Penn..  undertook  a  contract,  believing 
that  he  could  execute  it  at  less  cost  from  that  basis  of  supply,  in  consideration 
of  certain  advantages  which  he  at  first  concealed,  than  any  one  could  from  the 


iiry,  but 
.Ml  some 
cs  than 
i   enter- 

n  of  the 
we  have 
Iinhans. 
i  having 

'53-  In 
ther  the 

ich  year, 

le  State. 

0  pump- 

1  of  this 
It  still 

nsumers, 

iluty  was 

iix  cents, 

that  the 

of  solar 

hths  of 

lufactvire, 

ive  been 

sum    and 

ndred  or 

reduced 

1859.  the 

product 

cents  a 

a.i^es  of 

around 

las  done 

railroads 

clopnient 
Federal 
(ips  with 
sing  and 
believing 
iideration 
from  the 


O/--    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


765 


Mohawk  River,  whose  head-waters  were  not  far  from  Oswego.  Accorilingly, 
he  established  a  line  of  communication  by  rafts  up  tiie  Alleghany  and  French 
Creek  from  Pittsburgh,  a  wagon- portage  across  to  Erie  on  the  lake  of  that 
name,  a  boat-line  to  Black  Rock  near  Buffalo,  another  boat  to  carry  siill  nearer 
Niagara,  a  wagon- portage  around  the  falls,  and  a  tiiird  boat-line  thence  through 
Lake  Ontario  to  Oswego.  Vessels  were  l)uilt  on  Lakes  ICrie  and  Ontario 
expressly  for  this  business.  It  was  a  part  of  O'Hara's  contract  that  he  sliould 
retain  his  barrels  when  their  contents  were  consumed.  'I'hese  barrels  he  then 
filleil  with  salt,  wiiich  he  caused  to  be  brought  from  Syracuse  in  wagons,  and 
re-shipped  them  over  the  same  route  by  which  they  came  from  Tittshurgh. 


/- 

. .       -^    ^ 

■ ' '  '■  >  ' 

^'  '^HV' JI^V  ^wA^Lay' 

MAKINC.    SM.T. 


.At  this  time  Pittsburgh  had  olnained  her  salt  from  Piiiladelphia  by  pack-horses, 
whicli  came  in  trains  across  the  moimtains.  The  l)usiness  of  supplying  all 
these  settlements  west  of  the  .MIeghanies.  and  down  the  Oliio  River,  (cntred 
at  this  i^oint ;  and  salt  brought  eight  dollars  a  bushel.  But  O'Hara  was  now 
able  to  deliver  it  at  Pittsburgh  for  half  that  price,  and  make  a  handsome  profit  ; 
and.  as  he  had  a  monopoly  of  the  Onondaga  sui)ply,  he  could  destroy  all  com- 
petition. Capital  was  soon  invested  in  trade  with  Syracuse,  however  ;  and  in  a 
few  years  the  price  was  l)rought  down  to  twelve  dollars  a  barrel  of  five  bushels. 
\  few  years  later,  the  development  of  the  Virginia  and  Western  Pennsylvania 
salines  still  further  reduced  the  price. 


766 


I^'D  us  TRIA  L    /lis  TOR  Y 


Virginia. 


There  are  numerous  other  valuable  salt-deposits  in  this  country,  the  princi- 
pal ones  being  in  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Michigan.  VV^est 
Other  salt-  Virginia,  while  yet  the  new  State  of  that  name  was  included  within 
depotiti.  the  original  limits  of  the  old  one,  was  famous  for  salt-wells  along 
the  line  of  the  CJreat  Kanawha  River.  Attention  was  drawn  to  the  springs  by 
seeing  the  deer  visit  them.  The  early  wells  were  bored  only  thirty  feet  deep  ; 
but  subsequently  a  depth  of  seven  hundred  or  eight  hundred  feet  became 
common,  while  even  fifteen  hundred  has  been  attained.  Clas  was  ol)tained 
from  these  wells,  which  was  burned  to  heat  the  kettles  ;  but  this  i)ractice  has 
since  been  discontinued.  In  1829  this  region  produced  at  the  rate  of  1,000,- 
000  bushels  annually ;  and  Ijy  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  product  had 
reached  nearly  3,000,000,  and  formed  the  principal  part  of  the  salt  manufac- 
tured in  Virginia.  The  amount  has  since  been  increased  to  nearly 
5,000,000 ;  and  from  its  separation,  until  recently,  West  Virginia 
ranked  next  after  New  York  as  a  salt-producing  State.  The  other  salt-deposits 
of  that  vicinity  are  in  the  south-western  part  of  old  Virginia,  in  Smyth  and 
Washington  Counties,  along  the  north  fork  of  the  Holston.  Here  there  are 
beds  of  rock-salt ;  but  no  wells  thai  are  available  are  found  outside  a  very 
limited  locality.  This  one  product,  and  the  plaster-banks,  give  almost  ex- 
clusive business  to  the  branch  railroad  of  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  line 
penetrating  that  section.  Prior  to  the  war  it  had  developed  its  product  to 
something  like  300,000  bushels  a  year ;  but  since  that  period  its  yield  has  been 
inconsiderable,  the  census  of  1870  returning  but  2,063  bushels. 

Pennsylvania  has  a  considerable  salt  district  along  the  Alleghany,  Kiskimine- 
tas,  and  Beaver  Rivers.  Wells  were  first  sunk  here  in  181 2  to  the  depth  of 
Pennsyi-  two  hundred  feet ;  and  in  1829  salt  was  produced  there  at  the  rate 
vania.  Qf  twenty  or  twenty-five  cents  a  bushel,  while  farther  west  it  cost 

at  leust  fifty.  In  1850  the  annual  production  was  over  900,000  bushels,  and 
at  that  time  Pennsylvania  ranked  third  as  a  salt-producing  State.  Since  then 
Ohio  and  Michigan  have  stepped  in  ahead  of  her. 

Ohio's  salt-springs  are  mostly  in  the  southern  and  south-eastern  parts  of 
that  State,  along  the  Muskingum,  Hocking,  ar.d  Scioto  Rivers,  and  on  the  Ohio 
River  at  Pomeroy,  opjiosite  the  mouth  of  the  Cireat  Kanawha. 
The  first  attempts  in  that  State  to  make  salt  were  in  1 798,  at  the 
"  Old  Scioto  Salt- Works  "  in  Jackson  County.  The  wells  were  only  thirty  feet 
deep  ;  and  six  or  eight  hundred  gallons  of  the  brine  were  needed  to  make  a 
bushel  of  the  salt,  which  was  dark  and  poor.  But  even  this  article  brought 
three  or  four  dollars  a  bushel  as  late  as  1808.  Until  after  1850,  when  the  total 
product  was  about  500,000  bushels,  the  development  of  the  business  was 
slow ;  but  the  wells,  which  were  then  but  four  hundred  or  five  hundred  feet 
deep,  were  sunk  to  a  depth  of  twelve  hundred,  where  much  stronger  brine  was 
obtained,  and  the  business  so  improved,  that  by  1857  the  estimated  product 
of  the  State  was  nearly  three  times  that  of  1850.     In  1870  it  had  reached 


Ohio. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


767 


e  princi- 
1.  West 
;d  within 
:11s  along 
prings  by 
;et  deep  ; 
t  became 

obtained 
LCtice  has 
)f  1,000,- 
duct    had 

manufac- 
1  to  nearly 
5t  Virginia 
It-deposits 
miyth  and 

there  are 
ide  a  very 
almost  ex- 
iiessee  line 
product  to 
d  has  been 

Kiskimine- 
;  depth  of 
at  the  rate 
rest  it  cost 
ushels,  and 
Since  then 

rn  parts  of 
)n  the  Ohio 
Kanawha. 
798,  at  the 
V  thirty  feet 
to  make  a 
icle  brought 
len  the  total 
lusiness  was 
undred  feet 
er  lirine  was 
ited  product 
lad  reached 


almost  3,000,000  bushels.  The  heavy  carburetted  hydrogen  gas  which  comes 
from  these  wells  has  been  extensively  used  for  heating  the  kettles  in  which  the 
salt  was  boiled.  The  Wabash  salines,  well  known  in  early  colonial  days,  have 
been  the  basis  of  (luite  a  little  salt-making  industry  in  Indiana  and  other 
Illinois,  which  has  now  declined.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  have  state». 
also  abounded  in  salt-licks  and  working-wells.  Kentucky  has  had  quite  a 
reputation  for  her  salt  in  times  past.  Missouri,  Minnesota,  Arkansas,  and 
several  other  States,  have  also  salt-springs  of  slight  value. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  developments  in  this  industry  has  been  that 
of  Saginaw  County,  Mich.  The  salt-licks  of  the  deer  were  well  known  to  the 
first  settlers,  and  in  1838  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  at  saginaw 
manufacturing  salt  there.  The  legislature  passed  a  law  in  1859  "b'""- 
offering  a  bounty  of  ten  cents  a  bushel  on  the  salt  produceil  in  the  State.  This 
gave  a  slight  impetus  to  the  manufacture.  A  well  was  sunk  six  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  feet  in  East  Saginaw,  and  in  the  last  six  months  of  i860  a  yield  of 
23,000  bushels  of  excellent  salt  was  obtained.  Prior  to  this  time  the  product 
had  been  insignificant;  but  in  1870  it  amounted  to  nearly  4,000,000  bushels, 
and  Michigan  then  ranked  next  after  New  York  and  Virginia.  Since  then  she 
has  outstripped  both  ;  and  though  she  has  not  yet  reached  New  York's  figures 
of  i860,  which  were  upwards  of  7,000,000,  the  competition  has  cut  down  New 
York's  product  to  less  than  5,000,000  bushels  annually.  The  great  secret  of 
tlie  success  of  the  Michigan  salt-makers  is  the  economy  secured  by  combining 
the  salt-boiling  business  with  lumbering.  The  salt-wells  abound  in  the  great 
lumber-districts  around  Saginaw  Hay.  The  saw-mills  are  run  by  steam,  and 
the  furnaces  fed  by  saw-dust.  The  wells  are  pumped  by  engines,  and  the 
surplus  steam  is  used  to  carry  on  the  evajjorating  process.  Thus  the  item  of 
fuel  is  entirely  saved  in  the  expenses  of  production,  and  salt  can  thus  be  pro- 
duced more  cheaply  than  anywhere  else  iii  the  country. 

The  annual  product  of  salt  in  the  United  States  at  the  present  time  is  about 
20,000,000  bushels  ;  of  which  Michigan  produces  al)Out  6,000,000  : 

Annual  prod- 

New  York  and  West  Virginia,  each,  4,500,000  ;  Ohio,  nearly  3,000.-    uct  in  the 


000 ;  and  the  other  States,  something  over  2,000,000.  Yet  this 
is  but  about  half  of  our  consumption  ;  for  we  imported  in  1877 
over  18,000,000  liushels.  A  mere  trifle,  less  than  75,000  bushels, 
which  went  to  Canada,  —  was  exported. 


United 
States. 

—  most  of 


768 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


CHAPTER  XI. 


PETROLEUM. 

ALTHOUGH  petroleum  is  one  of  the  oldest  mineral  products  of  which 
mankind  is  known  to  have  made  use,  the  business  which  it  has  given 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  is  the  most  recent  of  all  our 

Youth  and  ....  t     •     ,  ,  i 

eminence  promment  uidustncs.  It  IS  less  than  twenty  years  smce  the  pro- 
of »*ie  duction  of  petroleum  in  large  enough  (quantities  for  it  to  supplant 
our  candles,  spirit-lamps,  sperm-oil,  and  rosin  and  coal  gas,  as  the 
popular  means  of  illumination  :  and  yet  our  coal  and  iron  are  the  only  two 
mineral  products  which  this  country  now  yields  in  larger  measure  of  value ; 
and,  except  cotton  and  cereals,  it  is  our  most  valuable  article  of  exjiort. 

Bitumen  and  naphtha,  two  forms  of  this  same  hydro-carbon  deposit,  were 
found  in  other  parts  of  the  world  in  the  earliest  historic  period.  Bitumen, 
or  asphaltum,  was  used  as  a  cement  in  building  ancient  Babylon. 
The  cerements  of  Egyptian  mummies  were  smeared  with  it,  that 
the  corpses  might  be  the  better  preserved ;  and  it  is  the  presence 
of  that  substance,  dried  to  a  rosin,  which  makes  the  mummy  such 
excellent  fuel  in  the  Orient.  The  Scriptures  make  frequent  refer- 
ence to  the  rock  giving  out  fountains  and  rivers  of  oil ;  and  inasmuch  as 
Jacob  is  said  to  have  been  embalmed,  and  as  embalming  undoubtedly  meant 
being  wrapped  after  the  manner  of  the  Egyptian  dead,  there  is  excellent 
reason  to  believe  that  rock-oil  was  known  not  only  in  the  days  of  Job  and 
Moses,  but  even  before  the  time  when  Israel  served  the  Pharaohs,  thirty- 
six  centuries  ago.  Indeed,  we  may  trace  its  appearance  still  farther  back. 
Asphaltum  ^  '^^  Tower  of  Babel  was  erected  over  four  thousand  years  ago, 
used  in  the  and  its  builders  used  "  slime  for  mortar."  In  the  ruins  of  Chal- 
Tower  of  dean  edifices  near  Bagdad,  known  to  have  been  contemporaneous 
with  the  Tower  of  Babel,  there  have  been  found  pieces  of  reed 
cemented  with  asphalt.  However,  when  one  remembers  that  geology  proves 
the  carboniferous  age  of  the  world's  formation  to  be  millions  of  years  before 
our  day ;  that  the  era  which  saw  the  production  of  the  bitumen  of  Egypt,  the 
asphalt  of  Mesopotamia,  and  the  coal  and  oil  of  Pennsylvania,  was  all  one,  — 


Antiquity  of 
the  discov- 
ery and  use 
of  hydro- 
carbons. 


OF    THE    UNI  TED    STATES. 


769 


the  interval  between  its  discovery  and  use  by  those  who  Hved  about  the  Lower 
Nile  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  is  but  as  a  day. 

The  bitumen  used  by  the  Assyrians  came  from  slime-pits  near  the  River 
Is,  a  tributary  of  t!ie  Euphrates.     It  was  also  found  in  very  ancient  widedis- 
times  near  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  the  product  of  Kakoo  still  con-   tribution  of 
tinues  to  supply  all  Persia  with  the  means  of  illumination.     The   '*''  depos't*- 
oil    there   is  light-colored  and  very  choice.     Asphaltum,  only  another  form 
of  the  same  substance,  has  been  found  about  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
which  is  supposed  to  cover  the   ancient   cities  of  Soduni   and   (lomorrah. 
In   India  and   Hurmah   i)etroleum  has  been  in  use  as  a  medicine,  and   for 
illuminating-purposes,  no  one  knows  how  long ;  the  excavation  of  wells  and 
l)its  in  the  Rangoon  District  for  procuring  the  oil,  its  collection,  transporta- 
tion, and  sale,  amounting  to  cjuite  an    industry.     IJurmah   and    the    Bakoo 
District  rank  next  to  America  as  producers.     In  China  the  people  have  foun<l 
this  same  treasure  in  the  form  of  gas  ratiier  than  oil,  and  have   xhefije. 
bored  artesian  wells  without  number,  simply  to  get  this  product  weiis  in 
as  a  means  of  light  and  heat.     Some  of  these  wells  have  been       '"*" 
bored  fifteen   hundred   anil  two  thousand  feet  deep,  and   the  machinery  by 
which  the  work  is  performed   is  very  curious  and  crude.     When    the  cavity 
where  tiie  gas  is  confined  is  finally  reached,  an  explosion  of  terrific  violence 
often  occurs,  and  the  orifice  of  the  well  is  with  the  utmost  dithculty  secured, 
especially  if  the  escaping  gas  takes  fire.     Mgr.  Imbert,  a  Catholic  missionary 
in  China,  thus  describes  one  of  these  catastrophes  :  — 

"The  flame,  which  was  about  twenty  feet  high,  flitted  about  without  burn- 
ing any  thing.     Four  men  volunteered   to  risk  their  lives  in  endeavoring  to 
arrest  it.     They  cast  a  large  stone  on  the  mouth  of  tiie  well  ;  but   Description 
it  was  instantly  hurled  far  into  the  air.     Three  of  tiie  men  were   of  burning- 
l)urned,  and  the  fourth  escaped  only  by  a  miracle.     Neither  water  ^'"' 
nor  earth  would  extinguish  the  flames  ;    until  at  length,  after  two  weeks  of 
incessant  toil,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  was  (onveyed   to  the  adjacent 
heights,  where  it  was  collected  in  a  little  lake,  and  suddenly  let  loose  on  the 
well  in  one  volume  with  suc(-ess." 

This  gas  is  conveyed   long  distances   by  bamboo  pipes,  and  is  used  for 
lighting  salt-mines  and  to  heat  fiirnaces,  the  extremities  of  the  pipes  being 
tipped  with  metal  to  prevent  their  being  burned  ;  although  the  gas-   Economiz- 
tlanie  does  not   usually  adhere  to  the  tip,  as  in  the  case  of  our  '"kb»*- 
artificial  illuminating-gas,  but  hovers  about   it  at  a  short  distance.     In  Java 
and  Japan  the  oil  which  yields  this  gas  is  found  in  small  <|uantities. 

There  is  little  record  of  any  form  of  coal,  petroleum,  or  natural  gas,  being 
found  in  Africa,  elsewhere  than  in   Egypt ;    but  they  have  been   Distribution 
found  plentifully  in  Europe,  —  though  not  together,  it  may  be  re-   of  oil  in 
marked.     Wales,  the  great  coal-producing  region  of  (Ireat  Brit-      """"P'- 
ain,  does  not  yield  petroleum,  although  the  burning-well  at  \Vigan,  Lancashire, 


770 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


American 
aborigines. 


is  in  a  coal-region.  France,  Belgium,  Northern  Italy,  and  Hungary  have 
yielded  either  oil  or  gas,  or  both,  in  comparatively  insignificant  iiuantities, 
for  over  two  centuries ;  but  little  effort  has  been  made  to  secure  the  jiossible 
deposits  below  by  any  thing  like  motlern  appliances.  Very  recently  something 
has  been  done  in  Soutii  (iermany,  and  near  the  Volga  in  Russia,  to  utilize 
the  oil-deposits  that  have  been  discovered  there  ;  but  as  -yet  no  effect  upon 
the  world's  supply  or  the  world's  market  has  been  wrought. 

Just  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  petroleum  was  discovered  in  small 
(luantities  in  the  West  Indies  ;  but  production  has  never  practically  amounted 
to  any  thing  there. 

The  first  white  settlers  who  came  to  the  United  States  found  that  the 
natives  were  familiar  with  and  made  use  of  rock-oil,  which  they  skimmed  from 
Petr  leum  ^^^  surfiice  of  springs  and  pools.  It  was  supposed  to  possess  rare 
known  to  the  medicinal  virtues;  ahhough  it  has  little  recognized  effect  nowa- 
days, except  as  a  cathartic,  sudorific,  anti-spasmodic,  anil  bane 
to  the  tape-worm.  It  was  also  found  an  excellent  balm  for 
wounds,  and  a  gooil  medium  in  mixing  the  Indians'  war-paint.  But  it  is 
well  known  to  all  students  of  American- Indian  history  that  there  was  a  race  of 
aborigines,  closely  allied  to  the  Toltecs  and  Aztecs  of  Mexico,  who  occupied 
much  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  before  the  red  men  came  whom 
Raleigh  and  the  Pilgrims  found  here.  That  earlier  and  more  highly  civilized 
people  have  left  many  tokens  of  their  former  residence  here  ;  and  among 
them  are  placed  by  some  savans  the  devices  found  near  Titusville,  Penn., 
for  the  collection  of  rock-oil.  In  the  valley  of  Oil  Creek  are  found  a  number 
of  pits,  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  deep,  either  circular,  oval,  or  square,  and  care- 
fiiUy  cribbed  and  walled  with  timber.  The  oil  has  preser\ed  the  wood  from 
decay,  no  one  knows  how  long ;  but  their  location,  character,  and  resem- 
blance to  the  oil-pits  of  Burmah,  indicate  plainly  enough  that  they  were 
constructed  to  obtain  petroleum ;  and  as  trees  have  been  growing  from 
the  bottom  of  these  pits  for  two  and  three  centuries,  if  not  longer,  the  period 
of  their  disuse  is  carried  back  to  a  time  precedent  to  the  first  white  settlements 
in  the  United  States. 

In  various  parts  of  the  American  continent  the  early  settlers  have  found 
what  they  have  called  tar-springs,  or  streams  and  pools  of  water  mingled 
with  strongly  odorous  rock-oil.  This  substance  was  discovered 
by  explorers  near  the  mouth  of  the  Athabasca  River,  in  Britisii 
North  America,  nearly  a  century  ago.  It  has  been  found  near  Lake  Huron, 
and  in  other  parts  of  Canada ;  but  nowhere  in  that  country  has  its  production 
become  a  business  of  any  consequence,  except  at  Enniskillen,  in  the  western 
peninsula  of  the  Province  of  Ontario.  Since  i860  the  oil-industry  has  grown 
up  to  quite  respectable  proportions,  though  insignificant  as  compared  with  the 
business  of  the  United  States. 

The  fact  is,  that  the  production  of  petroleum  for  the  world's  use  is  almost 


Tar-springs. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


17^ 


exclusively  a  monopoly  of  this  country,  and  is  chiefly  confined  to  the  region  of 
Western  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia,     'i'he  same  series  of  oil-    Petroleum  • 
bearing  rocks  extend  to  Kentucky.     Says  the  annual  report  of  the   monopoly. 
New- York  Produce  Exchange  for  1875-76, — 

"The  oil-belt  in  West  Virginia  is  now  being  sur\-eyed,  and  the  sur\'ey  is 
to  be  continued  to  the  Big  Sandy  River,  on  the  boundary-line  of  Kentucky, 
for  the  purpose  of  the  future  development  of  oil-proiluction.  Extent  of 
Colorless  petroleum  has  been  found  in  Nevada,  near  a  place  called  o'l-region. 
Black  Rock,  where  there  are  two  springs,  from  which  flows  colorless  oil, 
aggregating  from  eighty  to  ninety  gallons  daily.  In  Colorado,  six  miles  north 
of  Canon  City,  there  are  oil-bearing  rocks,  from  which  an  excellent  ([uality  of 
petroleum  is  obtained  at  a  depth  of  from  two  hundretl  to  four  hundred  feet. 
In  the  Tulare  Valley  in  California,  fifteen  miles  west  of  Tulare  Lake,  there  are 
petroleum-springs  wnich  were  first  discovered  by  a  government  surveying- 
party  in  1854.  The  oil  from  these  springs  is  of  the  heavy  lubricating  variety, 
and  is  much  more  valuable  than  the  burning-oil  proiluced  in  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, and  is  similar  to  that  of  West  Virginia.  In  Los  Angeles  County, 
Cal.,  in  the  township  of  San  Fernando,  a  refinery  for  petroleum  was  estab- 
lished about  four  years  ago  by  a  stock  company.  At  this  place  there  are  five 
producing  wells,  each  about  a  hundred  and  forty  feet  deep,  giving  an  aggre- 
gate daily  product  of  cruile  oil  of  from  forty  to  fifty  barrels.  There  are  also 
wells  at  \'entura,  and  a  refinery,  turning  out  twenty  barrels  of  refined  oil  daily. 
At  Wheeler's  Canon,  sixty-seven  miles  from  Ventura,  there  are  oil-wells  ;  and 
a  pipe-line  is  being  laid  from  the  former  to  the  latter  place.  In  the  Cumber- 
land Valley,  in  Kentucky,  there  is  an  extensive  region  of  country  underlaid 
with  coal-bearing  rocks.  In  boring  for  salt  in  1829  on  Little  Renox  Creek, 
about  half  a  mile  from  Big  Renox  Creek,  in  Cumberland  County,  oil  was 
struck;  and  the  well  called  the  '  Creat  American  '  well  continued  to  flow  daily 
for  a  considerable  j^eriod,  jiroducing  a  thousand  barrels  of  crude  ])etroleiim. 
Recent  borings  in  Cumberland  County  iiave  resulted  in  obtaining  oil  in  large 
cjuantities.  The  oil-bearing  ro<:ks  are  said  by  Professor  Owen  to  extend  into 
Tennessee."  To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  oil  has  also  been  struck  in  Ohio, 
and  in  1866  there  were  some  six  or  seven  hundred  wells  in  Trumbull  County. 
At  Pomeroy,  Meigs  County,  still  later,  highly  ])ro(luctive  wells  have  been  bored. 
There  has  been  some  boring  in  Alleghany  County,  N.V.,  but  with  little  result. 
Indeed,  at  points  innumerable  throughout  the  country,  attem])ts  have  been 
made  to  strike  oil ;  but,  except  at  those  here  specified,  th.ese  enterprises  have 
been  mostly  failures. 

The  report  we  have  above  quoted  continues  ;  "  In  Western  Pennsylvania 
the  oil-district  commences  at  Edinburg,  about  twelve  miles  north  of  St. 
Petersburg,  in  Clarion  County,  and  cxtenils  to  a  point  about  two  miles  south 
of  St.  Jo,  in  Butler  County,  being  nearly  forty  miles  long,  and  varying  from 
twenty  to  several  hundred  rods  in  width.     The  southern  extremity  of  this  belt 


772 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Insignifi- 
cance of  ttie 
oil-industry 
until  1839. 

sylvania. 


has  proved  to  be  the  most  prolific  portion  of  the  present  oil-producing  terri- 
tory, including  a  distance  of  about  seven  miles  on  the  line  of  the  belt.  At 
Parker's  Landing,  about  fifteen  miles  from  St.  Jo,  the  oil-belt  crosses  beneath 
the  bed  of  the  Alleghany  River. 

"  A  new  oil-region  has  been  somewhat  develoiied  in  McKean  and  Bradford 
Counties,  in  North-western  Pennsylvania,  in  the  territory  between  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Erie  Railway  and  the  Atlantic  and  (jreat- Western.  The  want  of 
facilities  for  transporting  oil  has  checked  production." 

Until  between  1850  and  i860  the  finding  of  oil  in  this  country  was  scarcely 
ever  viewed  otherwise  than  with  indifference  or  annoyance.  Its  ai)j)earance  in 
the  salt-springs  of  Ohio  and  elsewhere  proved  very  detrimental 
to  the  interests  of  the  salt-boilers,  and  on  that  account  the  sight 
and  smell  of  it  were  detested.  Yet  so  early  as  the  commence- 
ment of  this  century  it  was  collected  for  market  in  Western  I'enn- 
Wherever  the  oil  would  manifest  itself  by  bubbling  up  with  water 
through  the  soil,  pits  were  dug,  and  the  two  litjuids  allowed  to  accumulate  ; 
and  then  blankets  were  thrown  upon  the  surface  of  the  oil  (which  floated  on 
the  water),  soaked  with  the  greasy  mineral,  and  then  wrung  out  into  tubs.  A 
Mr.  Gary,  one  of  the  more  enterprising  of  the  early  settlers  along  Oil  Creek, 
is  reported  to  have  collected  or  purchased  cargoes  of  this  oil  from  his  neigh- 
bors, put  it  into  five-gallon  kegs,  slung  one  on  each  side  of  a  horse,  and  thus 
conveyed  it  to  Pittsburgh,  a  distance  of  seventy  or  eighty  miles  ;  and  it  is 
related,  that,  at  a  later  period,  "  (ien.  Hayes,  who  settled  in  Franklin  (Venango 
County)  in  the  year  1803,  .  .  .  purchased  at  one  time  the  entire  product  of 
the  region,  amounting  to  sixteen  barrels,  which  he  sold  in  Pittsburgh  for  about 
a  dollar  per  gallon."  These  two  incidents  serve  admirably  to  illustrate  the 
diminutive  proportions  of  the  petroleum-industry  of  America  during  the  first 
half  of  the  present  century. 

The  true  beginning  of  the  greit  era  of  petroleum-development  in  this 
country,  and  indeed  of  the  world,  was  Aug.  28,  1859 ;  when  an  artesian  well, 
„^   ,  sunk  on  the  lands  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rock  Oil  Com])anv,  near 

The  famous  ^  i       .  ■> 

Drake  well,  Titusville,  struck  a  vein  of  hydrogen  gas  mingled  with  oil.  We 
and  Its  gj^j^jj  j^j^yg  more  to  say  jjresently  of  this  organization,  its  previous 

experiments,  and  its  employment  of  Col.  Fl  L.  Drake  to  under- 
take this  enterprise.  This  well  was  sunk  to  a  depth  of  sixty-nine  feet  and  a 
half,  where  a  cavity  was  struck,  and  the  drill  immediately  sunk  more  than  a 
foot.  Previously  the  natural  oil  was  obtained  by  pumping  from  salt-wells,  or 
from  pits,  as  above  described ;  the  processes  being  slow  and  laborious,  and 
the  product  small.  But  here  was  a  vein  of  oil  struck  in  such  quantity,  that  it 
rose  in  the  well  to  within  five  inches  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  yielded  four 
hundred  gallons  of  oil  a  day,  unmingled  with  water. 

This  unparalleled  and  splendid  success  opened  up  to  people's  imagina- 
tions the  most  tremendous  possibilities.     Excitement  ran  high.     Attention  was 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


in 


directed  to  the  locality,  and  to  the  new  mode  of  procuring  this  abundant 
product.     iMiterimsc   was    stimulated    to   a   remarkable    tlegree.    „    .. 

'  '  ^  Excitement 

Everyboily  wante<l  to  buy  land,  and  to  bore.     Property  rose  ini-   produced 
mensely  in  value  for  miles  around  :  the  field  of  operations  was   ^'^  **''* 

discovery. 

rapidly  extended  down  Oil  Creek  and  Alleghany  River,  and  nu- 
merous wells  were  sunk.     Few  of  them  paiil,  however ;  and  a  slight  re-action 
soon  set  in.     It  should  be  remarked,  that  as  yet  pumps  were  necessary  to 
extract  the  oil;  and  hence  the  year  of  1859,  with  its  great  accomplishments, 
was  rather  a  period  of  jjromise  than  of  realization. 

The  great  element  of  success  in  the  oil-industry  was  the  iise  of  the  artesian 
well;  but  a  better  application  of  the  principle  was  necessary.  In  i860  some 
one  conceived  the  idea  of  sinking  wells  to  a  greater  depth  than  Deeper  ^gn, 
formerly,  believing  that  the  more  productive  veins  were  deeper  reach  richer 
down.  Accordingly  wells  were  bored  to  the  third  stratum  of  .>and-  *"Pr''"»' 
rock,  alternately  piercing  shales  and  other  deposits,  and  going  to  the  depth  of 
several  hundred  feet.  The  result  of  this  experiment  was  startling.  An  accumu- 
lation of  oil  and  gas  was  struck,  which  was  under  such  heavy  internal  pressure 
that  the  boring-apjiaratus  was  hurled  from  the  whole  length  of  the  bore,  and 
the  contents  of  the  vein  gushed  forth  in  a  torrent  of  great  impetuosity.  These 
wells  were  tubed  and  secured  with  great  difficulty,  anil  the  science  of  managing 
them  necessarily  attainetl  great  development  in  a  short  time.  The  ([uantity  of 
oil  now  obtained  was  vastly  increased,  some  wells  flowing  as  much  as  three 
thousand  or  four  thousand  barrels  a  day  for  a  long  time.  'J'his  yield  was  not 
steadily  maintained,  however,  the  (juantity  and  force  of  the  discharge  lessening 
gradually,  —  sometimes  sudtlenly  and  unaccotmtably  when  oil  was  struck  near 
by,  —  until  pumping  became  necessary  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  or 
months ;  and,  finally,  wells  that  had  made  their  owners  a  huge  fortune  would 
become  unproductive.  Old  wells  were  known,  though,  sometimes  to  recover 
some  of  their  former  productiveness. 

From  the  year  i860  the  ilevelopment  of  the  petroleum-industry  was  so  rapid 
and  vast  as  to  be  without  a  parallel  in  American  history,  all  things  considered. 
Though  the  oil-lands  proper  were  contained  within  a  small  geo-   ^he  sudden 
graphical  area,  the  influence  of  the  excitement  and  greed  of  gain   and  vast  de- 
thereby  aroused  extendetl  all  over  the  countrv,  and  even  to  foreign   veioprnentof 

■'  .  the  industry. 

lands.  Companies  were  formed  to  bore  for  oil  in  thousands  of 
places  where  traces  of  petroleum  had  been  noticed  for  years  previous.  Land 
that  was  theretofore,  and  even  then,  worthless,  brought  fabulous  jjrices.  In  the 
oil-region  itself  it  was  next  to  impossil)le  to  buy  land.  The  business  of  getting 
out  and  refining  oil  grew  like  Jonah's  gourd.  Derricks,  tall,  strange,  but  usefiil, 
sprang  up  by  the  thousand.  Cities,  even,  came  into  being  almost  in  a  day. 
Huge  fortunes  were  made  in  weeks.  There  was  a  new  class  of  shoddy  aris- 
tocracy created  by  the  wealth  produced  by  petroleum.  The  ignorant  but 
Uicky,  the  low  but  shrewd,  suddenly  became  immensely  rich.     New  branches 


774 


IND  US  TRIA  L    11  IS  TOR  Y 


of  industry  essential  to  the  operations  of  the  oil-interest  —  improved  mining 
a])i)ar;itiis  and  processes,  railroad  extensions,  new  kinds  of  cars,  pipe-lines, 
oil-boats,  tanks,  refineries,  barrel-factories,  lamp-factories,  ship-building,  co-op- 
erative organizations  of  producers,  transporters,  refmers,  and  exjjorters  —  were 
reipiiivd  to  meet  the  exorbitant  and  pressing  demands  of  the  peii oleum-traffic. 
15anking,  insurance,  and  other  interests,  were  recjuired  to  enlarge  tiieii  faiilities. 
The  arteries  of  domestic  trade  and  transportation  were  made  to  pulsate  with 
imnatural  life  and  vigor,  and  our  whole  business-system  was  (luickened  into 
abnormal  activity.  Our  foreign  commerce  was  rapidly  extemled,  petroleum 
lea])ing  to  the  third  rank  among  our  exports  inside  of  fifteen  years. 

Jlut  the  lowering  of  ])rices  in  conse(|uence  of  increased  production  ruined 
many  owners  of  small  wells.  Speculators  boiiglu  land  at  high  prices  whi(  h 
]iroved  good  for  nothing.  Money  was  lavished  on  derricks  and  boring-imple- 
ments and  labor,  which  never  returned  the  adventurers  one  single  cent  ;  and, 
as  the  money  was  often  borrowed,  the  chain  of  individual  disaster  sometimes 
had  several  links.  'I'he  world  hears  mostly  of  men's  successes,  and  little  of 
their  failures  ;  but  along  the  i)athway  of  the  petroleum-interest's  progress  are 
stiewn  a  host  of  wrecks  of  fortune. 

It  is  necessary  that  one  know  something  al)out  the  experiments  which  had 
been  made  to  produce  artificial  illuminating-oil  before  he  can  fully  understand 
Early  exper-  '^^'^^'  ^  *^''  '  ^^akc  caiiie  to  bore  for  natural  oil,  and  also  how  the  way 
was  opened  for  promptly  utilizing  these  newly-discovered  products. 
Nearly  three  centuries  ago  coal  gas  was  discovered  in  I'Jigland, 
though  it  was  not  used  until  about  1792.  The  experiments  connected  with  its 
manutacture  yielded  also  various  natural  oils,  and  Swiss  and  French  chemists 
set  themselves  to  utilizing  these.  Mr.  James  Young  of  liathgale,  Scodand, 
took  out  a  patent  for  distilling  oil  from  coal  in  1850,  and  later  got  one  out  in 
the  United  States,  which  expired  in  1S71.  The  product  of  the  first  distillation 
was  a  dark,  crutle  oil,  which  it  was  necessary  to  refine  before  using.  Our 
word  "petroleum"  means  rock-oil,  and  applies  more  particularly  to  the  natural 
l)roduct  distilknl  from  carboniferous  shales  in  Nature's  laboratory  by  the  inner 
heat  of  the  earth.  The  artificial  product  from  distilling  coal  is  known  as 
"  kerosene."  The  crude  oil  in  each  case,  however,  is  very  much  the  same  in 
composition,  as  are  also  the  refined  oils  from  the  two  sources. 

The  Kerosene  Oil  Company  founded  the  first  distillery  and  refinery  in  this 
country,  on  Young's  system,  at  Newtown  Creek,  L.I.,  in  1.S54.  'I'hey  utilized 
First  refine-  bituuiinous  coal.  The  business  rapidly  extended,  esjjecially  in 
ry  in  United  Ohio,  where  soft  coals  abound;  and  in  i860  there  were  no  less 
than  twenty-five  refineries  in  that  State  alone,  six  in  Kentucky,  one 
in  St.  Louis,  eight  or  ten  in  Virginia,  ten  in  Pennsylvania,  five  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  New-York  City,  and  seven  in  New  England. 

Coincident  with  the  distillation  of  an  illuminating-oil  from  coal  were  experi- 
ments to  perfect  a  lamp  that  would  burn  it.     Used  as  our  old  sperm-oil  01 


inients  in 
refining  oil 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


•'l-''iifiil 

W'liilii'li'i 


W£  MM 

w  ;' if  «; 


7/>  >vi  r^:',^A^7ii^  ^ 


776 


l.\D  US  TRIA  L    HIS  TOR  Y 


spirit-gas  was,  kerosene  had  a  deep  red  flame,  and  pave  o(T  smoke  and  an 
Keroiene-  offensive  odor.  The  invention  of  the  modern  burner  and  thimney 
lamp.  (y  iiiake  the  consumption  lomplete,  <  larify  tiie  tlaine,  and  avoid  the 

smoke  and  stench,  was  hirj^ely  the  work  of  Americans,  though  the  Austrians 
assisted  greatly.      I'iie  kerosene-lamp  was  practically  perfected  before  i860. 

'i'luis  it  will  he  seen,  that,  while  kerosene  was  not  produced  in  large  enough 
([uantities  to  bring  it  into  very  common  use,  it  was  widely  known,  and  all  the 
Eveieth  &  facilities  for  its  use  were  devised.  It  only  remained  to  \'\w(\  the 
Bisseii't  natural  oil  in  large  (juantities,  therefore,  to  make  it  cheap,  and  its 

exper  ments.  ^^^^  universal.  l''or  this  latter  consummation  the  world  is  indebted 
to  (leorge  H.  Ihssell,  formerly  of  the  firm  of  Mveleth  iV  iJissell.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1S53,  while  visiting  friends  at  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  had  gradu- 
ated, and  whither  he  had  now  come  from  New  Orleans  in  pursuit  of  health, 
he  was  shown  a  bottle  of  crude  petroleum  taken  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Titusville,  I'enn.  .\bout  this  time  he  met  a  former  New-Orleans  friend,  Mr. 
F^eleth,  and  broached  this  subject  to  him.  They  went  noxt  year  to  Venango 
County,  and  leased  the  principal  oil-region  for  ninety-nine  years,  free  of  royalty, 
paying  only  five  thousand  dollars  outright.  The  lands  were  trenched,  and  the 
accumulating  surface-water  and  oil  were  i)\miped  into  vats  by  one  hired  man 
and  the  api)aratus  of  a  saw-mill.  Three  barrels  of  oil  were  taken  thence  to 
New  Haven  in  1855  to  be  analyzed  by  Professor  Benjamin  Silliman,  jun.,  the 
expense  being  borne  entirely  by  Eveleth  &  Hissell. 

Elaborate  and  thorough  tests  were  made,  \vhic:h  showed  that  the  petroleum 
on  distillation  would  yield  a  number  of  distinct  products  ;  among  them 
Products dis-  "^M''^''^''^'  ^>'"  ^''"-'  lig'it^'^t  and  most  colorless  uf  illuminating-oils,  a 
covered  from  fine  lubHcating-oil,  dark  and  heavy,  benzine,  and  parafifine.  'I"he 
ana  ys  s.  ^j|^  wiixc  found  to  possess  certain  advantages  over  other  oils,  such 
as  less  tendency  to  thicken  from  cold.  The  gas  manufactured  from  the  petro- 
leum could  not  be  used  with  an  ordinary  burner,  but  gave  a  good  ilame  with 
an  argand. 

This  report  excited  great  interest  in  New  Haven,  and  cai^italists  there 
wanted  to  buy  a  share  in  I-A-eleth  &  Hissell's  interest.  They  obtained  a  third 
Ex  it  m  nt  th*-'''^'of,  the  original  proprietors  retaining  two-thirds  ;  and  then  they 
over  all  united  in  forming  a  corporation  known  as  "The  Pennsylvania 

Rock-Oil  Company,"  whose  aim  should  be  the  c9llection  and  sale 
of  oil  from  their  lands.  The  work  of  trenching  was  continued  ; 
but  in  1857  it  was  proposed  to  sink  an  artesian  well.  This  was  not  done, 
however,  until  1859,  as  stated  heretofore.  The  work  was  done  under  the 
direction  of  one  of  the  stockholders.  Col.  V..  L.  Drake,  formerly  a  conductor 
on  the  New-York  and  New-Haven  Railroad.  The  result  of  his  experiments 
we  have  already  stated. 

The  transportation  of  oil  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  its  dependent 
interests.     Next  after  knowing  how  to  utilize  a  natural  product,  and  how  to 


Silliman's 
report. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


777 


derive  it,  the  work  of  rarryinj,'  it  from  the  point  of  prodttrtion  to  the  places  of 
ronsiiinption,  or  at  least  to  tiu-  ^reat  centres  of  distrihiition,  is  the  most  essen- 
tial feature  of  tiie  interest  ;  and  this  is  pecnharly  true  of  petrolenm.  Tiu'  two 
modes  of  conveyance  utiHzed  at  first  in  the  oil-region  of  I'ennsylvania  were 
horse-power  and  barges. 

A  barrel  of  oil  weighs  al)()iil  three  hundred  an<l  sixty  pounds,  and  seven  or 
eight  of  these  made  a  load  for  a  team.  Sue  h  was  the  immense  amoimt  of 
teaming  to  be  done,  and  so  remunerative  were  the  rates  at  first,  Tramport- 
that  small  fortunes  were  made  by  the  i)roi)riet()rs  of  single  estab-  '"B""- 
lishments.  A  thousand  teams  would  often  go  over  the  roads  from  the  wells  to 
some  large  town  the  same  day  ;  and  the  mud  formed  by  the  rain,  the  leakage 
of  oil,  and  the  travel,  was  something  fearful.  Wagons  and  teams  would  often 
be  mined  in  a  few  days  by  this  severe  usage  ;  but  the  profits  would  en.ible  a 
man  to  buy  anew  very  fre(|uently  without  loss.  Mut  teams  were  not  relietl 
upon,  where,  as  was  often  the  case,  water-transportation  could  be  had. 

The  oil-region  lies  along  the  valleys  of  Oil  Creek  and  the  .MIeghany  River; 
and  the  wells  were  never  very  many  miles  away  from  these  two  streams,  and  often 
close  to  them.  At  first  barges  were  used  to  carry  barrels:  after-  Uieof 
wards  the  oil  would  be  discharged  right  into  barges  made  especially  barges, 
for  the  iHirpose.  At  first  these  receptacles,  holding  anywhere  from  twenty-five 
barrels  to  twelve  hundred,  would  be  without  dec  ks  or  partitions,  and  thus  were 
easily  upset  and  emi»tied  :  afterwards  bulkheads  were  put  in  to  keep  the  oil 
from  being  shaken  about,  and  to  prevent  the  craft's  balance  being  easily  dis- 
turbed. A  vast  amount  of  timber  was  used  in  making  them,  and  the  yards 
where  they  were  built  and  kept  would  show  many  scjuare  acres  of  dosely- 
arrangeil  boats. 

The  "  pond -freshet,"  a  deluge  of  stored  water  in  Oil  Creek,  had  for  many 
years  been  resorteil  to  by  the  lumbermen  of  that  region  in  order  to  carry  their 
numerous  and  immense  rafts  down  the  shallow  stream  to  the  ••  Pond- 
.Mleghany.  These  rafts,  of  course,  were  swept  down  simultane-  'reshet." 
ously;  and  the  great  perils  and  catastr()|)hes  made  the  occasions  highly  excit- 
ing and  dangerous.  The  adoption  of  this  expedient  to  carry  down  the  oil- 
barges,  in  fleets  of  al)out  two  hundred  at  a  time,  led  to  even  greater  casualties 
and  adventure  than  ever.  'I'he  i)ri<e  which  the  shi])pers  paid  the  owners  of  the 
(lam  for  a  i)ond-freshet  varied  from  a  hundretl  dollars  to  two  hundred  and  fifty, 
although  as  high  as  four  hundred  dollars  has  been  paid.  'Ihis  was  raised  by 
assessment,  the  cost  being  but  a  few  cents  a  barrel,  the  oil  brought  down  by 
one  freshet  often  amounting  to  fifteen  thousand  or  twenty  thousand  barrels  ; 
l)ut  there  is  record  of  forty  thousand  barrels  coming  down  at  one  time.  Pitts- 
burgh, at  the  junction  of  the  .MIeghany  and  Monongahela  Rivers,  was  long  the 
great  centre  where  the  oil-shipments  accumulated  and  were  distributed  ;  and  a 
fleet  of  a  thousand  barges  and  tow-boats  was  used  on  the  Alleghany  and  Ohio 
Rivers. 


778 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Railroads. 


Pipes. 


But  the  railroad  companies  were  soon  alive  to  the  imperfection  of  horse 
and  boat  transportation.  All  the  existing  lines  in  Western  Pennsylvania  rap- 
idly made  extensions,  and  numerous  local  roads  were  built  by  new 
corporations.  By  1867  the  whole  oil-region  was  covered  with  a 
network  of  railroads ;  and  from  this  circumscribed  area  many  threads  of  com- 
munication reached  out  toward  Ohio,  Lake  Erie,  Buffalo,  Olean,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  and  Pittsburgh.  The  many  new  towns  and  villages  built  up  by  the 
oil-interest  had  the  most  perfect  railroad-connection  with  the  outside  world. 
The  oil,  whether  pumped  or  spouting,  was  discharged  into  elevated  sheet-iron 
tanks  of  enormous  capacity ;  from  these  were  extended  pipes  of  greater  or 
less  length  to  the  branch  railroad-tracks ;  and  platform-cars  bearing  tanks  of 
from  forty  to  fifty  barrels'  capacity  were  thus  very  easily  freighted.  The  rcfin- 
ing-interest  was  then  developed  rapidly  at  great  distances  from  the  producing 
region ;  but  it  was  confined  principally  to  a  few  cities  either  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  or  on  Lake  Erie. 

A  still  greater  step  in  oil-transportation  was  taken  when  the  construction 
of  long  pipe-lines  from  the  oil-region  to  large  cities  was  undertaken.  Iron 
pipes  of  two  inches  diameter,  closely  jointed,  are  laid  in  shallow 
trenches,  generally  along  the  railroad-lines.  As  the  cold  cannot 
affect  them,  they  work  as  well  in  winter  as  in  summer.  Gravitation  usually 
causes  the  oil  to  flow  through  them  with  sufficient  rapidity,  although  i)umping- 
engines  are  sometimes  employed.  The  pipe  companies  leceipt  for  the  amount 
taken  into  their  pipes  from  the  tanks,  as  shown  by  the  gauges,  and  agree  to 
deliver  the  registered  quantity  at  the  terminus  of  their  line,  often  hundreds  of 
miles  away.  This  being  the  cheapest  method  of  transportation,  producers  are 
forced  to  utilize  it,  or  lose  money.  As  the  pipe-lines  have  been  bought  up 
and  concentrated  by  a  few-persons,  the  transportation  of  crude  petroleum 
from  the  place  where  it  is  produced  to  the  place  where  it  is  refined  and 
marketed  is  in  the  hands  of  a  monopoly,  who  are  thus  able  to  control  the 
markets  of  the  world ;  and,  as  the  refining  and  exporting  have  likewise  been 
centralized  and  allied  with  the  pipe-line  interest,  the  production  and  price  of 
oil  are  completely  controlled  by  the  "  ring." 

Before  i)roceetling  briefly  to  state  the  development  the  oil-interest  has 
attained,  and  to  consider  the  i)robable  future  of  the  production,  it  may  be 
Loss  of  oil  by  remarked,  that  few  industries  of  the  country  have  been  and  are 
fire  and  affected  by  catastrophe  so  easily  and  suddenly  as  the  petroleum. 

°°^'  P'ire  and  flood  have   done   damage  at  one    time  or  another   to 

petroleum  in  large  quantities,  and  not  only  wrought  the  ruin  of  proprietors  and 
speculators,  but  have  decidedly  affected  the  general  market.  A  crush  of  oil- 
boats  in  an  ice-gorge  in  December,  1862,  at  Oil  City,  robbed  the  owners  of  over 
fifty  thousand  barrels  of  oil,  and  involved  a  loss,  real  and  contingent,  of  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Before  the  event,  the  ice-blockade  in  the  river  and 
the  scarcity  of  oil  at  Pittsburgh  put  the  price  up  to  thirty-one  and  thirty-two 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


779 


cents  a  gallon  :  a  few  days  after  the  disaster,  when  the  channel  was  open,  the 
price  was  only  nine  cents,  and  it  kept  receding  the  rest  of  the  winter.  The 
next  year  forty  large  oil-boats  were  burned  on  the  creek ;  and  one  of  them 
burned  up  a  fine  suspension-bridge  at  Franklin,  the  total  loss  amounting  to  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  drifting  masses  of  rose-colored  flame 
afforded  at  night  a  magnificent  scene.  The  breakage  of  bulk  in  immense 
quantities,  and  the  catching  fire  of  oil  on  the  water,  have  also  wrought 
devastation  to  wharves  and  shipping  for  miles.  Spouting-wells  have  taken  fire 
from  adjacent  engines,  and  bursting  tanks  that  held  thousands  of  barrels  — 
first  flooding  a  wide  area,  including  buildings,  wells,  and  machinery,  and  then 
becoming  ignited  —  have  also  figured  prominently  in  the  many  disasters  that 
are  recorded  in  petroleum's  history. 

There  are  no  statistics  to  show  the  amount  of  oil  produced  in  1859  ;  but 
the  owners  of  the  Drake  well  at  first  controlled  the  supply,  and  kept  the  price 
at  twenty  dollars  per  barrel  the  last   four  months  of  the   year. 

Production. 

During  i860  the  price  ranged  from  two  dollars  to  twenty  dollars, 
the  average  being  nine  dollars  and  sixty  cents.  The  production  rapidly 
increased  the  latter  part  of  that  year  and  through  1861.  While  the  home-trade 
was  hardly  developed,  still  less  was  the  export  trade.  The  overstocking  of 
the  market  without  fficient  outlet  ran  the  price  down  to  ten  cents  a  barrel 
during  a  good  part  of  1861,  the  average  for  the  year  being  forty-nine  cents. 
In  1862  our  foreign  trade  had  become  immensely  developed,  amounting  to 
10,387,701  gallons,  or  250,000  barrels.  In  1863  we  nearly  trebled  this,  and  in 
1S64  had  quite  done  so.  Our  total  product  in  1864  was  over  r, 000,000  bar- 
rels, of  which  we  exported  three-quarters.  Ten  years  later,  our  export  was 
nearly  6,000,000  barrels,  —  an  increase  of  eightfold;  and,  as  the  exports  bore 
al)out  the  same  relation  to  our  home-consumption,  the  total  production  had 
risen  to  between  7,000,000  and  8,000,000  barrels.  This  increase  was  not  at 
an  even  rate;  yet  it  was  steady.  In  1864  the  price  advanced  to  an  average 
of  seven  dollars  and  sixty-two  cents  a  barrel,  a  slight  check  in  the  production 
iuiving  been  experienced,  and  the  outlet  having  been  enlarged.  During  the 
next  six  years  it  fluctuated  between  nine  dollars  and  a  half  and  three  dollars. 
From  1872  to  1876  the  average  export  was  over  5,000,000  barrels.  In  the 
last-named  year  the  exact  export  was  6,594,237  barrels  out  of  a  total  product 
of  10,191,452.  The  value  of  the  export  of  1876  was  a  trifle  under  $50,000,000, 
and  of  the  total  product  about  575,000,000.  In  1877  our  product  was  in- 
creased about  one-third  ;  but  the  price  fell  off  nearly  one-fifth  on  an  average 
for  the  year,  and  for  all  grades  of  oil  and  residuum.  The  yield  might  be 
said  to  have  been  worth  nearly  $90,000,000. 

This  is  nearly  ecjual  to  the  amount  invested  in   oil- lands,  tankage,  and 
machinery  for  pumping  crude  petroleum.     The  railroads  and  pipe-   capital  in- 
lincs  built  especially  for  the   petroleum  interest  represent  $25,-   nested. 
000,000  or  $30,000,000  of  capital,  and  the  refineries  something  less.     Petro- 


78o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


leum,  therefore,  pays  over  sixty  per  cent  upon  the  capital  invested  annually ; 
which  shows  the  advantages  of  a  monopoly  controlling  an  interest. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  question,  how  long  our  petroleum-supply  will  hold 
out.  Thus  far,  while  individual  wells  have  always  proved  short-lived,  our  yield 
Future  sup-  has  Steadily  increased  through  a  period  of  eighteen  years.  We 
P'>-  have  no  rival  in  the  world  to  fear  at  present,  and  our  increase 

keeps  pace  with  the  increasing  demands  of  the  world.  The  enlargement  of 
our  yield  might  be  more  rapid,  were  that  of  the  demand  likewise  ;  and  if  oil 
shall  be  found  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe  in  large  quantities,  and  our  pro- 
duction is  necessarily  reduced  in  order  to  avoid  overstocking  the  market,  we 
shall  be  more  economical  in  the  exhaustion  of  our  treasure.  But  the  best 
judges  seem  to  think  that  the  supply  is  practically  unlimited,  as  is  that  of 
our  coal.  Thougli  it  may  have  filtered  hundreds  of  miles  laterally  from 
the  point  of  its  formation,  owing  to  the  porous  character  of  some  of  the  adja- 
cent strata  of  rocks,  the  fractured  condition  of  others,  and  the  upheaval  of  vast 
ranges  of  mountains  from  the  original  level  of  their  composite  strata,  there 
is  little  question  that  the  oil  has  been  distilled  from  coal  and  from  carbonifer- 
ous shales  that  could  not  be  used  for  fuel.  As  our  enormous  consumption 
of  oil  does  not  equal  the  oil-producing  possibilities  of  the  coal  we  consume, 
as  the  shales  ha\'e  yielded  oil  beside  that  derived  from  the  coal,  and  as  we  have 
drawn  on  our  coal-account  with  Mother  Earth  much  more  largely  than  on  our 
oil-account,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  she  will  continue  to  honor  our 
drafts  unlimittdly  for  many  generations  to  come. 


BOOK    V. 


BANKING.  INSURANCE,  AND   COMMERCE. 


I 

na 
va 
pr 
re; 
ca 
lar 
An 
go 
lac 
bui 
no] 

att( 

me 

the 

whi 

by 

whi 

cou 

tare 

to  t 

issu; 

was 

earb 

Inas 

men 


CHAPTER  I. 


BANKING. 


American 
banking. 


EARLY   COLONIAL    PERIOD. 

NO  country  has  ever  tried  so  many  experiments  in  banking  as  the  United 
States.  This  is  due  to  several  causes.  In  the  first  place,  while  the 
nations  of  the  earth  had  from  a  very  early  day  used  money  of  y^^j^^  ^j,. 
various  kinds,  and  individual  money-lenders  had  practised  their  periments  in 
profession  for  centuries  under  more  or  less  rigid  governmental 
regulation  and  protection,  the  idea  of  joint-stock  corporations  to 
carry  on  the  business,  whose  notes,  properly  secured,  should  form  a  popu- 
lar currency,  came  into  notice  in  the  world  only  after  the  foundation  of  the 
American  colonies.  Furthermore,  the  peculiar  forms  of  colonial  and  national 
government  in  this  country,  and  the  spirit  of  the  people,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
lack  of  individual  capitalists  in  early  times,  stimulated  and  gave  free  play  to 
business-enterprise  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  was  possible  under  the  mo- 
nopolistic and  monarchical  institutions  of  Europe. 

As  early  as  1715,  when  the  mystery  of  banking  was  first  attracting  the 
attention  of  European  financiers,  John  Colman  of  Massachusetts,  and  other 
merchants,  proposed  to  establish  a  bank  which  should  issue  notes,  First  Ameri- 
the  security  therefor  being  land.  A  party  immediately  sprang  up  '""  project, 
which  opposed  this  scheme,  and  which  advocated,  instead,  a  system  of  loaning 
by  the  Provincial  Government  to  the  inhabitant,  on  interest  payable  annually, 
which  should  be  applied  toward  the  public  expenses.  The  governor  and  his 
council  refused  to  sanction  Colman's  project,  and  referred  him  to  the  legisla- 
ture. Nothing  daunted,  he  effected  an  association  which  presented  the  matter 
to  that  body.  The  opposition  there  met  them  with  a  counter-proposal  for  the 
issuance  of  a  provincial  loan  to  the  extent  of  fifty  thousand  pounds ;  and  this 
was  adopted.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  government  of  the  Bay  State  in  its 
eariy  days  was,  as  was  eminenUy  proper  then,  paternal  in  its  helpfulness. 
Inasmuch  as  the  mercantile  portion  of  the  community  regarded  the  above- 
mentioned  loan  ins  ifficient  for  their  needs,  and  clamored  for  more,  the  Col- 

733 


784 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


man  party  were  encouraged  to  continue  their  contest  f.ir  the  establishment  of 
private  banks  of  issue,  but  without  success. 

The  system  of  money-lending  adopted  by  Massachusetts  soon  found  favor 
in  other  colonies,  nearly  all  of  which  had  tried  the  experiment  before  the 
Extension  breaking-out  of  the  Revolution.  Benjamin  Franklin  heartily  ap- 
of  the  proved  the  plan  ;    which,  by  the  way,  i)roved  decidedly  profitable 

Bys  em.  ^^  ^j^^  colonies  which  embarked  in  it.     So  long  as  the  security 

taken  was  ample,  of  course  the  taxpayers  incurred  no  risk  ;  yet  there  was  con- 
stant danger  of  loans  being  based  w^ow  insufficient  security.  This  system,  a.\ 
also  that  devised  by  Colman,  was  tried  with  occasional  variation ;  but  all  of 
these  experiments  proved  somewhat  inefficient  and  short-lived. 

The  first  institution  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  bank,  organized  in  this  coun- 
try, was  founded,  not  with  any  purpose  of  enriching  those  connected  therewith, 
Bank  of  "°''  °^  facilitating  ordinary  trade,  but  of  patriotically  assisting  tha 

North  infant  republic  of  the  United  States  to  achieve  its  national  inde- 

menca.  pendence.  At  a  meeting  of  citizens  held  in  Philadelphia  June  1 7, 
1 780,  it  was  resolved  to  open  a  "  security  subscrii)tion  to  the  amount  of 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds,  Pennsylvania  currency,  real  money,"  the 
same  to  be  used  in  purchasing  necessary  supplies  for  Washington's  army.  At 
this  time  the  soldiers  were  in  extreme  need,  and  on  the  verge  of  mutiny ;  and 
the  Feder.il  Government  was  unable  to  make  the  requisite  provision  for  the 
emergency,  although  it  was  expected  to  re-imburse  the  subscribers  ultimately. 
Thomas  Paine,  the  distinguished  free-thinker,  and  at  that  time  clerk  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Assembly,  was  active  in  promoting  the  scheme,  and  enclosed 
five  hundred  dollars  toward  making  up  the  fund  to  Blair  McClenaghan,  who, 
as  also  Robert  Morris,  subscribed  two  hundred  pounds  in  hard  money. 

Four  days  later  the  matter  was  brought  up  in  the  Continental  Congress, 
which  then  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
confer  with  the  inspectors  and  directors  of  the  proposed  institution. 
Subsequently  the  committee  reported  a  series  of  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted,  appreciatively  recognizing  the  inten- 
tion of  the  associators,  accepting  their  patriotic  offer,  and  pledging 
repayment. 

The  eminent  financier  and  patriot,  Robert  Morris,  then  superintendent  of 
finance,  devised,  in  the  spring  of  1781,  the  system  on  which  the  bank  should 

operate ;  and,  on  the  26th  of  May,  Congress  approved  it.  In 
Robert  Mor-  ,         ,        .       .       . 

ris's  connec-  December  the  mstitution  was  by  that  body  formally  chartered  as 
tion  there-      t^g  Bank  of  North  .America,  with  a  capital  limited  to  10,000,000 

with 

Spanish  silver-milled  dollars.  The  amount  of  capital  paid  in  by 
the  individual  stockholders  did  not,  however,  exceed  §85,000.  The  superin- 
tendent of  finance,  to  encourage  the  undertaking,  subscribed  $250,000  to  the 
stock  on  behalf  of  the  government ;  but  the  national  finances  were  so  far 
exhausted,  that  the  bank  was  subsequently  obliged  to  release  $200,000  of  the 


Congres- 
sional pro 
ceedings 
relative 
thereto. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


785 


iment  of 

ind  favot 
efore  the 
:artily  ap- 
profitable 
-  security 
was  con- 
system,  a.\ 
but  all  of 

this  coun' 
therewith, 
.sisting  thft 
lonal  inde- 
ia  June  1 7, 
amount   of 
loney,"  the 
army.    At 
lutiny ;  and 
iion  for  the 
ultimately, 
tlerk  of  the 
d  enclosed 
ghan,  who, 
ey. 

.1  Congress, 

Ippointed  to 

institution. 

ions,  which 

the   inten- 

id  pledging 

Itendent  of 
Lank  should 
led  it.  In 
Ihartered  as 

10,000,000 
[paid  in  by 
[lie  superin- 
looo  to  the 

vere  so  far 
looo  of  the 


subscription,  and  its  remaining  stock  paid  in  was  sold  to  persons  in  Holland. 
The  bank  was  opened  for  business  on  Jan.  7,  1782.  Ik'fore  the  month  of 
July  following  it  had  loaned  to  tiie  government  ;S40o,ooo,  and  to  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  iS8o,ooo. 


ROBBKT  MORRIS, 


The  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  granted  the  company  an  act  of  incorpora- 
tion of  perpetual  duration  on  April  i,  1782,  which  was  repealed  in  1785  ;  but 
the  bank  continued  its  business   under  the  act  of  Confess.     A 

1  r  r,,  I-,-  ,,.,,  Further  his- 

cnange  of  parties  m  1787  brought  with  it  a  renewal  of  the  charter  tory  and 
by  the  Slate  of  Pennsylvania,  limited,  however,  to  the  term  of  four-   success  of 

•1  -i,-^  I  .T-,  the  bank. 

teen  years.  With  a  cajjital  of  $2,000,000.  In  1790  Hamilton,  in 
iiis  report,  refers  to  the  "  ambiguous  situation  in  which  the  Bank  of  North 
America  has  placed  itself  by  the  acceptance  of  its  last  State  charter,"  and 
concludes,  that  as  this  has  rendered  it  a  bank  of  an  individual  State,  with  a 
capital  of  but  $2,000,000,  liable  to  dissolution  at  the  expiration  of  its  charter 
in  fourteen  years,  it  would  not  be  expedient  to  accept  it  as  an  equivalent  for 
a  bank  of  the  United  States.  The  State  charter  of  the  bank  was  renewed 
from  time  to  time  until  Dec.  3,  1864.  when  it  became  a  national  bank,  retain- 
ing its  original  name,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  and  a  surplus  of  nearly 
the  same  amount.     Although  such  was  not  originally  intended  to  be  the  case, 


786 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  institution  has  proved  profitable  to  the  stockholders ;  for  the  annual 
dividends  from  1792  to  1875,  a  period  of  eighty-four  years,  averaged  only  a 
small  fraction  less  than  eleven  per  cent.  .     . 


Alexander 
Hamilton 
moves  for 
a  national 
bank. 


FIRST   BANK   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

The  experiment  of  the  Bank  of  North  America  had  demonstrated  the 
value  of  an  institution  which  should  make  loans  to  the  government  as  well 
as  to  private  individuals ;  which  should  take  and  place  govern- 
ment bonds  as  our  "  syndicates "  do  now ;  and  which  should 
furnish  the  people  a  secure  paper  currency  to  supplement  the 
limited  amount  of  coin  in  circulation.  But  Alexander  Hamilton, 
the  great  Federalist,  who  had  been  so  influential  in  securing  the 
adoption  of  the  new  Constitution  in  1787,  and  who  was  Washington's  first 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  held  that  the  Bank  of  North  America  had  then 
become  a  State  institution,  and  that  a  National  bank  should  be  organized. 
England  had  such  a  one,  and  France  also.  With  a  foresight  which  has 
been  singularly  justified  by  the  experience  of  the  country  with  greenl)acks 
at  a  later  day,  he  objected  to  the  issue  of  paper  money  directly  by  the 
government,  as  of  ''  a  nature  so  liable  to  abuse,  and,  it  may  even  be  affirmed, 
so  certain  of  being  abused,  that  the  wisdom,  of  the  government  will  be 
shown  in  never  trusting  itself  with  the  use  of  so  seducing  and  dangerous 
an  expedient."  Accordingly,  in  an  elaborate  report  made  Dec.  13,  1790, 
covering  the  above  points,  he  recommended  the  incorporation  of  the 
Hank  of  the  United  States ;  and  his  plan,  substantially  unchanged,  was 
adopted  by  Congress,  and  approved  by  the  President,  the  25th  of  the  follow- 
ing February. 

The  capital  of  the  bank  was  fixed  at  ^10,000,000.  One-fourth  of  all  the 
private  and  corporate  subscriptions  was  to  be  paid  in  gold  and  silver,  and  three- 
its  basis  fourths  were  to  be  paid  in  United-States  stock  bearing  six  per  cent 
and  govern-  interest.  Two  millions  were  to  be  subscribed  by  the  United  States, 
"""'■  and  paid  in  ten  equal  annual  instalments  by  loans  from  the  bank. 

or,  as  Mr.  Hamilton  describes  the  operation,  by  "  borrowing  with  one  hand 
what  is  lent  with  the  other."  The  board  of  directors  of  the  bank  was 
to  consist  of  twenty-five  persons,  not  more  than  three-fourths  of  them 
to  be  eligible  for  re-election  in  the  next  succeeding  year.  The  bank  had 
authority  to  loan  on  real-estate  security,  but  could  only  hold  such  real 
estate  as  was  requisite  for  the  erection  of  suitable  banking-houses,  or  should 
be  conveyed  to  it  in  satisfaction  of  mortgages  or  judgments.  No  stock- 
holder, unless  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  could  be  a  director ;  and  the 
directors  were  to  give  their  services  without  compensation.  The  bills  and 
notes  of  the  bank  were  made  receivable  in  payment  of  all  debts  to  the 
United  States. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


1^1 


From  the  day  it  was  first  proposed,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was 
a  bone  of  political  contention  ;  the  North  favoring  it,  and  the  South  disap- 
proving. The  line  which  divided  its  friends  and  foes  was  not  only  sectional, 
but  partisan :  the  Federalists,  and  subsecjuently  the  Whigs,  con-  poijtid 
stituting  the  former ;  and  the  Republicans,  or.  as  they  were  also  sentiment 
called,  the  Democrats,  composing  the  latter.  The  original  act  of  "''"  '"«>'• 
mcorporation   was    opposed    in    the    House    of   Representatives    by  James 


\\|/' 


AI.EXAVinER   HAMILTON. 


Madison  (afterwards  President)  and  eighteen  others,  all  but  one  of  whom 
wjre  from  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  Carolinas.  Thomas  Jefferson  (then 
secretary  of  state)  and  Edmund  Randolph  (attorney-general),  in  opinions 
requested  by  Washington,  also  disapproved.  The  grounds  taken  by  the 
opponents  of  the  charter  were  a  denial  of  the  general  utility  of  banking 
systems,  and  opposition  to  the  special  provisions  of  the  bill  j    but  the  main 


788 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


force  of  their  objections  was  directed  against  the  constitutional  authority  of 
Congress  to  pass  an  act  for  the  incorporation  of  a  national  bank.  The 
supporters  of  the  bill  in  the  House  of  Representatives  numbered  thirty- 
nine, —  a  majority  of  twenty,  —  all  of  them,  except  four,  being  representatives 
of  Northern  States,  among  whom  were  Fisher  Ames,  Elbridge  Gerry,  and 
Theodore  Sedgwick,  of  Massachusetts,  Roger  Sherman  and  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull of  Connecticut,  Elias  Boudinot  of  New  Jersey,  and  Peter  Muhlenberg 
of  Pennsylvania.  Hamilton  (secretary  of  the  treasury)  and  Knox  (secretary 
of  war),  in  official  opinions  rendered  to  the  President,  maintained  the  con- 
stitutionality and  the  policy  of  the  act. 

The  average  dividends  of  the  bank  from  its  organization  to  March,  1809, 
were  at  the  rate  of  eight  and  a  half  \tcx  centum  j^er  annum.  The  5,000 
Success  of  shares  of  $400  each  owned  by  the  United  States  were  disposed 
the  bank.  qj-  ]„  {^g  years  1796  to  1802  at  a  considerable  profit;  2,220 
shares  having  been  sold  in  the  last-mentioned  year  at  a  premium  of  forty-five 
per  cent.  According  to  the  treasury-records,  the  government  subscription, 
with  the  addition  of  the  interest  which  was  paid  by  the  United  States  on  the 
stock  issued  for  it,  amounted  to  $2,636,427.71;  while  there,  was  received 
by  the  treasury  in  dividends,  and  from  the  sale  of  the  bank-stock  at  various 
times,  $3,773,580,  the  profit  realized  by  the  government  being  $1,137,152.29, 
or  nearly  fifty-seven  per  cent  on  the  original  investment. 

The  twenty-years'  limit  of  the  bank's  charter  expired  March  4,  181 1; 
and  application  was  made  for  its  renewal  in  April,  1808.  Again  the  question 
became  political,  although  party  lines  were  not  drawn  strictly. 
forJenewine  Congrcss  investigated  the  matter  in  1810.  Mr.  Gallatin,  then 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  favored  the  renewal,  and  said  of  the 
first  bank,  that  its  affairs,  "  considered  as  a  moneyed  institution, 
have  been  wisely  and  skilfully  administered."  The  vote  in  the 
Senate,  Feb.  20,  181 1,  resulted  in  a  tie;  and  the  Vice-President,  George 
Clinton,  threw  his  casting  vote  against  the  measure.  Henry  Clay  opposed  it ; 
while  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Pickering  favored  it,  the  latter  acting  contrary 
to  the  instructions  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature.  The  legislatures  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia  instructed  their  representatives  to  oppose  it  on  the 
ground  of  unconstitutionality.  In  the  House  the  bill  was  defeated  by  a 
minority  of  one. 

Financial  evils  of  a  serious  character  now  ensued,  and  greatly  distressed 
the  country ;  the  trouble  being  greatly  augmented  by  the  paralyzing  effect 
Seri  u  upon  industry  of  the  embargo  of  1807  and  the  war  of  181 2-14. 

financial  In  the  first  place,  the  State  banks,  and  even  unchartered  institu- 
eviis  result-  tJQus,  inflated  the  paper  currency  until  it  sadly  depreciated.  In 
181 1  the  outstanding  State-bank  notes  amounted  to  |! 2 8,000,000 ; 
in  1813,  between  ;{!62,ooo,ooo  and  $70,000,000;  in  1815,  between  $99,000,- 
000  and  $110,000,000;  and  in  1819,  between  $45,000,000  and  $53,000,000. 


the  charter 

unsuccess 

ful. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


789 


lority  of 
k.  The 
i  thirty- 
entalivcs 


;rry, 


and 


n  'rriim- 
ihlenbcrg 
secretary 
the  con- 
ch, 1809, 
he  5,000 

disposed 
Pit;  2,220 
■  forty-five 
Dscription, 
tes  on  the 
s  received 

at  various 
37.'52-29. 

I  4,  1811  ; 
question 
strictly, 
atin,  then 
aid  of  the 
institution, 
3te  in   the 
lit,  George 
^posed  it ; 
T  contrary 
s  of  Penn- 
it   on  the 
ated  by  a 

distressed 
zing  effect 
f  1812-14. 
ed  institu- 
iated.  In 
8,000,000 ; 
$99,000,- 

3,000,000. 


Floods  of  this  currency  were  in  fractions  of  a  dollar,  from  six  cents  upward. 
Much  of  this  being  irredeemable,  it  passed  for  a  great  tleal  less  than  its  face. 
Again:  in  September,  18 14,  all  of  the  banks  south  of  New  Kngland  suspend- 
ed specie  payments.  This  also  deprecMated  their  notes.  Furthermore,  the 
United  States,  which  had  not  yet  established  treasure-vaults  of  its  own,  had 
some  59,000,000  on  deposit  with  the  suspended  banks,  which  numbered  about 
a  hundred,  and  from  which  it  could  not  recover  its  money  for  many  years ; 
in  some  cases,  never.  The  government's  own  credit  suffered  in  conse- 
quence. During  1813  and  1814  it  issued  stocks  to  the  amount  of  ;j!42,269,- 
776,  which  were  to  run  twelve  years  at  six  per  cent,  but  which  had  to  be 
sold  at  fifteen  per  cent  discount.  On  Feb.  24,  181 5,  the  war  being  over,  a 
loan  of  $8,856,960,  running  for  nine  years  at  seven  per  cent,  was  negotiated 
at  par;  and  yet  another  loan  of  $9,745,745  for  only  nii.c  months,  at  six  per 
cent,  yielded  the  following  year  only  ninety-five  per  cent  of  its  face.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that,  even  while  selling  these  bonds  below  par, 
the  government  was  obliged  to  receive  paper  money,  which  was  worth  much 
less  than  its  own  face ;  so  that  its  loss  was  double.  These  were  the  most 
important  results  of  the  State-bank  system  during  the  interval  between  the 
first  and  second  banks  of  the  United  States, — from  March  4,  1811,  to  Jan.  7, 
1817. 

On  Oct.  6,  1 8 14,  Mr.  Dallas  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury;  and 
on  the  14th  of  the  same  month,  in  response  to  an  inquiry  from  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  reviewed  Another  vain 
all  the  evils  just  recounted  in  an  elaborate  and  earnest  argument,  attempt  at 
and  strongly  recommended  the  organization  of  a  national  bank.  "^ '" " 
This  and  the  experience  of  the  country  revolutionized  sentiment  in  Congress  ; 
and  in  January,  181 5,  that  body  granted  a  new  charter  to  the  old  Bank  of  the 
United  States.  But  Mr.  Madison,  who  had  then  been  President  nearly  six 
years,  and  who  had  opposed  the  establishment  of  the  original  bank,  vetoed 
the  bill. 

SECOND   DANK   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

On  the  loth  of  April,  1816,  a  bill  was  approved  by  President  Madison, 
which  was  the  second  and  last  charter  of  the  bank  granted  by  the  (leneral 
Government.  The  plan  proposed  by  Mr.  Dallas  was  modelled  Re-estab- 
upon  the  charter  of  the  first  United-States  Bank,  and  the  act  of  '"hment. 
incorporation  as  finally  passed  did  not  differ  materially  from  the  plan  proposed 
by  him.  The  charter  was  limited  to  twenty  years,  expiring  on  March  3,  1836. 
The  capital  was  fixed  at  $35,000,000,  $7,000,000  of  which  was  to  be  subscribed 
by  the  government,  payable  in  coin,  or  in  stock  of  the  United  States  bearing 
interest  at  five  per  cent,  and  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government. 
The  remaining  stock  was  to  be  subscribed  for  by  individuals  and  corporations, 
one-fourth  being  payable  in  coin,  and  three-fourths  in  coin  or  in  the  funded 


790 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


debt  of  ihe  United  States.  Five  of  the  directors  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
President ;  and  all  of  them  were  reciuired  to  be  resident-citizens  of  the  '  'nited 
States,  and  to  serve  without  comiiensation.      The  amount   of  indebt  ,, 

exclusive  of  deposits,  was  not  to  exceed  the  capital  of  the  bank.  ("he 
directors  were  empowered  to  establish  branches  ;  and  the  notes  of  tiie  bank, 
payable  on  demand,  were  receivable  in  all  payments  to  the  United  Stales. 
The  penalty  for  refusing  to  i)ay  its  notes  or  deposits  in  coin,  on  demand,  was 
twelve  per  cent  per  annum  until  fully  paid.  The  bank  was  recpiired  to  give 
the  necessary  facilities,  without  charge,  for  transferring  the  funds  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  different  portions  of  the  Union,  and  for  negotiating  puljlic  loans. 
The  moneys  of  the  government  were  to  be  deposited  in  the  bank  and  its 
branches,  unless  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  should  otherwise  direct.  No 
notes  were  to  be  issued  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars,  and  all  notes 
smaller  than  a  hundred  dollars  were  to  be  made  payable  on  demand.  'Ihe 
bank  was  not,  directly  nor  indirectly,  to  deal  in  any  thing  except  bills  of 
exchange,  gold  or  silver  bullion,  goods  pledged  for  money  lent,  or  in  t'  "  sale 
of  goods  really  and  truly  pledged  for  loans,  or  of  the  proceeds  of  ids. 

No  other  bank  was  to  be  established  by  authority  of  Congress  d.  .he 

continuance  of  the  corporation,  except  such  as  might  be  organized  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  with  an  aggregate  capital  not  exceeding  $6,000,000  ; 
and,  in  consideration  of  all  the  grants  of  the  charter,  the  bank  was  to  pay  to 
the  United  States  a  bonus  of  $1,500,000  in  three  annual  instalments.  The 
bank  went  into  operation  Jan.  7,  181 7. 

This  i)eriod  was  particularly  critical.  Property  had  depreciated  ;  the  con- 
traction of  State-bank  circulation  was  rapidly  going  on,  and  bank-failures  were 
Grave  diffi-  fftquent  and  numerous.  Individual  and  corporate  business-enter- 
cuities  sur-  prises  were  still  languishing  in  conse(iuence  of  the  war  and  cur- 
mounted,  rency  evils.  This  made  up-hill  work  for  the  new  United-States 
Bank.  Its  managers  were  still  further  embarrassed  by  an  attack  on  them  in 
Cdtigresst.  In  November,  18 18,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  investigate  its 
affairs,  which,  in  December,  reported  that  it  had  violated  its  charter  in  four 
instances,  and  in  February,  1819,  recommended  a  repeal  of  the  same.  This 
assault  failed,  however,  as  the  resolution  did  not  pass.  In  the  last-named 
year,  the  bank,  feeling  the  responsibility  of  its  influence  upon  the  business  of 
the  country,  made  an  herculean  effort.  It  imported  seven  millions  of  specie 
from  Europe  in  order  to  restore  soundness  to  the  currency.  This  enterprise 
cost  it  half  a  million ;  and,  owing  to  the  mismanagement  of  the  Baltimore 
branch,  over  three  millions  were  lost  outright.  Yet  the  bank  and  the  business 
of  the  country  eventually  recovered.  Popular  industry  and  governmental 
finance  prospered  from  1820  to  1835.  In  this  interval  the  national  debt  was 
paid,  and  the  stock  of  the-  bank  rose  in  the  market  until  it  commanded  a 
premium  of  twenty  per  cent.  "  Long  before  the  election  of  Gen.  Jackson," 
says  Mr.  Parton,  "  the  bank  appeared  to  have  lived  down  all  opposition.     In 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


791 


the  presidential  campaign  of  1824  it  was  not  so  mach  as  mentioned,  nor  was 
it  mentioned  in  that  of  1838.  In  all  the  political  pamphlets,  volumes,  news- 
papers, campaign-i)apcrs,  burlesiiiies,  and  caricatures  of  those  years,  there  is 
not  the  most  distant  allusion  to  the  bank  as  a  political  issue." 

In  1837,  when  the  Federal  charter  expired,  the  bank's  stock  stood  at 
twenty-five  per  cent  premium,  and  the  institution  was  making  money.  The 
profit  realized  by  the  government  in  the  mean  time  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  statement ;  — 


Himiis  \n\i\  by  the  bank  to  the  United  States  .... 
Dividends  paid  by  the  bank  to  the  United  .States    . 
Proceeds  of  stocks  sold  and  other  moneys  paid  by  the  bank 
to  the  United  States 

Total 

Five-per-cent  stock  issued  by  the  United  States  for 

its  subscri|)tion  to  the  stock  of  the  bank       .         j|^7, 000,000 
Interest  paid  on  the  same  from  issue  to  redemption,    4,950,000 


51,500,000  00 
7,118,416  29 

9,4  .'4,7  SO  78 

5i.S,04j,i67  07 


1 1 ,950,000  00 


Profit 


56,093,167  07 


Andrew  Jackson  came  to  the  pre  .idency  March  4,  1829,  and  soon  began 
a  crusade  against  the  bank.  In  his  message  to  Congress  the  following  winter 
he  advised  a  consideration  of  the  constitutional  objections  to  re-    .    . 

''  Andrew 

chartering  the  institution.     Agitation,  milil  at  first,  grailually  in-  Jackson 
creased.      In   July,    18-12,    Congress   granted   a   renewal   of   the   '"■''"**'■'■ 

J     }^  J    *  <=>  o  on  the  bank. 

charter,  and  President  Jackson  vetoed  the  bill.  A  few  months 
later  an  intention  was  manifested  of  removing  from  the  bank  all  the  govern- 
ment deposits.  In  the  winter  of  1832-33  the  House  passed  a  resolution 
declaring  that  these  moneys  were  safe  where  they  were.  But  the  election  of 
the  previous  fall  had  insured  a  Democratic  House  to  succeed  this  one.  After 
his  second  inauguration  in  1833,  therefore,  the  President  ordered  his  new 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  Mr.  Duane,  to  remove  the  deposits,  and  distribute 
them  among  certain  Strte  banks.  That  gentleman  declineil  to  do  so,  and 
was  the  ^fore  displaced  by  the  President,  who  appointed  .\ttorney-Cen. 
Taney  his  successor.  Mr.  Taney  executed  the  mandate  of  his  superior,  and 
gave  his  reasons  therefor  to  the  new  Congress  on  its  meeting  in  Decemlier. 
The  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  twenty-six  to  twenty,  censured  the  Presitlent  for  what 
it  termed  a  usurpation  of  authority,  and  voted,  twenty-eight  to  eighteen,  that 
the  moneys  had  been  safe  where  they  were.  The  House,  on  the  other  hand, 
approved  the  President's  course,  declared  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
ought  not  to  be  rechartered,  resolved  that  the  State  banks  be  continued  as 
depositories,  and  authorized  the  investigation  of  the  bank  and  its  branches. 

Mr.  Taney  announced,  that,  while  the  new  deposits  would  go  to  the  State 
banks  selected  as  depositories,  those  already  in  the  United-States  Bank  would 


792 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


only  be  removed  gradually.  Its  managers,  however,  although  it  had  specie' 
Results  of  enough  in  its  vaults  to  meet  a  demand  from  the  government  in 
removing  the  full,  made  a  pretence  of  fear  of  a  sudden  attack  irom  the  treas' 
epos  ts.  yj.y  tiepartnient,  and  created  an  artificial  stringency  in  the  coin- 
market.  Meanwhile  the  State  banks  rapidly  increased  their  issues  of  paper,  the 
increase  being  from  $61,000,000  in  1830  to  $149,000,000  in  1837.  Whereas, 
in  1830  a  committee  o*"  the  Senate  had  reported  that  "  the  country  is  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  uniform  national  currency  (notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States),  not  only  sound  and  uniform  in  itself,  but  perfectly  adapted  to  all  the 
purposes  of  the  government  and  the  community,  and  more  sound  and  uni- 
form than  that  possessed  of  any  other  country,"  yet,  but  seven  years  after 
this  ' "tn  the  loth  of  May,  1837),  all  the  banks  then  in  operation,  with  the 
mami  .oth  United-States  Bank  of  Pennsylvania  among  them,  went  into  suspen- 
sion as  if  by  common  consent,  or,  as  Col.  Benton  has  it,  "  with  a  concert 
and  punctuality  of  action  which  announced  arrangement  and  determination 
such  as  attend  revolts  and  insurrections  in  other  countries  ; "  and  he  declares 
that  "  the  prime  mover  and  master  manager  of  the  suspension  was  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  then  rotten  to  the  core,  and  tottering  to  its  fall,  but 
strong  enough  to  carry  others  with  it,  and  seeking  to  hide  its  own  downfall  in 
the  crash  of  a  general  catastrophe."  This  allegation  derives  some  support 
from  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  stockholders,  made  in  January,  1841, 
after  the  failure  of  the  bank.  They  say,  "  The  origin  of  the  course  of  policy 
which  has  conducted  to  the  present  situation  of  the  affairs  of  the  institution 
dates  beyond  the  period  of  the  recharter  by  the  State."  Favored  by  the 
importation  of  $20,000,000  of  specie,  the  New-England  and  New-York  banks 
resumed  in  1838  ;  but  the  Philadelphia  banks  made  three  unsuccessful  attempts 
before  they  finally  accomplished  resumption  in  February,  1841.  But  between 
1877  and  1843  they  had  contracted  their  circulation  from  $149,000,000  to 
$58,000,000. 

The  managers  of  the  United-States  Bank  did  not  wind  up  its  affairs  when 
the  expiration  of  its  charter  drew  near,  but  secured  a  new  charter  from  the 

State  of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  issued  Feb.  18,  1836,  only  thir- 
of  the  ifnit^  *^^"  ^^^^  before  the  old  one  expired.  Under  this  tide  it  pro- 
ed-states        ceeded  to  do  business  as  before.     The  new  charter,  however,  was 

obtained  on  condition  of  assisting  in  State  improvements,  canals, 
railroads,  navigation  companies,  and  turnpike-roads,  to  the  extent  of  about 
$5,000,000.  Col.  Benton  regards  this  pledge  as  a  form  of  bribery,  in  addition 
to  which  he  attributes  the  grant  of  the  charter  to  personal  corruption  of  the 
legislature  by  the  managers  of  the  bank.  The  State  never  received  its  bonus, 
however.  The  bank,  as  has  been  seen,  suspended  specie  payments  as  often  as 
other  State  institutions,  and  finally  succumbed  to  trials  which  other  banks, 
more  prudently  managed,  survived.  It  made  an  assignment  of  certain  securi- 
ties, on  May  i,  1841,  to  secure  5,000,000  of  post-notes  which  other  banks  had 


OF    THE    UNITED    ^TATES. 


793 


1  specie' 
ment  in 
lie  treas- 
lie  coin- 
aper,  the 
Whereas 
IS  in  the 
e  United 
3  all  the 
and  uni- 
;ars  after 

with  the 
3  suspen- 
\  concert 
rmination 

declares 
the  Bank 
s  fall,  but 
3\vnfall  in 
e  support 
ary,  1841, 

of  policy 
institution 
|d  by  the 

irk  banks 
attempts 
between 

30,000  to 


taken  in  exchange  for  its  demand-notes.  The  second  assignment  was  made 
June  7,  1 84 1,  to  secure  its  notes  and  depoj:,its,  "  among  which  were  notes 
and  deposits  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States,  incorporated  by  Congress ; " 
so  that  it  appears  to  have  been,  up  to  1841,  using  its  old  issues.  The  third 
and  final  assignment,  made  on  Sept.  4,  1 841,  covered  all  its  remaining  property, 
—  "  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  sundry  persons  and  bodies  corporate  which 
the  bank  is  at  present  unable  to  pay." 

Nicholas  Biddle  had  been  the  president  of  the  bank  from  January,  1823, 
to  March,  1839,  when  he  resigned,  leaving  the  institution,  as  he  said,  "pros- 
perous." The  shares,  however,  were  sold  at  that  time  at  iii,  instead  of  125 
as  in  1837,  and  were  quoted  in  April,  1843,  after  its  failure,  at  i  J. 

The  liquidation  of  the  bank  is  briefly  stated  in  a  letter  to  the  national 
comptroller  by  Thomas  Robins,  Esq.,  president  of  the  Philadelphia  National 
Bank,  who  is  believed  to  be  the  only  survivor  of  its  numerous  assignees.  He 
says,  "  All  the  circulating-notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  together 
with  the  deposits,  were  paid  in  full,  principal  and  interest ;  and  the  accounts  of 
the  assignees  were  finally  settled  in  1856.  There  were  no  funds,  and  no  divi- 
dend was  paid  to  the  stockholders  of  the  bank :  the  whole  $28,000,000  was 
a  total  loss  to  them.  The  7,000,000  of  stock  held  by  the  United  States  previ- 
ous to  the  institution  becoming  a  State  bank  was  paid  in  full  to  the  government ; 
so  that  the  United  States  lost  nothing  by  the  bank."  With  this  experience 
in  banking  the  government  was  long  content. 

The  exigency  of  a  civil  war  twenty  years  later  required  a  fiscal  agency 
between  the  United-States  Government  and  the  people  of  the  country  and  of 
the  world,  by  which  the  former's  loans  could  be  rapidly  negotiated,  .j.^^  present 
In  the  earlier  days,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  performed  nationai- 
this  work:  later,  the  syndicate  of  New- York  bankers  have  accom-  ■"•'•ytem. 
plished  it.  But  in  1 86 1  the  old  expedient  was  too  unpopular,  and  the  new  one 
was  not  yet  devised,  if,  indeed,  it  were  practicable.  Accordingly,  Mr.  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  then  secretary  of  the  treasury,  proposed  to  enact  a  general  law  pro- 
viding for  the  conversion  of  State  banks  all  over  the  country  into  "  National  " 
banks ;  the  transformation  being  facilitated  by  taxing  the  old  banks,  and  grant- 
ing special  immunities  and  privileges  to  the  new  ones.  The  object  of  the  law 
was  to  effect  the  sale  of  government  bonds  extensively.  This  was  brought 
about  by  requiring  the  banks  to  invest  their  capital  in  these  bonds,  and  deposit 
them  at  Washington  as  security  for  their  circulation,  which  was  allowed  to 
equal  only  ninety  per  cent  of  the  bonds  so  deposited.  This  gave  the  govern- 
ment ready  money,  and  at  the  same  time  secured  a  uniform  paper  currency, 
which  was  everywhere  receivable,  and  equal  to  government  notes  or  "  green- 
l)acks."  The  proposition  did  not  meet  with  favor  at  first,  however.  A  bill 
was  prepared,  in  accordance  with  the  secretary's  wishes,  by  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee,  in  December,  1861  ;  but  such  was  the  objection  to  it,  that 
it  was  laid  aside  for  a  time :  indeed,  it  was  not  resuscitated  until  February, 


794 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


1863,  when  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate  reported  it  to  that  body. 
Ten  days  later  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  twenty-three  to  twenty-one ;  and  eight 
days  afterward  the  House  concurred,  seventy-eight  to  sixty-four.  Within  a 
week  the  President  had  approved  the  measure,  and  it  went  into  immediate 
operation.  This  system  has  continued  ever  since,  with  no  material  modifica- 
tion, and  is  as  nearly  perfect  as  a  banking-system  can  be.     The  security  of  the 


SALMON   P.   CHASE. 


notes  already  referred  to,  their  uniformity  throughout  the  whole  country,  and 
the  rigid  system  of  quarterly  statements,  of  reserves  to  meet  a  demand,  and  of 
governmental  inspection,  account  for  the  popularity  with  which  the  national 
banks  have  been  regarded. 


STATE    nANKS. — MASSACHUSETTS. 

We  turn  now  to  survey  briefly  banking  imder  State  auspices.  Without 
The  second  examining  in  detail  the  history  of  each  particular  State,  it  will  suftico 
local  bank  in  to  note  the  course  of  events  in  some  of  the  representative  sections 
of  the  country.  We  have  already  noted  the  failure  of  Colman's 
efforts  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  But  Massachusetts  kept 
the  subject  in  mind,  and  was,  therefore,  pecuUarly  susceptible  to  the  influ- 


the  United 
States. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


795 


ence  of  Pennsylvania's  example.  Already  mention  has  been  made  of  the  Bank 
of  North  America,  which  was  opened  in  Philadelphia  in  March,  1 782.  The 
success  of  this  institution  led,  two  years  later,  to  the  organization  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bank,  which  received  its  charter  from  the  legislature  on  Feb.  7,  1784. 
This  was  the  fir^  local  bank  established  in  that  State,  and  the  second  in  the 
United  States.  Its  capital  was  limited  to  $300,000,  of  which  $253,500  had 
been  paid  in  when  it  commenced  business  on  July  5  of  that  year. 

During  the  ninety-two  years  which  have  elapsed  since  this  bank  was  estab- 
lished, it  has  passed  but  two  dividends  ;  the  first  instance  occurring  at  the  close 
of  the  war  of  181 2,  and  the  second  during  the  financial  crisis  of  successor 
1836.     But,  when  the  bank  was  converted  into  a  national  associa-  theexperi- 
tion,  it  compensated  for  these  omissions  by  declaring  an  extra  divi-   '""*'" 
dend  of  ten  per  cent.     Up  to  June  i,  1874,  a  period  of  ninety  years,  the  ratio 
of  i(s  losses  to  the  total  amount  loaned  was  but  four-hundredths  of  one  per 
ce.,'..     In  the  eighty  years  of  its  existence  as  a  State  bank,  from  1784  to  1864, 
the  whole  amount  of  circulating  notes  issued  by  it  was  $4,674,177,  of  which 
the  amount  lost,  or  not  presented  for  redemption,  was  $22,111,  or  not  quite 
half  of  one  per  cent. 

No  further  bank-charter  was  granted  by  this  State  until  1792,  in  which  year 
the  Union  Bank  was  organized,  with  a  specie  capital  of  $1,200,000,  of  which 
$400,000  was  subscribed  by  the  State.     During  this  interval  the 
currency  was  in  bad  condition.      Small  bills  had  nearly  driven  tio"|^'^"" 
specie  out  of  circulation,  when,  in  1792,  the  legislature  prohibited  ordered,  and 
any  further  issue  of  notes  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.  **"«" J|'"» 

^  prohibited. 

Provision  was  made  for  legislative  examinations  of  the  Union 
Bank,  and  it  was  made  the  depository  of  the  funds  of  the  commonwealth.  It 
was  also  required  to  loan  not  exceeding  $100,000  to  the  State  at  five-per-cent 
interest,  and  provisions  of  a  similar  nature  appeared  in  most  of  the  charters 
subsequently  granted.  In  1 795  Massachusetts  incorporated  her  third  bank, 
the  Nantucket,  with  a  capital  of  $40,000  ;  and  in  the  same  year  the  Merrimack, 
at  Newburyport,  was  established.  The  prohibition  against  the  issue  of  small 
bills  was  waived  in  the  case  of  these  banks,  each  of  them  being  allowed  to 
iF.sue  notes  as  small  as  two  dollars. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  science  of  banking  was,  at  this  i)eriod 
01"  our  history  in  its  infancy  ;  not  only  infancy  of  proportion,  but  of  idea.     It 
was  not  yet  understood  exactly  what  the  true  province  of  a  bank   ^^^^,00. 
was,  nor  yet  what  was  the  best  way  to  make  such  an  institution  ment  of 
secure.     Then,  too,  as  an  inheritance  from  the  mother-country  and  «'^'"«'fi<: 

^  banking. 

past  ages,  the  grant  of  the  privilege  of  banking  was  a  special,  not  a 
general  one  ;  and,  in  return  therefor,  the  grantees  were  expected  to  make  some 
jiarticular  return  to  the  government.     We  have  noticed  this  in  the  bonuses 
exacted  for  the  United-States  bank-charters  both  by  the  Federal  Government 
and  that  of  Pennsylvania.     We  notice,  in  the  case  of  Massachusetts,  that  she 


796 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


exacted  a  loan  from  the  Union  Bank,  the  second  she  ever  chartered.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  government  took  the  institution  under  its  special  protection, 
and  insured  success  by  subscribing  a  third  or  so  of  the  capital  of  the  proposed 

bank.      In  nearly 

all     the     charters 

^^•^^ii^^^   :?^  ^^x^^Fm^'^^^:^  granted  subse- 

quent  to  the  year 
1793  provision  was 
made  for  a  State 
subscription,  usu- 
ally about  one- 
third  of  the  capi- 
tal.    Under  these 

CONTINENTAL  PEWTER  MONEY.  irOVlSllOnb      inC 

State  became 
largely  interested  in  the  banking-business,  holding  in  181 2  about  $1,000,000 
of  bank-stock,  the  total  bank  capital  in  the  State  being  then  about  $8,000,000. 

Colman's  idea  was  to  secure  a  bank's  notes  by  mortgages  on  land.  The 
Colonies  and  States  seem  to  have  trusted  largely  to  the  character  of  the  bankers 
Govern-  ^^"^  honesty  and  good  management  to  whom  charters  were  given, 
mental  But,  by  degrees,  the  necessity  for  some  sort  of  surveillance  began 

nspecton.  ^^  ^^  ^^j^  Provision  had  been  made  in  1792  for  a  legislative 
examination,  which,  no  doubt,  was  a  pretty  thorough  and  methodical  thing 
in  those  days ;  but  this  inspection  was  probably  ordered,  in  a  great  measure, 
on  account  of  the  Union  Bank  being  a  depository  of  State  funds,  and  less 
out  of  regard  for  the  business-community.  In  1799  a  law  was  passed 
prohibiting  the  issuing  of  notes  by  unauthorized  associations ;  so  that  govern- 
mental inspection  had  a  greater  value.  This  enactment  was  modelled  after 
one  of  the  British  Parliament  in  1741  ;  but  its  enforcement  in  New  England 
almost  produced  a  rebellion.  In  1803  th<;  examination  was  made  an  execu- 
tive function ;  and  the  banks  were  required  to  make  out  returns,  like  the 
railroads  and  insurance  companies  in  certain  States  now :  these  returns  were 
to  be  semi-annual,  and  to  be  sent  to  the  governor  and  council.  In  1805 
another  enactment  required  that  they  be  sworn  to. 

But  all  this  legislation  was  insufficient  to  make  the  bank-notes  sound 
money.  The  law  prohibiting  the  issue  of  bills  in  smaller  denominations  than 
Evils  arisiDK  ^^^  dollars  was  violated,  and  notes  as  small  as  twenty-five  cents 
became  very  plenty.  This  drove  specie  out  of  circulation.  The 
banks  issued  larger  notes,  too,  beyond  reason  ;  and  in  1809,  when 
the  embargo  had  paralyzed  commerce  and  trade,  and  business  was  depressed, 
bank-notes  were  often  at  fifty-per-cent  discount.  The  crisis  was  so  great,  that 
several  banks  failed  altogether.  In  18 10  the  legislature  passed  a  law  fixing  a 
penalty  of  two  per  cent  a  month  for  failure  to  rfedeem  notes  on  presentation  ; 
which  somewhat  helped  matters. 


notwith- 
standing. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


m 


On  the 
rotection, 
proposed  • 
In  nearly 
charters 
d  subse- 
»  the  year 
)vision  was 
)r  a  State 
tion,   usu- 
)out     one- 
■  the  capi- 
tider  these 
ions  the 
became 
$1,000,000 
8,000,000. 
land.     The 
the  bankers 
kvere  given, 
ance  began 
I  legislative 
dical  thing 
.t  measure, 
lis,  and  less 
ivas   passed 
liat  govern- 
elled  after 
jw  England 
an  execu- 
,s,  like  the 
turns  were 
In  1805 

ptes  sound 
litions  than 
l-five  cents 
Ition.  The 
[809,  when 
[depressed, 
1  great,  that 
kw  fixing  a 
Esentation ; 


In  1799  Massachusetts  had  five  State  banks.    The  returns  made  in  1805 
showed  sixteen  in  operation,  with  a  capital  of  ;?5, 760,000,  of  which  $5,460,000 
had  been  paid  in.     Only  one  more  was  chartered  before  181 1;  for  „.  .  , 
the  interval  was  a  very  trying  one  for  banks.     In  that  year  two  more  the  first 
were  chartered,  and  nearly  all  the  old  ones  were  re-chartered,  the  «>"•'■*"  "' 

this  century. 

new  grants  reducing  the  circulation  from  twice  the  capital  to  only 

fifty  per  cent  in  excess.     In  1812  the  State  began  taxing  the  banks  one-half  of 

one  per  cent  on  their  capital. 

The  Massachusetts  banks  did  not  suspend  in  1814,  as  did  so  many  others 
all  over  the  country  ;  which  was  attributable,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  fact  that 
the  laws  of  the  State  imposed  a  heavy  penalty  for  non-payment  of  their  notes. 
The  whole  number  of  banks  chartered  previous  to  Jan.  i,  1825,  was  forty-nine, 
with  an  authorized  capital  of  $20,800,000.  Of  this  number,  however,  nine 
had  either  failed,  discontinued,  or  had  never  gone  into  operation.  Reductions 
in  capital  of  many  of  the  remaining  banks  had  also  taken  place,  leaving  at 
the  date  named  forty  banks  in  operation,  with  $14,305,000  of  authorized  capi- 
tal, of  which  $13,300,000  had  been  paid  in  ;  so  that,  at  the  close  of  the  first 
forty-one  years  of  banking  in  Massachusetts,  not  less  than  eighty-two  per  cent 
of  the  whole  number  chartered,  together  with  seventy  per  cent  of  the  capital 
authorized,  still  remained  in  existence.  In  this  year  the  limit  of  circulation 
was  still  further  reduced  to  the  amount  of  the  capital  paid  in.  ■ 

Two  measures  combined  to  raise  the  value  of  bank-notes ;  one  was 
forcing  the  banks  to  redeem  on  presentation  at  their  own  counter,  and  the 
other  was  the  initiation  of  a  system  by  which  other  banks  co-  The  Suffolk- 
operated  to  secure  such  redemption.  In  the  present  day,  when  Bank 
government-notes  and  national-bank  notes  are  current  everywhere  '*'*'*"'• 
at  par,  it  is  hard  to  realize  how  quickly  a  note  depreciated  at  any  distance 
from  the  bank  which  issued  it.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  notes  from 
the  banks  of  other  States.  There  were  no  facilities  for  the  holder  visiting  the 
bank  to  demand  payment,  and  there  was  a  doubt  whether  he  would  get 
the  money  if  he  did  so  visit  it.  In  1813  a  movement  toward  a  reform  in  the 
bank-currency  began.  Bills  of  banks  in  other  States  were  then  at  a  discount 
in  Boston  from  three  to  five  per  cent,  and  the  notes  of  Boston  banks  had 
nearly  disappeared.  The  New- England  Bank,  organized  in  that  year  with  a 
capital  of  $1,000,000,  instituted  the  system  of  sending  foreign  bills  for  redemp- 
tion to  the  banks  which  issued  them,  and  charging  the  bill-holders  only  the 
actual  expense  of  transmitting  the  notes  and  returning  the  proceeds.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  system  of  redemption  afterward  known  as  the  Suffolk- 
Bank  system.  This  system  was  more  fully  developed  at  a  later  period  (1825), 
when  five  of  the  Boston  banks  —  the  Suffolk,  Eagle,  Manufacturers'  and  Me- 
chanics' (now  the  Tremont),  the  Globe,  and  State  —  undertook  its  manage- 
ment. For  a  long  time  the  system  was  bitterly  opposed  by  those  banks 
uuerested  in  preventing  a  return  of  their  circulation ;  but  it  was  eventually 


798 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


successful.  Its  exclusive  management  was  finally  assumed  by  the  Suffolk 
Bank ;  which  bank  compelled  the  redemption  at  par  in  Boston  of  the  notes 
of  the  New-England  banks  by  a  system  of  assorting  and  returning  the  notes 
to  the  pbce  of  issue,  and  its  operations  were  continued  down  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  national-bank  system.  The  amount  of  New-England  bank- 
notes rcJeemed  at  the  Suffolk  Bank  from  1841  to  1857  was  as  follows,  in 
millions  of  dollars  :  — 


DATS.  MILLIONS. 

I84I 109 

1842 105 

1844 126 

"845 137 

IS46 141 

1847 165      ' 

1848 I7S 

1849 199 

'        1850 220 

185I 243 

1852 245    ■ 

1853 2S8   , 

1854 231 

185s 341 

'856 397 

1857 376 

The  first  really  comprehensive  banking  law  of  Massachusetts  was  passed  in 
1829,  under  which  new  banks  were  required  to  have  fifty  per  cent  of  their 
Newiegisia-  capital  bona  fide  paid  in  specie  before  commencing  business.  It 
tion  for  also  prohibited  loans  to  shareholders  until  their  subscriptions  were 

security.  entirely  paid  in,  and  limited  the  amount  of  loans  on  pledges  of 
its  own  stock  to  fifty  per  cent  of  the  capital.  The  limit  of  circuiuting-notes 
was  increased  to  twenty-five  per  cent  in  excess  of  the  paid-in  capital ;  and 
debts  due  to  or  from  any  bank,  exclusive  of  deposits,  were  restricted  to  twice 
the  amount  of  such  capital,  the  directors  being  held  personally  liable  for  any 
excess.  On  Jan.  i,  1837,  there  had  been  organized  in  all  a  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  banks,  with  an  authorized  capital  of  $40,830,000.  Of  this  num- 
ber, four  had  never  gone  into  operation  ;  while,  of  the  remaining  hundred  and 
thirty-four,  no  less  than  thirty-two  had  either  failed,  or  had  forfeited  or  sur- 
rendered their  charters,  in  consequence  of  the  financial  panic  of  that  year. 
The  nominal  capital  of  the  banks  that  failed  was  555,500,000 :  their  liabilities 
were  ;?i  1,283,960,  of  which  $3,133,129  was  for  circulation,  and  $1,577,738  for 
deposits.  The  loss  to  their  shareholders  was  estimated  at  $2,500,000,  and  to 
the  public  at  $750,000  more ;  making  a  total  loss  of  about  $3,250,000,  or 
nearly  thirty  per  cent  of  their  entire  indebtedness.  During  the  fifty-two  years 
from  1784  to  1836  ten  banks  only  had  failed  or  discontinued,  the  total  losses  to 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


799 


their  shareholders  and  the  public  probably  not  exceeding  a  third  of  a  million  of 
dollars.  One  of  the  results  of  this  crisis  was  the  adoption  by  Massachusetts 
of  a  system  of  official  examinations  of  the  banks  through  the  agency  of  a  board 
of  bank-commissioners,  who  were  required  to  make  annual  examinations  of 
every  bank,  and  special  ones  whenever  requested  by  the  governor  of  the 
State. 

A  free  banking  law  was  passed  in   1851,  very  similar  in  its  provisions  to 
that  of  the  State  of  New  York   (to  which  we  shall  presently  refer)  ;  but  not 
more  than  seven  banks  were  ever  organized  under  it,  the  system  of  chartered 
banks,  which  had  so  long  prevailed,  mainly  occupying  the  field  down  to  the 
time  of  the  national  banking  system.     Upon  the  establishment  of  p^^g  j,,„^_ 
the  latter  system,  the  State  did  much  to  facilitate  the  conversion  ing  law  of 
of  State  into  National  banks ;  and  the  first  institution  to  avail  itself  '  ^'" 
of  this  privilege  was  the  Safety  Fund  Bank  of  Boston  in  1863,  under  the  title  of 
"The  First  National  Bank  of  Boston."    The  conversions  progressed  so  rapidly, 
that  in  October,  1865,  but  a  single  bank  remained  doing  business  under  a 
State   charter.     At   the   latter  date,  of  the    hundred   and   eighty-three   State 
banks  which  existed  in  1863,  four  had  been  discontinued,  and  a  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  had  become  national  banks. 

A  writer  in  "Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine"  for  1840  has  compiled  the 
statistics  of  the  dividends  paid  by  the  Massachusetts  banks  in  the  last  half  of 
each  of  the  thirty-two  years  from  1808  to  1839  inclusive.  As  the  profit,  „( 
State  in  18 13  imposed  an  annual  tax  of  one  percent  on  bank  Massachu- 
capital,  the  writer  mentioned  separates  the  whole  time  into  two  ""'  ""  *" 
periods,  and  finds,  that,  for  the  five  years  ending  with  181 2,  the  average  semi- 
annual dividends  paid  by  all  the  banks  was  three  dollars  and  seventy-two  cents 
upon  each  hundred  dollars  of  capital ;  while,  for  the  twenty-seven  years  which 
followed  the  imposition  of  the  bank-tax,  the  average  semi-annual  rate  was  two 
dollars  and  ninety-six  cents  per  hundred.  Taking  the  whole  period  of  thirty- 
two  years  together,  the  semi-annual  average  was  about  three  and  one-tenth 
per  cent.  Assuming  that  the  dividends  i)aid  in  the  first  half  of  these  years  did 
not  differ  materially  from  those  paid  in  the  last  half,  the  average  annual  divi- 
dends on  capital  were,  for  the  first  five  years,  seven  and  forty-five  hundredths 
per  cent ;  for  the  succeeding  twenty-seven  years,  five  and  ninety-three  hun- 
dredths per  cent ;  and,  for  the  whole  period,  six  and  seventeen  hundredths 
per  cent ;  or  at  the  rate  of  about  six  and  one-sixth  per  cent  per  annum  for  the 
whole  period.  The  average  annual  ratio  of  dividends  to  capital  of  the  national 
banks  of  Massachusetts  from  1870  to  1876  was  nine  and  six-tenths  per  cent, 
and  the  ratio  of  dividends  to  capital  and  surplus  for  the  same  period  was  seven 
and  six-tenths  per  cent. 


NEW    YORK. 

The  Bank  of  New  York  began  business  in  1 784  under  articles  of  associa- 


8oo 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


tion  drawn  by  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  was  a  member  of  its  first  board  of 
Bank  of  directors.     This  bank  was  chartered  by  the  legislature  on  March 

New  York.  2\,  1 79 1,  and  was  the  first  bank  in  the  State  organized  under  legis- 
lative sanction,  and  the  third  bank  in  the  United  States.  It  was  organized 
with  a  capital  of  Itgoo.ooo,  in  shares  of  j^soo  each.  The  State  subsecjuently 
subscribed  for  a  hundred  shares,  making  the  capital  $950,000 ;  and  the  bank 
commenced  business  on  May  2,  1791.  In  1832  the  capital  was  increased  to 
|>i,ooo,ooo  by  a  State  subscription  of  1150,000,  $15,000  of  which  was  for  the 
use  of  common  schools,  $20,000  for  Union  College,  and  $15,000  for  Hamilton 
College.  On  May  i,  1852,  it  was  re-organized  as  a  free  bank  under  the  gen- 
eral laws  of  the  State,  with  a  capital  of  $2,000,000.  On  Jan.  6,  1865,  it 
became  a  national  bank,  the  capit?l  having  previously  been  increased  to 
$3,000,000.  During  its  seventy-four  years  of  existence  as  a  State  bank  it  paid 
a  hundred  and  sixty-two  dividends,  varying  in  amount  from  three  to  five  per 
cent  semi-annually,  averaging  a  little  more  than  eight  per  cent  per  annum,  and 
amounting  in  all  to  over  six  times  its  capital.  Since  it  became  a  national 
bank,  dividends  have  been  declared  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent  per  annum. 
The  gross  losses  during  the  history  of  the  bank  amount  to  about  $750,000 ; 
having  never  exceeded  one-cjiiarter  to  one-half  of  one  per  cent  of  capital 
during  any  single  year,  except  during  the  intervals  from  1837  to  1842,  and 
from  1873  to  1875.  The  bank  was  a  favorite  of  the  Federal  party  at  the  time 
of  its  organization. 

The  two  great  features  of  State-banking  in  New  York  are  the  vast  influence 
politics  have  had  thereon,  and  the  great  security  devised  by  her  laws.  The 
Partisan-  ^""^^  charter  granted  was  to  Federalists  ;  and  for  several  years  men 
ship  and  belonging  to  the  opposite  party  could  secure  charters  only  with  the 
«nk  ng.  utmost  difficulty, — a  denial  the  more  oppressive  because  they  were 
not  treated  at  existing  banks  with  the  same  accommodation  as  were  Federalists. 
The  Republicans  in  New-York  City  having  met  with  this  latter  experience,  and 
anticipating  the  former  trouble,  applied  to  the  legislature  for  a  charter  for  a 
water  company ;  but  a  provision  was  artfully  introduced  which  gave  the  corpo- 
ration banking-privileges.  The  phraseology  was  not  understood  fully,  and  the 
ruse  succeeded.  Thus  was  established  the  Manhattan  Company  in  1799 
largely  through  the  efforts  of  Aaron  Burr,  Hamilton's  great  rival.  In  1792  the 
Bank  of  Albany  had  been  chartered ;  but  it  was  controlled  by  Federalists. 
Accordingly,  there  was  soon  a  plea  for  a  new  bank  to  be  run  by  Republicans. 
In  1803  some  persons  appealed  to  die  legislature  to  charter  the  New-York 
State  Bank  at  Albany,  and  alleged  that  the  other  institution  in  that  city  was 
very  oppressive.  The  other  two  neighboring  banks  —  the  Farmers'  near 
Troy,  and  the  Columbia  at  Hudson — were  also  controlled  by  Federalists. 
By  admitting  the  Clinton  and  Livingston  interest  to  the  privilege  of  hold- 
ing some  of  the  stock  (a  privilege  that  was  very  valuable),  the  charter 
was  finally  obtained  from  what  would  now  be  regarded  as  a   Republican- 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


80 1 


board  of 
>n  March 
ider  legis- 
organized 
)se(iuently 

the  bank 
creased  to 
,-as  for  the 
•  Hamilton 
r  the  gen- 
),  1865,  it 
creased   to 
lank  it  paid 
to  five  per 
innum,  and 

a  national 
per  annum. 

t  $75°'°°° ' 
;  of  capital 

)  1842,  and 

at  the  time 


WASHINGTON   HALF-DOLLAR. 


Democratic  legislature.  A  clause  was  contained  in  the  original  bill,  granting 
the  corporation  the  exclusive  right  to  the  Syracuse  salt-springs  on  condition  of 
$3,000  a  year  being  paid  the  State  for  the  first  ten  years,  $3,500  the  next  ten, 
and  $4,000  annually  for  the  next  ten  ;  but  this  was  stricken  out  before  enact- 
ment. The  same  year  (1803)  the  Federalist  interest  sought  a  charter  for  the 
Merchants'  Bank  of  New- York  City,  but  was  refused.  A  fresh  application  for 
a  charter  was  then  made  in  1804,  business  having 
been  started  and  continued  under  articles  of  asso- 
ciation ;  but  not  only  was  this  denied,  but  a  re- 
straining act  was  passed,  especially  designed  to 
stop  their  further  proceedings.  Indeed,  not  only 
were  the  Democrats  connected  with  Aaron  Burr's 
institution  desirous  of  maintaining  that  and  the 
Manhattan  Bank  as  monopolies,  but  they  thought 
it  very  presuming  in  the  Federalists  to  ask  a 
Democratic  legislature  to  give  them  any  favors. 
However,  the  petition  was  renewed  j  and  after 
very  hot  debates  and  a  violent  altercation,  in  which  two  senators,  both  having 
the  title  of  judge,  came  to  actual  fisticuffs  within  the  senatorial  precincts,  the 
bill  of  incorporation  passed  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of  three  votes. 

This  unnatural  obstruction  which  partisanship  placed  upon  legislation  led, 
very  naturally,  to  the  use  of  corrupt  means  to  secure  charters.  There  was  no 
particular  contest  after  the  one  just  mentioned  until  1812,  when  Bribery  in 
application  was  made  for  a  charter  for  the  Bank  of  America  with  a  bank  legiiu- 
capital  of  $6,000,000.  We  have  already  stated  how  the  Bank  of  *  °°" 
the  United  States  paid  both  the  Federal  Government  and  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania bonuses  for  a  charter.  It  was  proposed  to  give  New- York  State  $600,- 
000  for  this  Bank-of-America  charter ;  but  it  was  demanded  that  no  other 
bank  be  chartered  for  twenty  years.  To  catch  votes,  it  was  also  provided  that 
immense  loans  were  to  be  made  the  State  to  build  canals,  and  to  the  farmers. 
But  it  was  furthennore  evident  that  actual  bribery  was  resorted  to  in  both 
houses  of  the  legislature  ;  and  when  the  Assembly  had  voted,  fifty-eight  to  thir- 
ty-nine, to  give  the  charter,  and  it  was  apparent  that  the  Senate  would  concur, 
Gov.  Tompkins  prorogued  the  legislature.  Later,  a  greatly  modified  charter 
was  granted  instead.  A  clause  was  inserted  in  the  Constitution  of  182 1,  which 
required  the  assent  of  t\vo-thirds  of  both  branches  of  the  legislature  in  order 
to  incorporate  a  moneyed  institution.  The  only  effect  of  the  restrictive  clause 
was  to  increase  the  evil  by  rendering  necessary  a  more  extended  system  of 
corruption. 

Already  reference  has  been  made  to  the  restraining  law  of  1804.    This  was 
nominally  to  secure  the  public  interest  by  preventing  the  circu-  The  restrain- 
lation  of  an  unsound  currency ;  but  it  is  believed  that  it  was  en-  '"» '■*'• 
acted  in  the  interest  of  existing  monopolies.     It  prohibited  any  person,  under 


8oa 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTOKY 


FIRST   UNITED-STATES    DOLLAR. 


a  penally  of  a  thousand  dollars,  from  subscribing  to  or  becoming  a  member 
of  any  association  for  the  purpose  of  receivin'j  deposits,  or  of  transacting  any 
other  business  which  incorporated  banks  may  or  do  transact  by  virtue  of  their 
acts  of  incorporation.  This  law  prohibited  associations  of  persons  from  doing 
a  banking-business  ;  but  individuals  and  incorporated  institutions  subsequently 
issued  bills  in  denominations  as  low  as  six,  twelve,  twenty-five,  fifty,  and 

seventy-five  cents.  To  prevent  the  further 
issue  by  irresponsible  persons  of  currency  in 
the  similitude  of  bank-notes,  which  had  become 
a  great  evil  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  1S12, 
the  Restraining  Act  of  i8i8was  passed  ;  which 
provided  that  no  person,  association  of  persons, 
or  body  corporate,  except  such  bodies  corjjorate 
as  were  expressly  authorized  by  law,  should  keep 
any  office  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  deposits, 
or  discounting  notes  or  bills,  or  for  issuing  any 
evidence  of  debt  to  be  loaned  or  put  in  circu- 
lation as  money.  This  law  remained  upon  the 
statute-books  for  thirty-two  years,  and,  after 
various  unsuccessful  attempts,  was  finally  repealed  in  1837,  —  one  year  before 
the  passage  of  the  free  banking  law. 

From  1 79 1,  when  the  Bank  of  New  York  was  incorporated,  until  the 
declaration  of  war  with  Great  Britain  in  181 2,  nineteen  banks  were  char- 
Progress  in  tered,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  $18,215,000.  Ten  of  them 
bknking.  g^jn  exist,  and  are  institutions  of  high  rank.  Between  181 2  and 
1829  twenty-four  more  were  chartered,  with  a  capital  of  1^25, 105,000,  of  which 
$13,770,000  was  for  banks  in  New- York  City. 

As  yet  there  had  been  no  legislation  looking  to  the  security  of  bank  circu- 
lation, so  little  had  the  science  of  banking  developed.  But  in  1829,  when  the 
Safety-fund  charters  of  some  forty  banks  were  about  to  expire.  Gov.  Van 
banks.  Buren  recommended  the  passage  of  a  law,  which  was  enacted  in 

April  of  that  year,  providing  a  system  of  insurance  of  bank-notes  based 
upon  a  custom  prevalent  among  Chinese  merchants.  The  law  provided  that 
all  new  or  rechartered  banks  should  pay  an  annual  tax  of  one-half  of  one 
per  cent  on  their  capital  stock  until  three  per  cent  had  been  paid  in,  and 
the  fund  should  be  used  by  the  State  treasurer  to  redeem  the  notes  and 
pay  the  debts  of  insolvent  banks.  If  the  fund  became  impaired  at  any 
time,  new  contributions  were  to  be  made  to  bring  it  up  to  a  normal  size. 
The  law  allowed  the  issue  of  notes  to  twice  the  amount  of  the  capital,  and 
loans  to  two  and  a  half  times  the  amount  of  capital.  This  safety-fund  law  did 
not  accomplish  its  purpose.  In  1841-42  eleven  banks  failed,  whose  capital 
was  13,150,000:  their  liabilities,  which  the  State  had  to  meet,  amounted  to 
$2,558,933.    These  eleven  banks  had  contributed  but  $86,274  to  the  safety 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


803 


,  member 
cting  any 
e  of  their 
rom  doing 
jsequently 
fifty,  and 
he   further 
iirrency  in 
ad  become 
T  of  1812, 
ied  ;  wliich 
of  persons, 
:s  corporate 
should  keep 
ng  deposits, 
issuing  any 
lut  in  circu- 
ed  upon  the 
1,  and,  after 
:  year  before 

d,  until  the 
were  char- 
'en  of  them 
:n  1812  and 
00,  of  which 


fund;  and  even  down  to  Sept.  30,  184S,  all  of  the  safety-fund  banks  had 
contributed  but  $1,876,063.  The  State  issued  six-per-cent  stock  to  make 
up  the  deficiency,  and  was  partly  re-imbursed  by  new  contributions  from  the 
banks.  The  law  was  amended,  however,  in  1842,  so  that  the  safety-fund 
became  a  security  for  circulating-notes  only,  and  no  other  debts. 

The  law  of  1829  also  provided  that  there  should  be  three  commissioners 
to  examine  the  banks,  and  report  annually  to  the  legislature  on  the  condition 
of  those  institutions.  The  law  provided  that  one  commissioner  Bank  com- 
siiould  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate,  one  by  the  missioneri. 
banks  of  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  one  by  the  remaining  banks. 
But  in  I  S3  7  the  Governor  and  Senate  were  authorized  to  select  them  all; 
and,  this  i)ower  being  abused  for  political  ends,  the  work  of  examination 
was  in  1843  taken  from  the  commissioners,  whose  office  was  abolished,  and 
given  to  the  comptroller.  In  185 1  the  present  office  of  bank  superintendent 
was  created  instead. 

Already  we  have  mentioned  how  politics  affected  the  procurement  of 
charters  in  the  early  days;  the  privilege  of  banking  being  a  rich  one,  and 
hence  regarded  as  part  of  the  spoils  of  office.  This  was  also  More  pontt- 
the  case  with  the  safety-fund  banks,  whose  stock  was  sold  mostly  *="'  "buBe*- 
to  political  friends  and  favorites  of  the  agents  selected  for  that  business.  This 
produced  an  immense  deal  of  discord  and  animosity  in  business,  social,  and 
political  circles,  and  much  corruption.  The  office  of  bank  commissioner  was 
also  made  a  political  prize,  and  was  sought  for  by  men  utterly  incapable  of 
performing  its  delicate  judicial  duties.  It  was  the  re-action  in  public  senti- 
ment against  this  state  of  affairs,  but  more  particularly  against  the  grant  of 
special  privileges,  which  led  to  tlie  enactment  of  the  general  banking  law. 

Tiie  free  banking  system  of  New  York  was  authorized  in  1838.  Its  two 
great  features  were,  that  it  opened  the  privileges  of  banking,  on  certain  con- 
ditions, to  all  persons  alike  ;  and  it  provided  much  better  security  Free  banu- 
for  the  redemption  of  notes  than  had  yet  been  provided.  The  '"^  system, 
system  of  deposits  with  the  comptroller  for  security  was  the  one  on  which 
the  national  banks  of  a  later  date  were  based.  It  was  originally  that  all 
banking  associations,  on  depositing  stock  of  the  State  of  New  York  or  of 
the  United  States,  or  any  State  stock  which  should  be,  or  be  made,  equal 
to  a  five-per-cent  stock,  or  bonds  and  mortgages  on  improved  and  produc- 
tive real  estate,  worth,  exclusive  of  the  buildings  thereon,  double  the  amount 
secured  by  the  mortgage,  and  bearing  interest  at  not  less  than  six  per  cent 
per  annum,  should  receive  from  the  comptroller  of  the  State  an  equal  amount 
of  circulating-notes.  Previous  to  the  year  1843  twenty-nine  of  these  banks, 
with  an  aggregate  circulation  of  $1,233,374,  had  failed;  and  their  securities, 
consisdng  of  stocks  and  bonds  and  mortgages  amounting  to  $1,555,338, 
were  sold  for  $953,371,  entailing  a  loss  of  $601,966.  The  avails  of  the 
securities  were  sufi^cient  to  pay  but  seventy-four  per  cent  of  the  circulation 


8o4 


IXD  US  TK/A  L    ins  TOR  Y 


alone.  The  losses  to  tlie  bill-IioUlcrs  occurred  only  in  the  case  of  those  banks 
which  hail  deposited  State  stocks  otiier  than  those  of  New  York.  'l"he  law 
was  thereupon  so  amended  as  to  exclude  all  stocks,  except  those  issued  by 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  to  re(iuire  tliose  to  be  made  equal  to  a  five- 
per-cent  stock.  An  amendment  in  1848  rciniired  that  the  stocks  deposited 
should  bear  six  per  cent  interest  instead  of  five ;  and  that  the  bonds  anil 
mortgages  should  bear  interest  at  seven  per  cent,  anil  should  be  on  pro- 
ductive property,  and  for  an  amount  not  exceeding  two-fifths  of  the  value  of 
the  land  covered  by  them.  Subsequently,  on  April  10,  1849,  the  law  was 
again  so  amended  as  to  recjuire  that  at  least  one-half  of  the  securities  so 
deposited  should  consist  of  New- York-State  stocks,  and  that  not  more  tiian 
one-half  should  be  in  the  stocks  of  the  United  States  j  the  securities  in  all 
cases  to  be,  or  to  be  made,  equal  to  a  stock  producing  an  interest  of  six  per 
cent  per  annum,  and  to  be  taken  at  a  rate  not  above  their  par  value,  and  at 
not  more  than  their  market-value. 

Two  other  interesting  features  of  the  later  State-bank  legislation  in  New 
York  were  the  requirement  that  the  banks  redeem  their  notes  at  some  agency 
Redemption  in  New  York,  Albany,  or  Troy,  and  that  stockholders  should  be 
•nd  liability,  individually  liable  for  the  obligations  of  the  bank  to  the  extent 
of  their  shares.  The  latter  provision  was  incorporated  into  the  C'onstitution 
of  1846.  The  former  was  a  law  of  1840,  which  allowed  a  discount  of  one- 
half  of  one  percent  on  redemption:  in  1851  the  discount  was  reduced  to 
one-fourth  of  one  per  cent.  The  New-York-City  banks,  however,  soon 
inaugurated  the  Suffolk- Bank  system  already  described,  and  divided  the  dis- 
count between  themselves  and  the  redemption  agency.  Such  banks  as  did 
not  provide  for  redemption  were  forced  to  close  up. 


OHIO. 

Ohio's  first  banking  institution,  incorporated  in  '  ^*»i   ""  -Avi        ■■:  the 

State's  admission  to  the  Union,  was  called  "  The  ^,  l:.xpu.       ,  Co      any." 

First  Its  purpose  was  to  build  up  trade  in  th.     new  sect  jn  of  country. 

ventures.  j^g  capital  was  $500,000,  in  shares  of  a  lumdre-  dollars  each,  to 
be  paid  for  with  five  dollars  cash,  and  the  rest  in  produce  a.  1  manufactures, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  president  and  directors.  It  subsequently  issued 
bills,  redeeming  them  with  bank-notes ;  but  it  was  obliged  to  close  up  after  a 
few  years.  The  first  bank  in  the  State  was  that  at  Marietta,  with  a  capital  of 
$100,000,  chartered  in  1808.  Another  was  chartered  at  Chillicothe  the  same 
year,  and  four  more  between  that  time  and  1816 ;  in  which  year  six  charters 
were  granted  new  banks,  and  the  old  ones  were  rechartered.  Eleven  more 
had  been  chartered  by  1832  ;  but,  with  two  or  three  exceptions  of  double 
that  amount,  $100,000  was  the  nominal  capital  of  all  these  banks.  The 
interest  on  loans  was  restricted  to  six  per  cent  by  law. 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


805 


3S0  banks 

'I'hc  law 
issued  \)y 
to  a  five- 

(lepositeil 
)oncls  and 
c  on  pro- 
le  value  of 
le  law  was 
MHirities  so 

more  than 
rities  in  all 
t  of  six  per 
ilue,  and  at 

ion  in  New 
iome  agency 
5  shouUl  be 
)  the  extent 
Constitution 
ount  of  une- 

reduced  to 
wcver,  soon 
Ided  the  dis- 

anks  as  did 


the 

Co      -iny-" 
of  country, 
liars  each,  to 
l-ianufactures, 
^icntly  issued 
le  up  after  a 
|a  capital  of 
:he  the  same 
six  charters 
:leven  more 
IS  of  double 
)anks.     The 


In  1833  the  Franklin  Bank  of  Cincinnati  was  chartered  with  a  capital  of 
5 1, 000,000;  and  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company,  incorporated  the  next 
year,  had  the  same.     The  latter  institution  failed  in   1857,  with  Three  larg* 
estimated   liabilities  of  $7,000,000.      In   1845   a  State  bank  was  '>•"'«•• 
authorized,  with  a  capital  of  S6, 150,000,  and  with  sixty-three  branches.     Not 
more  than  thirty-six  branches  wre  ever  established,  however. 

.\  particular  feature  of  bank-legislation  in  Ohio  was  the  comparatively 
heavy  taxation,  based,  doubtless,  upon  the  theory  that  it  was  a  '.aluable  privi- 
lege to  engage  in  banking,  anil  upon  the  feeling  against  capital  Bank- 
that  has  often  characterized  the  laboring-classes.  As  early  as  »•"■»'<"'• 
1 81 6,  when  the  Hank  of  Cincinnati,  with  a  capital  of  $600,000,  was  incorpo- 
rated, a  law  was  passed  reijuiring  all  banks  to  pay  to  the  State  such  a  sum  as 
would,  at  the  expiration  of  their  charters,  amount  to  a  twenty-fifth  i)art  of  their 
whole  stock.  In  1825  this  was  change<l,  so  that  the  tax  was  ujjon  dividends, 
—  two  per  cent  on  all  previously  njade,  and  four  per  cent  thereafter.  The  tax 
was  raised  to  six  per  cent  in  1831.  In  1852  another  tax-law  was  passed, 
which,  by  a  forced  construction,  imposed  upon  banks  twice,  and  sometimes 
thrice,  the  burden  \\\\K.  upon  other  |)roperty  ;  but  such  was  the  pressure,  that 
much  of  the  capital  was  sent  into  adjoining  States. 

An  attempt  was  even  made  to  tax  the  two  branches  of  the  United-States 
Hank  at  Cincinnati  and  Chillicothe   in   1819,     The  State  imposed  a  tax  of 
$50,000  on  each,  should  they  continue  to  do  business  after  Sept. 
15   of  that  year.      The  bank  applictl   for  an  injunction  against   unued- 
the  auditor,  and  secured  it  from  the  United-States  Circuit  Court ;   state* 
but  that  officer,  on  the  pretence  that  he  had  not  been  properly  ^^^^ 
served  with  the  notice,  seized  $98,000  at  the  Chillicothe  banking- 
house,  and  turned  it  over  to  the  State  treasurer.     The  Circuit  Court  ordered 
its  return,  however;   and  in  1824  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
confirmed  this  decision. 

The  Act  of  1845,  establishing  the  State  Bank,  required,  that,  in  order  to 
create  a  safety-fund,  an  amount  etpial  to  ten  per  centum  of  the  circulation  of 
each  of  the  branches  should  be  i)ai<l  to  the  Board  of  Control,  The  safety- 
which  was  authorized  to  invest  the  same  either  in  stocks  of  the  ^"'"*  system. 
State  or  of  the  United  States,  or  in  bonds  secured  by  mortgages  on  unen- 
cumbered real  estate  of  at  least  twice  the  value  of  the  amount  secured 
thereby,  which  should  be  payable  on  demand  to  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio ;  and 
each  branch  was  entitled  to  receive  the  interest  accruing  on  the  stocks  and 
bonds  in  which  its  portion  of  the  safety-fund  was  invested.  In  case  of  failure, 
tlie  stocks  and  bonds  of  the  insolvent  bank  were  first  to  be  applied  to  the 
reilemption  of  its  outstanding  notes  before  any  part  of  the  safety-fund  belong- 
ing to  the  other  branches  should  be  so  applied.  The  State  was  divided  into 
twelve  districts,  and  a  portion  of  the  capital  of  the  State  B.ink  was  allotted  to 
each.     Sixty-three  branches  in  all  were  authorized,  with  charters  to  continue 


3o6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTOKY 


ed  of  o'her 
banks. 


until  1866.  Five  banks  previously  chartered  were  authorized,  upon  certain 
conditions,  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges  of  the  act.  The  branches 
were  under  *he  supervision  of  a  Board  of  Control,  consisting  of  one  repre- 
sentative from  each  branch,  which  was  to  furnish  all  the  circulating-notes. 
These  were  limited  by  the  charter  to  "  double  the  amount  of  capital  on  the 
first  $100,000  ;  150  per  cent  on  the  second  $100,000  or  part  thereof,  and  125 
per  cent  on  the  third  $100,000  or  part  thereof."  There  were  thirty-six  of 
these  branches  in  operation  in  1856,  with  a  capital  of  $4,034,524,  and  circu- 
lation of  $7,112,320.  At  that  date  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company  was 
the  only  bank  created  prior  to  1845  still  in  existence. 

The  law  of  1845  ^^^  authorized  the  establishment  of  other  banks  than 
p  the  State  Bank  and  branches ;   but  such  independent  institutions 

curity  exact-  were  required  to  deposit  with  the  State  as  security,  not  simply  one- 
tenth  of  the  amount  of  issue,  but  an  equal  amount.  In  1856 
there  were  nine  of  such  independent  banks,  with  a  combined 
capital  of  $587,500,  and  a  circulation  of  $893,839. 

Thus  far  the  banks  had  been  C3pecially  chartered.  A  general  law  was 
passed  in  185 1,  allowing  any  association  to  engage  in  the  business  of  banking 
Free  on  Substantially  the  same  conditionr>  as  the  independent  banks 

banking.  jygt  mentioned,  —  the  deposit  of  State  and  Unire<l-States  stocks  to 
the  full  amount  of  the  issue.  Most  of  the  banks  so  organized  were  forced  by 
taxation  to  go  into  liquidation. 

In  April,  1856,  an  act  was  passed  incorporating  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio 
and  other  banks,  similar  in  its  general  provisions  to  the  Act  of  1845,  the 
Charter  charters  to   continue  until  May,  1877.     The  act,  however,  con- 

renewed,  tained  a  personal-liability  clause,  and  it  also  prohibited  the  General 
Assembly  "  from  imjiosing  any  greater  tax  upon  property  employed  in  banking 
under  this  act  than  is  or  may  be  imposed  upon  the  property  of  individuals." 

In  1835  there  were,  in  all,  thirty-four  banks  in  operation  in  Ohio,  having 
a  capital  of  $5,819,000;  in  1837  there  were  thirty-three  banks,  with  a  capital 
Summary  of  of  $9,247,000;  and  in  1840  there  were  thirty-seven  banks,  with  a 
history.  jQtj^j  capital  of  $10,000,000.     On  the  ist  of  January,  1845,  but 

eight  banks  were  in  operation,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  $2,171,807.  In 
1855  there  were  fifty-one  banks,  whose  capital  amounted  to  a  little  more  than 
$6,000,000.  In  1856  thirty-six  of  the  banks  which  had  been  organized  in 
the  State  had  failed,  their  notes  being  entirely  worthless ;  while  eighteen  others 
were  in  process  of  liquidation,  their  notes  being  quoted  at  fifty  to  seventy-five 
cents  on  the  dollar.  There  were  fifty-six  banks  in  existence  in  the  State  in 
1863,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  $5,674,000,  of  which  number  seven  were 
independent  banks,  with  a  capital  of  $350,000,  and  thirteen  were  free  banks, 
with  a  capital  of  $1,270,000.  The  State  Bank  of  Ohio,  with  tliirty-six  branches. 
had  a  capital  of  $4,054,000;  loans,  $8,653,000;  deposits,  $5,631,000;  circu- 
lation, $7,246,000;  and  specie,  $2,217,000;  together  with  a  safety-fund  of 
$814,800  invested  in  bonds  and  mortgages. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


807 


:ertain 
anches 
repre- 
;-notes. 
on  the 
ind  125 
-six  of 
d  circu- 
any  was 

iks  than 
ititutions 
iply  one- 
In  1856 
;ombined 

law  was 
f  banking 
=nt  banks 
;  stocks  to 
forced  by 


PINE-TREE  SHILLING. 


Ity-fund  of 


INDIANA. 

Banking  in  Indiana  under  State  laws  has  been  chiefly  conducted  by  the  State 
Bank  and  its  branches.    In  1820  the  State  had  but  two  banks.    The  State  Bank 
was  incorporated  in  1834  with  ten  branches,  afterwards  increased   ^g 
to  thirteen  :  these  were  made  mutually  liable  for  each  other's  debts,   bank  the 
The  only  tax  laid  was  twelve  and  a  half  cents  on  each  share,  for  •''**''  ""' 

ance. 

educational  purposes.  The  parent  bank  kept  the  plates  and 
unsigned  notes  of  the  branches,  issuing  the  latter  only  at  the  rate  of  twice  the 
capital  stock  paid  up.  Most  of  the  capi- 
tal came  from  out  of  the  State ;  aUhough 
the  State  Government  subscribed  to  a 
million,  and  also  lent  its  credit  to  ether 
shiireholders  to  the  extent  of  half  of  their 
subscription,  taking  mortgages  on  real 
estate  for  security. 

The   State   Bank    of  Indiana  and   its 
branches  were  managed  with  rare  ability. 

They  began  business  at  a  trying  period,  just  before  the  crisis  of  1837,  which 
bankrupted   so  many  institutions  in  the  West  and  South.     The   Excellent 
Bank  of  Indiana  suspended  specie  payments  from  1838  to  1841;   manage- 
in  which  latter  year  it  held  $1,127,518  in  specie,  had  a  circulation   "'"  ' 
of  $2,960,414,  and  deposits  amounting  to  $317,890.    So  well  was  the  institution 
managed,  that  the  stockholders  received  dividends  averaging  from  twelve  to 
fourteen  per  cent  annually  for  twenty  years.     In  1854  the  charter  expired  ;  but 
it  was  renewed,  with  a  capital  of  $6,000,000,  and  fifteen  or  twenty  branches. 
During  the  crisis  of  1857  it  did  not  suspend,  though  it  contracted  its  issues 
prudently.     In  1861  it  called  in  most  of  its  notes,  but  re-issued  them  the  next 
year  to  buy  coin. 

The  new  Constitution  of  185 1  forbade  the  organization  of  any  more  banks 
except  under  a  general  law.  Such  a  one  was  enacted  in  1852,  which  pro- 
vided that  United-States  stocks,  or  stocks  of  the  several  States,  General 
including  those  of  Indiana  (then  worth  about  ninety-five  per  banking  law. 
cent),  should  be  deposited  with  the  auditor  as  security  for  circulating-notes, 
the  stocks  to  be  made  ecjual  to  one  bearing  six-per-cent  interest.  The  law  did 
not  require  a  board  of  directors,  nor  that  the  stockholders  should  be  citizens 
of  the  State.  In  October,  1854,  there  were  eighty-four  of  these  banks;  and 
the  returns  of  sixty-seven  of  them  at  that  date  exhibit  $7,425,000  of  circula- 
tion, with  a  total  authorized  capital  of  $32,900,000.  The  opi)ressive  tax-law 
of  Ohio  h?.»'ing  driven  capital  from  that  State,  it  was  to  a  considerable  extent 
invested  in  the  free  banks  of  Indiana.  In  1856.  of  ninety- four  free  banks, 
fifty-one  had  suspended,  and  their  notes  were  selling  at  from  twenty-five  to 
seventy-five  per  cent  discount  in  Cincinnati. 


8o3 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ILLINOIS. 


The  record  of  State  banking  in  Illinois  is  not  quite  so  bright  as  that  of 
Indiana  in  the  earlier  history  of  the  two  States.  The  first  bank  was  started  in 
Diiastroui  Illinois  in  1813,  five  years  before  it  was  emancipated  from  Territo- 
beginnings.  fj^i  government  to  the  dignity  of  a  State.  It  was  located  at  Shaw- 
neetown,  and  the  whole  Territory  then  had  but  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants. 
A  regular  charter  was  not  given  it  until  18 16,  when  it  was  incorporatecl  for 
twenty  years,  with  a  nominal  capital  of  $300,000.  Large  government  deposits 
were  given  it,  and  it  greatly  extended  its  credits;  but  in  182 1  it  suspended 
specie  payments,  and  did  little  business  until  1835.  The  legislature  then 
revived  it  by  granting  a  new  charter  which  should  run  until  1857,  increasing 
the  capital  to  |>  1,400,000,  and  subscribing  for  the  increase  on  behalf  of  the 
State,  authorizing  the  issue  of  stocks  therefor. 

The  second  venture  was  a  State  bank,  the  Constitution  of  1818  ordering 
that  only  such  a  one  should  be  chartered.  The  act  of  incorporation  created 
Anunsuc-  '^  Bank  of  Illinois  in  1821,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000,  to  nni  ten 
cessfui  State  years,  to  be  owned  by  the  State,  and  managed  by  the  legislature. 
'"  ■  $3,000,000  were  directed  to  be  issued  and  loaned  on  mortgages, 

with  notes  for  one  year  at  six-per-cent  interest,  and  in  sums  not  exceeding 
1,000  dollars  to  each  individual ;  the  notes  to  be  renewed  on  jxiyment  of  ten 
per  cent  of  the  principal  annually.  The  circulating-notes  of  the  bank  were 
receivable  for  taxes,  and  for  all  debts  due  to  the  State  or  the  bank.  These 
notes  were  soon  thereafter  quoted  at  seventy-five  cents  on  the  dollar,  then  at 
fifty  cents,  and  finally  at  twenty-five  cents ;  when  they  ceased  to  circulate  alto- 
gether. Members  of  the  legislature  received  their  compensation  in  depre- 
ciated currency  at  its  market- value,  which  the  State  was  compelled  to  redeem 
at  par;  and  a  loan  of  $100,000  received  in  these  notes  at  par  was  paid  out 
at  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  revival  of  the  Shawneetown  Bank  in  1835. 
Simultaneously  a  new  State  bank  was  chartered.  Its  capital  was  at  first  fixed 
Worse  luck  at  $1,500,000,  but  was  increased  to  $2,000,000,  and  subscribed  for 
next  time.  \y^  jj^g  State.  It  was  required  to  take  up  the  $100,000  loan  above 
mentioned,  but  was  allowed  fifty  days  for  the  redemption  of  its  own  bills.  But 
this  institution  was  shortly  compelled  to  suspend  payment,  and  in  1841  it  went 
into  liquidation.  In  the  same  year  an  act  was  passed  to  preserve  its  charter, 
which  had  been  forfeited,  provided  it  would  pay  $200,000  of  the  State  debt ; 
but  in  1843  two  acts  were  passed,  —  one  to  diminish  the  State  debt  and  put  the 
State  Bank  in  liquidation,  and  the  other  to  reduce  the  public  debt  by  a  million 
of  dollars  and  to  put  the  Bank  of  Illinois  at  Shawneetown  in  li((uidation.  The 
stock  of  these  banks  subscribed  for  by  individuals  was  lost,  and  about  $90,000 
belonging  to  depositors  and  bill-holders  remained  unpaid,  as  well  as  $46,909 
belonging  to  the  government.     The  State  took  possession  of  its  bonds  held 


OF   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


809 


by  them,  amounting  to  $3,050,000 ;  and,  by  direction  of  the  governor,  they 
were  cancelled,  and  burned,  in  the  presence  of  the  legislature,  in  the  capital 
square  of  Springfield. 

During  the  year  1843  a  general  banking  law,  similar  in  its  provisions  to  the 
free  banking  law  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  was  passed.  The  report  of  the  bank 
commissioners  for  1861  states,  that,  in  1857,  the  bank  circulation  a  general 
of  the  State  amounted  to  ;?5, 500,000,  which  was  secured  by  $6,500-  banking  law. 
000  of  the  bonds  of  various  States,  of  which  amount  $4,500,000  were  Missouri 
sixes.  In  1861  the  amount  of  Missouri  bonds  had  been  reduced  to  $3,026,- 
000,  and  the  circulation  increased  from  $5,500,000  to  $12,300,000.  About 
three-fourths  of  the  securities  then  held  by  the  auditor  were  the  bonds  of  the 
Southern  States. 

KENTUCKY. 

The  Bank  of  Kentucky  was  incorporated  in  1804,  twelve  years  after  the 
admission  of  the  State,  with  a  capital  of  $  i  ,000,000.  •  P'orty  new  ^^^  ^^^j 
banks  were  incorporated   in  181 7,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  few  banks 
$io,ooo,coo;   but   no  provision   was    made    for  the    redemption     °P°°'^y- 
of  tlieir  notes  in  specie.     They  issued  large  amounts  of  notes,  and  many  of 
them  failed  within  a  year  of  their  establishment. 

For  relief,  the  legislature,  in  1820,  chartered  the  Bank  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Kentucky,  with  a  capital  of  $3,000,000,  pledging  the  public  faith  for 
the  redemption  of  its  circulation,  and  setting  nside  certain  lands  a  stay-law 
south  of  the  Tennessee  River  for  a  guaranty  fund.  If  a  creditor  '""^  '^'''''• 
refused  to  take  these  notes  in  payment  of  a  debt,  the  debtor  was  allowed  by 
law  two  years  in  which  to  pay  it.  This  feature  of  the  law  was  at  first  declared 
to  be  unconstitutional ;  but  a  new  court  was  appointed,  which  reversed  the 
decision.  As  a  consequence,  the  notes  of  the  bank  soon  became  worth  but 
fifty  cents  on  a  dollar.  A  very  bitter  contest  ensued  between  the  new  court 
and  old  court  parties,  lasting  five  years,  and  ending  in  the  repeal  of  the  stay- 
law  or  replevin  act.  The  bank's  circulation  was  suppressed  and  finally 
destroyed  by  authority  of  the  legislature. 

This  bank  was  conducted  under  State  auspices,  the  legislature  selecting  its 
president  and  directors,  its  dividends  accruing  to  the  State,  and  notes  being 
issued  to  the  extent  of  $3,000,000.  On  the  plea  that 'these  were  otherconsti- 
bills  of  credit,  and  that  the  State  had  no  right  to  issue  such  tutionai 
under  the  Constitution,  a  debtor  of  the  bank  who  had  obtained  a  "i""*'°"»- 
loan  in  this  currency  refused  to  pay ;  but  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  held  that  the  notes  of  the  bank  were  not  bills  of  credit  in  the  meaning 
of  the  Constitution. 

In  1834  there  were  established  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  with  a  capital  of 
$5,000,000,  the  Northern  Bank  of  Kentucky,  capital  $3,000,000,  and  the  Bank 
of  Louisville,  with  a  capital  of  $5,000,000;  all  of  which  were  in  existence  in 


8io 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


1856,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  57.030,000.  All  of  these  banks  suspend- 
RemaininK  ed  piyment  in  1837,  and  resumed  in  1842,  with  an  aggregate 
history.  circulation,  at  the  latter  date,  of  $2,800,000.     This  amount  was 

increased  by  subsequent  issues,  until  in  1850  it  had  reached  $6,683,000.  The 
Southern  Bank  of  Kentucky  went  into  operation  in  1852  with  a  capital  of 
$1,300,000,  and  charters  were  also  subsequently  granted  to  four  other  banks 
with  large  capitals.  Twenty-seven  Kentucky  banks  failed  in  1854;  but  in 
1856  there  were  thirty-four  banks  and  branches  still  in  operation  in  the  State, 
with  an  aggregate  capital  of  $11,730,000,  and  with  a  circulation  of  about 
$13,300,000. 

•'       "■'   ■  "'  '   ''  ■"  TENNESSEE. 

The  Nashville  Bank  was  incorporated  by  the  Tennessee  legislature  in 
Several  un-  1807,  with  a  capital  at  first  limited  to  $200,000,  and  afterwards 
successful  raised  to  $400,000.  Several  branches  were  authorized  ;  but  they 
ventures.  ^qq^-^  closed  with  loss  to  all  parties.  Another  bank,  the  Farmers' 
and  Mechanics',  was  started  in  Nashville  in  1819  with  $400,000  ;  but  it  became 
insolvent  within  a  year. 

In  181 1  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Tennessee  was  chartered  and  started  at 
Knoxville.  Its  capital  was  $400,000,  and  nine  branches  were  authorized. 
Two  State  But  in  1820  the  State  Bank  of  Tennessee  was  incorporated  at 
banks.  Nashville,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.     The  State  funds  were  to 

be  deposited  at  the  bank,  which  was  authorized  to  sell  $250,000  of  six-per- 
cent State  stocks  to  be  used  as  capital.  It  created  agencies  to  loan  money  in 
every  county,  according  to  its  wealth  and  population,  in  sums  not  exceeding 
$500  to  any  one  person.  The  loans  were  to  be  made  on  a  credit  of  twelve 
months,  and  be  secured  by  mortgage  on  real  or  personal  property  worth 
double  their  amount.  The  proceeds  of  Hiawassee  lands  and  other  funds  were 
pledged  for  the  redemption  of  the  circulation,  which  was  guaranteed  by  the 
State,  and  which  was  issued  to  the  amount  of  $1,000,000;  but  it  was  soon  at 
a  discount  of  ten  per  cent  below  the  value  of  United-States  bank-notes.  The 
bank  was  under  the  supervisory  coi  ol  of  directors  elected  by  the  legislature. 
Six  years  after  it  commenced  operations,  it  had  an  available  capital  of  about 
$500,000,  chiefly  derived  from  the  sales  of  lands.  The  bank  was  finally  closed 
in  1832,  with  considerable  loss  to  the  State.  Previous  to  the  passage  of  the 
act  under  which  it  was  established.  Gen.  Jackson  addressed  to  the  legislature 
a  memorial  denouncing  its  provisions,  and  declaring  the  proposed  act  to  be  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Judge  White  of  Tennessee, 
in  a  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  on  March  24,  1838,  stated,  that. 
"in  1820,  there  were  two  State  banks  in  operation  in  Tennessee  having  the 
same  name,  and  that  laws  were  passed  to  force  into  circulation  paper  money, 
and  to  prevent  levies  of  execution,  unless  creditors  would  agree  to  receive 
irredeemable  bank- paper. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


Sll 


Nearly  all  the  other  banks  started  for  some  years  were  large  ones  with 
branches!  The  Union  Bank  at  Nashville  was  incorporated  in  1832,  with  five 
branches,  and  a  capital  of  $3,000,000,  one-third  of  which  belonged  The  other 
to  the  State.  The  Planters'  Bank  in  the  same  city,  with  six  banks, 
branches  and  $2,000,000  capital,  of  which  the  State  subscribed  a  part,  was 
incorporated  the  following  year.  The  next  institution  was  the  Farmers'  and 
Merchants'  Bank  of  Memphis,  chartered  in  1835,  with  a  capital  of  $600,000. 
It  failed  in  1847,  greatly  to  the  loss  of  its  bill-holders. 

The  place  of  the  old  State  Bank,  unpopular  and  unsuccessful,  was  taken 
in  1838  by  the  incorporation  of  a  new  Bank  of  Tennessee  at  Nashville,  with 
an  actual  capital  of  $3,226,000,  the  nominal  capital  being  $5,000,-  one  more 
000.  The  capital  was  made  up  from  the  assets  of  the  old  State  ^'**'  ''■"''• 
Bank,  and  by  the  sale  of  $1,000,000  of  State  bonds.  It  had  several  branches, 
which  were  under  the  direction  of  the  parent  institution.  In  1849  its  capital 
was  reduced  to  $2,250,000.  Three  other  banks  were  incorporated,  with  an 
aggregate  capital  of  $1,100,000,  within  the  next  three  years.  A  free  banking 
law  was  passed  in  1852,  authorizing  the  organization  of  banks  upon  a  deposit 
of  bonds  of  the  State  equal  to  the  amount  of  their  capital. 


•  '  MISSISSIPPI. 

When  Mississippi  came  into  the  Union  in  1817  she  had  but  one  bank,  and 
no   more  were   chartered   until    1830.     Meantime,  however,  the  one  bank 
capital  of  this  one  was  raised  from  $100,000  to  $950,600.  1817-30. 

In  the  last-named  year  the  Planters'  Bank  of  Mississippi  was  started  with 
a  capital  of  $3,000,000.     Two-tliirds  of  this  was  subscribed  by  the  State,  which 
issued  six-per-cent  bonds  therefor,  on  which  a  premium  of  $250,-   a  large  and 
000  was  realized.     This  was  made  a  sinking-fund,  and  the  State's  prosperous 
dividends  were  devoted  to  paying  the  interest  on  its  bonds.     The  '"•*'*"*'*"'• 
bank  paid  ten  per  cent  annually  ;  and  the  State  sinking-fund  steadily  grew  until 
September,  1839,  when  it  amounted  to  $800,000.     The  State  then  transferred 
its  stock  to  the   Mississippi   Railroad    Company ;    but  the  sinking-fund  was 
subsequently  lost  almost  entirely. 

In  1837  the  number  of  banks  in  the  State  had  increased  to  eighteen,  with 
an  aggregate  capital   of  $13,000,000,  more  than  $5,000,000   of  increase  of 
circulation,  and  more  than  $24,000,000  of  loans.  business. 

In  1838  the  Mississippi  Union  Bank  was  chartered,  with  a  capital  of  $15,- 
500,000,  to  be  "  raised  by  means  of  loans  to  be  obtained  by  the  directors  of 
the  institution."    The  State  authorized  the  issue  of  $15,000,000  of  a  huge 
guaranteed  bonds  which  were  to  he  loaned  to  the  bank.    $5,000,000   institution, 
were  issued  in  1838,  and  were  sold  to  tiie  United-States  Bank  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  next  lot  of  $5,000,000  were  issued  in  1839. 

The   following  year,  however,  the   first  steps  were   taken   by   the   State 


8ia 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Repudiation. 


authorities  toward  repudiating  this  obligation.  The  governor  issued  a  warning 
proclamation  against  any  further  negotiation  of  these  bonds  ;  and 
in  1 841  he  addressed  the  legislature,  claiming  that  his  proclamation 

had  defeated  the  illegal  sale  of  the  second  issue  of  bonds.     His  message  to 

the  legislature  showed  that 
the  Union  Bank  had  513,- 
491,000  of  suspended  debt 
and  unavailable  assets,  $3,- 
034,000  of  circulation,  and 
54,349,000  of  specie.  Short- 
ly after,  he  proposed  that  the 
issue  of  §5,000,000  made  in 
1838  be  repudiated  outright. 
The  legislature  declared  in 
reply,  that  "Mississippi  will 
]Kiy  her  bonds,  and  preserve 
her  credit  inviolate."  But 
they  were  repuiliated,  and 
have  never  been  i)aid.  The 
bonds  issued  to  the  Planters' 
Bank  were  not  officially  re- 
pudiated :  but  the  people  re- 

BANK  OF  Mon.i.E.  ^"-^^^"^  '"  ^^52,  by  a  majority 

of  4,400  votes,  to  authorize 
a  tax  to  redeem  them  ;  nor  is  a  reversal  of  that  decision  now  probable. 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


813 


CHAPTER  II. 


INSURANCE. 


THERE  is  some  dispute  about  the  antiquity  of  the  insurance-business, 
several  countries  claiming  the  honor  of  originating  it.  There  are  traces 
of  it  as  far  back  as  the  Punic  wars  between  Rome  and  Carthage.  Antiquity  of 
The  government  of  Rome  guaranteed  to  contractors  who  were  *n»urBnce. 
carrying  provisions  and  arms  to  Spain,  that  they  should  be  held  free  from 
loss  if  their  boats  were  destroyed  by  storm  or  the  enemy  en  route  to  the 
province.  In  the  time  of  the  F2mperor  Claudius,  there  was  a  period  of  great 
scarcity  at  Rome ;  and,  in  order  to  encourage  importations  of  corn,  the 
emperor  took  upon  himself  whatever  loss  or  damage  mariners  might  suffer 
from  shipwreck  or  tempest  while  bringing  the  grain  to  Rome.  Marine- 
This  was  certainly  a  species  of  insurance.  It  was  not  resorted  in»"fance' 
to  as  a  regular  business,  but  was  a  resource  for  an  extraordinary  occasion. 
It  is  related  that  the  generous  offer  of  Claudius  was  taken  advantage  of  in 
a  way  which  shows  that  the  human  heart  is  the  same  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  and  thj,t  it  makes  very  little  difference  under  what  clime  the  race 
lives,  or  what  language  it  speaks,  in  regard  to  the  passions  and  impulses 
which  move  it.  Humanity  is  the  same  everywhere  and  under  all  circum- 
stances. Sliipwrecks  were  pretended  to  have  occurred  which  never  took 
place :  old,  shattered  galleys  were  purposely  sunk  at  sea,  and  the  crew 
ostentatiously  saved  in  small  boats.  Large  sums  were  demanded  and  ob- 
tained for  these  alleged  losses.  Several  years  afterward  the  fraud  was  discov- 
ered, and  some  of  the  contractors  were  seized  and  punished.  Spain  and 
Portugal  dispute  the  real  credit  of  h-iving  invented  insurance  as  a  practical 
business-pursuit.  Portugal  in  1367  had  a  king  by  the  name  of  Fernando, 
who  did  more  for  his  realm  than  had  ever  been  done  for  it  before,  or  has 
been  since,  except  by  Jean  II.  Fernando  strove  to  build  up  commerce ;  and, 
in  order  to  give  security  to  it,  he  invented  and  put  into  operation  some 
sort  of  marine-insurance.  Barcelona,  in  Spain,  in  1431,  made  an  ordinance 
on  the  same  subject,  and  made  marine-insurance  thoroughly  practical  and 
successful.    This  was  before  the  days  of  the  magnetic  needle,  and  it  was 


8i4 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


\ 


in  an  age  when  the  Saracens  swarmed  on  the  Mediterranean  as  pirates. 
Navigation  was  an  extremely  perilous  affair,  and  something  like  insurance 
was  necessary  to  give  security  and  expansion  to  commerce.  The  Barce- 
lonians  made  their  port  the  greatest  on  the  Mediterranean  in  course  of  time 
by  their  insurance  and  other  regulations.  Marine-insurance  thus  long  pre- 
ceded all  other  forms  of  the  business.  It  was  soon  adopted  by  all  commercial 
nations. 

The  next  branch  of  it  to  be  introduced  was  life-insurance.  This  part 
of  the  business  grew  out  of  this  very  matter  of  commerce.  Mariners  of  the 
Life-  early  ages  were  so  exposed  to  capture,  that  they  came,  in  time,  to 

insurance.  stipulate  with  the  freighters  in  whose  behalf  they  undertook  a 
voyage,  that,  if  captured,  they  should  be  ransomed.  There  are  traces  of  this 
in  records  at  Rouen  of  1361,  and  the  practice  became  quite  general  in  after- 
years  in  Spain.  Pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Land  made  the  same  arrangement. 
Out  of  this  practice  grew  life-insurance  proper.  It  is  interesting  to  observe 
that  there  was  against  life-insurance  a  most  violent  prejudice  from  the  very 
beginning  in  Continental  Europe.  It  seemed  to  be  setting  a  premium 
upon  murder  to  insure  a  man's  life,  and  society  was  in  altogether  too  lawless 
a  condition  in  that  age  to  make  it  judicious  to  create  extra  inducements 
for  killing.  Genoa  in  1588  enacted  that  "securities,  bonds,  or  wagers,  may 
not  be  made,  without  the  license  of  the  senate,  upon  the  life  of  the  pope, 
nor  upon  the  life  of  the  emperor,  nor  upon  the  life  of  kings,  cardinals, 
dukes,  princes,  bishops,  nor  upon  the  life  of  other  lords  or  persons  in  con- 
stituted dignities  ecclesiastical  or  secular."  Decrees  were  made  forbidding 
Hfe-insurance  positively  in  .Amsterdam  in  1598,  in  Rotterdam  in  1604  and 
1635,  and  in  France  in  1681.  The  opposition  to  it  in  France  is  only  relax- 
ing at  this  day.  The  business  was  not  established  in  England  until  1 706, 
when  the  Amicable  Society  was  started.  After  that,  however,  the  idea  became 
popular.  The  Royal  Exchange  and  the  London  Assurance  Companies  were 
started  in  the  time  of  George  I.  to  insure  lives ;  the  Equitable  was  started  in 
1762  ;  and  the  business  soon  gained  a  more  vigorous  foothold  in  that  king- 
dom than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  this  being  due  to  the  greater 
security  to  life  in  that  free  and  wisely-governed  country.  The  only  other 
countrj'  in  the  world  in  which  life-insurance  has  since  that  age  attained  any 
great  stature  is  the  United  States.  The  facts  will  be  more  particularly  set 
forth  hereafter. 

Fire-insurance  came  upon  the  scene  next,  and  accident-insi'rance  last 
of  all.  Somewhat  the  same  feeling  was  entertained  in  regard  to  fire-insurance 
Fire-  at  first  as  with  respect  to  life.     In  1609,  it  is  related,  an  ingen- 

insurance.  jgus  person  Suggested  to  Count  Anthony  Gunther  von  Oldenburg, 
that,  as  a  new  species  of  finance,  he  might  guarantee  his  subjects  against 
the  loss  of  their  houses  by  fire  on  condition  that  they  would  pay  to  him  a 
specified  sum  annually,  according  to  the  value  of  their  houses.    The  count 


aim 

I'll;.' 


1  I 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


8tS 


did  not  object  to  the  formation  of  a  company  for  doing  a  thing  like  that ; 
but  he  said  for  himself  that  he  doubted  if  it  could  be  by  him  "  honorably, 
justly,  and   irreproachfully  instituted  without   tempting   Providence,  without 


nREMEN  AT  WORK. 


incurring  the  censure  of  neighbors,  and  without  disgracing  one's  name  and 
dignity."  The  sturdy  count  continued  ;  "  God  has,  without  such  means,  pre- 
served and  blessed  for  many  centuries  the  ancient  house  of  Oldenburg ;  and 


8i6 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


he  will  still  be  present  with  me  through  his  mercy,  and  protect  my  subjects 
from  destructive  fires."  The  plan  does  not  appear  to  have  been  agitated 
again  in  Europe  until  after  the  great  fire  in  London  in  1666,  when  it  was 
immediately  brought  up.  The  agitation  which  the  subject  excited  then  was 
remarkable.  We  have  never  had  any  thing  like  it  in  America,  as  far  as 
purely  business-themes  are  concerned,  unless  it  was  the  silver-dollar  agita- 
tion of  1877;  and  that  was  comparable  to  the  fire-insurance  furore  in 
England  only  in  intensity,  not  in  duration.  After  the  fire  of  1666,  there 
ensued  in  England  six  years  of  hot  discussion  and  pamphleteering.  It  was 
proposed  that  the  city  corporation  should  insure  the  houses  of  the  town. 
The  city  did  finally  insure  a  great  many  houses ;  but  in  1682  the  Common 
Council  became  frightened,  and  backed  out,  and  cancelled  the  contracts. 
In  1696  the  Hand-in-Hand  Fire  Office,  a  private  company,  was  started  to 
do  what  the  corporation  did  not  want  to  do ;  and  in  1 706  the  Sun  Fire  Office 
was  started.  The  business  then  became  systematized  and  practical,  and 
rapidly  attained  very  large  proportions.  The  London  Assurance  was  incor- 
porated in  1720,  and  is  still  in  existence,  and  doing  a  gigantic  business. 
The  Hand-in-Hand  Company  is  the  only  one  of  the  earlier  period  now 
surviving. 

Accident-insurance  has  all  grown  up  within  the  present  century,  and  is 
Accident-  merely  a  once  minor  detail  of  the  business,  which  has  now  grown 
insurBnce.       ^q  such  proportions  as  to  be  able  to  stand  alone. 

Before  proceeding  to  depict  the  origin,  adventures,  and  development  of 
the  insurance-business  in  America,  a  few  words  will  be  proper  in  regard  to 
Principles  of  the  principles  upon  which  this  extraordinary  variety  of  commercial 
iniurance.  speculation  is  founded.  The  general  principles  are  the  same  in 
all  branches  of  insurance.  A  large  proportion  of  the  losses  and  deaths  which 
take  place  in  the  world  are  the  result  of  the  crime  or  misconduct  of  indi- 
viduals. This  was  more  true  of  the  middle  ages,  when  the  governments  were 
feeble  ;  but  it  is  also  true  to  a  certain  extent  now.  In  order  to  reduce  losses 
and  deaths  from  crime  and  negligence  to  the  lowest  possible  point,  govern- 
ments have  been  instituted,  whose  duty  it  is  to  assist  by  every  means  in  their 
power  the  efforts  of  individuals  to  protect  themselves  and  their  property,  to 
support  a  police  for  the  purposes  of  prevention,  and  to  maintain  courts  and 
prisons  for  the  purposes  of  punishment.  A  good  government  imparts  vast  secu- 
rity to  property  and  life ;  but,  in  spite  of  all  that  governments  can  do,  losses 
and  deaths  still  occur.  Gales  blow  in  from  the  sea  which  the  signal-service 
flags  did  not  predict  in  time,  and  the  coast  is  strewn  with  wrecked  ships ; 
conflagrations  brerV.  out  in  cities,  and  on  steamboats  and  railroad-trains ; 
collisions,  explosions,  the  fall  of  buildings  and  bridges,  and  other  unforeseen 
events,  occur ;  and  sickness  carries  away  prematurely  those  in  the  soundest 
health.  Few  men  are  so  rich  that  they  will  not  feel  heavily  the  weight  of  the 
loss  of  a  mill  or  a  house  by  fire,  or  a  ship  by  wreck.    The  majority  of  families 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


817 


in  the  world  are  not  so  well  provided  with  funds  that  they  can  endure  without 
financial  suffering  the  loss  of  the  life  of  the  men  who  are  their  main  stay  and 
support,  and  the  consecjuent  termination  of  their  main  income.  Before  the 
days  of  insurance,  most  men  would  have  been  impoverished  by  the  loss  of  their 
buildings  by  fire  ;  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  families  of  lawyers,  military 
and  naval  officers,  professional  men,  artists,  and  mechanics,  would  have  been 
doomed  to  suffering  by  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  family,  whose  income, 
of  course,  would  terminate  with  his  life.  In  early  times,  in  New- York  City,  a 
man  who  was  burnt  out  was  generally  forced  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  public 
for  contributions  of  money  to  set  him  on  his  feet  again.  Insurance  obviates 
this  distress  by  death,  and  loss  of  property  by  fire  and  accident,  which  is  sure 
to  fall  on  a  large  number  of  individuals  every  year,  by  distributing  the  loss  in 
each  case  among  a  great  many  people,  instead  of  allowing  it  in  each  case  to 
fall  with  all  its  weight  upon  one.  It  is  found  that  losses  by  fire,  wreck,  acci- 
dent, and  death,  obey  certain  laws.  Take  ten  thousand  houses  in  a  si)ecial 
part  of  the  country,  for  instance,  and  watch  how  many  of  them  burn  up,  year 
by  year,  for  a  period  of  twenty  years.  If  an  average  of  ten  houses  burn  up 
every  year,  it  can  pretty  safely  be  taken  for  granted  that  ten  houses  will  con- 
tinue to  burn  up  every  year  regularly,  circumstances  remaining  the  same. 
Now,  a  company  will  be  found  which  will  aim  to  insure  ten  thousand  houses  a 
year.  As  it  will  have  to  pay  on  an  average  for  ten  houses  consumed  by  f.re 
annually,  it  assesses  upon  the  ten  thousand  the  value  of  ten  houses  a  year ;  and 
each  owner  of  a  house  pays  in  to  the  company  his  ten-thousandth  part  thereof 
annually :  so  that  the  loss  of  the  ten  burned  houses  does  not  fall  on  the  ten 
men  who  own  them,  but  on  the  whole  ten  thousand.  Every  man  is  willing  to 
pay  his  insignificant  contribution  every  year  for  the  protection  and  security  it 
gives  him  ;  and,  when  his  turn  comes  to  be  visited  with  calamity,  his  burden  is 
taken  up  by  the  other  ten  thousand  men  upon  whom  it  is  distributed,  and 
lifted  from  his  shoulders.  That,  in  substance,  is  the  principle  of  fire-insurance. 
It  is  expressed  the  most  perfectly  in  the  so-called  mutual-insurance  companies. 
Hut  it  is  upon  this  same  principle  that  the  joint-stock  companies  are  founded 
also.  It  is  the  same  with  life,  marine,  and  accident  as  with  fire  insurance. 
The  average  number  of  deaths  and  casualties  every  year  is  ascertained  by 
observation  and  experience,  and  the  business  then  organized  on  the  same 
theory  as  before. 

Nort'  for  the  story  of  the  progress  of  insurance  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
an  instructive  one  in  many  respects,  and  a  melancholy  one  in  others.  It 
certainly  is  an  important  one,  as  will  be  seen  when  one  reflects  Progress  of 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  now  paying  annually  the  insurance, 
sum  of  $150,000,000  at  least  for  the  protection  and  security  which  insurance 
gives  them ;  and  that,  in  return  for  this  large  payment,  the  companies  are 
guaranteeing  to  the  people  indemnity  against  loss  to  the  amount  of  $10,000,- 
000,000. 


8i8 


JNDUSTKIAL    HISTORY 


Marine- 
iniurancein 
the  colonies. 


MARINE. 

Marine-insurance  appears  to  have  been  the  first  branch  of  the  business 
which  engaged  attention  in  America,  just  as  it  had  been  the  first  in  practice  in 
the  Old  World.  The  colonies  were  pre-eminently  commercial,  ainl 
felt  the  need  of  marine-assurance  from  the  beginning  of  their 
business  activity.  At  first  they  took  out  their  policies  in  England  ; 
but,  even  before  the  Revolutionary  war,  there  was  talk  about  the  business 
among  the  colonies  themselves.  In  1721  an  advertisement  appeared  in  a 
newspaper  in  Philadelphia,  as  follows  :  — 

"Assurances  from  losses  happening  at  sea,  &c.,  being  found  to  be  very  much 
for  the  ease  and  benefit  of  the  merchants  and  traders  in  general  j  and  whereas 
Colonial  ad-  the  merchants  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  other  parts  have 
vertisement.  i^ggj^  obliged  to  send  to  London  for  such  assurance,  which  has  not 
only  been  tedious  and  troublesome,  but  even  very  precarious,  for  the  remedying 
of  which  an  office  of  public  insurance  on  vessels,  goods,  and  merchandise, 
will,  on  Monday  next,  be  opened  by  John  Kopson,  at  his  house  in  the  High 
Street,  where  all  persons  inclining  to  be  insured  may  apply ;  and  care  shall  be 
taken  by  the  said  J.  Copson  that  the  assurers  or  underwriters  shall  be  jjcrsons 
of  undoubted  worth  and  reputation,  and  of  considerable  integrity  in  this  city 
and  province." 

In  1725  Francis  Rawle  of  Philadelphia  suggested  that  there  should  be  a 
marine-insurance  office  under  the  sanction  of  the  colonial  legislature.  His 
FrancU  pamphlet  on  the  subject  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  work  which 

Rawle.  ^^g  issued  froiTj   Franklin's  press.     Neither  Kopson   nor  Rawle 

accomplished  any  thing,  however;  and  Mr.  Fowler,  a  writer  on  insurance,  says, 
that,  for  seventy  years  afterward,  the  traders  of  Philadelphia  continued  to  seek 
their  insurance  abroad.  In  New-York  City  a  marine-insurance  office  was 
opened  at  last  in  the  year  1759,  Kefeltas  and  Sharpe  being  the  clerks.  A  rival 
office  was  opened  the  same  year,  with  Anthony  van  Dam  for  clerk ;  and  in 
1778  the  New  Insurance  Office  was  opened.  These  were  all  for  marine-insur- 
ance. The  underwriters  were  simply  wealthy  men  of  the  city.  Each  man 
subscribed  his  name  for  the  sum  he  agreed  to  pay  in  case  of  loss  of  the  ship 
or  cargo.  Insurance  was  thus  carried  on  by  individual  underwriters  in  the 
commercial  cities  for  a  few  years,  until,  very  near  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  the  business  assumed  a  more  organized  character. 

Several  companies  were  being  formed  for  fire  and  life  insurance,  and  the 
idea  was  applied  to  the  marine  branch  of  the  business  also.  In 
1 794  the  first  two  marine  companies  in  the  United  States  were 
formed  in  Philadelphia,  the  city  which  was  really  the  birthplace  of 
the  whole  insurance  system  of  this  country.  These  were  chartered 
companies,  and  were  called  "The  President  and  Directors  of  the  Insurance 
Company  of  North  America,"  and  "The  Insurance  Company  of  the  State 


Formation  of 
first  marine 
companies  at 
Philadelphia. 


"f  Penn 

by  no  I 

proudest 

every  gaj 

'icale.     I 

(  ompany 

3'ears.     Ii 

With  the 

inerce  inc 

'^vo  insur£ 

exclusively 

follows :  — 

'79-1 

'79i 

'796 

'797 

'797. 

'798. 

'798. 

'799- 

'799. 

The  Uni( 

'"nipanies  hs 

"'-"It  troubled 

t'le  interferen 

"^'ss  extremel 

■■"id  unexpectt 

''Tid,  merchan 

'"'ill red  them ; 

consequence  o 

issuing  regulatii 

'ill  precautions 

operations  of  t 

P'inies  again  be( 

companies  mad< 

companies. 

About  the  ye 
arising  from  a  cii 
''le  Roman  navi^ 
3gain  the  one  we 
presents  to  the  cc 
called  on  to  pay  f 


'''   ^//^   t'A^fTi^:n  states: 


"f  I'ransylvania."    These  ,^„  *'» 

I'V  n„  mean,  ,h,  ,,„."',  "f  r"""""'''''  f"""''^''!  i"  a  ri.v  „|,i,.|,  ,,.    , 

'■«rygateof  ,  ,      "">^  •^'"•■■"^■■■•n  """-ilmif  rom„a„,™      n  ''■'  '"■"'•^'  ""■ 

<™pa..y rrr,:r:  „:'::^;;f"-  ■'•'■'  «-r^."x.";;,:i";T""- 

-erce  incr  !     ,  J  vr''"?"''^  "^■^'^=''"'  "'-    "f,e     h     r'  7^  '""^^l- 
follows  :Z'         '"   ""'■   '"'  «-   -aking  of  ^^^n^  ^J^'^^^;^''^ 


'794 

'794. 

'795. 

'796. 

'797- 

'797- 

'79S. 

'798. 

'799- 

1799. 


""Kcl  l.„„r~  r  '"">■■  "»"  >■"''• 


«l«a.io„s  Of  ,|,te  lea't  o"f  '  ""^  "™  '■'°'"-'  a™  av  1 ' '"  T  "' 
'»■-,  again  became  pZ^Tr^'l  ""'  '™-  ^fer  rte  'va,"  '  "" 
""panies  made  monev     Th  '""'  "'"""i^eri  to  a  lo,v  avj,  T™" 

"mpanies.  '^^    ^'^  "'"•■''  ■■?s„lt  followed  _,  °  f      "«  '  ""''  "'= 

About  ,1,.  foniialion  of  new 

'Tuoiit  tne  year  1828  th 


820 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


coasts  and  in  the  West  Indies  by  intention.  Vessels  were  deliberately  scuttled 
at  sea,  or  run  ashore  in  ccillusion  with  wreckers,  in  order  to  secure  the  insurance 
on  them.  Others  were  run  into  some  port  in  the  West  Indies,  and  condemned  ; 
ships  of  the  most  worthless  description  being  abandoned  to  the  companies  at 
enormous  i;rices.  The  wreckers  added  to  the  evil  by  decoying  honest  ships 
f  shore  with  false  lights.  This  state  of  things  continued  for  seven  or  eight 
years.  The  fnuuis  were  finally  discovered,  and  many  a  merchant  of  reputa- 
tion was  ruined  hy  the  exposure  ;  but  the  practice  was  not  stopped  until  tho 
companies  had  been  subjected  to  a  fearful  strain. 

Marine  companies  were  established  in  the  following  States  in  the  years 
named,  the  com[)anies  being  the  first  of  any  kind  in  those  States,  and  generally 
doing  a  fire  as  well  as  a  marine  business  :  — 


compar 

their  fir 


Alabama 

lilinois. 

Indiana 

Mississippi   . 

Missouri 
Texas    . 


Montgomery-County  Insurance  Company 

Alton  Marine  and  Fire 

Lawrence Durgh  Insurance  Company 
J  Mississippi  Insurance  Company  (at  Vicksburg)  ) 
(  Protecti(5n  Insurance  Co  'pany  (at  Natchez)  .  ) 

Missouri  Mutual  Fire  and  Marine  and  others. 

IJrazonia  Insurance  Company  .        .        .  _      . 


1836 

1835 
1832 

1833 

1837 
1837 


Although  the  number  of  companies  increased  during  this  decade  between 
1830  and  1840  in  consequence  of  the  wonderful  growth  of  commerce,  the  year 
From  1830  to  1840  found  the  companies  in  a  state  of  very  uncertain  pros- 
1840.  perity.     Several  of  the  more  recendy-organized  companies  were 

compelled  to  wind  up  thsir  affairs.  All  the  other  concerns  were  losing  money; 
and  this  department  of  the  business  seemed  to  be  in  danger,  for  a  second 
time,  of  being  biotted  out.  The  losses  of  ships  by  wreck  had  become  so 
numerous  once  more  as  to  set  at  defiance  all  previous  calculations  of  the  law 
of  averages  ;  ond  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  in  view  for  the  companies,  except 
to  re-adjust  the  whole  system  of  marine  underwriting,  or  to  go  out  of  busim  v., 
That  which  brought  abiRit  this  condition  of  things,  however,  was  not  the 
action  ut  the  eleiuents  ;  but  it  was  once  more  the  avarice  and  misconduct  of 
iiian,  against  which  the  law  of  average  is  of  uo  avail.  The  wreckers  nt 
different  points  on  the  foast,  particularly  at  Key  West,  were  again  at  work: 
and  they  followed  up  thcii-  trade  wuh  such  hardihoo(i  as  to  enter  the  prinrip,)! 
jiorts  of  the  United  States,  and  attempt  deliberately  to  bribe  ship-captains  to 
cast  away  their  vessels.  In  too  many  cases  they  succeeded.  Merchants  w(;re 
either  actively  or  passively  engaged  in  the  commission  of  these  frauds.  There 
was  little  po]xilar  sympathy  with  the  companies.  The  consequence  of  it  all 
was.  that  one-third  of  all  the  losses  of  the  companies  from  1820  to  1S40  is 
estimated  to  have  been  the  result  of  the  corruption  and  ungrateful  malii  e  ol 
those  whom  m.iv^ne  insurance  was  established  to  benefit  and  protect.    The 


wm 

ft 


"i^'e  become  ex 
prosecution  uf  « 


O^    T^E    aj^-.TED    STATES 

oi  ijie  business  would 


"'^^'e  become  extinrf  \,^a  v 

i  l.iWldpl„a  <:„„,pa„i,,  „g^„j^^._, 


822 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


board  of  marine  underwriters  for  their  own  protection ;  and,  by  its  action, 
stability  and  confidence  were  once  more  finally  imparted  to  the  business. 

riic  marine  concerns  which  were  opened  in  the  West  after  1832  were  for 
the  taking  of  risks  upon  vessels  engaged  in  lake  and  river  transportation. 
,,    .  That  business  became  very  large  after  18 so.     There  were  ten  or 

Marine-  /         o  j 

i-.3urance        twelve  hundreil  vessels  on  the  Northern  lakes,  mostly  sailing-craft, 
companies       ^j^^^j  about  as  many  more  on  the  Western  rivers,  which,  in  turn, 

in  the  West.  •' 

were  mostly  steam-vessels.  The  insuring  of  these  vessels  called 
for  the  existence  of  numerous  companies,  which  were  duly  formed,  and  did 
business  on  a  large  scale.  There  was  a  fault,  however,  in  the  system  iipi/u 
which  these  companies  went  to  work.  Competition  led  them  to  take  risks 
without  much  regard  to  the  goodness  of  the  vessels.  Ship-builders,  finding 
that  slightly-built  vessels  secured  as  large  a  policy  at  as  low  a  risk  as  stout  ones, 
put  less  and  less  timber  and  iron  into  their  work  ;  and  a  class  of  weak  vessels 
was  thereupon  created  in  the  trade  of  the  lakes,  which  could  not  buffet  the 
storms,  and  which  in  a  blow  were  almost  sure  to  be  wrecked,  unless  they  h.i])- 
pened  to  be  safe  in  harbor  at  the  time  the  storm  broke  out.  The  grand  jury 
of  Northern  Ohio  made  a  report  in  18  5,  Mr.  C.  C.  Hine  says,  in  which  ihey 
stated,  that,  while  there  were  only  1,190  vessels  afloat  on  the  Ijkcs  at  the  eml 
of  1854,  the  wrecks  of  that  and  the  si.x  previous  years  had  amounted  tn 
1,560  in  number.  The  state  of  things  was  so  serious  as  to  require  public 
attention.  The  evil  was  finally  remedied  in  1855  by  the  formation  of  the  Lake 
Underwriters'  Association,  which  preijcribed  rules  as  to  how  vessels  should  be 
built,  and  whi<h  agreed  to  take  no  risks  except  upon  vessels  which  came  up 
to  their  requirements.  This  gave  a  new  life  to  the  business ;  and,  while  the 
companies  began  n<nv  to  make  money  under  the  new  order  of  things,  the 
public  also  came  to  be  benefited  by  it  through  the  greater  security  to  life  ami 
property. 

The  war  of  1861  formed  another  era  in  the  marine-insurance  business  of 
the  country.  For  the  first  two  years  of  the  war,  the  companies  on  the 
Effect  of  Northern  scal)oard  made  a  great  deal  of  money.  They  all  raised 
late  war.  f]^^'  rates  of  insurance  ;  and  one  New- York  company,  whose  receiiit 
of  jiremiums  was  unly  ;?6,ooii.ooo  in  i860,  took  in  $10,000,000  in  1S63,  with 
American  navigation  all  the  while  declining.  If  the  first  two  years  were  pros- 
perous, however,  the  following  two  were  not.  The  cruisers  which  slipped  out 
of  the  i)orts  of  England  to  prey  upon  the  American  ships  changed  the  face  ol 
things  materially.  During  the  'ast  two  years  of  the  vrar,  the  companies  nearly 
all  lost  heavily  ;  and  one  of  them,  "The  Columbian,"  failed  outright  in  spiteol 
its  gains,  because  of  u  loss  of  $1,000,000  on  ships  destroyed  by  the  unexpecteil 
cruisers.  The  end  of  the  war  found  the  business  very  much  rechu  id  in 
amount ;  and  it  has  not  yet  recovereil  the  proportions  it  enjoyed  before  that 
struggle  began,  simply  because  there  are  fewer  ships  and  cargoes  to  jjrotei't. 
The  ocean-tonnage  ot  the  United  States  is  even  now  only  acout  one-half  what 


it  was  be 

ging  was 
ming  bu 
to  gi've  a 
adnu',  ted 
die  fiicts 

again;  t  C 

privat ; 

^15.000,0 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


82- 


it  was  before  the  war.  The  single  feature  of  the  situation  which  was  encoura- 
ging was,  that  no  new  marine  companies  had  been  started,  and  that  those  still 
ming  business  were  generally  in  a  sound  condition,  and  could  be  relied  upon 
to  give  a  good  guaranty  of  indemnity  in  case  of  loss  to  such  ships  as  they 
admited  to  their  books.  Connected  with  the  losses  of  the  war  of  1861  are 
the  facts  concerning  the  Geneva  award.  The  claims  of  the  United  States 
again;  t  Great  Britain  were  presented  in  gross,  and  covered  both  the  losses  of 
privat;  citizens  and  those  of  the  insurance  companies.  The;  award  was 
Si 5,000,000.  Of  this  sum,  however,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has 
permicted  only  a  part  to  be  distributed.  Although  the  losses  of  the  insurance 
companies  formed  a  part  of  the  ground  of  our  claims  against  Great  Britain,  the 
companies  have  been  refused  a  jiarticipation  in  the  distribution  of  the  award,  — 
an  injustice  against  which  they  still  protest,  and  which  they  are  trying  to  have 
corrected. 

The  marine-insurance  companies  have  been  beneficial  to  the  United  States 
in  more  ways  than  one.  The  security  they  impart  to  the  commercial  \entures 
of  ''  -.ir  merchants  is  their  most  valuable  office  ;  yet  they  do  much  Benefits  of 
more  than  that  for  the  comfort  and  material  well-being  of  our  peo-  companies. 
]ile.  They  prescribe  rules  and  a  standard  by  which  ships  must  be  built  in 
ortler  to  secure  the  most  advantageous  rates  of  insurance  ;  and,  as  it  is  cheaper 
in  the  long-run  for  an  honest  merchant  to  have  his  insurance  as  low  as  possi- 
ble, he  accordingly  finds  himself  obliged  to  build  a  good  shij).  This  of  itself 
is  a  means  of  prevention  against  loss  by  wreck  and  acciilent ;  and,  it  is  hardly 
necessai^  to  say,  it  also  renders  voyaging  vastly  more  safe  to  the  people  of  the 
ship,  and  persons  bound  across  the  sea  on  the  pursuits  of  pleasure  or  business. 

There  is  an  absence  of  exact  statistics  in  regard  to  the  development  of  the 
marine-insurance  business,  because  there  is  as  yet  no  central  authority  to 
wiiich  all  tlie  companies  rejjort.  Most  of  tiie  marine  companies 
combine  a  fire -business  with  their  marine  operations,  and  tiic 
returns  of  the  two  branches  of  the  business  are  not  kept  separate.  It  is  esti- 
inaied,  however,  that  the  marine  comjianies  of  the  United  States  now  have 
outstanding  risks  to  the  amount  of  $400,000,000.  Of  this  large  sum,  i?  186,- 
000,000  are  at  the  port  of  New  York,  and  perhaps  $100,000,000  at  the  port  of 
Boston. 


Statistics. 


FIRE. 


It  is  Stated  by  the  insurance  authorities  that  not  a  single  building  in 
America  was  covered  by  a  policy  of  fire-insurance  before  the  year  1752.  In 
that  year  tlie  first  fire-insurance  company  was  organized,  in  imita-    _       .     . 

■^  J        ,  o  >  Organization 

tiiin  of  similar  co'^^panies  in  London,  by  a  number  of  citizens  of  of  first  fire- 
I'lnladelphia.     It  was  called  "The  Philadeli)hia  Contributionship  i"^"""" 

company. 

for  the    Insuratice    of   Houses   from   Loss   by   Fire."      Benjamin 

Franklin  was  the  president  of  the  company.      This  concern  was  organized 


824 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


somewhat  upon  the  principle  of  a  mutual  society.  The  man  who  wished  to 
have  his  house  insured  deposited  a  sum  of  money,  the  interest  upon  which 
belonged  to  the  company.  The  man  making  such  a  deposit  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  company.  Losses  anJ  expenses  were  paid  out  of  the  deposits  and 
the  interest  arising  therefrom,  and  at  the  end  of  seven  years  the  account  was 
balanced  with  each  member.  The  policy  ran  for  seven  years  ;  and  each  mem- 
ber was  liable  to  the  amount  of  his  deposit,  and  half  as  much  more.  A  gooil 
deal  of  information  has  been  preserved  in  relation  to  this  i)ioneer  of  American 
fire-insurance  companies,  possibly  because  so  much  of  it  is  of  a  ijuaint  chiir- 
acter.  It  seems,  according  to  Mr.  C.  C.  Hine,  ihe  editor  of  "  The  Insurance 
Monitor "  at  New  York,  that,  instead  of  appropriating  the  two-shilling  fines 
laid  on  absentees  at  the  monthly  meetii.gs  of  the  company  to  the  use  of  tiie 
company,  the  contributors  spent  them  in  putting  up  milestones  on  the  roads 
leading  into  Philadelphia.  They  dotted  the  roads  with  these  stov  s  for  twenty 
miles  around.  In  1 783  the  house  of  one  of  the  contributors  caught  fire  from 
a  burning  shade-tree  ;  and  the  company  thereupon  refused  to  take  risks  on 
houses  with  shade-trees  around  them,  except  at  enormous  rates.  This  led  to 
dissatisfaction  ;  and  the  second  fire-company  in  America  was  finally  started 
in  consequence  of  it,  called  "  The  Mutual  Assurance  Company  for  the  Insur- 
ance of  Houses  from  Loss  by  Fire,"  dating  its  origin  from  1 784.  This  new- 
company  took  for  its  symbol  and  trade-mark  the  "green  tree,"  and  accepted 
risks  on  houses  surrounded  by  shade-trees.  The  symbol  of  the  "  Contribution- 
ship  "  was  the  1  idge  of  two  clasped  hands,  —  the  same  as  that  adojited  by  the 
pioneer  Hand-in-Hand  Society  of  London.  Like  the  London  company,  the 
pioneer  in  Philadelphia  is  still  in  existence,  and  iloing  business. 

The  subjecL  of  insurance  was  agitated  in  New- York  City  in  1770,  17S4, 
and  1 785  ;  but  nothing  appears  to  have  been  done  in  the  way  of  forming 
Insurance  in  companics,  owing  to  the  bad  financial  condition  of  the  times. 
New  York.  'Y\yQ  return  of  peace  and  the  establishment  of  a  strong  national 
government  appear  to  have  given  new  life  to  all  business-enterprises,  and 
then  in  17S7  New  York's  first  company  was  started.  The  Mutual  . Assurance 
Company  was  immediately  formed  for  the  local  uses  of  the  city.  The  same 
year  the  Baltimore  Fire-Insu"ance  Company  war.  incorporated.  The  new  Na- 
tional Government  having  fairly  got  into  running-order,  charters  were  api^licd 
for  in  various  Slates,  and  by  iSoo  nineteen  fire-insurance  companies  were 
doing  business  in  the  United  States.  Some  had  the  right  to  do  a  mariiH'- 
business,  and  some  had  inland  privileges  also.     They  were  the  following  :  — 

1752.     Philadelphia  Contributionship.     (Fire.) 

1784.     Mutual  Assurance,  Philadelphia,     (Fire.) 

17S7  and  1795.     Paltimore  Fire.     (Fire.) 

1787  and  1798.     Mutual  Assurance,  New  York.     (Fire.) 

1794.     Paltimore  Equitable.     (Fire.) 

1794.     Norwich  Mutual,  Norwich,  Conn.     (Fire.) 


17c 

17c 

'79 

179 

179, 

179; 

1797 

1798 

1798 

1798 

1798. 

I799- 

1799- 

Most 

original  na 

tliat  name 

iintl  under 

there  was  z 

record  of  it 

indicate  tha 

1'he  Uni( 

Xew  York,  ii 

panies  were  : 

named  are  tli 

tinie,  and  an 

incorporated  1 

One  of  til 

offices  in  the 

I'eople  i)referr 

jiosses.sed  so  1 

New  \'ork  as  t 

^var  of  1812  t 

toward  Englan 

eluding  the  fo 

1^*^09,  IVMinsyiv; 

'fitter  State,  wl< 

'I'l^ition  the  fol 

Jn  1 8 10  fire 

I'-ngland  city,  w 

-nsiirance-intere 
^  number  of  |) 
companies,  finer 
f -^pt  those  in  thi 
}'car  that  the  Ha 


'794. 
1794- 
1794- 
I79S- 
I79S- 

^m- 

1797. 

'798. 

179S. 

1798. 

1798. 

J799- 

1799- 


^^-    TI,E    UNITED    STATES. 


Insurance  Companv  nf  v     l 

'"-ranee  c„,„„a„;  „,  Ti  afcT'?'  '"'","'*"'«»■     (V,.. 

N"vHam|„|„>ei„„    '"'•„'"  ^  "It-     Mil.) 


'"tiicate  tint  tl..  ■'■'^''^'*  ^'^  single  policy    u-l,-  i    u       ^^^ '    ^"^  all 

!»!«  "ere  also  .he  o  ,  ,'  „tVo  "h"'  "'  ■'""■">■•  ^'y-  ■"  ^S.,       f      "^  '" 

■^O'  Vork  as  early  „,  ,So-      u  ^'  "'"■■"''^  '"'l  an  office    ,     „ ""  •- 

"' "/  ■«-  .00k  p,a:  x„-  r;,:"^,  •"■""«  «■"■■'•'>  <ed?o",  ==-:. 

,      '"«  "'•■  foreign  companies  from  7        ,  '''■""  a  ian- ex-   s-"- 

~">l'anies.  Hner  (l.a„  a„v  1  „    „1         '"  «CM,«ncy  of  i„s„ra„e      "'-""- 

::;:;;--■" "- .-". n.*o , r:::r- ■" "- »,„„,, :i:  r^-„,„ 

•'"  "■"'  "«  Hartford  Fire-I,  ,„„     ,  p"'"''""''^''-     "  "as  i„  „,,„    "'■':,,,. 

""'°""'™''»-'"-p„ra.eda,„ar,f„r,, 


826 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Conn.,  with  a  capital  of  $150,000.  This  enterprise  was  a  timid  venture,  and 
for  several  years  was  a  plant  so  tender,  that  one  good  fire  would  have  snuffed 
it  out  of  existence  prematurely.  The  total  income  of  the  company  for  the 
first  year  was  only  $4,498.  Its  expenses  were  five  hunilred  and  thirty  dollars 
only  ;  three  hundred  dollars  going  to  pay  the  salary  01  the  only  employe,  the 
secretary,  and  thirty  dollars  being  expended  for  rent  and  fire-wood.  Isy  1820 
the  income  had  only  risen  to  $10,102  a  year;  but  after  that  the  business  of 
the  company  began  to  grow,  and  the  corporation  soon  became  a  great  con- 
cern, with  a  national  reputation,  taking  risks  amounting  to  tens  of  millions 
annually,  and  witii  an  income  which  grew  in  time  to  exceed  two  millions, 
'i'his,  like  most  of  the  early  companies,  was  a  joint-stock  concern.  Tiie 
capital  was  small  at  the  start,  —  only  $150,000;  and,  though  now  $1,000,000. 
was  increased  to  $300,000  only  in  1854.  On  the  other  hand,  the  risks  were 
large,  amounting  in  1854  to  over  $10,000,000.  But  the  policies  were  well 
placed,  and  in  1854  the  losses  annually  were  only  about  $300,000;  and  liic 
premiums,  being  adapted  to  the  losses,  gave  the  company  an  income  of 
$500,000  a  year,  without  touching  the  capital.  Thus  the  losses  were  all  jjaid 
from  the  premiums,  and  a  handsome  surplus  left  for  distribution  in  the  form 
of  dividends,  or  for  investment  as  a  surplus  fund.  The  success  of  the  Hart- 
ford Fire,  and  the  safety  of  this  form  of  business,  led  to  the  formation  of  other 
companies.  The  ^-Etna  came  first,  appearing  in  1819  ;  and  then  the  Protec- 
tion. The  Hartford-County  Mutual  came  along  in  1831,  the  Phcenix  in  1854. 
Such  has  been  the  growth  since  1810,  that,  in  spite  of  the  losses  caused 
by  the  great  fires  of  recent  years  and  other  depressing  causes,  the  city  of 
Hartfortl  has  in  the  year  T878  ten  insurance  companies  in  fiill  operation, 
having  an  income  of  $11,000,000  annually,  and  insuring  property  to  the 
amount  of  $680,000,000. 

The  growth  of  the  Hartford  companies  was  in  large  jiart  due  to  a  cause, 
which,  being  taken  advantage  of  afterward  by  other  companies,  brought  about 
Causes  of  ^'^  expansion  of  the  whole  business  of  insurance.  Until  the  .^']tna 
their  Started  in  18 19,  the  business  of  the  several  companies  had  been 

growt  .  almost  entirely  of  a  local  character.     Each  concern  was  as  mu(  h 

circumscribed  by  tiie  limits  of  the  neighborhood  it  was  in  as  the  town^luii 
cider-mill  and  the  early  county  flouring-mill.  The  yl^tna  appears  to  ha\c 
conceived  the  idea  of  creating  a  network  of  distant  agencies,  and  obtainiiif,' 
business  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Possibly  the  practice  of  New-I'lnglaml 
mannflicturers  in  sending  out  peddlers  suggested  the  idea;  but,  whether  it  diil 
or  not,  the  /Etna  adopted  the  agency-system,  and  soon  built  up  an  enormous 
and  prosperous  business.  The  Hartford  Fire  adopted  the  system  also,  and  in 
the  course  of  twenty  years  the  jjractice  became  common  with  all  large  ami 
aspiring  companies.  The  city  which  invented  it,  of  course,  profited  by  it  the 
first,  and  pro])ortionately  the  most. 

Every  thing  went  swimmingly  with  the  companies  up  to  the  year  1S35. 


K 


The  c 
nient 
had   tl 
They 
coining 
In  I  S3 
fire  in  I 
hundre( 
south  o 
and  Si 
pected 
fire-insu 
North 
eai)ital  w 
tliem  in 
l)aid  over 
three  com 
with  capit 
scribed, 
entirely  m 
't'his  calaui 
sensation 
"States   nion 
ry  even  tha 
'""•e  at  Chic 
for  the   rea; 
insurance  w; 
coiuitry  ;    ai 
e'xi)erience 
ceding  twen 
file  brilliant 
't-'w    notable 
l"iWic  ccnfid 
•ompanies    h 
excited  to  a  ci 
'las  never  bee 
'»     the     histo 
l-'iiited  States, 
had    been   in 
■^'lould  be  inv 
'I'ly  had  given 
'"»1  orphans  1 
"""p-i'iies  in  ( 


O^    T^E    ^:,,rED    STATES. 


827 


ilie  computation  of  the  nu^  ^^ 

"■•^y  'IM   make   „,„„ey,  and  "ej  ,    ,''  *"  """  "''^''•--  "'""ey    X  " 

-uti.  of  U       4"  7-»'"e  stores  and  forty-one  Ithe/ f  Tr"  '"''''''•  ^7'  ^ve 
nre-insnr.„  "^""'"S^  ^'^itation  wiped  nn^        '  '  "^''-      ^ 'i'^^  totally  unev- 

'    "'"^'     iij)on    an 
•-'nt.rcly  new   foundation. 

""s  calamity  produced  a 
sensation    in   tlie   United 
•states  more   extraordina- 
ry even  than  the  greater 
^'•e  at  Chicago  in   ,871, 
'«r  the  reason   that  fire- 
■nsurance  was  new  in  this 
^^0"ntry;    and    from    the 
experience    of    the   pre- 
ceding twenty  years,  and 
tlie  hnlhant  success  of  a 
''^^    notable    companies 
l'"W'c  confidence  in  the' 
'■*^'»l>anies    had    becon,e 
'■^'-'ted  to  a  degree  which 
"^''^  never  been  paralleled 
;■'  .  '^'1  ,  '^'^tory    of    the 

■  - "  '•■-  ■  -.-""is;  ;r -- - 


HARTFORD    KIRK-ISSI'RAV,-^ 

■^^'  RANCE  COMPANY. 


<l) 


828 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Fire  of  1845. 


nerative.  The  re-action  after  the  fire  of  1835  was  consequently  dreadful. 
The  whole  country  stood  aghast.  Pul)lic  confidence  in  the  joint-stock  com- 
panies was  profoundly  shaken ;  and  s  >  much  did  capitalists  distrust  them, 
that  new  comi)anies  could  not  be  formed  fast  enough  to  re-insure  the 
property  which  had  been  depriveil  of  jjrotection  by  the  iailure  of  the  New- 
York  societies.  The  danger  of  concentrating  the  risks  of  a  company  in  cities 
was  maile  apparent,  and  altogether  a  new  aspect  was  given  to  the  whole 
business. 

What  little  faith  in  the  stock-system  was  left  after  the  fire  of  1835  was 
badly  shattered  by  the  New- York  fire  of  1845,  when  four  hundred 
and  fifty  buildings  in  the  business-centre  of  the  city  were  destroyed, 
and  $6,000,000  of  property  lost,  —  an  incident  which  brought  about  a  fresh  lot 
of  insurance  bankruptcies. 

The  fire  of  1835  (and  incidentally  that  of  1845)  had  two  important  conse- 
Conse-  quences  :    one  was  the  improvement  of  the  ajiparatus  in  use  for 

quencesof  extinguishing  fires;  the  other  was  the  formation  of  a  vast  num- 
t  ese  res.  -^^^^  ^j-  ,^^^,{^^,,jj  fire-insuraucc  companies  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
With  reference  to  the  first  matter,  it  may  be  said  that  it  was  through  the  influ- 
Fire-  ence  of  the  comjanies  that  attention  was  now  drawn  to  the  subject 

apparatus.  Qf  yteam  fire-engines,  to  that  of  paid  fire  departments,  and  to  the 
need  of  city  water-works.  The  insurance  companies  of  New  York  ga\e  an 
Fire-  Order  in  iiS4o  to  have  a  steam  fire-engine  built,  and  one  was  built 

engines.  |^,y  ^jj._  Hodges,  and  tested,  in  behalf  of   the  companies  ;    and 

inventors,  then  being  set  to  work  at  the  subject,  soon  had  practical  steam  fire- 
engines  in  operation  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  The  Croton  water  was 
introduced  to  New  York  in  1842.  Paid  fire  departments  in  the  principal  cities 
Paid  fire  de-  Were  slower  of  introduction  ;  but  they  came  along  in  a  few  years, 
partments.  ^j^j^j  i^igstly  through  the  efforts  of  the  companies.  By  1862  all 
large  cities  had  them  except  New  York,  and  the  system  was  introduced  there 
in  1865.  Besides  using  their  influence  to  secure  these  things,  the  underwriters 
did  one  thing  more.  In  1839  the  companies  in  New  York  organized  and 
employed  a  paid  fire  patrol,  which  has  ever  since  been  in  active  and  successful 
operation,  and  has  been  of  incalculable  benefit  for  the  i)reservation  of  property. 
Boston,  Philadeli)hia,  Chicago,  and  other  cities,  organized  similar  patrols  in 
imitation  of  New  York.  Their  cost  is  a  mere  fraction  of  the  value  of  the 
property  which  would  be  destroyed  without  the  agency  of  their  services.  The 
celebrated  London  Corps  was  organized  by  Capt.  Shaw  of  the  P'ire  Brigade  of 
that  metropolis,  after  witnessing  the  performances  of  the  Insurance  Patrol 
of  New  York.  The  underwriters  also  effected  a  salutary  change  in  tlie 
combustible  character  of  buildings,  by  their  action  in  regard  to  rates  of  insur- 
ance, &c. 

The  second  immediate  effect  of  the  fire  of  1835  was  the  formation  of  a 
large  nimil)er  of  mutual  insurance  companies.     There  had  been  some  discon- 


tent in 

power  \ 

the  pill) 

a  conip 

ten  p.-r 

tlie  cou 

would  pi 

aniountii 

poiicy-hc 

urns  won 

generally 

portion  0 

making  ai 

of  compa 

years.     Al 

upon   the 

^^50,000 

receijjts  foi 

meet  a   tw 

beyond  th( 

profits  for 

se\-eral  time 

their  extrem 

o^vners  of  tl 

referred  to. 

insurance  cc 

expression  in 

the  corporati 

original  Ph,-]^ 

tile  policv-hc 

sj'steni ;  but  t 

t'le  profits,  an 

tained  by  thei 

>ears,  as  unde 

guaranty-Aind, 

tein  was  the  dc 

"lutual  concen 

»'th  a  capital  s 

Liiisiness  beino- , 

file  rage  foi 

"■'lere  a  large  1 

"'Ptcy  of  the  e 

^■orporations  ac( 


^^'    ^"^^    ^^'/T-AZ,    STATES. 


tent  ,n  the  p„hiie  mind  at  fh.  •  •  '^ 

tlie  course  of  a  few  years      i  .     '■^'  ^"^  I^"«^'^>'v  the  whole  nr  •,     •  ,  ■ 

-«'"cl  l^roceed  to  erect  a   ."o I     '?"  ^'^''^  ^''^"^''^^  '^--'^  of  1    °  1  '  '^  "'""" 
---uing  from  55  oooooo  tH    '''-'''''  ^^■i--n.ct.r       •  rs      rr"'"'"!' 

tl^eir  extremitv  L      ^      ^^■''"''•'^"•■•^  ^°»1^I  not  comn.l  '"^'^^^'"^-"t   back 

insurance  commn;.     /,  ^5.  "'hen  the  field  wis  rl»       ,  *45o,ooo 

"-  corpora.io„  ^ZlalfTI  '"'  """""'  ''-<=-     UndJT'"  '"""" 

tained  bv  ihe  "  ^^'  "  ?""  ^^  the  benefit  r.r  '""'''''^  '^'^'  '^^^'<^  of 

ed  b>  the,r  money,  and  theirs  alone      rZ  "  '^'^''"  ^''''^h  was  sus- 

ran  :  r"""  '"  ^^''^^'^^-k  plan     for  a      „      "'^' "'"  "  ^-^'  ^''ter  a  f  w 

tern  was' ;f'":^'  '"^'  '  ^^P'"^^'  ^h'^  c  e  t  d      T     "'T'  "^^  ^^-'^'"-'•-i  to  a 

'  only  five  applications  to  the 


830 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


legislature  for  insurance-charters;  but  in  1836  there  were  over  fifty,  one-half 
Their  "^  them  being  for  mutual  companies  ;  and,  during  that  and  the  fol- 

growth  In  lowing  year,  forty-four  charters  were  granted  for  the  organization  of 
New  ork.  ^j^^^  ^|^^^  ^j-  (-Qfij-grns.  The  applications  came  principally  from  the 
inland  cities  and  towns  of  the  State,  where  the  people  resolved  to  separate  the 
fortunes  of  their  property,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  special  hazards  and  con- 
centrated risks  of  large  cities.  The  excitement  over  mutual  companies  soon 
Their  spread  extended  to  Other  States.  During  the  next  ten  years  they  multi- 
in  other  plied  rapidly  throughout  New  luigland  and  all  the  Mitldle  States ; 

and  the  idea  was  adopted  throughout  the  West,  where  a  field  for 
business  was  just  opening.  The  mutual  plan  was  extremely  popular,  because 
in  the  rural  communities,  where  capital  was  scarce,  companies  could  be  formed 
without  its  aid  ;  and,  in  the  cities,  those  who  paid  heavy  premiums  for  insurance 
received,  in  return,  part  of  the  profits  of  the  business.  As  has  already  been 
indicated,  this  rage  for  mutual  companies  received  a  new  impetus  in  1845  from 
the  six-million-dollar  fire  of  that  year  in  New  York.  The  failure  of  more  of 
the  Eastern  joint-stock  companies  was  the  result  of  the  fire ;  and,  as  tiicse 
companies  had  had  agencies  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  the  localities 
where  those  agents  had  offices  were  deprived  of  insurance  accordingly.  Local 
companies  upon  the  mutual  plan  were  found  to  fill  the  gap  thus  created.  New 
Orleans,  which  had  theretofore  depended  on  the  agency  system,  was  one  of  the 
sections  which  now  organized  mutuals  for  fire,  marine,  and  life  purposes.  The 
mutuals  of  that  city,  by  the  way,  secured  by  their  promptitude  a  monopoly  of 
the  city  and  river  business  until  1857,  when  local  stock  companies  began  to 
compete  for  the  business. 

The  mutual  system  was  far  more  advantageous  to  the  general  public  than 
the  other.  When  prudently  managed,  the  companies  were  found  to  afford 
Advantages  'iii^plc  security,  especially  outside  of  the  large  cities,  and  the 
of  mutual  policy-holders  secured  protection  at  an  extremely  low  minimum  of 
system,  expense.     The  mutual  system  grew  rapidly,  therefore,  especially  in 

the  three  great  insurance  States  of  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania. 
It  was  stimulated  in  New  York  by  the  celebrated  law  of  1849,  which  was  j)asse(l 
by  the  legislature  without  one  dissenting  voice,  and  which  was  simply  designed 
to  be  a  general  law  to  facilitate  the  formation  of  companies  without  the  delays 
consequent  upon  applying  for  a  special  charter.  That  it  did  '•  facilitate  "  things 
there  is  no  question  ;  for  forty-two  companies  had  been  formed  under  the  law 
by  1853.  Growth  was  so  rapid,  that,  by  1855,  the  bulk  of  the  farm  and  village 
property  in  the  three  States  above  nam'^d  was  covered  by  the  policies  of  the 
mutuals  ;  and  the  same  was  true  of  othei  States. 

Unfortunately,  with  this  rapid  extension  of  a  system  which  promised  to 
Defects  in  be  of  such  public  importance,  there  came  demoralization,  sjiocu- 
system.  lation,  and  fraud.     The  profits  of  the  companies  were  large,  and 

speculators  and  wreckers  forced  their  way  into  the  insurance  system  to  ( arry 


out  d( 
same, 
and  M 
the  Iav\| 
States, 
must  n 
marine 
a  I 


O^    TffE    VmTED   STATES. 


out  f'eliberately-planned  .rh  ^"^^ 

«ame,  in  its  .reneral  n...v     ^"^^^  ^^  oppression  and  wronrr     tu 

and  Massach    r   H  uT'  '".?'■'  °'  ^'^'^  -^^^'^  ^^   "n  fw^I'  T'  "  ''^^ 
the  law  of  ,«.„      i  •      I    '^  '"'^'^''^  -^^vindlinif  was  in  v     ?/      "'^'  ^^'^^  ^'orJ*. 

must  not  start  wi,],„.  rompanics  in  Ncv.Vorl,   ,    .^'"""""follior 

l».-en  already  given      F      '?°°  '"  "'^  P^'""'""'.  for  w     h  1,      ^°°'°°°  '" 
rcniiirerl      ,1  Elsewhere  in  ||,e  o,.,^      ■  '    ."  ""tcs  iiiust  liave 

w"t,    ''",'' "'""ber  of  persons  not  |,sl  t!  °   r.*'°°'°°°  "'  "o.es  „"re 

of  I  ,    T'c"  T""-^"'  «"'^'  ^f^r     .'i"r ","■*""  '"'-„„„: 

-rr::v£r^"  ^°^;"t:i^^  :en/"  -  --- 
--<iberor:ei:  ;r::„:;"7/  '^"--~t;'""  '-"■'■ 

Ken  persons  givinR  nremL        '^       ^'"S''  "f  f^"*'  Vork  bv  tl„V    ^"°" '"  ">« 

-"  -"■»"/ co™,?„m:i°::  'r  "^ "'"°""'  °f '-too  ^^r 

.n  money,  even   Aife  ,,,  l^.ZTZ''.    T""""  ^'"'°"'  »  '  olla    '""- 

of  fixed  salaries.     Let  me  deseribe  tt^         7  ''"  ''°''<^>-'  '''"'™<i   '»«■"«""■ 
'-Sen"a:d"f"°:  '^^-^^  -o^^'ttSf  .f ''■  ""^  "-'»''  "^ 

^::^;5^?^~rti;:'^^^^^ 

P"ce„.a,e  npon  „is  premi„'„  .^^..^Z^^yJ:;^  ^of 


^. 


v 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


III 


1.0 


I.I 


IJi^l^S     12.5 
1^  1^    12.2 

•"  1^    mwm 


1.8 


1.25      1.4      1.6 

^ 6"     

► 

Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


93  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


83a 


IXDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


property  for  five  years,  without  the  remote  suEpicion  that  he  was  to  be  the 
sorrowful  Peter  of  a  comparative  to-morrow.  '  All  went  merry  as  a  marriage- 
bell.'  Soon  everybody  within  their  control  in  the  respective  beats  of  agents 
was  insured ;  new  fields  and  new  agents  were  sought :  but  distance  lent  no 
enchantment  to  the  view  presented  by  the  agents,  or  perhaps  a  new  com- 
petition was  created  by  some  envious  neighbor.  The  number  of  policies 
began  to  fall  off;  the  receipts  of  cash  on  premium  notes  for  the  percentage 
became  '  small  by  degrees,  and  beautifully  less  j '  property  would  burn  up ; 
and  the  managers  began  to  doubt  the  policy  of  taking  any  but  farm-risks. 
The  "ummit  level  of  folly,  spurred  on  by  avarice,  had  been  reached ;  and, 
as  the  ascent  was  with  the  speed  and  splendor  of  the  rocket,  the  descent, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  was  like  the  stick  that  guided  it  upward.  Tax  upon 
tax  followed  in  quick  succession  upon  their  premium  notes,  amid  the  mut- 
tered curses  of  those  who  were  compelled  to  pay  them.  Credit  or  standing 
as  a  company  only  existed  as  the  snow  of  last  winter,  —  a  matter  of  remem- 
brance. 

"  This  was  sometimes  followed  by  a  spasmodic  effort  to  prolong  existence. 
A  flaming  handbill  in  large  letters  is  posted,  ailnouncing  that  "  this  company 
takes  none  but  farm-risks,"  or  that  it  has  separate  classes  of  risks,  with  a 
grand  sum  total  of  the  amount  of  their  premium  notes,  and  exhibiting  a  large 
amount  of  moneys  in  the  hands  of  the  agents  and  in  the  course  of  trans- 
mission to  it.  Under  this  state  of  things,  the  agents,  with  the  sagacity  pecul- 
iar to  their  class,  retire  in  disgust  from  the  employ  of  the  company ;  and 
while  they  sing  paeans  to  some  younger  brother  in  whose  employ  they  are, 
and  who  is  destined  to  the  same  foolish  and  unpiticd  fate,  they  freely  com- 
ment upon  and  express  their  doubts  as  to  the  management  and  honesty  of 
the  elder  one.  The  beginning  of  the  end  has  come.  Exeunt  omnes  of 
the  managers  of  the  company.  The  curtain  falls ;  and  a  receiver,  appointed 
by  the  court,  makes  his  bow  before  the  astonished  audience,  and  gives  notice 
that  the  farce  of  foliy,  avarice,  and  mischief  has  ended,  and  that  the  tragedy 
of  collecting  a  sufficient  percentage  on  the  notes  to  pay  the  liabilities  of  the 
company  will  soon  begin." 

The  picture  is  faithful  to  the  life.  The  companies  in  New  York  adopted 
the  mixed  premium  and  stock-note  plan,  and  pushed  a  reckless  agency  busi- 
Number  of  ness  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  In  less  than  ten  years  of 
failure*.  ^hg  passage  of  the  law,  five-sixths  of  the  companies  formed  under 
it  went  down,  entailing  a  loss  of  $2,000,000  on  the  community.  Of  the  fortv- 
two  organized  from  1849  to  1853,  thirty-three  were  swindles,  and  failed  out- 
rageously. By  1859  there  were  left  in  New-York  State  only  twenty-eight  of 
the  sixty- two  mutuals  doing  business  in  1853  ;  and  of  the  twenty-eight  the 
majority  had  been  c^anized  under  special  charters  prior  to  1846,  and  had 
adhered  strictly  to  the  mutual  plan.  By  i860  only  seven  of  the  nearly  sixty 
mutuals  formed  under  the  law  of  1849  still  survived  in  New- York  State. 


O^   THE    UmTED   STATES. 


'«'"  year  .h^^^  't '°  "'°  ""^  "^^'r  evl  one  "  ".'l'  """>""■«  "l-cl, 


^aa 


ilv^/^ 


•^ 

?tS 

-  I,.    "l 

&/f 

\'l 

■#'  ifF 

^^^Ji^- 


S^TEAM   FIRE.ENG,.v«. 


>""'«  in  .he  Sou.h  and  ,'w  I       *  ^  ^'""*"<^  ""^  f-^v  com-  "■"•"- 

«eaini854;  that  of  New  York,  in 


S34 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


1859.  In  imitation  of  those  two  States,  Connecticut  established  a  department 
in  1866 ;  Ohio,  in  1867  ;  Iowa  and  California,  in  1868 ;  Illinois  and  Missouri, 
in  1869;  Wisconsin  and  Kentucky,  in  1870;  and  Michigan,  in  187 1.  The 
wild-cat  companies  have  been  nearly  driven  out  of  existence  by  these  succes- 
sive enactments  and  the  action  taken  under  them. 

From  i860  to  the  present  time  the  growth  of  fire-insurance  has  been 
generally  sound,  though  marked  by  extraordinary  features.  The  number  of 
Pire-intur.  buildings  in  the  country  —  which  was  only  3,362,337  in  1850,  and 
ancttinct  4,969,69a  in  i860  —  had  increased  in  1870  to  7,042,833  in  spite 
'***'  of  the  devastation  of  the  four-years'  war.    Competition  and  the 

mutual  system  had  reduced  the  cost  of  insurance ;  and  the  protection  of  dwell- 
ings, stores,  and  factories,  by  policies  of  insurance,  had  become  universal. 
There  were  causes  at  work  which  compelled  the  companies  to  exercise  great 
prudence ;  such  as  the  increasing  use  of  petroleum  for  lamps  and  for  lighting 
fires  in  stoves,  the  lawlessness  engendered  by  the  war,  and  the  temptation  to 
bum  heavily-insured  property  for  the  sake  of  securing  the  insurance.  But 
these  dangers  were,  on  the  whole,  offset  by  the  general  adoption  of  steam  fire- 
engines  and  paid  fire  departments  throughout  the  country,  and  the  general 
erection  of  fire-proof  buildings.  When  the  war  was  approaching  a  close,  the 
prospects  of  the  fire-insurance  bueiness  were  bright,  and  the  companies  were 
hopeful  and  happy.  With  the  burning  of  Charleston,  S.C,  and  the  loss  of 
17,000,000  of  property  thereupon,  and  the  destruction  of  other  Southern  cities 
in  that  last  year  of  the  war,  there  began  a  series  of  losses  by  fire  in  this  country 
such  as  had  never  been  seen  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  During  the  year  ending 
May  I,  1865,  over  $50,000,000  of  property  was  burned  in  the  United  States, 
mostly  in  the  South  of  course,  only  $5,000,000  of  it  being  in  the  North.  This 
loss  fell  generally  on  the  English  companies  ana  on  a  few  Southern  companies;, 
many  of  the  latter  being  crushed  by  their  losses.  On  July  4,  1866,  »  lire 
broke  out  in  the  city  of  Portland,  Me.,  caused  by  a  boy's  fire-cracker,  which 
burned  out  $10,000,000  worth  of  property  in  the  business  quarter  of  the  city. 
This  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  New-England  companies ;  but  it  was  an  "  airy 
nothing"  compared  with  the  experience  of  187 1, 1872,  and  1873.  From  1866 
the  daily  record  of  losses  became  so  large,  that,  in  the  country  at  large,  the 
companies  were  called  upon  annually  to  make  good  losses  amounting  to 
$10,000,000  or  more.  This  was  sufficiently  serious  j  but  in  1871  came  the 
shock  of  a  great  calamity.  On  Oct.  7  of  that  year  one  of  the  most  destructive 
fires  which  had  ever  occurred  in  Chicago  had  broken  out  and  been  subdued. 
On  Sunday  evening,  Oct.  8,  a  bam  caught  fire  (owing,  it  was  said  at  the 
time,  to  the  kicking  over  of  a  milk-pail  and  a  lamp  by  a  cow)  at  the  junction 
of  De  Koven  and  Jefferson  Streets,  in  an  inflammable  part  of  the  city ;  and,  at 
the  end  of  two  days,  more  property  had  been  consumed  than  in  the  historic 
London  fire  of  1666.  In  London  13,000  buildings  were  bumed,  covering 
500  acres ;  and  the  loss  was  $50,000,000.    In  Chicago  1 7,450  buildings  were 


bur 

acn 

This 

of  tJ 

peof 

lives 

'»3,c 

tribut 

quen< 

New ' 

franc 

were  r 

busine 

IVo  fi 

thirty-s 

(the  wi 

insuran( 

the  fire 

granite 

portion 

was  a  w 

destroyir 

compani< 

being  Mi 

joint-stoc 

chusetts. 

l>er  of  sm 

fires  have 


^^   TJfS   VmTED   STATES. 


binned,  covering  a  tract  aho„.f„        ,  *« 

people  homeT«l  V    ""  "^  »"'>■  »«",ooo  .1^  ""  '««'»■'  P«>P«ty 

Wbuted  anion  j  ,     ^  *  '"''  '*«"-Vork  companie.  '»^''»»  »f  insunmcc, 

N™  Vork  «,.  inT'  ,   i   '"  °f  ^  companies  wereTn  ^^^I      "*  '"  ""«■ 
r.^ci,co  and  ti.  Z^"'"''  ""  ™  I^'d«.crfo!^l",Jf '■'"'*''  "'«"  '» 

business  .^  d™     .P°'"^>-''-"<i«".    Chicago?",?^,,  ?"'''•'»■" »49.ooo,ooo 

companies  closed  thl-  T  '''5oo,ooo,  insured  for  <r  r^  "  '^^3, 

being  Massach'l/,         ^^'^  '"  ^°n»equence  of  The  p^rT    ^'"^-^^ 
Joint  stocTcon'        "rP^'".  and  twenty-two  of  .h  ^'-^^s*  twenty-six 

chusetr Vr       "''  ''*^'"«  0"ly  eleven  To  r/u      ^*""  ""'"^e'"  being 

fires  have  taken  n,  ^^^  °^  ^'^^  <=o"ntry     Two   ^;.  ""*'*^  ^y  a  num- 

W"  doing  b„si,^„  h^-™;- '"t*;*  ""X^-four  forei^rom    c^"'"'"" 


836  INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 

States  which  had  a  much  larger  list  of  companies.    They  were  distributed  as 
follows :  — 

Alabama II 

California 7 

Connecticut 31 

Delaware .....4 

District  of  Columbia 11 

Georgia 6 

Illinois 9 

Indiana 5 

Iowa 7 

Kansas a 

Kentucky 13 

Louisiana 17 

Maine 43 

Maryland .18 

Massachusetts 8$ 

Michigan 40 

Minnesota 2 

Mississippi I 

Missouri 39 

New  Hampshire 37 

New  York ui 

North  Carolina , 3 

Ohio 58 

Pennsylvania 177 

Rhode  Island 24 

South  Carolina i 

Tennessee 13 

Texas 7 

Vermont 6 

Virginia 16 

West  Virginia 6 

Wisconsin 9 

Foreign 34 

Total 851 

The  risks  assumed  by  these  companies  amount  to  something  over  |io,ooo,- 
000,000,  the  people  of  the  United  States  paying  for  this  protection  a  sum 
variously  estimated  from  $100,000,000  to  $150,000,000  yearly.  This  is  indeed 
a  very  heavy  tax  to  pay  in  order  to  be  secure  from  the  consequences  of  one's 
own  negligence,  or  the  accidents  or  wrong-doing  of  others ;  but  human  nature 
is  such  a  poor  thing,  that  no  man  is  regarded  as  prudent  now-a-days  who  does 
not  carry  a  proper  amount  of  insurance  upon  his  houses,  bams,  factories,  ships, 
or  merchandise.  It  is  a  very  rare  thing  to  see  a  structure  of  any  sort,  pos-j 
sessing  much  value,  that  is  not,  in  part  at  least,  insured ;  though  occasionallr| 
an  insurance-fund  is  accumulated  by  companies  out  of  which  they  reimbui 
themselves  whenever  losses  arise.  The  following  was  the  business  done  by 
few  of  the  principal  companies  in  1875  :  — 


PerJu 
^5o,ooo,c 
tobJe  ver) 
risks  com 


VVeno 
'ts  own  i 

vicissitude; 
Life-ins 
•narine  bra 
351769.    c 
PennsyJvani 
called  "  Th( 
•nen  of  the 
I  "'■  f'lis  soci. 
Payment  of 
P^'^  eight,  s 
r^^en  annui, 
hnuityoffiv 
"■"ndred.and 
■"ents  was  les 


O^   T»B    UmTBD  STATES, 


»8i9L«tna  (Hartford) 
,853  I  Agricultural  !„,„„„„•  C„: 
'      (Watertown,  N.y.)  [ 

S?"''""""'  (Hertford)   : 

859  Germania  (New  York)  " 

SsJHanover  (New  York)     '"'•'•^ 
-S'o  Hartford  (Hartford) 
'»53  Home  (New  York) 
,794  i  Insurance    Co.    of   North) 

x9.JL    '^"'''""'»  (Philadelphia)    ) 
849  Niagara  (New  York)    ^   ^ 

8  5  Pennsylvania  (Philadelphia) 
'854  Phoenix  (Hartford) 

•867  Watertown  (Watertown/N.Y.) 


chelle,  N.Y.) 


n 


UMSBS 

rON         I       MSKS  III 

VBAii.     I      roiici. 

»^45.000  ,.677,000  7„-J  ,„^   ^ 

"457.000  i,34,,ooo  ?}f^  •9S.«68.ooo 

3.308.000  ,  ,^3  g7.ooo  .36.990.000 

'.7.0.000  992*^  586,000   ,65,380.000 

'.592,000   1,044  oQol  n    °5.'92.ooo 

3.032.000  .,oS3  ^H  96.948.000 

«'047.oco3.393.q..»3'?£'- 

«  167  nn«  n   350.804,000 

5''67.ooo  3.351,000     863,ooJ  '74.596,ooo 

'.465.000      864,000      469,000     67.338.000 

'.557.000      677.000      ,)a 

'•950.000   ,,55^^'     „^  fH    63.537.000 

352.000      187,000   109,193,000 

8^3.000  807,000  40,000  ,T 

402,000  72,112,000 


^^-trrr^ — 

^!^'^'ever,fairi3,i„,2lt  fL^°;  >>-iness  of  under  ^oroo'r'T '" 

risks  common  in    „  ™^^^  '"^  proportion  of  assets  anri  '°°°-     ^^e  above 

common  ,n  all  companies.  ^'^''  ^"^  '•^^'^'Pts  to  losses  and 

LIFE. 

«„e  branches.    I,  ^^^  ■°""7 ''  ^  '»>cie„,  i„  i„  „,.  . 

hts  was  Jess  thaJfif""'  "^  ^''^  ^^^  n^ightZ     jny^^'y' '^^^^Y^  or  on. 
r  -n  Meen,  t.  annuit.  .s^td  I^^Xrc^^' 


838 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


were  taken  out  for  this  society  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  in  1787 
they  were  renewed  in  all  three  States.  The  New- York  and  New-Jersey* 
branches  were  afterwards  discontinued ;  although  the  charters  remain  in  force, 
it  is  believed,  to  this  day.  The  original  society  is  still  running,  though  on  a  very 
small  scale.  It  scarce  attracts  attention  now,  except  as  an  historical  curiosity, 
although  its  benefits  are  really  valuable,  and  are  shared  by  a  number  of  j)eople. 

The  example  of  Pennsylvania  was  followed  in  Maryland  in  1 784.    A  cor- 
poration of  Episcopal  clergy  was  formed  on  exactly  the  same  plan. 

No  regular  life-business  was  done  in  this  country,  however,  until  181 2. 
The  same  feeling  against  putting  a  price  upon  the  life  of  a  human  being  was 
prevalent  as  in  earlier  times  m  Europe.  It  was  looked  upon  as  a 
speculation  which  the  laws  of  (lod  could  not  sanction.  This 
prejudice  wore  away,  however,  with  time ;  and  in  181 2  the  first  life  company  of 
the  United  States  was  started.  It  was  in  Philadelphia  of  course,  the  City 
of  Brotherly  Love  and  of  a  great  many  other  good  things  besides.  It  was 
Penntyi.  Called  "  The  Philadelphia  Company  for  Insurances  upon  Lives  and 
v«ni«  granting  Annuities."     It  had  a  capital  of  1^500,000,  and  began 

company.  business  in  181 3,  using  the  mortality -tables  of  Dr.  Price,  which 
were  then  in  use  in  England.  This  table  passed  out  of  use  long  ago ;  but  it 
may  be  interesting  to  quote  it  here  for  comparison  with  the  one  now  in  use, 
which  will  be  cited  farther  on.     It  is  as  follows :  — 


lilt. 


Birth 

S  • 

10  . 

«5  • 

20  . 

25  • 

30  . 

35  • 

40  . 

45  • 

50  . 

55  • 

60  . 

65  . 

70  . 

75  • 


EXPECTATION  OF  UFE,  IN  VBARS. 


MEN. 

WOMEN. 

14-25 

I8.I 

3»oS 

37.«2 

30 

36.89 

26.74 

33-43 

23-85 

30.01 

21.40 

26.8 

19.42 

23-98 

17.56 

21.62 

15.61 

19.25 

13-78 

17.17 

11.95 

15.12 

10.3 

12.89 

8.69 

10.45 

7-39 

8.39 

5.S1 

6.16 

4.09 

4-39 

This  table  was  based  upon  the  observation  of  the  average  length  of  life  of 
ten  thousand  people.     It  gave  an  excessive  mortality-rate,  however,  even  fori 


En^ 

PhiJ 

then 

The 

purp 

mort; 

Ij 

tion  c 

joine( 

was  a 

busine 
in  183, 

the  sta^ 
appean 
incorpo 
the  Girs 

there  wa 
South,  tJ: 
Marine  a 
panics  w( 
»^as  scare 
panics  be 
»*''iich  life 
t^ompanici 
f>usiness  i 
results  of 
passed  a  la 
from  the  c 
seen  at  a  g 
"le  whole 
Within 
country,  int 
N'ew-York  J 
six  of  the 

incorporator 

"o  guaranty 

^m  busine: 

"ff'er  to  mak 

'"PP'ications  , 

"I"^n  its  door 

^'-itw,  and  it 

'^nyland  Afuti 


"'  r«s  v,,jrBo  sTMrss. 


_.  — *-  "t^/es, 

England;  and  an  exDerim™    <•   .  *3» 

ri-Welphia  ta  "I^  "I"'  "»"'  '""'r  y~n,  convinc«l  ,V  .. 

T-e  fim  .ab,«  of  vliS^trrj"  "^''  °"^  '««■» ^  ■' J   J""""' 
purpose,  were  p,^pa^  by  hrpWhH  tT  '^'  "'  f<"insu™„c.    2"^" 

t-usines,  wWch  .otl  ^"J"  ""  "'  ">  "«  cloud, T;,  '°'"'  '"'""'» 

"■e«age.    The  mi„^,tm  J^J7  '°  "^^  ""i'*""/  .^n  '•'"-.^. 
Weared  in  ,830.     In  New  v„  f  '^  "'"'^''A  Life  and  tH  °'°"»' 

■he  Oirard  Life  and  Trust  was  ch,™    ^      '«"•     '»  Philadelphia  '"•""•• 

«l>ich  life-insamnce  waslfn        "'P'^j""*'™  "^gone  "heorin    r  ""■" 
-Panies  had  .0  edut.e'X^Tl-^VrL™'.  «"  ""^-^^^^^^ 

^e^a  rf"^°^'-"''-l«"d;  c;/,,''„;P<''-Vwas  secured  .„  ,he  wife.te 

-i^-of^t^r-"--^^^^^^^ 

•vit/im  seven  years  after  r«.    c 
six  of  th.  ^^"^^  chartered  Anril   „     o  ^  ^"^  appear  was  the 


840  INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 

owing  to  the  monopoly  enjoyed  by  the  MassMihusettH  Honpital  and  Life  Com- 
|>any,  chartered  in  1835,  it  had  not  thought  fit  tu  licgin  Inisiness  l>efore  the 
year  stated.  In  ^841  the  NautiUis  Company  of  New  York  was  cliartcrcd,  with 
fire  and  marine  privileges.  It  did  not  iK'gin  business  at  once,  but  got  its 
charter  amended  so  as  to  include  life- privileges  too.  It  opened  its  <luorH  in 
1847,  confming  itself  to  the  life-business  entirely.  In  1S49  its  name  was 
changed  to  the  New-V'ork  Life.  The  Slate  Mutual  Life  of  Worcester,  and  the 
Mutual  Benefit  of  Newark,  N.J.,  completing  the  list  of  five  great  mutuals, 
came  into  the  field  in  1845. 

The  one  object  of  all  these  companies  was  to  reduce  the  cash  cost  of  life- 
insurance,  and  to  perfect  the  science  of  the  business,  so  as  to  po>.>uarize  these 
Object  of  investments,  and  make  them  safe.  .Ml  except  the  Mutual  Life 
companies,  adopted  the  part-notc  system.  In  1S46  the  Connecticut  Mutual 
of  Hartford  was  started  ujjon  the  same  plan  as  the  others.  These  six  com- 
panies won  their  way  rapidly  ;  and,  in  ten  years  from  the  time  the  fust  of  them 
opened  its  doors,  they  had  driven  every  other  life-insurance  company  from  the 
field,  except  the  Pennsylvania,  the  (iirard,  and  Corporation  of  ICpiscopal  Clergy 
in  Pennsylvania.     These  three  survive,  as  do  the  six  pioneer  mutuals. 

With  I S46  the  reconl  of  unsuccessful  life  companies  begins.  The  Mutual 
Life  of  lialiimore  was  founded  in  that  year,  but  was  unable  to  get  business, 
Pate  of  ^"'^^  '^  disapiKjareil  in  five  years.     In    1847  six  companies  were 

variout  formed  ;    but  only  one,  the  Penn   Mutual  of    Philadelphia,  now 

compan  e*.  survives.  Five  companies  were  started  in  1848:  three  of  them 
were  in  Philadelphia,  and  they  soon  disappeared:  two  of  them  —  the  Union 
Mutual  of  Maine,  ami  the  National  of  Vermont  —  were  successful.  In  184^^ 
three  companies  started  in  Louisiana,  and  one  each  in  North  Carolina,  New 
Jersey,  and  Connecticut ;  but  they  soon  dissolved.  In  1 850  tweh  e  more  were 
chartered,  —  two  of  them  in  the  South,  and  two  in  the  West.  Seven  of  them 
soon  failed,  re-insured  in  other  companies,  and  went  out  of  sight.  The  othei 
five,  all  in  the  East,  survived.     The  situation  in  1 850  was  as  follows  :  — 

COMrANIB-S. 

Connecticut 6 

Pennsylvania 13 

Maryland 2 

I^iiisiana 4 

New  Jersey j 

Ohio 2 

Kentucky 2 

New  i'ork 5 

M.issachusetts 3 

Vermont I 

North  Carolina 1 

Cicorjiia I 

Maine i 

Foreign 3 

Total 47 


beii 

Foi 

nexi 

pani 

cam 

on  t 

builtj 

ings  J 

comp 

over ! 

by  th( 


their  lives 

I)rivate  con 

"aine,  cent 

work." 

income  go 

'  'lapter  bcii 

man),     «< -j- 

**<>iild  not  SI 
'0  j)ay  a  prci 
"^^on't  mali 


O^   TH^    UJVfTED   STATES. 


Of  this  numlM>r  »iMn»..    •  •    .  ^' 

"•*'» "'"aO-.  win,  ,x,r.en.     r.  ZT"'"'  "'"  ""^  >"-'  l»""^o  r»i|. 


N.W.VO.K    U«.,«,,,,,„  ,„^,„^^^. 


their  lives ;  and  all  the 
l>nva,eco„,e™p|a„„„,,„X7^rCr';"',":;'''  '"""••■"  '»-"■»  ^r  their 
""'k-  Talk  life-i,«„ra„ee  on  i,s  ,„'l'      '"''"•   ""»'  >«  ''"'I.  I>er5i„<..„, 

„'■'""  >«'"«  given  to  the  „o,k  „f  ,howin.  1         "  ""'"''>'  "'">-'  "  ("  "We 
""»)■     ••  Talk  large  amonnl,  •  U,    LT  *        ''^™'  '"'"' '"  P"'  "'^  ^"^^  .o  a 

" "■"  »ff"  in  case  of  tlK>  d  «".!  ^  """'  "'"'""'  """  '"««''  f™'fc 

"  P»y  a  pre„,i„„, .,  „„,,  ,,„  ;^'/;  '        '"--a-  the  men  ,vh„  can  ,..„  ,Zx 

"on',  nuke  .„„  u,.  P~LL  ^iL    '^^^ rn.;:™"-/"''  "■«  f^'  '••• 

iaench.      And  so  on,  until  the 


843 


INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY 


"  Practical  Suggestions  "  have  covered  every  inch  of  the  field.  Tlie  companies, 
in  fact,  had  discovered  that  there  was  money  in  life-insurance ;  and  they  began 
a  systematic  effort  to  swell  the  business  of  taking  risks  to  the  utmost  possible 
point,  in  order  to  realize  therefrom  a  number  of  enormous  salaries  to  officers, 
and  the  use  of  the  surplus  funds  of  the  business  for  speculation.  Prudent  and 
honest  companies  did  much  during  this  period  to  elaborate  tables-of-mortnlity 
statistics  (the  New- York  Mutual  pre-eminently),  and  to  put  the  business  other- 
wise on  a  solid  basis :  but  the  fever  of  speculation  burned  in  the  veins  of  half 
the  existing  companies ;  and  the  business  was  pushed  at  a  reckless  rate,  and 
on  unsound  and  ruinous  principles.  By  i860  the  withdrawals  uf  companies 
had  been  as  numerous  as  their  multiplication,  and  in  i860  only  twenty-two 
of  which  there  is  any  record  were  doing  business  in  the  United  States.  'I'hose 
twenty-two  had  outstanding  insurances  to  th:  amount  of  f  180,000,000  on 
60,000  citizens,  their  receipts  of  premiums  bemg  ;$7,ooo,ooo  a  j'ear. 

With  the  war,  life-insurance  received  a  new  impetus.  A  new  era  of 
feverish  competition,  speculation,  showy  companies,  and  ruin,  began.  In  1864 
Effect  of  the  policies  had  increased  to  $400,000,000.  In  the  next  four 
«'■»•  years  seventy  new  companies  sprang  up,  and  insurances  ran  up  to 

1 1, 600,000,000.  Life  companies  were  the  especial  feature  of  the  tendency 
of  enterprise  in  the  West.  All  the  offices  were  run  on  the  high- pressure 
system.  Mr.  Hine  says,  "Solicitors  extolled  the  merits  of  their  own  and 
depreciated  those  of  rival  companies  in  almost  every  town  and  village  in  the 
country,  aided  by  [>amphlets,  periodicals,  and  prospectuses,  picturing  in  mag- 
nificent figures  the  attractive  features  of  the  new  philanthropy.  Railroads 
and  the  national  debt  were  about  the  only  things  deemed  worthy  of  com- 
parison with  such  a  business.  Excessive  outlays  and  defective  management 
were  alike  concealed  by  the  enormous  volume  of  new  business  which  every 
enterprising  office  was  able  to  report  at  the  end  of  successive  years ;  and  the 
suggestions  of  speculative  re-action  and  a  possible  collapse  were  unheeded  in 
the  rich  harvest  that  was  being  reaped."  The  exi>erience  of  the  mw..ual  fire 
corporations  in  the  speculative  days  of  their  history  has  already  been  related. 
The  wild  schemes  of  the  fire  mutuals  were  now  more  than  paralleled  by  the 
life  mutuals,  and  wild-cat  companies  were  formed  and  presented  to  the  public 
eye  in  a  manner  which  forcibly  calls  to  mind  the  company  so  keenly  satirized 
by  Dickens  in  "  Martin  Chuzzlewit."  One  would  imagine,  on  reading 
Dickens's  description,  that  the  satire  was  levelled  at  the  bubble  concerns  of 
America.     The  portrait  is  lifelike,  and  may  be  reproduced  here  :  — 

"The  Anglo- Bengalee  Disinterested  Loan  and  Life- Insurance  Company 
started  into  existence  one  morning,  not  an  infant  institution,  but  a  grown-up 
company,  running  alone  at  a  great  pace,  and  doing  business  right  and  le*^ ; 
with  a  'branch'  in  a  first  floor  over  a  tailor's  at  the  west  end  of  the  towi,, 
and  main  offices  in  a  new  street  in  the  city,  comprising  the  upper  part  of  n 
spacious  house  resplendent  in  stucco  and  plate  glass,  with  wire  blinds  in  all 


OF   THE    UmTBD  STATES. 


843 


lanies, 
began 
ossible 
fficers, 
nt  an(\ 
ortality 
\  other- 
of  half 
ite,  and 
inpanies 
•nty-two 
'Ihose 
),ooo  on 

f  era  of 
In  1864 
lext  four 
ran  up  to 
tendency 
h- pressure 
own  and 
|age  in  the 
,  in  mag- 
Railroads 
of  com- 
inagement 
lich  every 
;  and  the 
^heeded  in 
._.ual  fire 
!n  related, 
[led  by  the 
the  public 
ly  satirized 
[n    reading 
mcerns  of 

Company 
grown-up 

and  le'". ; 
the  towi., 

part  of  a 
Binds  in  all 


the  windows,  and  '  Anglo  Bengalee '  wofVed  into  tho  pattern  of  every  one  of 
them.  On  the  door-post  was  painted  again  in  large  letters,  '  Offices  of  the 
Anglo-Bengalee  Disinterested  Loan  and  Life-insurance  Company ; '  j^„  .  .^.. 
and  on  the  door  was  a  large  brass  plate  with  the  same  inscription,  g*u«  Dttin- 
always  kept  very  bright,  as  courting  inquiry,  staring  the  city  out  1*"'*"*^ 
of  countenance  after  office-hours  on  working-days  and  all  day  Lii«-intur. 
long  on  Sundays,  and  looking  bolder  than  the  bank.  Within,  the  •"'•  ^•'"" 
offices  were  newly  plastered,  newly  painted,  newly  papered,  newly 
countered,  newly  floor-clothed,  newly  tabled,  newly  chaired,  newly  fitted  up  in 
every  way  with  goods  that  were  substantial  and  expensive,  and  designed  ( like 
the  company)  to  last.  Business  I  —  look  at  the  green  ledgers  with  red  !>:;cks, 
like  strong  cricket-balls  beaten  flat,  the  court-guides,  the  directories,  day- 
books, almanacs,  letter-boxes,  weighing-machines  for  letters,  rows  of  buckets 
for  dashing  out  a  conflagration  in  its  first  spark,  and  saving  the  immense 
wealth  in  notes  and  bonds  belonging  to  the  company.  Look  at  the  iron 
safes,  the  clock,  the  office-seal,  in  its  capacious  self-security  for  any  thing. 
Solidity!  —  look  at  the  massive  blocks  of  marble  in  the  chimney-pieces,  and 
the  gorgeous  parapet  on  the  top  of  the  house.  Publicity !  —  why,  '  Anglo- 
Bengalee  Disinterested  Loan  and  Life-insurance  Company'  is  painted  on 
the  very  coal-scuttles.  It  is  repeated  at  every  turn,  until  the  eyes  are  dazzled 
with  it,  and  the  head  is  giddy.  It  is  engraved  upon  the  top  of  all  the  letter- 
paper,  and  it  makes  a  scroll-work  around  the  seal,  and  it  shines  out  of  the 
porter's  buttons,  and  is  repeated  twenty  times  in  every  circular  and  public 
notice,  wherein  one  David  Crimple,  Esq.,  secretary  and  resident  director,  takes 
the  liberty  of  inviting  your  attention  to  the  accompanying  statement  of  the 
advantages  offered  by  the  Anglo-Bengalee  Disinterested  Loan  and  Life- 
Insurance  Company,  and  fully  proves  to  you  that  any  connection  on  your 
part  with  that  establishment  must  result  in  a  perfect  Christmas-box  and 
constantly  increasing  bonus  to  yourself;  and  that  nobody  can  run  any  risk  by 
the  transaction  except  the  office,  which,  in  its  great  liberality,  is  pretty 
sure  to  lose.  .  .  . 

"  Lest,  with  all  the  proofs  and  confirmations,  any  man  should  be  sus- 
picious of  the  Anglo-Bengalee  Disinterested  Loan  and  Life-insurance  Com- 
pany ;  should  doubt,  in  tiger,  cat,  or  person,  Tigg  Montague,  Ksq,  (of  Pall 
Mall  and  Bengal),  or  any  other  name  in  the  imaginative  list  of  directors, 
—  there  was  a  porter  on  the  premises  (a  wonderful  creature  in  a  vast  red 
waistcoat  and  a  short-tailed  pepj)er-and-salt  coat),  who  carried  more  con- 
viction to  the  minds  of  sceptics  than  the  whole  establishment  without  him. 
No  confidences  existed  between  him  and  the  directorship  ;  nobody  knew 
where  he  had  served  last ;  no  character  or  explanation  had  been  given  or 
required  ;  no  questions  had  been  asked  on  either  side.  This  mysterious  being, 
relying  solely  on  his  figure,  had  applied  for  the  situation,  and  had  been 
instantly  engaged  on  his  own  terms.    They  were  high ;  but  he  knew,  doubtless, 


844 


INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY 


that  no  man  could  carry  such  an  extent  of  waistcoat  as  himself,  and  felt  the 
full  value  of  his  capacity  to  such  an  institution.  When  he  sat  upon  a  seat 
erected  for  him  in  a  comer  of  the  office,  with  his  glazed  hat  hanging  on  a 
peg  over  his  head,  it  was  impossible  to  doubt  the  respectability  of  the  con- 
cern. It  went  on  doubling  itself  with  every  square  inch  of  his  red  waistcoat, 
until,  like  the  problem  of  the  nails  in  the  horse's  shoes,  the  total  became 
enormous.  People  had  been  known  to  apply  to  effect  an  insurance  on  their 
lives  for  a  thousand  pounds,  and,  looking  at  him,  to  beg,  before  the  form  of 
proposal  was  filled  up,  that  it  might  be  made  two.  ...  He  was  grave  with 
imaginary  cares  of  office ;  and  having  nothing  whatever  to  do,  and  some- 
thing less  to  take  care  of,  would  look  as  if  the  pressure  of  his  numerous 
duties,  and  a  sense  of  the  treasure  in  the  company's  strong  room,  made 
him  a  solemn  and  thoughtful  man." 

With  1872  the  second  tide  of  speculation  again  ceased  to  flow,  and  the 
re-action  came.  Companies  carelessly  conducted,  which  had  allowed  their 
Re-action  expenses,  commissions,  and  salaries  to  intrench  upon  their  capital, 
•ince  187*.  began  to  go  down.  Collapse  followed  collapse  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  Disaster  was  postponed,  in  many  cases,  by  the  officers  swearing 
delibera'.ely  to  false  statements  in  regard  to  the  assets  of  their  several  concerns. 
The  salaries  of  $20,000  and  $30,000  they  were  paying  themselves  were  too 
large  to  relinquish  without  a  fight.  But  State  supervision  was  relentless,  and 
insisted  upon  searching  examinations  into  the  affairs  of  suspected  concerns ; 
and  not  only  were  a  large  number  of  concerns  compelled  to  close  up  their  affairs 
along  from  1872  to  1878,  but  in  many  cases  their  officers  were  sent  to  prison 
for  deliberate  fraud  and  perjury.  Some  of  the  men  thus  summarily  and  sternly 
punished  had  occupied  prominent  places  in  the  community  Tor  integrity  and 
godly  lives.  The  losses  inflicted  upon  the  policy-holders  amounted  to  millions. 
No  sympathy  has,  therefore,  been  felt  for  the  punished  officials  of  the  bankrupt 
companies. 

This  era  of  investigating  by  State  officials,  of  failure  and  prosecution,  has 
Present  con-  again  cleared  the  air  in  life-insurance.  The  business  is  again  on  a 
ditipn.  sound  basis ;  and,  although  the  salaries  and  expenses  of  some  of 

the  companies  are  yet  too  large,  it  is  believed  their  affairs  are  again  in  a  healthy 
condition.  Of  course  the  business  of  life-insurance  has  received  a  tremen- 
dous shock  by  such  an  awful  disclosure  of  wide-spread  mismanagement,  and  it 
will  probably  be  a  long  time  before  confidence  in  the  really  sound  companies 
will  be  fully  restored.  The  innocent  cannot  help  suffering  with  the  guilty,  and 
this  trite  truth  is  emphatically  the  case  with  those  insurance  companies  which 
are  truly  worthy  of  confidence ;  but,  in  the  end,  the  fact  that  they  passed 
safely  through  such  a  trying  ordeal  will  increase  the  faith  of  the  public  in 
their  soundness,  and  thus  naturally  bring  renewed  prosperity. 
Sixty-one  companies  are  now  doing  business  in  the  United  States, 
distributed  as  follows :  — 


other  by 


Maine    .       . 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Connecticut   . 

New  York     . 

New  Jersey    . 

Pennsylvania 

Ohio      . 

Indiana  . 

Michigan 

Wisconsin     . 

Missouri 

( 

Iowa      . 

Kansas  . 

Kentucky 

California 

Alabama 

Georgia . 

Virginia . 

Louisiana 

Maryland 

North  Carohna 

District  of  Columbia 

©/•  rjiE   UmTED  STArES. 


S4S 


Total 


The  policy-holders  number  abou 
d   for  nreminmc    __j    -  "" 


•  I 

a 

•  6 

•  9 

•  '5 

I 

•  5 

'  a 
f 
I 
t 

3 

a 

t 

I 

I 

a 

I 

I 

t 

t 

I 

2 


6i 


paw  for  premi  TanS-rr  °''°"'  '°°''»°-    ll-'  «"",  of  «„  „^         . 
hol<ii.r«     -ri,  »So.ooo,ooo  is  di«h„„.j  »75.ooo,ooo    s 

to  h!  ^'"""P^^holdS^ooooooooT/  '""""">■  '"  ""  Micy. 

o  the  amount  of  «,,9oo,ooo,ooo     CoZ      '''"'•  ""*  ''=«  '"^'''^d  liv« 
-ch  a  record.    1„  England,  i„  ,8,°  T     """  """"  ^"Sla^d  can  Z" 

9^a.n  number  only,  and  the     s   L"^  ''^  t""'    ''J^  PoHces  Le^C 

"',  •*"^»'=«  97,84.  pohcy.holdera„d„,?'°°°  """^''-    '"  F™«,t 
"The  primary  relation  of  a  colanv^^'      '"""■'"'"  "ffe-tosurance 
I^-'.Vis  that  of  the  seller  ,0  the  ZveTof'"  P*^-'>°W^'»."  «ys  C  T 

;;;-,ra„ce,  the  prhase^^^Tlcr  hT  "  ^''^'  P''^  """  ol^ 

The  fo,lo„mg  willito^,.  ^,  ^P^  f^»^^^^^__^^ 


846 


IXDUSTXIAL   HISTORY 


AOB. 


NUMBER 
or  UVBI, 


NVMBm  or 

BBATHS  moM 
niBCKDINO  VBAR. 


BXPBCTATIONS 

or  LirE. 


10 

IS 

80 

as 

30 

3S 
40 

45 
50 
55 
60 

6S 
70 

75 
80 

85 
90 
95 
99 


100,000 
96,636 
93.268 

89,835 
86,392 
83,581 
78,653 
74,435 
69.5'7 
63,649 
55.973 
46,754 
35,837 
34,100 

13,290 

5,417 

i,3«9 

89 


3.364 
3,368 

3,433 
3,543 
3.7" 
3.928 
4,218 
4,918 
S.868 
7.656 

9.219 
10,917 

".737 
10,810 

7,873 

4,098 

1,230 

88 


48.36 
44-96 
41-49 
37.98 
34.43 
30-87 
27.38 

2369 
30.18 
16.86 

•3-77 
10.97 

8.54 
6.48 

4-78 
336 
3.1 1 

1. 13 
.50 


The  following  are  a  few  figures  relative  to  the  failure  of  life-insurance  com- 
panies in  the  United  States.  The  total  number  of  failures  has  been  one  hun- 
atatistietof  dred  and  fifteen  companies,  eighty-three  of  the  number  having 
faiiurt*.  ^gg^  chartered  since  i860,  and  seventy-one  of  the  eighty-three 
since  1865.  The  years  and  the  States  in  which  the  failures  occurred  were  as 
follows :  — 

YSAX. 

1840 I 

1851 a 

1853 

1853 

»855 

1856 

1857 

i86t 

1863 

1863  ..       •. 

1864 

1865 

1866 

1867 

1868  ..       '. S 

1869  ... 8 

49 


It  was 

Cincinnat 

first  great 

Mutual  u/ 

came  tuml 

«'ood-chop 

cutting  awi 

^hen  startir 

company  w 

fjands  of  a 

brand-new  i 


nee  com- 
one  hun- 
er  having 
rhty-three 
hwere  as 


a   ' 

3 

5 
S 

9 

4 
4 
I 
3 

a 

I 

a 
a 
a 

S 

8 


OF   THE   VmTED  STATES,  847 

VBA>. 

1840-69 49 

1870 6 

1871 8 

1873 14 

1873 «7 

«874 S 

«87S 9 

1876 7 

1877 a 

Total 115 

ITATB. 

Alabama a 

California t 

Connecticut 7 

District  of  Columbia t 

Delaware 3 

Georgia 3 

Indiana I 

Illinois II 

Kentucky 3 

Louisiana 4 

Minnesota i 

Michigan t 

Maryland 3 

Missouri 8 

New  York 31 

New  Jersey 6 

North  Carolina 3 

Ohio 6 

Pennsylvania 13 

Rhode  Island 1 

South  Carolina 3 

Tennessee 6 

Texas t 

Virginia i 

Total IIS 

It  was  the  disgraceful  failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company  of 
Cincinnati  as  a  bank  which  is  said  to  have  started  the  panic  of  1857.  The 
first  great  failure   after  that  date  was  that  of  the  Great  Western 

Mutual  of  New  York  in  1870.      From  1870  on,  the  companies  ohioLiu 

came  tumbling  down  like  a  row  of  trees  in  the  woods  which  the  und  Trust 

wood-chopper  had  prepared  for  a  grand  combination  crash  by  Jjj»"P*"y'» 
cutting  away  the  trunks  so  that  they  were  all  just  ready  to  fall,  and 
then  starting  them  so  that  each  one  should  fall  against  its  neighbor.    One 
company  would  be  closed  by  the  attorney-general,  and  its  affairs  put  into  the 
hands  of  a  receiver.    Its  policy-holders  would  be  re-insured  in  some  other 
brand-new  and  equally  weak  company,  which  would  go  down  in  turn,  often  in 


848 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


the  very  same  year.  Each  failure  was  worse  than  the  preceding ;  and  when 
Faiiuretin  1 876  and  1 87 7  were  reached,  and  the  Continental,  the  Security, 
iS7«.77*  the  American  P6pular,  and  the  Atlantic  Mutual  went  down,  an 

examination  ''  I  their  affairs  revealed  a  shamelessness  of  corruption,  and  depth 
of  inefficiency,  in  the  management  of  the  first  three,  which  shocked  the  moral 
sense  of  the  American  people,  and  led  every  man  to  ask  the  question 
of  his  neighbor,  "  Well,  who  is  there  in  the  community  that  we  can  trust 
now?"  The  Continental  had  $51,000,000  of  insurances,  the  American  Popu- 
lar 1 10,000,000,  and  the  Security  $30,000,000,  when  they  went  down. 

The  following  is  the  business  which  is  now  being  done  by  the  best  of  the 
Buiinei*  "^^^  existing  companies ;  the  old  Mutual  of  New  York  being  put 
done  by  at  the  head  of  the  list,  —  a  place  it  deserves,  not  half  so  much 
pretent  ^^^^  ^j^g  magnitude  of  its  colossal  business  as  from  the  excellence 

eompaniei.  °  ,  •  ,  r        j 

and  soundness  of  its  management  and  the  substantial  foundation 
upon  which  it  stands  (the  figures  being  for  Jan.  :,  1876)  :  — 


25 


NAMB. 


INCOMB. 


PAYMENTS  TO 
POLICY- 
HOLDERS. 


NUMBER    OP 
POLICIES. 


1847  Mutual  of  New  York  . 
1S50 /Etna  (Hariforcl)     .    . 
I  Charter  Oak  (Hartford) 
Connecticut  Mutual 
(Hartford)    .     .    . 
Equitable  (New  York) 
Mutual  Benefit  (New- 
ark, N.J.)     .    .    . 
New  York  (New  York) 
North-western  Mutual 
(Milwaukee,  Wis.) 
Phoenix  Mutual  (Hartfoid) 


1850 
1846 

1859 
1845 
•830 
1857 

1851 


$78,534,000 
21,833,000 
13,314,000 

43,410,000 

28,585,000 

31,300,000 

30,505,000 

17,044,000 

10,133,000 


$30,400,000  $12,674,000 
5,536,000!  3,453.000 
4,44S,ooo     2,096,000 


9,8i8,oco 
9,571,000 
6,751,000 
7,944,000 
4,053,000 
3,298,000 


6,306,000 

S.33S.OOO 
5,526,000 

4,131,000 

2,004,000 

1,934,000 


92.393 
56,743 
36,481 

66,309 

48,700 

43.0'S 

44,461 

36,428 

30,281 


$305,057,000 
91,454,000 
58,796,000 

185,076,000 

178,632,000 

134,104,000 

126,132,000 

67,124,000 

60,247,000 


The  Germania,  Globe,  Home,  Manhattan,  Life  Association  of  America, 
Knickerbocker,  John  Hancock,  New-England  Mutual,  Pennsylvania,  Provi- 
dence Life  and  Trust,  Union  Mutual,  and  Union  Central,  do  a  large  business, 
and  have  risks  outstanding  amounting  to  from  $30,000,000  to  $60,000,000. 


ACCIDENT. 

This  is  the  last  of  the  four  departments  of  the  insurance-business.  It  is 
Creation  of  ^^  creation  of  the  single  mind  of  one  man,  —  Mr.  James  G.  Bat- 
accident-  terson  of  Hartford,  Conn,  who,  while  abroad,  had  noticed  the 
insurance  workings  of  accident-insurance  in  Europe,  and  who,  upon  his  re- 
turn, organized  the  Travellers'  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford  for 
introducing  the  business  to  this  country.     His  company  was  chartered  in  June, 


OP   TJfE    UNITED   STATES. 


'863.    It  took  some  time  to  m  it  in^  ^^^ 

-..re,    however,  leaving  .lie  S" .  " .,";"  ^t    ^^'^  '"  -°"  -"""•' 
°f  .865,  so  rapidly  did  the  busi„e«  of  r  f" '     =>"  "'^  '^"d  ■■"••• 

"gi-eat  business     Thr7        '  """^ ""«  "Kained  a  na>i„„T  *">■ 

""--;  >vbi,r;i,e^  .eTar","".""'^  ^^'^"^ ' "  " gere^r:'"";"'' 

"-8,0.000.000.  »  "f'  ""»-  also,  i.s  risks  nol:ro„:;;,*« 

To  the  casualty  business  a  Plate  ru.  ° 

">  '870.    Other  cities  have  since  f„      /""'''""'' ""^^  ^*ied  in  Ne..  y    , 
n."  «ith  nodemee  success.  '  """''"  '"'"""  organizations     T^y  IT 


8so 


2ND  US  TRIAL    //IS  TORY 


CHAPTER   III. 


COMMERCE. 


COMMERCE  relates  to  the  exchange  of  products ;  transportation,  to 
the  movuig  of  them :  and,  having  already  considered  the  latter  sub- 
ject, we  shall  now  confine  ourselves  strictly  to  the  former,  although  the 
two  are  often  treated  as  identical. 


ANTE-REVOLUTIOXARY    PERIOD. 

The  history  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  very  sharply 
Commerce  divided  by  the  Revolution  into  two  periods,  inasmuch  as  the  laws 
divided  by  regulating  it  were  radically  changed  by  that  event.  We  shall  first 
evo  ution.  p^Qt^egd  jq  sketch  the  colonial  policy  inaugurated  by  Great  Hritain, 
which  was  prolific  in  mistakes,  and  which  finally  led  to  the  war  of  separation 
between  the  colonies  and  the  mother-country. 

Great  Britain  was  not  slow  in  declaring  her  intention  to  make  the  colonies 
Great  Brit-  ^'^  profitable  to  herself  as  possible.  To  accomplish  this,  slv.' 
ain's  coio-  adopted  a  policy  which  reciuired  the  colonies  to  buy  of  her,  irre- 
n  a  po  cy.  gpL'ctive  of  competing  markets;  and  forbade  their  engaging  in  pur- 
suits which  in  any  way  conflicted  with  the  interests  of  English  manufacturers. 
Let  us  briefly  glance  at  the  manner  in  which  these  ideas  were  executed. 

One  of  the  earliest  industries'  in  which  the  colonies  engaged  was  that 

'  In  the  second  voyage  of  Capt.  Newport  to  the  (Virginia)  colony  in  the  latter  part  of  1608  the  company 
sent  ont  in  the  ship  —  which  brought  also  a  crown  for  the  sachem  Powhatan,  and  orders  for  his  "  crownation  "  — 
eight  Poles  and  Germans  to  make  pitch,  tar,  glass,  mills,  and  soap-ashes:  which,  had  the  countr\-  been  peopled, 
would  have  done  well,  but  proved  only  a  burden  and  hinder.ince  to  the  rest.  A  colonial  historian  says,  "  No 
sooner  were  they  landed,  but  the  president  dispersed  as  many  as  were  able,  some  to  make  glass,  and  others  for 
pitch,  tar,  and  soap-ashes.  Leaving  them  at  the  port  under  the  council's  care  and  oversight,  he  himself  carriel 
thirty  about  five  miles  down  the  river  to  learn  to  cut  down  trees,  make  clapboards,  and  lie  in  the  woods."  The 
council  i:i  London,  complaining  that  no  gold  and  silver  was  sent,  wrote  an  angry  letter  to  the  president, 
threatenmg,  that  if  the  expenses,  two  thousand  pounds,  were  not  defrayed  by  the  ship's  return,  they  shoiiM  be 
deserted.  To  this  Capt.  Smith  returned  "  a  plain  and  scholarly  answer "  by  the  ship,  which  was  at  length 
despatched  with  the  trials  of  pitch,  tar,  glass,  fran'<inccnse,  and  soap-ashes,  with  what  wainscot  and  clapbiv.ril 
could  be  provided.  This  cargo,  of  the  value  of  whi:h  we  are  not  informed,  appears  to  have  been  the  first  c.V|Xiri 
made  from  the  British  colonies  to  a  foreign  country,  with  t''c  exception  of  a  load  of  sassafras  gathered  iie.ir 
Cape  Cod  in  1608,  and  consisted  almost  exclusively  of  manufactured  articles,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term. 


— I 

colony  bu 
time  to  tir 
aftenvard, 


'  Thedoci 

I»"'We,  to  mal 

I^Ple  who  sett 

'liips  and  other 

'''•'>>'  Vork  in  CO 

»'  l^ards  of  an, 

'sLinds.     Theoi 

*hich  proved  inj 

"discontinued; 

»''tn  they  were 

"■"'I  the  time  of  , 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


851 


,tion,  to 
ter  sub- 
ugU   the 


ry  sharply 

the  laws 

shall  first 
tit  Britain, 

,eparation 

colonies 
this,   she 

her,  irre- 
hig  in  l^ir- 
lifactnrers. 

La. 

was  that 

j  ihe  company 
I  row  nation"  — 
Ibeen  peo\ileJ, 
lian  says,  "  ^''' 
liml  others  foi 
Tiniself  camel 
Lvoods."     It'* 
llhe  presUlen'i 
Ihey  shoiiM  be 
■  was  at  Icngl'' 
land  dapl^i'-'"' 
The  first  cvi»" 
T  gathered  nM! 
Ithc  term. 


of  shipbuilding.    The  rivers  were  lined  with  abundant  forests:   water-power 
was  readily  utilized,  and  this  industry  proved  very  successful  from   ship-buUd- 
the  beginning.     In  New  England  especially,  and  afterward  in  New  '"«• 
York  and  Philadelphia,  ships  of  two  hundred  and  three  huntlred  tons  were 
built,  which  were  loaded  with  lumber,  fish,  live-stock,  and  other   Early 
articles,  and  then  sailed  for  the  West  Indies,  where  the  cargoes  voyaget. 
were  exchanged  for  sugars,  which  were  taken  to  Kngland  in  the  same  vessels, 
and  there  sold.     Not  unfretpiently  the  ships  tliemselves  were  disposed  of  in 
the  mother-country  ;    for,  as  timber  was  so  plentiful,  they  could  be  made  more 
cheaply  at  that  time  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  than  anywhere  else.     Thus  the 
business  of  ship-building,  the  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  and  the  sale  of  ships, 
constituted  prominent  features  of  a  very  lucrative  business.     Other  vessels, 
laden  with  spars  and  timber,  proceeded  directly  to  British  ports,  as  well  as 
those  of  other  European  countries,  where  ships  and  cargoes  were  often  sold  in 
the  same  manner. 

The  commerce  of  the  colonies  with  the  West  Indies  early  attracted  the 
attention  of  Great  Britain.     Scarcely  had  twenty-five  years  passeil  since  the 
settlement  of  New  England  before  a  series  of  trade  regulations 
were  adopted  by  the  British  authorities  for  the  purpose  of  monop-   utions  dur- 
olizing  the  carrying-trade  thus  established.     In  the  reign  of  Charles  j^*'  reign  of 
II.  the  celebrated  statute  was  i)assed,  entitled  "An  Act  for  the 
encouraging  and  increasing  of  Shipping  and  Navigation."    It  was  enacted,  that 
"from  and  after  the  first  day  of  /Vpril,  1661,  no  sugars,  tobacco,  cotton,  wool, 
indigo,  ginger,  fustic,  or  other  dyeing  woods,  of  the  growth,  produce,  or  manu- 
(iicture  of  any  English  plantations  in  America,  Asia,  or  Africa,  shall  be  shipped, 
carried,  conveyed,  or  transported  from  any  of  the  said  English  plantations  to 
any  land,  island,  territory,  dominion,  port,  or  i>lace  whatsoever,  other  than  to 
such  other  English  plantations  as  do  belong  to  his  Majesty,"  &c.     The  act  was 
designed  virtually  to  secure  to  the  English  markets  the  produce  of  the  colo- 
nies, and  was  but  an  extension  of  an  act  passed  in  1650  by  the  Parliament  of 
Cromwell,  restricting  the  import  and  export  trade  of  the  colonies  to  English  or 
colony  built  ships.*     The  list  of  articles  named  in  it,  which  was  extended  from 
time  to  time,  embraced  what  were  known  as  enumerated  articles.     Two  years 
afterward,  in  1663,  it  was  enacted  that  "no  commodity,  of  the  growth,  produc- 

1  The  doctrine  of  e-tch  sovereignty  of  the  world  grasping  and  holding  the  largest  number  of  monopolies 
possible,  to  make  the  most  of  its  opportunities,  and  to  keep  its  rivals  down,  was  so  ingrained  and  steeped  into  the 
people  who  settled  this  country,  that  they  manifested  the  same  spirit.  In  order  to  encourage  the  building  of 
ships  and  other  vessels,  and  increase  the  trade  of  Perth  Amboy,  which  at  one  time  sought  to  rival  its  neighbor 
New  York  in  commerce,  the  Assembly  of  New  Jersey,  in  1694,  prohibited  the  exportation  of  any  timber,  planks, 
or  Iwards  of  any  kind,  hoops,  or  hop-poles,  except  directly  to  England,  the  West  Indies,  the  Summer  and  Wine 
Islands.  The  object  of  this  measure  was  to  monopolize  the  transportation  of  its  only  export,  — an  experiment 
which  proved  injurious  to  both  New  Jersey  and  New  Vork.  Notwithstanding  the  obvious  defects  in  the  system, 
it  wns  continued;  and  in  1714  duties  and  other  restrictions  were  imposed  on  the  exportation  of  some  commodities 
when  they  were  shipped  to  neighborins  provinces.  Indeed,  the  system  wu  continued  with  considerable  vigor 
until  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 


85» 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


tion,  or  manufacture  of  Europe,  shall  be  imported  into  the  British  plantations 
but  such  as  are  laden  and  put  on  board  in  England,  Wales,  or  Berwick-ujKjn- 
Tweed,  and  in  English-built  shipping,  whereof  the  master  and  three-fourths  of 
the  crew  are  English."  The  effect  of  this  would  be  to  compel  the  colonies 
to  buy,  as  the  former  did  to  sell,  in  the  English  markets  exclusively.  But 
these  laws  were  very  little  regarded  by  the  colonies,  with  the  exception  of 
Virginia,  where  they  excited  remonstrance  and  almost  rebellion,  and  were 
not,  until  a  later  period,  enforced  upon  them.  The  primary  object  of  the 
monopoly  was  to  prevent  the  commercial  rivals  of  England  from  supplanting 
her  in  the  colonial  trade ;  although  the  deeper  object,  as  we  shall  very 
soon  see,  was  to  put  most  of  the  trade  into  the  possession  of  Englanil 
alone. 

Even  at  that  early  date,  there  were  those  who  feared  that  the  prosperity  of 
the  colonies  would  pave  the  way  to  independence.  Said  one  writer  of  that 
independ-  day,  "  The  colonies  are  beginning  to  carry  on  trade :  they  will 
ence  feared,  ^qqw  be  our  formidable  rivals.  They  are  already  setting  up  manu- 
factures :  they  will  soon  set  up  for  independence."  The  "  Discourse  on 
Trade,"  by  Sir  Josiah  Child,  before  quoted,  thus  expresses  the  prevailing 
opinion  of  this  class  :  "  New  England  is  the  most  prejudicial  plantation  to  this 
kingdom.  Of  all  American  plantations,  his  Majesty  has  none  so  apt  for  tiie 
building  of  shipping  as  New  England,  nor  none  so  admirably  qualified  for  the 
breeding  of  seamen,  not  only  by  reason  of  the  natural  industry  of  that  people, 
but  principally  by  reason  of  their  cod  and  mackerel  fisheries ;  and  in  my  poor 
opinion  there  is  nothing  more  prejudicial,  and  in  prospect  more  dangerous, 
to  any  mother:kingdom,  than  the  increase  of  shipping  in  her  colonies,  planta- 
tions, or  provinces." 

It  was  only  by  an  evasion  or  relaxation  of  the  laws,  says  Bishop,  which  was 
connived  at  by  the  revenue  officials,  that  the  colonies  were  ever  enabled  to  pay 
Evasion  of  for  the  enormous  amount  of  British  manufactures  and  European 
law*  neces-  merchandise  annually  received  from  England ;  which,  at  the  be- 
to  continue  g'""'"g  of  the  eighteenth  century,  amounted  to  nearly  ^400,000, 
purchases  of  and,  toward  the  close  of  the  provincial  period,  ;^3, 500,000,  or 
"*  '"  ■  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  English  export  trade  of  those  perioils. 
None  of  the  colonies  north  of  Maryland  ever  had  balances  in  their  favor,  but 
were,  on  the  contrary,  much  in  arrear.  The  obligations  could  only  be  met  by 
circuitous  trade,  carried  on,  in  contravention  of  the  trade  acts,  with  foreign 
countries,  whence  they  derived  most  of  their  specie  and  remittances  suitable  I 
for  returns  to  their  English  creditors.  By  this  illicit  traffic  English  commerce 
was  as  much  benefited,  probably,  as  that  of  the  colonies.  Lord  Sheffield  | 
admits,  that,  between  the  years  1770  and  1773,  the  colonies  must,  by  this  cir- 
cuitous trade,  have  remitted  to  England  upward  of  ,^30,000,000  in  payrtientj 
of  goods  taken  from  her,  over  and  above  their  remittances  in  produce  and  fishj 
Ships  built  for  sale,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  constituted  an  importantj 


ther 

the 

1725 

the  < 

cmpi 

colon 

profit 

and  s 

tliere, 

clearei 

carriec 

anothe 

By  this 

nation 

been  k 

gain  by 

brought 

indeed  i 

Swedes, 

fiieirs  an 

NotH 

''^signed 
'ler  desci 
country, 
''lose  day 
'"  making 
•■'gidly  eni 
tlie  goverr 
'0  acquies( 
^^•ith  the  s£ 
«ere  carrie 
fioing  to  th 
poultry,  oth 
on'ons;  fo, 
"hich  meta 
cfiased  thei 
Spanish  sett 
"'ere  receivi 
received  son 
^^  mother- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


853 


ations 
u\)on- 
ths  of 
alonies 
.  But 
ion  of 
id  were 
of  the 
planting 
all  very 
England 

,perity  of 
:r  of  that 
they  will 
up  manii- 
:ourse   on 
prevailing 
tion  to  this 
apt  for  the 
^ed  for  the 
ihat  people, 
in  my  poor 
dangerous, 
lies,  planta- 


element  in  this  foreign  colonial  trade,  the  value  of  which  was  usually  remitted 
in  specie,  or  bills  of  exchange  on  London. 

Let  us  look  across  the  sea  for  a  moment,  and  learn  how  the  English  over 
there  carried  on  commerce  with  the  colonies.  Joshua  Gea,  in  a  work  upon 
the  "  Trade  and  Navigation  of  Great  Britain,"  which  appeared  in 
1729,  says,  "  We  have  a  great  many  young  men  who  are  bred  to  undi  carded 
the  sea,  and  have  friends  to  support  them.  If  they  cannot  get  oncommerco 
employment  at  home,  they  go  to  New  England  and  the  Northern  ^'/'J,,**'* 
colonies  with  a  cargo  of  goods,  whicli  they  sell  there  at  a  great 
profit,  and  with  the  produce  build  a  ship,  and  purchase  a  loading  of  lumber, 
and  sail  for  Portugal  or  the  Straits,  &c.,  and,  after  disposing  of  their  cargoes 
there,  frequently  fly  from  port  to  port  in  the  Mediterranean  till  they  have 
cleared  so  much  money  as  will  pay  in  a  good  part  for  the  first  cost  of  the  cargo 
carried  out  by  them,  and  then,  perhaps,  sell  their  ships,  come  home,  take  up 
another  cargo  from  their  employers,  and  so  go  back  and  build  another  ship. 
By  this  means,  multitudes  of  seamen  are  brought  up ;  and,  upon  a  war,  the 
nation  is  better  provided  with  a  greater  number  of  sailors  than  hath  heretofore 
been  known.  Here  the  master  becomes  merchant  also,  and  many  of  them 
gain  by  this  lumber-trade  great  estates,  and  a  vast  treasure  is  thereby  yearly 
brought  into  the  kingdom  in  a  way  new  and  unknown  to  our  forefathers ;  for 
indeed  it  is  gaining  the  timber-trade  heretofore  carried  on  by  the  Dutch  and 
Swedes,  our  plantations  being  nearer  the  markets  of  Portugal  and  Spain  than 
theirs  are." 

Notwithstanding  the   historic   trade   acts   of  Great   Britain,   which   were 
'lesigned  to  cripple  colonial  commerce,  it  was  actively  carried  on  in  the  man- 
ner described,  especially  with  the  West  Indies  and  the  mother- 
country.     It  is  proof  of  a  pretty  lax  administration  of  the  laws  in  ^/*|  on'^'not- 
tliose  days ;  but  there  were  a   great  many  merchants  interested  withstand- 
in  making  these  exchanges,  from  whom  the  policy  of  England,  if  j,"*,*'**** 
rigidly  enforced,  would  have  evoked  bitter  opposition.     Probably 
tlie  government  was  well  aware  of  the  fact,  and  consequenUy  was  more  willing 
to  acquiesce  in  the  infraction  of  the  laws  than  if  they  had  been  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  sentiment  of  the  time.    So  exchanges  went  on.    To  the  West  Indies 
were  carried  lumber  of  all  kinds,  fish  of  an  inferior  quality,  — the  better  sorts 
going  to  the  Roman-Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  —  beef,  pork,  butter,  horses, 
poultry,  other  live-stock,  tobacco,  flour,  bread,  cider  and  apples,  cabbages,  and 
onions ;  for  which  was  received,  in  return,  molasses,  besides  silver  and  gold, 
which  metals  were  transmitted  to  Great  Britain  to  pay  for  the  commodities  pur- 
chased there.     While  no  gold  and  silver  mines  were  known  in  America,  the 
I  Spanish  settlers  in  the  West  Indies  were  rich  in  the  precious  metals  which  they 
were  receiving  from  Mexico  and  Peru ;   and  from  this  source  the  colonists 
received  something  like  an  adequate  supply  to  discharge  their  obligations  to 
the  mother-country.     But  for  this  illicit  trade,  the  colonies  would  soon  have 


«54 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


been  drained  of  their  supply  df  the  prerions  metals,  and  the  English  mer- 
chants would  have  found  only  a  |)oor  market  for  their  wares  in  America. 
America  had  only  a  small  supply  of  the  articles  which  the  people  of  (Jreat 
Britain  wanted  in  return  for  their  commodities.  Fish,  tobacco,  and  ships 
were  the  chief  ex|>orts,  besides  gold  and  silver,  to  that  country ;  and  these 
alone  would  have  gone  onl>  a  little  way  in  payment  for  the' goods  wanted 
of  her. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  describe,  in  this  connection,  the  fisheries  of 
the  colonial  period.  In  those  early  times,  cod,  salmon,  mackerel,  sturgeon, 
Colonial  and  other  kinds  of  fish,  were  abundant  along  the  coast  and  in  the 
fltheries.  rivcrs,  and  large  numbers  of  men  were  employed  in  catching, 
curing,  and  packing  them.  lUit  'he  New-Mnglanders  also  freipiented  the 
famous  Hanks  of  Newfoundland,  as  far  as  the  coast  of  Labrador,  where  enor- 
mous ({uantities  were  caught.  Indeed,  those  waters  are  scarcely  less  abundant 
to  this  day.  Besides  their  own  catch,  the  colonists  used  to  buy  of  the  New- 
foundland fishermen,  paying  therefor  in  rum  of  New-Kngland  manufacture, 
and  also  in  other  things  coming  Irom  either  the  colonies  or  the  West  Indies. 
The  following  statistics  will  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  quantity  of  the 
warming  fluid  which  was  sent  to  the  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  Quebec,  and 
Newfoundland,  for  the  four  years  preceding  the  Revolution  :  — 


1770. 

>77'. 

177a. 

>773. 

West-Iiulia  rum  (gallons) 
New-England  rum  (gallons)     . 

52,712 
550.748 

36.873 
550.514 

47.736 
520,525 

50,716 
608,025 

Total         .... 

643.460 

587,387             568.261 

65S.741 

The  fish  obtained  by  both  capture  and  purchase  were  properly  prepared  I 
for  market,  and  sent  to  the  various  ports  of  Europe.  The  choicer  qualities 
were  sent  to  Southern  Europe,  and  the  proceeds  were  remitted  in  bills  oli 
exchange  to  England  to  pay  for  merchandise  consumed  in  America.  A  fe«j 
of  the  best  fish,  however,  also  found  a  market  in  (ireat  Britain  ;  while  the  infe- 
rior sorts  went  to  the  West  Indies,  and  were  eaten  as  a  relish  to  the  plant.iiiisj 
and  yams  which  constituted  the  staple  diet  of  the  s'aves. 

After  the  peace  of  1763  with  France,  the  whale-fishery,  which  theretofore! 
had  not  been  an  important  industry,  developed  rapidly  ;  and  the  seas  betweeni 
Whale-  New  England  and  Labrador  were  vexed  with  a  goodly  number  oij 

Hthery.  vessels  engaged  in  the  hazardous  but  exciting  undertaking, 

the  tariff  on  oil  and  bone  was  reduced  at  this  time,  a  new  impetus  was  therelj 
given  to  this  industry;   so  that,  before  the  year  1775,  "'O'"^  *han  a  humlrd 
and  sixty  vessels  were  thus  profitably  employed.    The  oil  and  whalebone  weij 


provi] 
cloth 
woollt 
Hritaii 
labor  i 
than  w 
in  the 
countr 
years  s 
some  ( 
I'ritain 
the  wor 
was  nee 
provinc( 
of  furs, 
Jersey  tl 
from  Ni 
t'le  expo 
"ouses,  I 
Hampshi 
'ands  on 
fJeopIe  al 
tiire  of  fl; 
resort  of 
and  the  cj 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


855 


^  mer- 
inerica. 
f  (ireivt 

,il  these 
wanieil 

\eries  of 
sUirgeon, 
III  in  the 
catching, 
ented  the 
lere  enor- 
i  abundant 
the  New- 

anufai^t"'^*-'' 
/est  Indies. 
lUity  of  the 
Quebec,  anil 


»773- 

50,7 « 6 
608,0:5 

65S.74> 


jjrly  prepareii 
ficer  qualities  I 
la  in  bihs  01 
Irica.    A  few  I 
kile  the  inf^l 
(the  p\antains| 

Ih  theretofore! 
Iseas  betweeJ 
lly  number  oil 
lertaking.  i 
Is  was  therel'j 
\xi  a  hunatej 
Kalebone  ««! 


shipped  chiefly  to  Great  Hritain  ;  while  candles  were  made  of  the  spermaceti, 
which  were  also  exported  thither. 

The  most  unremitting  attention  was  given  to  every  thing  likely  to  yield  any 
profit,  and  so  thorouglily  wide-awake  were  the  colonists  as  to  obtain  the  appel- 
lation of  "the  Dutchmen  of  America."     'ITieir  prosperity  was  c«umo« 
closely  watched  from  the  other  side  of  the  water ;   and  as  their  commtrciai 
trade  diminished  with  (Ireat  Britain,  and  increased  more  with  other  ••'••P*''*y' 
countries,   in  spite  of  custom-houses  and  waich'»v,.:ii,  while  manufactures  at 
home   ".vere   growing,   the    British    House   of  Commons    in    1731    instituted 
through  the  Hoard  of  Trade  an  incjuiry  with  resjwct  to  the  laws  made,  manu- 
fiictures  set  up,  or  trade  carried  on,  detrimental  to  the  trade,  navigation,  or 
manufactures  of  Great  Hritain.     Among  other  facts  re|)orted  were  the  follow- 
ing, which  will  doubtless  interest  the  reader,  as  they  throw  much  light  upon  the 
character  of  the  colonists  at  that  time,  the  extent  of  their  trade,  the  progress 
of  home  manufacture,  and  liow  laws  which  were  designed  to  opi)ress  the  colo- 
nies and  enrich  the  merchants  of  Great  Hritain  had  been  turned  with  deadly 
effect  upon  those  who  had  made  them :  — 

**  The  ( lovernor  of  Massachusetts  Bay  informed  us,  that,  in  some  parts  of  this 
province,  the  inhabitants  worked  up  their  wool  and  flax  into  an  ordinary  coarse 
cloth  for  their  own  use,  but  did  not  export  any  ;  that  the  greatest  jjart  of  the 
woollen  and  the  linen  clothing  worn  in  this  province  was  iinjrorted  from  Great 
Britain,  and  sometimes  from  Ireland,  but,  considering  the  excessive  price  of 
labor  in  New  Kngland,  the  merchants  could  afford  what  was  imported  cheaper 
than  what  was  made  in  that  country ;  that  there  were  also  a  few  hat-makers 
in  the  maritime  towns,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  the  leather  used  in  that 
country  was  maniifacture<l  among  themselves ;  that  there  had  been  for  many 
years  some  iron-works  in  that  province,  whii'h  had  afforded  the  people  iron  for 
some  of  their  necessary  occasions,  but  that  the  iron  imported  from  Great 
Britain  was  esteemed  much  the  best,  and  used  wholly  by  the  shipping,  and  that 
the  works  of  that  province  were  not  able  to  supply  one-twentieth  part  of  what 
was  necessary  to  the  use  of  the  country.  They  had  no  manufactures  in  the 
province  of  New  York  that  deserved  mentioning  (their  trade  consisted  chiefly 
of  furs,  whalebone,  oil,  pitch,  tar,  and  provisions);  no  manufactures  in  New 
Jersey  that  deserved  mentioning,  their  trade  being  chiefly  in  provisions  shipped 
from  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  The  chief  trade  of  Pennsylvania  lay  in 
the  exportation  of  provisions  and  lumber ;  their  clothing,  and  utensils  for  their 
liouses,  being  all  imported  from  Great  Britain.  By  further  advices  from  New 
Hampshire,  the  woollen  manufacture  appears  to  have  decreased  ;  the  common 
lands  on  which  the  sheep  used  to  feed  being  now  appropriated,  and  the 
people  almost  wholly  clothed  with  woollen  from  Great  Britain.  The  manufac- 
ture of  flax  into  linen,  some  coarser,  some  finer,  daily  increased  by  the  great 
resort  of  people  from  Ireland  thither,  who  are  well  skilled  in  that  btisiness ; 
and  the  chief  trade  of  this  province  continued,  as  for  many  years  past,  in  the 


856 


INDUS T/l/AL    HISTORY 


exportation  of  naval  stores,  lumber,  and  fish.  By  later  accounts  from  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  in  New  England,  the  Assembly  have  voted  a  bounty  of  thirty 
shillings  for  every  piece  of  duck  or  canvas  made  in  the  province.  Some  other 
manufactures  are  carried  on  there,  as  brown  Hollands  for  women's  wear,  which 
lessen  the  importation  of  calicoes  and  some  other  sorts  of  East-India  goods. 
They  also  make  some  small  quantity  of  cloth,  made  of  linen  and  cotton,  for 
ordinary  shirting  and  sheeting.  By  a  paper-mill  set  up  three  years  ago, 
they  make  to  a  value  of  two  hundred  pound?  yearly.  There  are  also  several 
forges  for  making  bar-iron,  and  some  furnaces  for  cast-iron  or  hollow-wnre, 
and  one  slitting-mill,  and  a  manufactory  for  nails.  The  governor  writes  con- 
cerning the  woollen  manufacture,  that  the  country- people,  who  used  formerly  t(^ 
make  most  of  their  clothing  out  of  their  own  wool,  do  not  now  make  a  third 
part  of  what  they  wear,  but  are  mostly  clothed  with  British  manufactures. 
The  same  governor  (Belcher),  by  some  of  his  letters  of  an  older  date,  in 
answer  to  our  annual  queries,  writes  that  there  are  some  few  copper-mines 
in  this  province,  but  so  far  from  water-carriage,  and  the  land  is  so  poor,  that  it 
is  not  worth  the  digging.  The  surveyor-general  of  his  Majesty's  woods  writes 
that  they  have  in  New  England  six  furnaces  and  nineteen  forges  for  making 
iron  ;  and  that  in  this  province  many  ships  are  built  for  the  French  and  Span- 
iards in  return  for  rum,  molasses,  wines,  and  silks,  which  they  truck  there  by 
connivance.  Great  quantities  of  hats  are  made  in  New  England,  of  which  the 
Company  of  Hatters  in  London  have  likewise  lately  complained  to  us  that  great 
quantities  of  those  hats  are  exported  to  Spain,  Portugal,  and  our  West- India 
islands.  They  also  make  all  sorts  of  iron-work  for  shipping.  There  are 
several  still-houses  and  sugar-bakers  established  in  New  England.  By  later 
advices  from  New  York,  there  are  no  manufactures  there  which  can  affect  those 
of  Great  Britain.  There  is  yearly  imported  into  New  York  a  very  large  quan- 
tity of  the  woollen  manufactures  of  this  kingdom  for  their  clothing,  which  they 
■would  be  rendered  incapable  to  pa'y  for,  and  would  be  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  making  for  themselves,  if  they  were  not  prohibited  from  receiving  from  the 
foreign  sugar  colonies  the  money,  rum,  sugar,  molasses,  cocoa,  indigo,  cotton, 
wool,  &c.,  which  they  at  present  take  in  return  for  provisions,  horses,  and  lum- 
ber, the  produce  of  that  province  and  New  Jersey,  of  which  he  affirms  the 
British  sugar  colonies  do  not  take  above  one-half.  But  the  Company  of  Hatters 
of  London  have  since  informed  us  that  hats  are  manufactured  in  great  quanti- 
ties in  this  province.  By  the  last  letters  from  the  deputy-governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, he  does  not  know  of  any  trade  carried  on  in  that  province  that  can 
he  injurious  to  this  kingdom.  They  do  not  export  any  woollen  or  linen  manu- 
factures ;  all  that  they  make,  which  are  of  a  coarser  sort,  being  for  their  own 
use.  We  are  further  informed  that  in  this  province  are  built  many  brigantines 
and  small  sloops,  which  they  sell  to  the  West  Indies.  The  Governor  of  Rhode 
Island  informs  us,  in  answer  to  our  queries,  that  there  are  iron-mines  there,  but 
not  a  fourth  part  enough  to  serve  their  own  use ;  but  he  takes  no  notice  of  any 


rt  Massa- 
of  thirty 
me  other 
ar,  which 
ia  goods, 
utton,  for 
t^ars  ago, 
o  several 
low-wnre, 
rites  con- 
)rmerly  {o 
e  a  third 
ufactures. 
;r  date,  in 
per-mines 
or,  that  it 
odb  writes 
or  making 
md  Span- 
there  by 
which  the 
that  great 
Vest- India 
There  are 
By  later 
iflect  those 
irge  quan- 
ivhich  they 
e  necessity 
;  from  the 
go,  cotton, 
,,  and  lum- 
affirms  the 
of  Hatters 
eat  quanti- 
»r  of  Penn- 
e  that  can 
inen  manu- 
ir  their  own 
brigantines 
»r  of  Rhode 
s  there,  but 
otice  of  any 


O^   r»S    VmTED   STATES, 

sort  of  manufacture  set  im  thew.     v  ^^ ' 

kno„  in  ...,,„  ,,  ^^   ,^        "    'VV"""  """  '""«  ''«"  ■'•""■•■ 
by  another,  decla  -u     i  '"  '/04-     ^nis  measure  wai  f^iu     j 

void,  unless  execut;;''        ''""'"  '"^^^'^ents  useH  Tn  T     ^'"^  ""^  ^^^^ 
Daoer   '  ^^^^^  "P"" '•damped  '   '"  *''^  colonies  null  and 

paper,  or  parch...ent  charged  with 

lire     J'"'  r^"^"  °PP-''''on  ^^^^  "^  '^- 

^ere,  and  ivas  the  prelude  to  the 
Revolut  on.     TIip  ,..1     • 

diately   faced   tese      "'"  ""'"'• 

-^   "*'-^"   "lese    measures  bv 

;;:'ar.ng   that  they  would   cease 

-r,mpo.,ations  from  Great  Bri! 
"" '  ^"d  so  effectually  did  thev 
^"ecute  this  purpose,  d,a    Br     k 

-rclunts  loudly'clamo  ;  ,fr    ;' 
"■epeal  of  those   laws  which   had 

in  t,/:  ^  ""Lc  mi  Off  agam  from  ^,,-0         .         -ontish  exports  to 


858 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


ment  was  once  more  allayed  in  1770,  temporarily,  by  the  reluctant  withdrawal 
of  five-sixths  of  the  duties,  leaving  but  a  nominal  tax  of  threepence  per 
pound  on  tea,  as  a  testimony  of  the  asserted  legislative  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

Says  Bishop,  "  The  trade  acts  were,  in  many  respects,  a  manifest  violation 
of  the  rights  of  the  colonists  to  make  the  most  of  their  industry.  Unless 
Biihop  on  exemption  were  guaranteed  by  their  charters,  a  right  to  exact  from 
trade  act*.  \\iQXi\  a  contingent  for  the  general  expenses  of  the  empire  of  which 
they  were  an  integral  part  seemed  to  rest  upon  the  same  prerogative  by  which 
the  parent  state  assumed  in  other  cases  lo  legislate  for  its  dependencies.  The 
legislatures  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  had  indeed,  ten  years  before, 
enacted  a  provincial  Stainp  Act ;  the  former  granting  to  his  Majesty  duties  on 
vellum,  parchment,  and  paper,  for  two  years,  toward  defraying  the  charge  of 
this  government.  That  of  New  York,  passed  the  following  year,  continued 
four  years  in  operation.  But  the  impost  was  now  resisted  upon  the  principle 
that  the  colonists  were  not  amenable  to  a  statute  which  they  had  no  voice 
in  making ;  and,  upon  this  question  of  prerogative,  the  empire  was  dis- 
membered." 

How  the  continuance  of  this  policy  resulted  the  world  knows.  It  was 
opposed  by  the  colonies,  and  in  the  end  came  revolution  and  separation.  But, 
Effect  of  the  before  this  step  was  taken,  a  long  series  of  experiments  in  the  way 
■yitem.  gf  imposing  and  resisting  taxes  were  tried  on  both  sides.     Laws 

were  passed,  to  be  modified  or  repealed  at  the  next  session  of  Parliament.  In 
the  year  1767  several  measures  favorable  to  colonial  trade  were  enacted;  but 
tlie  next  witnessed  a  renewal  of  the  fiscal  schemes  of  the  previous  ministry 
by  the  imposition  of  a  duty  on  paper,  glass,  painters'  colors,  and  tea,  providing 
for  the  quartering  of  soldiers  in  the  colonies,  and  for  a  more  effectual  enforce- 
ment of  the  revenue  system  by  the  establishment  of  a  custom-house.  Al- 
though the  people  had  so  readily  receded  from  the  determined  stand  taken 
against  the  Stamp  Act,  and  a  sum  of  ;^i 5,000  was  voted  to  be  raised  by  a 
tax  on  foreign  sailcloth  and  lawns,  to  be  paid  in  premiums  on  flax  and  iiemp 
imported  from  the  colonies,  this  and  other  favorable  legislation  did  not  prevent 
a  renewal  of  the  opposition  to  the  new  plan  of  taxation.  Boston,  in  town- 
meeting,  Oct.  28,  commenced  the  former  system  of  retaliation  and  redress  by 
declaring  that  the  "  excessive  use  of  foreign  superfluities  is  the  chief  cause  of 
the  present  distressed  state  of  this  town,  as  it  is  thereby  drained  of  its  money : 
which  misfortune  is  likely  to  be  increased  by  means  of  the  late  additional 
burdens  and  impositions  on  the  trade  of  the  province,  which  threaten  the 
country  with  poverty  and  ruin."  Resolutions  were  made  to  abstain  from  the 
use,  after  Dec.  i,  of  such  foreign  articles  as  "loaf-sugar,  cordage,  anchors, 
coaches,  chaises,  and  carriages  of  all  sorts,  horse-furniture,  men's  and  women's 
hats,  men's  and  women's  apparel  ready  made,  household  furniture,  gloves. 
men's  and  women's  shoes,  sole- leather,  sheathing  and  deck  nails,  gold,  silver, 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


8S9 


and  thread  lace  of  all  sorts,  gold  and  silver  buttons,  wrought  plate  of  all  sorts, 
diamonds,  stone,  and  paste-ware,  snuff,  mustard,  clocks  and  watches,  silver- 
smiths' and  jewellers'  ware,  broadcloths  that  cost  above  ten  shillings  per  yard, 
muffs,  furs,  and  tippets,  and  all  sorts  of  millinery-ware,  starch,  women's  and 
children's  stays,  fire-engines,  china-ware,  silk  and  cotton  velvets,  gauze,  pew- 
terers'  hollow-ware,  linseed-oil,  glue,  lawns,  cambrics,  silks  of  all  kinds  for  gar- 
ments, malt  liquors,  and  cheese."  Thus  the  regulations  which  were  designed 
to  yield  such  a  revenue  to  Great  Britain  signally  failed  in  their  purpose. 

On  the  loth  of  September,  1774,  was  passed  by  the  Continental  Congress, 
then  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  the  famous  non-importation  and  non-exporta- 
tion resolutions,  which  constituted  a  pledge  on  the  part  of  the 
colonists,  "  under  the  sacred  ties  of  virtue,  honor,  and  love  of  tauon'and'* 
country,"  not  to  import,  after  the  ist  of  December,  any  goods  non-exporu- 
whatever  from  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  or  British  goods  from  any  *'**"  *"^*  *"' 
place ;  not  to  import  or  purchase  any  slave  imported  after  that 
time,  after  which  they  would  wholly  discontinue  the  slave-trade  ;  not  to  itnport 
or  purchase  East-India  tea ;  to  suspend  the  non-exportation  agreement  until 
Sept.  10,  1775  ;  to  request  merchants  as  soon  as  possible  to  order  their  factors 
in  Great  Britain  not  to  ship  any  goods  to  them  on  any  pretence  whatever ;  to 
use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  improve  the  breed  and  increase  the  number  of 
sheep  by  killing  them  as  seldom  as  possible,  and  not  exporting  them,  but  sell- 
ing them  on  moderate  terms  to  their  neighbors  who  might  need  them ;  to 
encourage  frugality,  economy,  and  industry,  and  promote  the  agriculture  and 
manufactures  of  this  country,  especially  that  of  wool ;  to  discontinue  and  dis- 
courage every  species  of  extravagance  and  dissipation,  shows,  plays,  &c. ;  to 
use,  on  funeral  occasions,  only  a  ribbon  or  a  piece  of  crape  on  the  arm  for 
gentlemen,  and  a  black  ribbon  and  necklace  for  ladies,  and  to  discourage 
the  giving  of  gloves,  scarfs,  &c.,  at  funerals.  It  recommended  venders  of 
goods  not  to  take  advantage  of  the  scarcity  occasioned  by  the  association 
to  ask  for  more  than  they  had  been  accustomed  to ;  that  goods  imported 
after  the  ist  of  December  ought  to  be  either  reshipped,  or  stored  at  the 
owner's  risk,  until  the  non-importation  agreements  ceased,  or  be  sold,  and 
the  owner  re-imbursed  the  first  cost  and  charges,  the  profits  to  be  devoted  to 
the  Boston  sufferers.  Committees  should  be  chosen,  in  each  county,  city,  and 
town,  to  carry  out  the  resolutions,  and  report  violations  ;  and  the  committee 
of  correspondence  should  frequently  inspect  the  custom-house,  and  inform 
each  other  of  the  state  thereof:  that  all  manufactures  of  the  country  should 
be  sold  at  a  reasonable  rate  ;  and  that  no  trade,  commercial  dealings,  or  inter- 
course, be  had  with  any  colony  or  province  that  did  not  accede  to  or  should 
afterwards  violate  the  agreements,  but  they  should  be  held  unwortiiy  the 
rights  of  freemen,  and  as  inimical  to  the  liberty  of  their  country.  These 
resolutions  met  with  general  approval,  and  continued  in  force  until  peace  with 
Great  Britain  was  declared. 


86o 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Commerce 
during  the 
Revolution 


POST-REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

With  separation  and  peace  came  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  American 
commerce.  During  the  Revolution  it  had  sadly  waned  ;  indeed,  it  was  nearly 
ruined.  But,  as  soon  as  hostilities  were  declared  at  an  end,  the 
king  removed  all  legal  restraints  upon  intercourse  with  the  United 
States,  dispensing  with  a  manifest  for  a  time  even  on  the  arrival  of 
an  American  vessel  in  a  British  port.  Trade  at  once  revived ;  the  imports  to 
this  country  amounting  to  $30,000,000,  while  the  exports  were  about  one-third 
of  that  sum,  for  the  first  two  years  of  peace.  This  inequality  in  the  balance 
of  trade  caused  much  distress ;  but  the  needed  remedy  was  within  reach,  and 
was  speedily  applied.  Thereupon  prices  fell,  imports  were  checked,  and  in 
1788  these  were  nearly  equalled  by  our  exports.  In  1790  our  exports 
amounted  to  upwards  of  $20,000,000,  and  our  imports  footed  up  $23,000,000. 
The  remedy  to  which  we  here  refer  was  an  act  of  retaliation  designed  to 
put  American  shipping  on  an  equal  footing  with  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  thus 
Commercial  insure  reciprocity.  The  old  country  forbade  that  produce  be 
freedom.  imported  to  her  harbors,  except  in  British  bottoms.  Immediately 
Congress  enacted  that  foreign  produce  should  not  be  landed  on  our  shores, 
except  from  American  ships.  Under  this  arrangement,  vessels  had  to  go  one 
way  empty.  This  had  the  effect  of  securing  a  treaty  by  which  Great  Britain 
conceded  equal  privileges  to  American  ships  with  her  own,  as  between  the 
ports  of  the  two  countries.  This  was  the  first  of  three  great  principles  in 
international  usage,  all  in  the  direction  of  commercial  freedom,  which  the 
United  States  established ;  the  other  two  being,  that  neutral  ships  make  free 
goods,  and  that  a  neutral  nation  is  responsible  for  the  damage  done  by  priva- 
teers fitted  out  in  her  ports.  Thus  it  will  be  observed  that  the  young  republic 
of  the  West  has  championed  the  rights  of  mankind  upon  the  sea  as  well  as 
upon  land ;  and,  as  those  of  the  sea  are  exclusively  commercial,  her  champion- 
ship has  been  of  the  greatest  value  to  whoever  navigates  the  common  high- 
ways of  the  world.  The  commerce  of  the  world  has  been  benefited  and 
promoted  by  the  pride,  pluck,  and  conscious  dignity  of  the  American  nation. 
The  prompt  and  decided  self-assertion  of  commercial  equality  cannot  be 
appreciated  in  these  present  days  without  a  recollection  of  the 

Importance         ''  ''  /   ,       t^       ,  ,  ,     i  ,t 

of  maintain,  cxclusive  mantmie  supremacy  of  the  Dutch  over  the  whole  world 
ing  commer-  prjor  to  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  and  of  the  subsequent  monopoly 
of  the  world's  commerce  by  Great  Britain.    Viewed  in  comparison 
with  precedent  history,  it  was  a  singularly  bold  assumption. 

Another  noticeable  influence  upon  the  development  of  America's  foreign 
trade,  immediately  after  the  Revolution,  was  the  rise  of  our  enterprising, 
Merchant.  shrewd,  and  adventurous  merchant-princes,  who  designed  the  most 
princes.  daring  and  successful  commercial  expeditions,  comparatively 
speaking,  this  country  has  ever  known.    They  sent  ships  to  all  parts  of  tl^e 


still  more 

west  coas 

ripen;  ar 

exponent 

terpriscs  t 

conduct. 

Indies  at  t 

rich  refuge 

on  board 

the  comme 

ciated  in  hi 

cantile  intt 

political,  an 

The  int 

individual  e 

ence.     Aire; 

over  Englar 

success  stim 

the  organiza 

establislimen 

commercial  s 

Another  i 

of  the  cottor 

which  we  hav 

of  the  cottor 

and  gave  us  a 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


861 


globe,  even  to  China,  founding  in  this  last-named  quarter  a  trade  that  has  never 
ceased  to  grow ;  and  so  summarily  punishing  the  Algerine  pirates  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, that  American  trade  on  that  sea  enjoyed  unusual  freedom  from  that 
pest.  Among  the  most  prominent  among  these  men  was  William  wiiuam 
Gray  of  Boston,  whose  reputation  soon  became  world-wide,  and  as  ^''y* 
honored  in  the  East  as  in  the  West.  His  ships  navigated  every  sea,  and  em- 
ployed hundreds  of  hardy  men.  The  skilful  and  bold  seamen  who  com- 
manded his  ships  were  not  of  the  later  class  of  "  dandy  captains,"  who  came 
in  with  the  "  liners ; "  but  it  was  his  saying,  that  the  best  captains  would  sail 
with  a  load  of  fish  to  the  West  Indies,  hang  up  a  stocking  in  the  cabin,  put 
therein  the  hard  dollars  as  they  sold  the  fish,  and  pay  out  from  it  as  they 
bought  the  rum,  molasses,  and  sugar,  tie  up  the  balance,  and  hand  it  in  at  the 
counting-room  on  their  return  home  in  lieu  of  all  accounts.  The  honesty 
and  judgment  of  their  proceedings  were  beyond  question,  and  the  problem 
of  the  profits  between  the  fish  sent  and  the  cargo  and  stocking  returned  was 
for  the  clerks  to  solve.  The  genius  for  plotting  long  and  intricate  voyages 
belonged  to  the  head  of  the  house.  New  York,  in  John  Jacob  Astor,  had  a 
still  more  extensive  operator.  He  first  projected  the  enterprises  to  the  north- 
west coast,  and  laid  out  with  profound  skill  schemes  which  it  took  ten  years  to 
ripen ;  and  his  name  was  known  throughout  the  world.  Philadelphia  had  an 
exponent  of  her  commercial  power  in  Stephen  Girard,  whose  en-  Stephen 
terpriscs  bCiOnged  to  the  same  period  of  large  operations  and  bold  ^"^^^ 
conduct.  Girard's  ships  were  actively  engaged  in  commerce  with  the  West 
Indies  at  the  time  of  the  revolution  in  San  Domingo,  and  carried  away  many 
rich  refugees.  His  wealth  received  large  accessions  from  the  property  placed 
on  board  by  those  who  could  not  escape.  The  Patersons  of  Baltimore  led 
the  commerce  of  that  city :  and  behind  these  leading  names,  which  are  asso- 
ciated in  history  with  vast  fortunes,  came  a  crowd  of  lesser  ones ;  for  the  mer- 
cantile intellect  was  as  busy  in  this  country  at  that  time  as  was  military, 
political,  and  literary  genius  throughout  the  world. 

The  internal  agency  that  led  to  the  national  self-assertion  and  this  bold 
individual  enterprise  was  doubtless  the  enthusiasm  of  independ- 
ence. Already  the  colonists  were  a  commercial  people  :  triumph 
over  England  inspired  them  to  greater  ventures  ;  freedom  and 
success  stimulated  further  action  ;  and  the  imposition  of  a  tariff, 
the  organization  of  a  bureau  of  commercial  statistics,  and  the 
establishment  of  our  currency  on  a  sound  basis,  awakened  confidence  in  our 
commercial  strength  at  home  and  abroad. 

Another  impulse  was  given  to  our  commerce  by  the  sudden  development 
of  the  cotton  production  at  the  commencement  of  this  century.  Effect  of 
which  we  have  elsewhere  described  at  some  length.     The  invention  cotton  pro. 
of  the  cotton-gin  gave  a  sudden  development  to  this  industry, 
and  gave  us  a  new  and  valuable  commodity  for  export.     In  1 790  we  exported 


Effect  of 
independ- 
ence in  stim- 
ulating com- 
pieice. 


862 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Napoleon. 


but  ^42,285  worth  of  cotton  :  in  1807  the  amount  was  vJued  at  $14,232,000. 
Later,  still  vaster  dimensions  were  attained.  But,  in  the  last  year  here  cited, 
our  cotton  alone  formed  nearly  one-third  of  the  value  of  our  total  e-xport.  It 
might  be  mentioned  in  this  place,  that  just  previous  to  this  time  the  South  had 
become  greatly  depressed,  business-wise  ;  for  her  blacks  had  not  been  able  to 
earn  their  own  living.  Hence  in  1808,  some  years  after  the  evil  began  to  bo 
first  felt,  the  further  importation  of  slaves  was  prohibited  by  an  amendment 
to  the  Federal  Constitution  ;  anil,  as  the  vessels  engaged  in  this  traffic  were 
ciiiefly  of  New-England  ownership,  the  check  was  not  fully  enjoyed  by  the 
commercial  interest.  Other  events,  however,  at  that  time,  distracted  attention, 
and  prevented  any  expression  of  resentment. 

A  cause  external  to  American  politics  and  enterprise  also  gave  new  stimu- 
lus to  American  commerce  soon  after  the  Revolution.  The  ambition  of  the 
great  Napoleon  led  to  war  between  England  and  France  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  thus  the  shipping  of  both 
nations  was  unsafe  at  sea.  The  carrying-trade  was  therefore  assumed  by  the 
navigators  of  this  country,  who  brought  much  of  the  West  Indies  and  other 
produce  designed  ultimately  for  Europe,  and  much  of  the  exchange  freight,  to 
our  shores  en  route.  The  stoppage  of  production  in  Europe  on  account  o'  a 
general  war  created  a  greater  demand  for  American  food-products  and  manu- 
factures, and  thus  increased  our  domestic  export  trade.  An  interesting  trian- 
gular exchange  of  credits  occurred  at  this  time.  England  had  large  credits  in 
this  country  at  that  time  on  account  of  certain  shipments  of  manufactures ; 
the  United  States  was  ac(iuiring  large  credits  in  France  on  account  of  ship- 
ments of  produc-e.  England  had  no  direct  trade-relations  with  France,  ])Ut 
wanted  to  transfer  money  to  the  Continent  for  political  uses ;  and  so  bought 
these  American  credits  in  France,  taking  them  in  payment  of  our  debts  to  her. 
While,  on  the  whole,  the  .\nglo- French  conflict  was  advantageous  to  us  at 
first,  it  had  its  embarrassments,  and  was  afterwards  disastrous  in  its  influence 
upon  our  commerce.  In  1793,  F2ngland,  jealous  of  seeming 
benefits  derived  by  France  from  this  arrangement,  domineeringly 
forbade  .\merican  vessels  to  carry  food  to  any  port  occupietl  l)y 
French  troops.  She  also  exercised  the  right  of  impressing  Ameri- 
can seamen  into  her  own  navy.  Under  these  and  other  orders 
Americans  were  robbed  of  much  property,  and  war  was  threatened ;  but 
matters  were  smoothed  over  by  a  treaty  negotiated  by  Mr.  Jay,  by  which  tlie 
sum  of  ten  million  dollars  was  awarded  us.  This  enraged  I'rance,  whi(  h 
began  to  seize  our  ships ;  but  Napoleon  put  a  stop  to  such  proceedings  in 
1800.  But  further  embarrassments  ensued.  Fhigland  declared  all  of  Europe', 
from  the  Elbe  to  Brest,  in  a  state  of  blockade,  thus  prohil)iting  Ameriraii 
ships  from  entering  there.  Napoleon  retaliated  with  the  Berlin  decree  of 
November  in  that  year,  prohibiting  all  intercourse  with  the  British  islam  N 
Both  sides  issued  further  and  more  comprehensive  edicts  of  the  same  insane 


Embarrass 
ments  of 
Anglo- 
French 
conflict. 


.I!i 


O^'    THE    VNJTED   STATES. 


ifft'f 


864 


INDUS  TH/AL    1/ IS  TORY 


sort;  and  finally,  in  1807,  to  avoid  war,  the  United-States  Government  laid  an 
embargo  upon  commerce  altogether.  So  violent  was  the  re-action  in  Ameri- 
can commercial  circles,  that  our  government  was  forced  to  modify  very 
essentially  this  action  next  year,  substituting  non-intercourse  laws  for  the  first 
enactment.  Still  our  commerce  was  sadly  crippled,  and  was  long  in  recovering 
from  the  effects  of  this  blow.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  in  this  connection,  that, 
in  1803,  Jerome  Bonaparte,  brother  of  the  great  Corsican,  married  into  the 
Paterson  family  of  Baltimore,  already  spoken  of  as  eminent  in  commerce. 
The  Paterson  interest,  through  Jerome,  was  successful  in  gaining  stealthy 
admission  to  French  ports  for  what  was,  after  all,  much-coveted  produce. 
This,  however,  was  chiefly  before  the  embargo  of  1807. 

This  was  the  culmination  of  a  long  period  of  rema.kable  commercial 
activity  and  prosperity.  An  immediate  and  remarkable  decline  ensued.  Before 
considering  the  latter,  therefore,  it  is  worth  while  to  briefly  review 
the  former.  The  treaty  of  peace  which  acknowledged  American 
independence  was  signed  in  1783.  The  loose  confederation  of  States  was 
succeeded  by  the  present  union  under  the  new  constitution  in  1789.  From 
the  following  year  our  commercial  statistics  date.  The  embargo  occurred  in 
1807.  The  following  table  shows  the  development  of  our  commerce  in  the 
interval,  and  the  check  put  upon  it  by  this  enactment,  and  the  delay  in 
recuperation :  — 


Embargo. 


YEAR. 

TONNAGE. 

DOMESTIC 
EXPORTS. 

FOREIGN 
EXPORTS. 

TOTAL 
EXl'DUTS. 

IMPORTS. 

1790 
1807 
1808 

i8i5 
1816 

474.374 
1,268,548 

1.247,596 
1.368,127 
1,372,218 

519.666,000 

48,669,592 

9.433.546 

45.974.403 
64,781,896 

59.643.558 
12,997,414 

6.583.350 

i7,'38,556 

$20,205,156 

108,343,150 

22,430,960 

52.557.753 
81,920,452 

$23,000,000 

138,500,000 

56,990,000 

113,041,274 
147,103,700 

These  international  complications  led  at  length  to  war  with  England,  whicli 

lasted  from  1812  to  1815.     The  result  of  that  war,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 

the  establishment  of  the  principle,  that  England  had  no  right  to 

with  Great      board  our  merchant-vessels,  and  claim  our  seamen  for  her  citizens ; 

Britain,  and    ^^j^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^^  merchant-marine  of  a  neutral  nation,  in  time  of" 

its  effect. 

war,  might  go  where  it  pleased  without  molestation.  It  is  a  well 
known  fact  that  this  triumph  was  accomplished  chiefly  by  the  American  na\  \  : 
and  it  is  worth  remembering  that  that  navy  was  greatly  strengthened  by  tiic 
influx  thereto  of  hardy  sailors  from  our  now  paralyzed  merchant-marine.  .At 
first  it  was  feared  that  the  magnificent  British  navy  would  destroy  ours  in  almost 
no  time,  and  Congress  was  determined  to  send  the  government  ships  up  tlie 
rivers  for  refuge  ;  but,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  naval  officers  themselves, 


111 


they  M 
"the 
equallt 
tacle  ( 
period 
master 
born  of 
VVa 
produce 
wharve 
Sometl 
but  geni 
brought 
ment  of 
heavy  im 

Se\'er; 

departme 

longer  ca 

trade  in  f 

more  thai 

18 1 8  fully 

or  more  tl 

New  Engia 

was  discou: 

and  still  m 

countries. 

tliat  this  la 

of  the  peric 

from  the  si] 

hy  the  incre 

checked  the 

the  jjeace  oi 

our  imports, 

balance  of  ti 

'-'ven  trade,  v 

ceding   the   i 

comparison  c 

of  domestic  j 

foreign,  ^22,9 

""port,  579,8( 

A  notable 

"ig  was  the  en 

^ut  not  less  c 


O^-    ma    UNJTED    STATES. 


they  were  permitted  to  go  to  seu     -r.  ^^^ 

"rj-r"         " "  '■■■'■'  -  "'"-"it: 

wharves ;  „„„,„„  ^  '  ="=™"'„taecd  in  warehoi,se<  I    '*«"°"l"iral 

department  of  agrTcu wT^tdrjof  ^'f '  '"  ""'•  ^^"^^^  -ndustrfe.     Th  . 
longer  called  unnn  hv  p  Produced  food  was  denr..     ,    ,"^^-     That 

'-*  in  food  z,^^::"i  '■»:  »''>  --^e  s„„,  L'r'S'  „  ;"'■■ "" 

more  than  ever  at  Z    ^         "='°l'  f*"-  ""ny  years     f'„        '     "  '"''^'e'' 

"f  •I'e  period  just  before  , he""'?"  "■""">■  """  -^gain         IT"  '' ''*''' 

■>"  imports,  teen  oL     "'"'"""'  ^f'="  °f  »"  .h^re         r"""'""'""™ 

'"lance  of  tVadTver;  LrT"'  '""""  °"  <'°  «"c       >«!  ^  ™'"" 
e'en  trade,  whose  Z        ■        ™'  ""<'  'nduce  a  neriji     r  '        '  ''■*''  "« 

«>■■".  .i.e  e'r  rrz  ""^'-r^ '- "-  -^oi :  r;:tr"'' 

romparison  of  the  fnii     •  ^'"'^  '^"er  fact  can  I,.  '        ''  '"■^- 

;"S  ".-.s  the  endeavor  of  Grea"  8^''  "''  ""  "'  "'  »hieh  we  are  now        . 

""'  -  '-  certain,  -hanZ^^X  l^-f  XT^  ^^^  ^^ 

S  ports  the  great  point  of 


866 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


exchange  between  the  United  States  and  such  other  countries  as  traded 
Warehouse  witii  her.  This  was  largely  effected  by  the  "  warehouse  system." 
•yitem.  » Inducements   were   held   out,"   says   Kettell,   "  by  facilities  of 

entry,  and  advances  on  merchandise,  to  attract  thither  the  produce  of  all 
nations ;  because,  under  such  circumstances,  not  only  did  British  manufac- 
turers have  within  their  reach  the  raw  materials  of  all  manufactures,  but  trading- 
vessels  had  in  those  ample  warehouses  every  variety  of  goods  to  make  up  an 
assorted  cargo  for  any  voyage  in  the  world,  and  make  of  them  the  medium  of 
selling  British  goods.  Thus  all  the  new  countries  of  America,  Africa,  and  Asia, 
offered  markets  which  would  absorb  small  quantities  of  a  great  variety  of 
articles ;  but  a  cargo  of  any  one  of  them  would  glut  them.  To  make  a  profita- 
ble voyage,  therefore,  a  cargo  should  be  composed  of  such  a  variety  of  wares 
as  would  all  sell  to  advantage.  If  Virginia  was  to  send  a  whole  cargo  of 
tobacco  to  Africa,  a  portion  of  it  would  sell,  and  the  remainder  be  a  dead 
stock,  and  the  voyage  a  losing  one.  The  same  thing  would  happen  to  a  cargo 
of  rum,  or  calicoes,  or  gunpowder,  or  hardware,  or  the  variety  of  articles  that 
make  up  the  wants  of  a  small  community.  If  a  vessel's  cargo  should  be  com- 
posed, in  proper  proportions,  of  all  these  articles,  the  whole  would  sell  well, 
and  the  voyage  pay ;  but  for  a  vessel  to  go  around  to  places  where  each  of 
these  articles  is  to  be  had,  and  so  collect  a  cargo,  is  expensive,  and  would  still 
result  in  loss.  The  English  warehouse  system  sought  to  supply  a  want  here 
by  attracting  into  them  all  possible  descriptions  of  tropical  and  other  produce. 
A  ship  might  then  make  up  her  cargo  for  any  part  of  the  world  at  the  smallest 
average  expense,  and  every  cargo  was  sure  to  be  completed  with  British  manu- 
factures. Under  such  circumstances,  they  could  compete  with  any  other  nation. 
The  advantage  was  so  manifest,  that  American  ships  would  go  out  in  ballast 
to  England,  to  fit  them  out  for  Asiatic  markets.  It  resulted  from  this,  that 
England  continued  to  be  the  recipient  of  most  American  produce,  not  only 
for  her  own  use,  but  for  export  elsewhere.  With  her  large  capital  she  ad- 
vanced on  the  produce,  and  so  controlled  it,  becoming  the  banker  for  the 
Americans.  The  nations  of  the  Continent,  slowly  recovering  from  the  effects 
of  the  long  wars,  began  to  manufacture  such  articles  as  found  sale  in  the 
United  States ;  while  they  did  not  purchase  largely  in  return.  China  furnished 
teas  and  silks,  and  got  its  pay  by  bills  drawn  against  American  credits  in 
London.  The  new  Bank  of  the  United  States  operated  the  credit,  giving  the 
China  merchant  a  six-months'  bill  on  London,  which  he  took  in  preference  to 
silver,  which  he  before  remitted.  These  bills  were  paid  out  for  the  tea,  and  by  the 
Hong-Kong  merchant,  who  received  them,  were  paid  to  the  British  East-India 
merchant  for  opium  or  raw  cotton.  By  the  latter  it  was  remitted  to  London, 
where  it  was  met  by  funds  already  provided  through  the  United-States  Bank  by 
sales  of  American  produce.  This  centralization  of  trade  in  England,  however, 
became  inconvenient.  The  American  ships  that  now  began  to  carry  cotton, 
tobacco,  rice,  and  some  breadstuff,  to  Europe,  had  thence  no  adequate  return- 


O^    THE    urn  TED    STATES, 
S.a.es  from  Germany,  across  France     r„'"«.  ""8™'°"  ">  "«=  Um<ed 

'he  result  ,vas,  iherefore,  cheapenLr'  "«"  '^°">I«-'IW  lo  retarn  emotv 

he„oUMca.i„„„n,,e„;w;r     rrC^^       .,.e  same  mann'S 
"ays^had  cheapened  freigl,,."  '  '"'""'"«  *'1«  to  carry  cargoes  both 

.o^onrc:r;fnrn,:7::e™„i::;  ■■-  -^  ''"-■^'  ^..d  ,•„„...,  k, 

»"'  present  p„nx,se  to  sl,o»  alUts   °         ^  ^Z'    "  '^  "«  '"'I™  the  scol  of 

and  th,s  ,t  d,d  steadily  and  rapidly     Ast  r    J°""''  in  yield  and  ex,x.r, 
a«y  .0  almost  nothing,  t„.  ir,^,  ^  'Z^A  "«  ™'^  *<'  "nr  exportrfall' 
sity  of  «v>w,Wj.  rt^^,  f        Russia      ro"*  '"  "'=  shameful  nece, 

manufactured  goods  was  grertlyredced.''   *'  '"«''  '""f  ™  "ni^rted 
"ovement  of  capital  afte?  the  J  tf!^'    "  '""^  "'"  ^^covered,  that  T"he 

a  few  pages  hence,  the  reader  l^f;,'*';  ™"»l""8  "«  'able  whiclf  ,ve  sha  f  ^ 

""on  of  the  demorah^  d  c    *   n"  7r  .""-  '->  '830.    As  a  ftXr  .^jT 
-rease  in  imports  was  chieflytn  a^id  s  r,""''  "  ""^  "*  ■■™"l<''d,  t ha   the 

S:>ru"ai"'"Thr  t  "-"^  '-"-ne  ;;:r';;^;;'^^'  --•  '-^  >■« t 

i8„  to  .  '■  '"'"''=  "»  imports  of  silk    '  ,  ,'°  ''"''  f°'  ^"h  livings 

.rBrfh"*  '"  '"''  =«-'-3^;ard:d:' "'""■''' ''''"™'''=-"d 
"■e  Bnttsh  merchant,  ratherU^an  otheX  ^'cS/XX'  *°°'  '""""=  «>' 

cause  that  operated  to  blind 


868 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


our  eyes  to  the  coming  collapse  was  the  over-estimate  of  the  value  of  our 
exports.  The  course  of  business  at  that  time  retiuired  shipments  of  American 
produce,  mostly  cotton,  to  firms  abroad,  who  made  advances  on  the  consign- 
ment at  a  certain  ratio  less  than  the  faces  of  the  invoice.  The  produce  after- 
wards sold  for  the  account  of  the  owner,  and  not  infrecjuently  did  not  bring 
the  amount  of  the  advances.  Thus,  if  cotton  were  shipped  at  sixteen  cents  a 
])ound,  and  twelve  cents  were  advanced,  the  amount  rc.ilized  might  be  only 
eleven  cents.  Hence  the  real  exports  of  the  country  were  not  always  meas- 
ured by  the  export  value. 

The  grand  crash  came  in  1837.  Like  all  such  crises  in  this  and  other 
countries,  it  took  even  the  business-men  two  or  three  years  to  fully  understand 
Cauies  not  how  it  came  about,  and  the  people  even  longer.  At  length  it  was 
understood,  realized  that  while  speculation  in  land  or  any  thing  else,  ample 
credits  from  home  and  foreign  capitalists,  a  ,d  plenty  of  banks-bills  based  upon 
credit,  gave  a  temporary  and  artificial  prosperity  to  a  nation,  the  only  basis  of  real 
wealth  was  labor  in  the  production  of  something  to  sell,  and  enough  of  it  not 
only  to  supply  our  own  consumption,  but  also  to  send  abroad  to  pay  for  what 
we  bought  there.  Accordingly,  personal  and  mercantile  credits  came  to  an 
end,  individuals  and  merchants  stopped  running  in  debt,  and  the  country 
applied  itself  to  productive  industry.  The  effect  is  clearly  discerned  in  the 
statistics  given  in  our  next  table.  Our  imports  for  the  decade  ending  1850 
were  slightly  less  than  for  the  previous  ten  years,  and  our  exports  vastly  more  ; 
and  the  balance  of  trade  against  us  was  cut  down  from  $260,753,154  to 
|«7,2i9,i99  for  the  two  periods  In  the  years  1813,  1821,  1825,  and  1827, 
owing  in  some  cases  to  abnormal  influences,  our  exports  had  exceeded  our 
imports,  but  only  to  a  slight  extent.  In  1825  the  excess  was  a  little  over 
$3,000,000,  which  was  more  than  in  any  of  the  other  years  here  named.  But 
in  1840  the  country  had  so  well  mastered  the  teachings  of  the  recent  panic 
and  hard  times,  that  our  exports  exceeded  our  imports  by  $25,000,000.  We 
could  not  keep  up  this  advantage,  however.  Thrice  during  the  next  decade 
did  our  exports  exceed  our  imports :  in  1842  the  difference  was  $4,589,447, 
in  1844  Jt  was  $2,765,011,  and  in  1847  it  was  $12,102,984.  Yet  in  the 
other  years  we  ran  behind  enough  to  wipe  this  all  out,  and  remain  $7,219,199 
in  debt  to  Europe  ;  which,  however,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  was  a  vast 
reduction  compared  with  the  previous  ten  years. 

A  force  which  tended  to  equalize  trade  at  this  time  was  the  Irish  famine  of 
1846.  In  1842  the  British  Government  removed  the  prohibition  upon  impor- 
irish  famine  tations  of  American  cattle  and  provisions,  and  reduced  the  duties 
of  1846.  on  com,  which  were  finally  abolished  in  1849.     Under  the  influ- 

ence of  the  former  enactments  the  export  of  dairy  products,  bacon,  barrelled 
pork  and  beef,  and  grain,  began  to  grow.  But,  when  the  tremenaous  demand 
of  1846  came,  a  wonderful  impetus  was  given  to  food  production  and  export, 
and  a  development  imparted  to  the  agricultural  mterests  of  this  country  whicli 


/las  s 

JS150, 

one-h, 

to  adc 

other 

foreign 

tlie  gn 

present 

The 

a  speci 

history. 

revoliitic 

honie-ni 

export  t( 

movemei 

Jnasmiicl 

experienc 

The  r 

of  gold  b 

Our  cotto 

As  yet,  p 

"lanufactu 

"1  our  owi 

Kngland  i 

"ear  Capt 

quickly  att; 

amount  to 

increased, 

^507,000,00 

tation  to  bo 

other  conirr 

former,  ho\v( 

history,  our  1 

But  the  hca 

relaxation  of 

the  balance  i 

turned  again 

us  indebted  t( 

'  The  total  val 

'^"intheracesho. 

'  Only  thrice  s 

P"orto,85o.,hebal 

"ay.    The  imports 


O^    TI,B    UmTED    STATES, 
has  since  steadily  continued     n  ^^' 

^.spcce  impor,  of  $,^,„  ,s'  ■""  "*  'I""^k  "»l.  sales  i„  ,s^,  , 

history,    "riiis  enlivcncH  ,'■"'•-''  "•■«N't  nc-ver  before  „„J,     °"*'"  "» 

'evolution  next  y  ?  t nrnin?"'-""  "'°"''"''""''-     B"'  'hrKre ,  '"  "" 

"port  to  this  connlrv  ,vl,i,.  T     ^  l'"™»'  '"'Itce,!  a  heiw  „ 

Inasmuel,  as  b,„in«,.I,„'eno„  I  """';;"  °'"- '""'' ">  -C    S   "" 
"Penenccd  in  conse,ne„ce    "  °"  "  """"  '^'^  '"  *'»  cou„.;.  no  ,.„„  „, 

rite  next  remarkable  featnre  „f  «       • 
of  eoW  bullion  resulting  f,         .    American  commerce  was  ih.  i 

hZZ'  i  "'''''  "^""-^  ^'^^'^  the  latter     In    ;  "'T  '"^  ^^P°«  ^''^^e     the 
h.s  or^^cn.r  exports  exceeded  our  in.nortsV       '"'''''  "'^^''^'^  »''"e  in  our 


870 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Panic  •(1I37. 


It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  here  the  causes  of  the  panic  of  1857,  or 
to  show  its  general  resemblance  to  the  one  twenty  years  before.  It  is  enough 
to  say  here  that  it  was  preceded  by  lieavy  fi)reign  cretUts,  and  by 
the  extensive  investment  of  foreign  capital  in  the  railroads  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  Valleys,  which  were  called  for  by  the  sudden  agricultural 
development  of  that  region,  and  to  build  which  immense  (piantities  of  rails 
were  imported  from  England.  'I'he  general  effect  of  that  panic  upon  our 
commerce  was  to  slightly  diminish  our  exports,  and  largely  lessen  our  imports, 
the  following  year ;  but  that  was  about  all.  An  attendant  circumstance,  if  not 
one  cause,  of  the  panic  of  1857,  was  the  failure  of  the  Louisiana  sugar-crop, 
which  caused  us  to  import  $55,000,000  worth  of  that  commotlity,  or  five  times 
the  amount  imported  in  1850. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  following  table,  that  while  it  took  the  country  full  ten 
years  to  learn  the  lessons  of  the  panic  of  1837,  and  to  recover  from  the  effect* 
of  it,  the  interval  from  1850  to  i860  was  one  of  remarkable  jjrospcrity.  Our 
total  trade  with  foreign  lands  during  the  decade  immediately  preceding  our 
civil  war  was  more  than  during  the  twenty  years  prior  to  185 1. 


DOMESTIC 

FORF.IC.N 

TOTAL 

BALANCE  or 

EXPORTS. 

EXPDKTS. 

EXWJKTS. 

TKAUB. 

I79I-I800 

$293,634,645 

$191,344,293 

$484,968,938 

f  59 '.84  5.454 

$106,876,516 

1801-10  . 

383,401,077 

372,536,294 

755.937.371 

927,663,500 

171,726,129 

1811-20  . 

462,701,288 

127,190,714 

589,892,002 

688,120,347 

98.228.345 

1821-30  . 

536,104,918 

229,643,834 

765.748,752 

798,633.427 

30,355,826 

1831-40  . 

892,889,909 

1 99.4  5 '.994 

1,092,351,903 

1,302,476,084 

260,753,154 

1841-50   . 

1,131,458,801 

129,105,782 

1,260,564,583 

1,267,783,782 

7,219,199 

1851-60  . 

2,766,799,881 

226,950,036 

2.993.749.9' 7 

3,004,591,285 

10,841,368 

In  estimating  the  influence  of  our  civil  war  upon  American  commerce,  it 
needs  to  be  remembered  that  commerce  and  transportation  are  not  identical. 
EffectofcivU  ^Vhile  it  was  unsafe  to  ship  goods  under  the  American  flag  while 
w«r  upon  the  rebel  cruisers  were  afloat,  there  was  no  interference  with  such 
commerce.  ^^^  j^  ^^  ^^^^  carried  on  in  foreign  bottoms.  The  rebel  cruisers 
depredated  upon  our  fishing-fleets,  especially  our  whalers ;  but  still  greater 
damage  was  done  to  this  latter  branch  of  industry  by  the  marvellous  and 
sudden  development  of  our  petroleum  product  just  before  and  during  the 
war.  We  may  attribute  to  the  war,  then,  the  diminution  of  our  exports  of  fish 
and  oil.    - 

The  real  harm  done  to  commerce  by  this  internecine  conflict  was  the 

Effect  upon     lessening  of  actual  production  and  the  impairment  of  our  credit. 

production      The  former  effect  was  most  marked  in  the  stoppage  of  cotton- 

t.      culture,  and  consequently  of  cotton-exports.     This  is  the  principal 

explanation  of  the  falling-off  of  domestic  exports  noticeable  in  the  table  which 


we  sha 

of  the 

great  bi 

fignreil 

war,  cot 

nently  a 

f^onsequ 

siiJJIWss 

•ind  imp 

1865   in< 

balance  c 

the  corre 

capacity  ( 

their  labo 

Two  1 

<levelopm( 

the  famoi. 

other  dep; 

say  that  th( 

during  the 

off  'n\  i)rod 

ally  also. 

Two  in 

effect  on  pr 

nation  of  h 

on  imports, 

the  inventio 

botli  agricul 

to  rejilace  t 

came  back,  t 

Auction  in  al 

export  of  foe 

lessen  our  im 

i'he  panic 

on  by  chiefly 

there  was  an 

'second,  agrici 

railroads,  nota 

credits  were  v, 

cial  extension, 

'ng;  fourth,  an 

^vhich  now  be^ 

excess  of  impoj 


OF   THR    UNITED   STATES. 


t7» 


we  shall  shortly  give.  The  capture  of  New  Orleans  opened  up  a  small  supply 
of  the  stored  crop  of  i860,  which  now  began  to  fuul  its  way  to  mi"ket.  The 
great  bulk  of  the  hidden  cotton,  though,  was  not  obtained  until  1865  ;  and  it 
figured  in  the  exports  of  the  following  year.  For  four  or  five  years  after  the 
war,  cotton-culture  recuperated  slowly ;  but  since  1870  it  has  figured  as  promi- 
nently among  our  exports  as  before  the  war.  'Ihe  impairment  of  credit,  and 
conseipicnt  high  prices,  lessened  im|)ortation  ;  but,  when  the  Rebellion  was 
suppressed,  confidence  in  the  ability  of  American  merchants  to  j)ay  recovered, 
and  importation  increased.  The  total  dimensions  of  our  trade  from  1861  to 
1865  inclusive  was  much  less  than  from  1856  to  18C0  inclusive:  but  the 
balance  of  trailc  was  even  more  in  our  favor  during  the  war-period  than  during 
the  corresponding  interval  before ;  so  that  the  people  of  the  country,  in  the 
capacity  of  private  persons,  more  than  paid  Europe  for  what  she  sold  us  by 
their  labor. 

Two  notable  features  of  the  war-period  of  our  history  were  the  sudden 
development  of  our  petroleum-industry,  and  the  discovery  and  production  of 

the  famoi.  •  Comstock  lode,  each  of  which  is  treated  at  length  in   _ 

'  "  Develop- 

other  departments  of  this  book  ;    but  we  mention  them  here  to   ment  o» 

say  that  the  two  products  formed  a  conspicuous  part  of  our  exports  pe*"""'*"™- 
during  the  era  of  which  we  are  now  speaking.     Gold  had  fallen 
off  in  production  and  export ;  and,  shortly  after  the  war,  silver  lessened  gradu- 
ally also.     The  petroleum-export,  however,  has  steadily  increased. 

Two  influences  growing  out  of  the  war  exerted  a  peculiarly  stimulating 
effect  on  production,  and  so  increased  our  trade  immediately  upon  the  termi- 
nation of  hostilities.  One  was  the  imposition  of  a  heavy  tariff 
on  imports,  which  promoted  manufacturing ;  and  the  other  was 
the  invention,  manufacture,  and  extensive  use  of  labor-saving  machinery  for 
both  agricultural  and  manufacturing  i)urposes.  These  facilities  were  needed 
to  replace  the  men  called  off  by  the  army  and  navy.  \Vhen  the  survivors 
came  back,  the  new  facilities  enabled  the  country  to  hugely  augment  its  pro- 
duction in  all  departments  of  industry.  The  effect  was  to  greatly  increase  our 
export  of  food  of  all  kinds,  slightly  increase  our  export  of  manufactures,  and 
lessen  our  importation  of  the  latter. 

The  panic  of  1873  and  consequent  period  of  "hard  times  "  were  brought 
on  by  chiefly  the  same  causes  as  induced  the  panics  of  1837  and  1857.  First, 
there  was  an  immense  over-production  of  manufactured  goods ;  Panic  o( 
second,  agricultural  activity  had  led  to  the  construction  of  new  ''73- 
railroads,  notably  the  Northern  Pacific,  which  were  not  really  needed ;  third, 
credits  were  vastly  overstrained  for  personal  luxury  and  indulgence,  commer- 
cial extension,  and  speculation  in  oil-lands,  mining-stocks,  and  railroad-build- 
ing ;  fourth,  an  inflated  paper  currency  had  imparted  false  values  to  property, 
which  now  began  to  shrink.  That  usual  prelude  to  a  panic,  a  remarkable 
excess  of  imports  over  exports,  was  noticeable  in  1872.     In  187 1  we  exported 


War-tariff. 


872 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


1150,000,000  more  than  we  imported  :  in  1872  we  imported  $68,000,000  more 
than  we  exported.  So  much  for  causes.  The  effect  of  the  panic  at  home  was 
to  check  manufacturing,  lessen  credits,  reduce  consumption  by  promoting  per- 
sonal and  individual  economy,  lower  prices,  stay  importation,  and  facilitate 
export.  Hence,  on  the  whole,  our  foreign  commerce  has  been  enlarged  since 
the  panic  ;  but,  as  the  surplusage  of  manufactured  products  has  been  worked 
off,  the  export  trade  has  slighdy  diminished,  and  importation  begun  to  revive. 
This  and  several  other  facts  referred  to  in  the  last  page  or  two  will  appear  from 
the  following  table  :  — 


DOMESTIC 

FOREIGN 

TOTAL 

VBAS. 

EXPORTS. 

EXPORTS. 

EXPORTS. 

IMPORTS, 

BALANCE. 

1860I          .           . 

$373,189,274 

)J26,933,022 

$400,122,296 

$362,166,254 

$37,956,042 

1861 

228,699,486 

20,645,427 

249,344.9' 3 

286,598,135 

37,253,222'^ 

1862 

213,069,519 

8,147.771 

222,217,290 

205,771,729 

14,445,461 

1863 

305,884,998 

26,123,584 

332,008,582 

252,9'9.920 

79,aS9,662 

1864 

320,035,199 

20,256,940 

341,292,739 

329,562,895 

11,729,844 

1865 

306,306,758 

30,390,365 

336,697,123 

234,434,167 

2,262,956 

1866 

550,684,277 

14,742,117 

565,426,394 

445,512,158 

119.914,236 

1867 

438.577.312 

20,611,508 

459,188,820 

417,831,571 

41,357,249 

186S 

454,301,713 

22,601,126 

476,902,839 

371,624,808 

105,278,031 

1869 

413.961,115 

2S,«73.4i4 

439,134.529 

437.314.255 

1,820,274 

1870 

499,092,143 

30,427,159 

529,519,302 

462,377,587 

67,i4',7JS 

187 1 

562,518,651 

28,459,899 

591,978,550 

541,493,708 

50,484,842 

1872 

549,219,718 

22,769,749 

571,989,467 

640,338,766 

65,349,299* 

»873 

649,132,563 

28,149,511 

677,282,074 

663,617,147 

13,664,927 

1874 

693.039.054 

23,780,338 

716,819,392 

595,861,248 

120,958,144 

1875 

559.237,638 

22,432,724 

581,690,362 

553,906,153 

27,784,209 

1876* 

685,545.352 

23,31 '.538 

708,856,890 

461,818,499 

247,038,391 

1877  « 

671,632,366 

23,618,923 

695,251,289 

504,013,000 

191,238,289 

The  necessity  for  finding  an  outlet  for  our  excessive  stock  of  domestic 
manufactures  has  led   to   much  enterprise   in   the  way  of  reaching  foreign 

markets  formerly  occupied  almost  exclusively  by  Europe.  To 
finding  new  India,  China,  and  Brazil  especially,  within  the  past  four  years, 
outlets  for       extensive  exportation  of  American  goods  has  been  effected.     This 

is  particularly  the  case  with  cotton-cloths  ;  although,  besides  these, 
we  have  been  able  to  stop  the  sale  of  other  foreign  articles  in  our  own  markets, 
and  compete  successfully  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Paper  of  all  grades, 
from  the  finest  stationery  to  the  coarsest  wrappings  and  pasteboard,  now  goes 


'  The  figures  here  given  for  i860  and  the  next  sixteen  years  are  for  the  fiscal  years  ending  June  30,  not 
the  calendar  years  ending  Dec.  31.  The  calendar  year  i860  shows  a  balance  of  trade  against  us  of  thiriy-four 
million  fivo  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  here  enters  into  the  statement  of  the  fiscal  year  1861. 

'  Balance  against  us.    The  other  balances  here  given  are  in  our  favor. 

•  Calendar,  rot  fij-- ,!  year. 


OF   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


873 


abroad.  Agricultural  implements  go  in  vast  quantities  to  Europe  and  else- 
where. This  movement  is  still  further  aided  by  the  efforts  of  the  State  Depart- 
ment at  Washington,  under  President  Hayes,  to  utilize  the  consular  service  in 
finding  out  what  American  commodities  might  find  a  bett  r  market  in  each 
quarter  of  the  globe  where  our  nation  is  represented.  We  can  give  this  chap- 
ter no  more  fitting  conclusion,  perhaps,  than  the  following  analysis  of  our 
export  trade  for  1875,  which  appeared  in  "  The  New- York  Times  :  "  — 

The  value  of  our  foreign  exports  can  be  expressed  by  nine  figures  ;  but  the 
character  of  that  branch  of  our  commerce,  —  the  articles,  quantities,  and 
values  embraced,  —  and  its  world-wide  diffusiveness,  cannot  fail  to  v«iue  of 
interest  and  instruct  those  not  in  the  habit  of  making  their  own  ««porti. 
generalizations  from  confusing  statistical  tables.  The  entire  value  of  merchan- 
dise exported  from  the  United  States  during  the  last  fiscal  year,  computed  in 
national  currency,  was  $693,039,054.  The  gold  valuation  of  the  same  was 
$652,913,445  ;  which  is  greater  than  the  valuation  of  our  foreign  imports  for 
the  same  period  by  over  $57,000,000,  and  the  balance  of  trade  is  consequently 
in  our  favor  by  that  amount.  Many  of  the  articles  enumerated  in  the  list  of 
exports  which  are  grown  or  manufactured  in  the  United  States  are  also  found 
in  the  list  of  articles  imported  from  abroad.  The  simple  statement  of  this  fact 
should  suffice  to  show  the  folly  of  Americans  sending  their  money  abroad  for 
articles  which  msy  be  purchased  at  much  lower  prices,  and  of  equally  good 
quality,  at  our  own  manr^actories. 

As  the  United  States    jrnish  the  principal  market  for  the  sale  of  British 
merchandise,  so   Great   Britain   and    her  dependencies    offer  the   principal 
markets  for  our  exported  productions.     We  sent  to  the  markets  of  Q^^^^jt 
that  nation  during  the  last  fiscal  year  merchandise  to  the  value  of  shipped  to 
$440,945,870  :  which  is  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  entire  value  of  all  ^""•"'» 

^    ''      '  ^  countries. 

our  exports  for  that  period.  Of  that  amount  there  was  shipped 
direct  to  England  $308,876,292,  and  to  Ireland  and  Scotland  $64,690,216. 
The  value  of  merchandise  received  last  year  from  Great  Britain  was  $255,- 
180,597  gold.  Next  to  Great  Britain,  Germany  is  our  best  customer,  $64, 344,- 
622  being  our  rpreipts  for  her  purchases.  To  France  and  her  dependencies 
we  shipped  $50,485,045  worth  of  merchandise,  of  which  France  received 
directly  over  $50,000,000  worth.  Spain  and  her  colonies  paid  us  $33,505,549, 
of  which  there  was  from  the  mother-country  $11,643,715,  and  from  Cuba 
$19,597,981.  To  Belgium  we  sent  merchandise  valued  at  $20,197,515;  to 
the  Netherlands,  $15,156,309  ;  Russia,  $10,284,803  ;  Italy,  $8,378,666;  Tur- 
key, $2,549,493;  Denmark,  $2,430,791;  Norway  and  Sweden,  $2,385,088; 
China,  $1,629,165  ;  Japan,  $1,808,107  ;  Brazil,  $7,562,852;  United  States  of 
Colombia,  $5,123,845;  Mexico,  $4,073,679;  Hayti,  $4,265,686;  Chili, 
$2,730,617;  Peru,  $2,518,494;  Argentine  Republic,  $2,478,513;  Venezuela, 
§2,384,139.  The  countries  namec  are  the  largest  markets  for  the  sale  and 
consumption  of  our  productions.     The  countries  which  purchased  least  from 


874 


INDUSTRFAL    HISTORY 


us  are  Greece,  $32,668  ;  Liberia,  $123,463  ;  San  Domingo,  $514,633  ;  and  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  $623,280. 

If  cotton  is  no  longer  called  king,  it  is  still  the  largest  and  most  valuable 
article  of  export,  and  brought  to  this  country  last  year  $211,223,580.  In 
Shipment*  exchange  for  that  large  sum  of  money  we  exported  2,903,075 
of  cotton.  bales,  or  1,358,602,303  pounds.  Of  that  quantity  England  alone 
received  over  875,000,000  pounds,  and  paid  us  $136,952,187.  From  France 
we  received  for  the  same  staple  $27,187,222;  from  Germany,  $17,250,000 ; 
Russia,  $8,479,481;  Spain,  $8,266,178;  Ireland,  $3,855,303;  the  Nether- 
lands, $2,779,265  ;  Italy,  $1,974,114.  In  cotton-fabrics  we  exported  17,872,- 
322  yards,  valued  at  $2,350,000.  It  will  surprise  many  readers  to  learn  that 
England  received  of  those  fabrics  1,145,786  yards,  valued  at  $132,357.  Brazil, 
however,  bought  most  of  our  exported  cotton-fabrics,  the  yards  numbering 
2,236,950,  of  which  the  value  was  $291,674.  France,  which  taxes  us  so 
heavily  for  fabrics  of  her  own  manufacture,  bought  only  $8,000  of  our  cotton- 
fabrics  ;  while  Germany  patronized  us  in  that  line  of  goods  to  the  value  of 
$46,000. 

The  Chinese  consumed  of  our  cotton-fabrics  1,749,440  yards,  paying  us 
$204,354 ;  which  is  a  sum  equal  to  twice  the  amount  we  paid  China  for  fire- 
Cotton-  crackers.     Chili  took  1,680,960  yards,  and   sent  us,  to  pay  for 

fabrics.  them,  $210,970;  while  Mexico  bought  1,363,915  yards  for  $158,- 

366.  The  remainder  of  that  class  of  fabrics  went  to  Asiatic  and  South-Ameri- 
can countries,  the  British  East  Indies  receiving  nearly  $75,000  worth.  The 
other  exported  articles  manufactured  from  cotton,  and  not  enumerated  above, 
are  valued  at  $745,850.  Our  total  receipts  for  exported  raw  cotton  and  manu- 
factures of  cotton  foot  up  $215,089,081.  Our  imported  manufactures  of  cot- 
ton for  the  year  were  valued  at  less  than  $25,000,000. 

Breadstuffs  are  next  to  cotton  in  valuation  of  exports,  amounting  to  $161,- 
198,864.  These  were  consigned  to  nearly  every  nation  on  the  globe,  the  only 
The  starving  European  countries  not  receiving  them  being  Austria,  Denmark, 
millions  fed.  Greece,  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  Turkey.  Of  wheat  we  exported 
rea  stuffs.  ^1^039,928  bushels,  valued  at  $101,421,459;  wheat-flour,  4,094,- 
094  barrels,  valued  at  $29,258,094 ;  Indian-corn,  34,434,606  bushels,  valued 
at  $24,769,951.  England  receives  most  of  our  breadstuffs.  43,128,552 
bushels  of  wheat,  1,307,286  barrels  of  wheat-flour,  and  10,299,483  bushels  of 
Indian-corn,  went  to  her  markets  last  year.  Scotland  received  3,903,630 
bushels  of  wheat,  353,495  barrels  flour,  and  2,235,026  bushels  corn;  while 
Ireland  received  17,609,837  bushels  wheat,  43,203  barrels  flour,  and  13,764,- 
814  bushels  corn,  which  was  more  than  one-third  of  the  entire  quantity  of  corn 
exported  during  the  year.  France  took  2,223,366  bushels  wheat,  7,260  barrels 
flour,  and  452,951  bushels  corn  ;  and  Germany  bought  886,485  bushels  wheat, 
21,960  barrels  flour,  and  825,620  bushels  corn. 

France  bought  three  times  as  much  flour  as  Germany ;  while  Germany 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


875 


bought  three  times  as  much  wheat  as  France,  and  twice  as  much  com.  In  the 
same  time  Ireland  consumed  six  times  as  much  of  our  wheat  as  both  France 
and  Germany,  thirteen  times  as  much  com  as  both  these  countries,  six  times 
as  much  flour  as  France,  and  twice  as  much  as  Germany.  Belgium  received 
3,709,694  bushels  wheat,  72,401  barrels  flour,  and  84,798  bushels  com;  Neth- 
erlands, 3,160,435  bushels  wheat,  26,389  barrels  flour,  and  51,718  bushels  com. 
Of  barley  we  exported  320,399  bushels,  valued  at  1^1210,738;  oats,  812,873 
bushels,  valued  at  $383,762;  rye,  1,564,484  bushels,  valued  at  $1,568,362. 
Of  Indian-corn  meal  we  shipped  387,807  barrels,  worth  $1,529,399  ;  and  rye- 
flour,  59,820  barrels,  worth  $388,313.  We  also  exported  11,142,429  pounds 
of  bread  and  biscuit,  worth  $676,197,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  consumed 
in  the  British  West  Indies.  Belgium  and  Germany  consumed  about  two-thirds 
of  the  rye  exported,  and  Cuba  more  than  one-half  of  the  rye-flour.  Canada 
and  the  West  Indies  bought  most  of  the  Indian-corn  meal ;  while  the  British 
West-India  islands,  Honduras,  and  Guiana  consumed  over  seven  of  the 
eleven  million  pounds  of  bread  and  biscuit  exported.  Pern  received  135,193 
bushels  of  barley,  being  over  one-third  of  the  entire  quantity  exported ;  Eng- 
land took  over  79,000  bushels;  and  24,752  bushels  went  to  British  Australasia. 
One  half  of  all  the  oats  exported  went  to  Canada  ;  the  other  half  going  to  the 
West  Indies,  Ce  itral  and  South  America,  and  Eastern  Asia. 

The  value  of  provisions  other  than  breadstuff's  exported  was  $78,317,087. 
Bacon  and  hams,  beef,  butter,  cheese,  eggs,  lard,  pork,  fish,  and  vegetables  are 
embraced  under  this  head,  and  were  distributed  over  the  whole  B,gon  ^^^ 
world.  Bacon  and  ham  lead  the  list;  347,405,405  being  the  num-  and  other 
ber  of  pounds,  and  $33,383,908  the  valuation.  The  beef  was  p"""^"""*"- 
valued  at  $2,956,676,  and  the  4,367,983  pounds  of  butter  at  $1,092,381  ; 
which  is  just  $100,000  more  than  enough  to  pay  for  the  sardines  we  imported 
from  Europe  last  year.  We  distributed  abroad  90,611,077  pounds  of  chetse, 
which  brought  us  $11,898,995.  It  may  be  stated  here,  by  way  of  comparison, 
that  we  paid  last  year  for  butter  and  cheese  imported  $1,354,495  gold.  Eng- 
land is  the  largest  consumer  of  our  cheese,  nearly  70,000,000  pounds  having 
been  the  amount  sent  her.  Germany  bought  over  10,000,000  pounds,  and 
Scotland  nearly  9,000,000.  China  and  Japan  each  took  about  29,000  pounds, 
and  14,000  pounds  went  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  The  West  Indies  consumed 
the  greater  portion  of  the  remainder.  Germany  bought  from  us  64,436,920 
pounds  of  lard;  England,  33,581,107  pounds;  Belgium,  28,174,335  pounds;' 
Cuba,  22,186,472  pounds;  France,  9,937,387  pounds;  Scotland,  9,429,771 
pounds.  The  entire  quantity  of  lard  exported  was  205,527,471  pounds,  valued 
at  $19,308,019.  Ireland,  Russia,  and  Turkey  are  the  only  European  countries 
which  did  not  purchase  lard  from  the  United  States.  Of  pork  we  exported 
70,482,379  pounds,  worth  $5,808,712.  About  one-third  of  the  pork  went  to 
Europe.  Of  the  West-India  islands,  Hayti  bought  10,976,705  pounds,  and 
Porto  Rico  2,476,262  pounds.  For  onions  exported  we  received  $52,000,  and 
for  potatoes  $471,332. 


876 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


For  green  ami  dried  fruits  we  received  $994,163.  The  dried  apples  ex- 
ported weighed  4,234,736  pounds,  the  valuation  being  $294,893.  Of  this 
Dried  and  article  Germany  bought  2,811,915  pounds,  or  more  than  half  of 
green  fruiu.  ^U  that  was  exported  ;  the  Netherlands  bought  489,6 1 2  pounds  ; 
Australia,  226,332;  England,  209,389;  France,  59,358;  Japan,  21,644; 
China,  2,371.  Of  green  apples  we  sent  abroad  123,533  barrels,  worth  $204,- 
312.  Of  these  England  received  36,814  barrels  ;  Scotland,  27,085  ;  Germany, 
2,427;  Sandwich  Islands,  2,109;  Liberia,  1,286;  Australia,  300 ;  Russia,  29; 
Mexico,  6,547  ;  and  Cuba,  4,729.  For  fruit  other  than  apples  we  received 
$211,308,  and  for  canned  fruits  $283,649. 

For  iron,  and  manufactures  of  iron,  we  received  $9,5  78,694,  and  for  steel 
$4,119,344.  Machinery  was  shipped  to  almost  every  nation  in  the  world; 
Iron,  steel  bringing  us,  in  return,  $3,357,909.  For  our  machinery  Germany 
machinery,  paid  $908,883;  England,  $197,134;  Scotland,  $84,724;  France, 
and  tools.  517,773;  Belgium,  $28,532;  Japan,  $99,295;  China,  $7,228; 
British  East  Indies,  $2,079;  Cuba,  $559,679;  Mexico,  $383,006;  Peru, 
$229,564;  Canada,  $270,000;  United  States  of  Colombia,  $208,669.  We 
sent  abroad  seventy-nine  locomotives,  valued  at  $1,147,366.  Of  these  Russia 
took  fourteen  ;  Cuba,  twelve  ;  Chili,  nineteen  ;  Brazil,  thirteen ;  Canada,  nine  ; 
Argentine  Republic,  four ;  Mexico  and  the  Central-American  States,  each  three  ; 
and  Peru,  two.  For  the  forty-eight  stationary  steam-engines  exported  were 
paid  us  $74,749  :  all  these,  except  one  sent  to  Liberia,  were  purchased  by 
neighboring  American  countries.  American  stoves  to  the  value  of  $102,398 
were  pretty  well  distributed  among  foreign  nations,  England  even  purchasing 
to  the  extent  of  $1,000.  Of  manufactures  of  steel  we  sold  abroad  edge-tools 
to  the  value  of  $941,016  ;  cutlery,  $47,162  ;  files  and  saws,  $21,496  ;  muskets, 
pistols,  and  rifles,  $2,340,138 ;  other  manufactures  of  steel,  $225,457.  Most 
of  our  cutlery  went  to  Canada  and  to  countries  south  of  the  United  States. 
England  took  $906  worth ;  France,  $510;  Germany,  $483.  For  edge-tools 
Germany  paid  us  $34,836;  England,  $19,425;  France  bought  none.  Our 
best  market  for  edge-tools  was  the  United  States  of  Colombia,  where  we  sold 
$324,121.  Australia  bought  from  us  to  the  value  of  $122,945  ;  Mexico,  $113,- 
697;  Canada,  $97,171  ;  Brazil,  $75,292.  Australia  sent  us  for  files  and  saws 
$4,852;  Mexico,  $2,812;  Cuba,  $2,547;  Canada,  $6,667;  England,  $703. 
For  fire-arms  England  paid  us  $774,598  ;  Germany,  $288,719  ;  France,  $1,750  ; 
Turkey,  $169,960;  Cuba,  $496,426  ;  Argentine  Republic,  $239,192  ;  Mexico, 
$113,846. 

The  total  value  of  agricultural  implements  sent  abroad  was  $3,089,753. 
These  are  classified  as  follows :  Sixty-three  fanning-mills,  valued  at  $2,645  ^ 
Agricultural  horse-powers,  fifty-nine,  valued  at  $30,685  ;  mowers  and  reapers, 
implements.  16,139,  valued  at  $1,797,130;  ploughs  and  cultivators,  17,639, 
valued  at  $236,203  ;  other  implements  valued  at  $1,023,090.  All  the  fanning- 
mills  went  to  Canada ;  Chili  bought  all  the  horse-powers  except  one,  which 


OF    THE    UN /TED    STATES. 


877 


was  sent  to  Scotland;  Germany  purchased  9,613  mowers  and  reapers,  more 
than  one-half  of  all  exported,  for  which  she  paid  $1,167,323 ;  England  bought 
3,838;  France,  1,030;  Sweden  and  Norway,  462;  Russia,  187;  Chili,  171; 
Scotland,  146;  Argentine  Republic,  292;  Canada,  293;  Netherlands,  52; 
Australia,  1 2  :  the  rest  were  scattered  over  the  West  Indies  and  South 
America.  More  than  one-half  of  all  the  ploughs  and  cultivators  exported  went 
to  the  British  possessions  in  Africa,  the  exact  number  being  10,504  :  Chili  took 
2,423;  Argentine  Republic,  1,938;  Peru,  593;  Uruguay,  697;  Brazil,  237; 
Mexico,  132  ;  Cuba,  274.  Only  eighty-five  were  sent  to  Europe,  of  which 
England  received  eighty-three,  and  France  two.  The  Sandwich  Islands  bought 
thirteen ;  Australia,  sixty-two ;  Japan,  two.  The  miscellaneous  implements 
were  pretty  widely  distributed.  About  $300,000  worth  went  to  Europe,  and 
the  rest  to  the  West  Indies,  and  to  Central  and  South  America. 

We  exported  last  year  books  to  the  value  of  $584,950.  The  records  of 
the  exports  show  that  readers  of  American  books  are  to  be  found  in  all  parts 
of  the  wodd.  For  books  we  received  from  England  $95,688  ;  and  American 
from  Canada,  who  was  our  largest  purchaser  of  books,  $138,189.  *>ook». 
Germany  paid  for  our  books  $26,515;  France,  $7,515;  Brazil,  $82,222;  the 
United  States  of  Colombia,  $77,809  ;  Japan,  $32,664  ;  the  Argentine  Republic, 
$23,821;  Cuba,  »'23,779;  Mexico,  $16,207;  Australia,  $14,268;  China, 
$8,758  :  Sandwich  Islands,  $4,627.  Other  countries  purchased  in  amounts 
ranging  from  $100  up  to  the  lowest  sum  specified  above. 

The  coal  exported  reached  763,402  tons,  valued  at  $3,823,750 ;  all  of  which, 
except  about  2,000  tons,  went  to  American  countries.  For  clocks  we  received 
$1,070,822  ;  England  contributing  of  that  amount  $533,600  ;  Ger-  Unclassified 
many,  $103,688;  Japan,  $61,485;  China,  $12,461.  Nearly  ■"'"ciet. 
$10,000  worth  of  American  watches  were  also  sent  abroad  to  record  the  pas- 
sage of  time.  For  carriages  and  carts  we  received  $578,433,  most  of  the 
trade  being  with  American  countries.  Germany,  however,  purchased  American 
carriages  to  the  value  of  $22,924;  and  England,  $12,840.  We  sent  billiard- 
tables  around  the  globe,  and  received,  in  return  therdbr,  $59,378  ;  of  which  sum 
the  United  States  of  Colombia  contributed  $24,930.  For  brooms  and  brushes 
we  received  from  nearly  all  the  countries  in  the  world  $127,593  ;  and  for  shoe- 
blacking,  over  $76,000.  For  cables  and  cordage,  rope  and  twine,  we  received 
$1,379,462  ;  and  for  hides  and  skins  other  than  fur,  $2,560,382.  Hoop-skirts 
are  going  out  of  fashion,  and  last  year  we  sold  abroad  only  $15,302  worth. 
For  combs  we  received  $7,535  :  on  the  contrary,  we  sent  to  foreign  countries 
$409,029  for  combs  during  the  same  period  Whether  we  should  have  ex- 
ported more  combs,  had  we  imported  less,  is  referred  to  American  comb-makers 
for  discussion.  For  oils  of  all  kinds,  including  the  products  of  our  oil-wells, 
we  received  $41,121,707.  Fornaval  stores  we  were  paid  $7,384,570.  Tobacco 
brought  us  $32,968,528, — a  sum  about  equal  to  what  we  paid  for  our  imported 
silk-goods.    Tobacco  was  chiefly  exported  in  the  leaf;  and  the  number  of 


878 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


pounds  was  318,097,804,  and  the  value  J»30,399,i8i.  Over  100,000,000 
pounds  of  leaf-tobacco  went  to  Germany,  and  about  63,000,000  to  Great 
Britain.  We  received  for  distilled  spirits  11,164,616;  and  for  beer,  ale,  and 
porter,  $39,602.  During  the  same  period  we  paid  foreigners  for  malt  liquors 
over  ;$2,5oo,ooo.  For  7,435,064  pounds  of  starch  we  received  $420,809.  The 
living  animals  exported  yielded  $3,310,388.  They  were, — hogs,  158,581,  val- 
ued at  $1,625,837  ;  horned  cattle,  56,067,  valued  at  $1,150,857  ;  sheep,  124,- 
248,  valued  at  $159,735;  horses,  1,432,  valued  at  $169,303;  mules,  1,252, 
valued  at  $174,125  ;  all  other  cattle  exported,  together  with  fowls,  were  valued 
at  $30,53 1 .  Little  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  entire  value  of  exports  was  carried 
in  American  vessels,  the  record  standing  thus :  Exported  in  American  vessels, 
$165,998,880 ;  exported  in  foreign  vessels,  $521,394,909. 


BOOK    VI. 


TRADE-UNIONS  AND  EIGHT-HOUR  MOVEMENT. 


they  do 
over  th( 
obedienc 
that,  in  « 
moting  t\ 
when  the 
individuai 
trade-unic 
be  conder 
Trade- 
men  were 
no  organi2 
employer  c 
Great  facti 
daiJy  assera 
same  table, 
•  questions  ir 
have  sprung 
menting  the 
Lowell,  Pitt 
nearly  all  th< 
Railways 
forming  thes 
render  fraten 
the  operative 
scattered  indi 
some  pecunij 
among  workm 


CHAPTER    I. 

TRADE-UNIONS 

^-er  their  members  TJL  '°'""'  '^'  '"""en-e  they  widd  """ 

obedience  i,  .^  ,  *"°™ous,  and  a  marvel  tJ  u  '-potwce 

Trade-unions  hari.  fu  •       .  ^      ^ 

-en  were  iXed    '  t"  °"«  "  "'  ""  "«  of  factories     So  . 

»o  organization  exisL'r  ^'^'  """  "■"<'  -o'  mS  i„  ,a  °°*  ""  """*■ 
employer  over  his  ;'^™°1'="';  «.d  the  dominfon  :,  ;f  """■'"■^ 
Great  factories  have  aZ,  !  "^      '    *"'  """«  l-^ve  chaled    .°?°" 
daily  assemble  undeMhetlZ'T'"!  "■°"«"*-     ^^y  "w 

formmg  these  unions  bv  hi  *■  """""n'ration  also  lend  ,1,  •    .. 

render  fraternal  asslt^ce  a"*"'  ""'™™  'o«e.her,  ^d  enabhwT."'  " 
"•e  operatives  in  d>  Sries  ^Tw  TT  "•»"  "■'  -ndtro  '  "■'"■  '° 
«^«<ered  industo-  had  beeT?^    W-nemberg  Km^ric,,  that  if  is   "'•"" 

:r  '^^""'^  *«-»    .oTe'lT"  ■•°"-;ie„cVa,^d   "^r 
™ong  worsen  have  bee.  ^da^'dSc^rr"'  ^""""nations  "'-'"• 

•^Km,  If  not  impossible.    "The  oper- 

Wi 


882 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


atives  of  isolated  spinning-factories  scattered  along  the  banks  of  woodland 
streams  or  collected  together  in  smaller  numbers  in  the  neighborhood  of 
rural  towns,  or  weavers  who  worked  dispersed  in  their  own  domiciles,  and  only 
came  into  casual  contact  with  one  another  on  their  way  to  and  from  their 
common  employer,  —  these  men  had  little  occasion  for  or  incentive  to  hostile 
combination."  But  this  state  of  things  has  passed  away  in  that  country,  as  in 
almost  every  other,  by  creating  the  railway,  the  factory,  and  the  manufacturing 
city. 

While  stating  this  as  the  immediate  or  superficial  origin  of  trade-unions,  the 

deeper  one,  as  experience  is  daily  rendering  cleaver,  is  the  discontent  existing 

between  workmen  and  their  employers  respecting  the  division  of 

Discontent  ^  ,        ,       ,  ,  w      ,»      •  • 

between  em-  profits.  In  the  language  of  Mr.  Hewitt,  an  iron-manufarturer, 
ployed  and  whose  testimony  before  the  Trade-Unions  Commission  of  Great 
Britain  evinced  wide  observation  coupled  with  the  deepest  insight 
into  the  subject,  "Trade-unions  are  a  symptom  of  the  re-adjustment  of  tHe 
relation  of  capital  and  labor." 

Nor  can  it  be  said  these  unions  contain  only  workmen  of  inferior  skill  and 
intelligence.  The  proportion  between  the  skilled  and  unskilled  varies,  doubt- 
Uniont  con-  ^^s^'  '"  different  trades  and  at  different  times.  "  It  is  probable, 
tain  inteiii-  that,  in  many  trades,  some  of  the  best  and  most  educated  men 
gent  men.  stand  aloof.  It  has  not,  however,  been  suggested  by  any  one  that 
the  union  is  ever  composed  of  the  inferior  order  of  workmen,  though  it  may 
not  invariably  be  composed  of  the  superior.  In  some  trades,  and  those 
requiring  the  greatest  skill,  it  seems  to  be  admitted  that  the  union  contains 
the  great  bulk  of  the  most  skilled  men,  as  the  engineers,  the  iron-founders, 
the  painters,  glass-makers,  printers,  ship-builders,  and  others."* 

Respecting  the  right  to  form  these  associations,  it  is  just  as  evident  that 
laborers  have  the  right  to  combine  in  order  to  get  their  dues  as  masters  have 
Right  to  *°  resist  an  advance  of  wages.  As  long  ago  as  when  Adam  Smitli 
form  theie  wrote,  he  said  that  "  masters  are  always  and  everywhere  in  a  sort 
•Mociationt.  Qj-  jj^^j^  ^yj  constant  and  uniform  combination  not  to  raise  the 
wages  of  labor  above  their  actual  rate.  To  violate  this  combination  is  every- 
where a  most  unpopular  action,  and  a  sort  of  reproach  to  a  master  among  his 
neighbors  and  equals."  This  is  rather  too  highly  colored  to  represent  the  truth 
in  the  United  States ;  yet  the  statement  is  partially  true  even  in  respect  to 
employers  in  this  country. 

The  reason  for  combining  is  to  form  a  reserve-fund,  by  means  of  which 
workmen  seek  to  put  themselves  upon  an  equal  plane  with  the  capitalist  in 
Reaaons  for  bargaining  for  wages.  The  latter,  having  such  a  fund,  occupies  a 
comMning.  vantage-gTOund  in  respect  to  the  workman ;  for  the  capitalist  is 
a  combination  himself.  Workmen,  in  combining,  seek  only  to  get  what  capi- 
talists already  possess ;  namely,  a  reserve-force,  so  that  they  can  bargain  for 

*  lleMn.  Hughes  and  Harrison,  Disscniing  Report,  p.  33. 


their 

for  pr 

exploi 

who,  ( 

Franc 

late  th 

as  uni 

separai 

It, 

these  s( 

realm. 

wilJingn 

workme 

wages,  f 

of  work 

man),  o 

in  his  ti 

or  persoi 

agement 

This: 

1827  did 

Until  the] 

regulate  v 

In  Fk 

1864.     Pi 

stipulation 

misdemea; 

years'  imp 

the  purpo: 

though  the 

In  the 

force  relatii 

went  into 

and  penal 

assistants,  j( 

ating  and  , 

conditions  o 

men,  are  rej 

form  trade-u 

In  the  U 

have  always 

the  unquestic 

times,  the  pi 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


883 


Ihich 
list  in 
ties  a 
list  is 
|capi- 
foi 


their  labor  upon  favorable  terms.  It  seems  impossible  to  frame  an  argument 
for  preventing  the  sons  of  toil  from  doing  this,  unless  the  old-fashioned  and 
exploded  idea  be  maintained,  that  workmen  are  bondmen  to  the  capitalists, 
who,  consequently,  have  the  sole  right  to  determine  the  rewards  of  labor.  In 
France,  where  the  notion  still  lingers,  we  hear  now  and  then  of  efforts  to  regu- 
late the  price  of  labor  by  law,  but  in  no  other  country.  Freedom  to  labor  is 
as  universally  recognized  as  any  other  right.  All  have  their  choice  to  work 
separately,  or  unite  and  form  a  partnership  or  other  organization,  if  they  like. 

It  was  a  long  period  before  workmen  in  England  were  permitted  to  form 
these  societies,  so  strongly  intrenched  were  capitalists  in  the  legislation  of  the 
realm.     In   1799  the  following  act  of   Parliament  showed  the  Early  i«w« 
willingness   of  that  body  to  legislate  against  the  combination  of  relating  to 
workmen :  "  Contracts  entered  into  for  obtaining  an  advance  of  *  '  *"  '**'*' 
wages,  for  altering  the  usual  time  for  working,  or  for  decrc  .oing  the  quantity 
of  work  (excepting  such  contract  be  made  between  a  master  and  his  journey- 
man), or  preventing  any  person  employing  whomsoever  he  may  tiiink  proper 
in  his  trade,  or  for  controlling  the  conduct,  or  any  way  affecting  any  person 
or  persons  carrying  on  any  manufacture  or  business  in  the  conduct  or  man- 
agement thereof,  shall  be  declared  illegal,  null,  and  void." 

This  statute  illustrates  how  workmen  were  regarded  in  that  day.  Not  until 
1827  did  Parliament  rep^ul  all  statutes  prohibiting  workmen  from  combining. 
Until  then,  employers  and  Parliament  had  taken  it  for  granted  they  alone  could 
regulate  wages. 

In  France  the  law  permitting  workmen  to  combine  was  not  decreed  until 
1864.  Prior  to  that  period  the  "  Penal  Code  "  contained  the  most  rigorous 
stipulations  against  combinations  of  workmen.  They  were  characterized  as 
misdemeanors,  and  the  promoters  of  them  were  punished  with  from  two  to  five 
years'  imprisonment.  It  is  fair  to  state  that  the  combination  of  employers  for, 
the  purpose  of  unjustly  depressing  wages  was  also  declared  to  be  illegal, 
though  the  punishment  inflicted  was  less  severe. 

In  the  several  states  constituting  the  German  Empire  various  laws  were  in 
force  relating  to  the  rights  of  workmen  until  1867,  when  a  new  enactment 
went  into  operation  throughout  the  empire,  declaring  that  "  all  prohibitions 
and  penal  provisions  directed  against  persons  engaged  in  industry,  trade, 
assistants,  journeymen,  or  factory-operatives,  on  the  ground  of  their  co-oper- 
ating and  uniting  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  more  favorable  wages  and 
conditions  of  labor,  more  especially  by  means  of  strikes  or  discharge  of  work- 
men, are  repealed ; "  thus  guaranteeing  to  the  industrial  classes  the  right  to 
form  trade-union  associations. 

In  the  United  States  workmen  have  no  just  reason  to  complain ;  for  they 
have  always  stood  upon  the  same  footing  with  capitalists,  and  have  enjoyed 
the  unquestioned  right  to  form  trade-union  societies.  It  is  true,  in  colonial 
times,  the  price  of  labor  was  sometimes  regulated  by  law ;  but  so  were  the 


884 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


Object  of 
trade- 
unions. 


prices  of  every  thing  which  were  exchanged.  I^bor  was  never  singled  out  as 
the  only  thing  recjuiring  State  regulation.  The  rights  of  the  laborer  have 
been  as  jealously  guarded  as  the  rights  of  those  for  whom  he  has  toiled.  Not 
until  very  recently  has  the  old  doctrine  been  revived,  that  the  State  '  right 

to  control  the  price  of  labor,  (lov.  Brown  of  Cleorgia,  in  an  anni  v-ssage 
to  the  legislature  of  that  State,  did  remark  that  •'  labor  must  be  conirolled  by 
law."  There  is  no  occasion  for  fearing  the  re-establishment  of  this  doctrine 
on  republican  soil.  Liberty  to  contract  for  labor  is  a  right  too  deeply  grounded 
to  be  crushed  out  by  the  action  of  Gov.  Brown,  or  by  any  one  else  holding  a 
similar  opinion. 

All  this  by  way  of  clearing  the  field  for  inquiring  into  the  purpose  of  trade- 
unions  and  the  soundness  of  their  methods. 

Their  purpose  is  twofold :  first,  that  of  an  ordinary  friendly  or  benefit 
society,  —  namely,  to  afford  relief  to  the  members  of  the  union  when  incapa- 
citated from  work  by  accident  or  sickness,  to  provide  a  sum  for 
the  funeral-expenses  of  members  and  their  wives,  and  sometimes 
to  grant  superannuation  allowances  to  members  disabled  by  old 
age;  second,  that  of  a  trade  society,  —  namely,  to  watch  over  an  romote 
the  interests  of  the  working-classes  in  the  several  trades,  and  espec  ■)  pro- 

tect them  against  the  undue  advantage  which  the  command  of  a  lai^  capital 
is  supposed  to  give  the  employers  of  labor. 

Many  societies  exist  having  only  one  object  in  view.  Some  are  purely 
friendly  societies  :  others  are  organizations  for  promoting  the  interests  of  mem- 
bers in  their  various  trades,  without  any  reference  to  their  social  welfare.  For 
years,  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  societies  of  the  former  description  have 
flourished,  while  trade-unions  are  of  recent  creation.  Thus  we  have  seen  that 
workmen  in  France  were  not  permitted  to  combine  in  order  to  raise  the  rate 
of  wages  until  1867;  but  they  have  helped  each  other  in  an  organized  way 
during  sickness  and  old  age,  and  provided  for  burial,  and  done  other  humane 
acts,  for  a  long  period.  And  this  applies  as  truly  to  many  other  countries  as  to  . 
France. 

It  has  been  found  desirable  generally  to  unite  the  two  purposes ;  and  in  this 
form  most  trade-unions  exist,  especially  in  the  United  States.  Considerable 
opposition  to  them  as  thus  constituted  has  been  manifested,  be- 
cause persons  who  are  friendly  to  purely  benefit  organizations,  and 
hostile  to  those  organized  for  purposes  of  trade,  oppose  socie- 
ties combining  this  double  purpose.  No  enemies  to  friendly  so- 
cieties have  appeared  ;  for  their  purpose  is  a  most  noble  one,  and 
the  good  they  have  done  is  incalculable.  The  amount  yearly 
distributed  to  sick  members,  and  expended  for  burial  and  other  like  purposes, 
is  an  eloquent  testimony  to  the  character  of  these  institutions ;  but,  in  uniting 
the  two  objects,  trade-unions  taint  the  sensibilities  of  some  people,  who  are 
moved  on  this  account  to  compass  their  destruction. 


ArgunnenU 
for  and 
•KBinst  unit' 
ing  two  pur' 
poses  in 
trade- 
unions. 


Ml 

Did  th 

suppon 

•n  nun: 

unions 

a  frienc 

likely  tc 

alleviatii 

in  returr 

friendly 

On  t 

a  friendly 

much  evi 

do  is  ren: 

of  the  K 

funds  of 

created  ir 

stantial  th 

Nor  is 

the  societ 

for,  —  whe 

tunity  for 

inquiry  an 

hardly  fair 

to  the  pur] 

they  may  b 

funds  for  th 

Whenev 

funds  for  an 

now  and  the 

ought  to  be 

the  nature 

several  fund 

their  appro' 

when  the  nat 

Its  incon 

monthly,  or 

devoted  to  S( 

thing  for  sick 

an  accident-b 

'ose  their  tooi 

some  of  the  1 

donations,  and 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


885 


Much  can  be  advanced  in  favor  of  and  against  this  coupling  of  ends. 
Did  they  remain  separate,  friendly  societies  would  have  the  sanction  and 
support  of  all ;  for  their  usefulness  none  will  dispute.  Besides,  they  would  grow 
in  numbers,  and  swell  their  income.  Thousands  who  would  not  join  trade- 
unions  aiming  to  affect  the  price  of  wages  only  would  gladly  join  societies  of 
a  friendly  nature.  A  great  many  workmen  beyond  the  pale  of  unionism  are 
likely  to  remain  outside,  who  are  desirous  of  joining  their  fellow-workers  in 
alleviating  distress,  and,  consequently,  of  laying  the  foundation  for  receiving  aid 
in  return.  Moreover,  benevolent  men  live  everywhere  who  would  willingly  join 
friendly  organizations,  and  contribute  moral  and  financial  assistance. 

On  the  other  hanti,  trade-unions  are  dignified  and  ennobled  by  superadding 
a  friendly  and  humane  purpose  to  that  of  a  trade  society.  Though  they  inflict 
much  evil,  the  enmity  against  them  is  somewhat  softened  when  the  good  they 
do  is  remembered.  But  we  cannot  agree  with  Mr.  Morrier,  that  the  strength 
of  the  English  system  depends  upon  the  two-edged  purpose  to  which  the 
funds  of  trade  unions  may  be  applied.  Doubtless  they  are  strcnger  when 
created  in  this  manner ;  but  their  vitality  depends  upon  something  more  sub- 
stantial than  this. 

Nor  is  any  moral  principle  violate!  in  bestowing  this  double  function  upon 
the  society.  Provided  the  member  know  wh;it  they  are  giving  their  money 
for,  —  whether  sickness,  burial,  strikes,  v\  any  thing  else,  —  there  is  no  oppor- 
tunity for  practising  fraud ;  and  they  probably  do  know,  both  by  personal 
inquiry  and  by  experience,  how  unions  employ  their  funds.  Mr.  Morrier  is 
hardly  fair  in  saying  they  are  raised  for  purposes  of  peace,  but  are  applicable 
to  the  purposes  of  war.  It  is  known  before  they  are  given  for  what  purposes 
they  may  be  used.  No  deception  is  necessary,  nor  is  it  practised,  in  raising 
funds  for  these  societies. 

Whenever  a  society  unites  both  purposes,  it  is  evident  that  a  separation  of 
funds  for  any  particular  object  is  quite  impracticable.  The  cry  is  heard  every 
now  and  then  that  a  division  of  the  resources  for  friendly  and  trade  objects 
ought  to  be  made.  It  comes  from  some  one  who  either  does  not  understand 
the  nature  of  the  organization,  or  is  so  keen  as  to  see,  that,  by  providing 
several  funds,  collision  wo'.ild  oftener  arise  among  the  members  respecting 
their  appro'  nation,  ending,  perhaps,  in  disunion.  This  will  appear  clearly 
when  the  nature  of  the  organization  is  more  fully  explained. 

Its  income  is  dfrived   from  members,  who  pay  a  certain  sum  weekly, 
monthly,  or  annually,  according   to   its  niles.      This   sum,  as  remarked,   is 
devoted  to  several  purposes.     One  purpose  is  to  provide  some-  j^  ^^      . 
thing  for  sick  members  during  their  illness ;    another  is   termed  deriving  and 
an  accident-benefit,  which  consists  of  a  sum  given  to  those  who  ■p«"<""b 

income- 
lose  their  tools ;   while  a  third  is  a  burial-fund.     Besides  these, 

some  of  the  richer  unions  have  additional  funds  for  reading-rooms,  libraries, 

donations,  and  charitable  subscriptions. 


886 


INDV3TRIAL    HISTORY 


The  benefits  conferred  often  extend  much  farther.  One  of  the  most  fre- 
quent and  costly  objects  of  donation  is  to  members  out  of  work.  This  is 
occasionally  so  large  as  to  maintain  all  the  workmen  of  a  trade  during  a  period 
of  disaster.  During  the  year  1867  the  engineers  of  Great  Britain  spent  almost 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  this  manner,  and  the  iron-founders  nearly 
two-thirds  of  that  sum.  The  great  service  thus  rendered  in  keeping  a  large 
number  of  working-men  and  their  families  from  the  cold  field  of  pauperism 
no  one  will  question. 

The  earliest  germ  of  a  trade-unidn  in  the  United  States  appeared  in  Phila- 
delphia soon  after  the  beginning  of  this  century.  In  1806  a  remarkable  trial 
Firtt  trade-  ^""o^^  ^o™  ^^e  efforts  of  several  members  of  such  an  association 
union  in  to  prevent,  by  violent  and  unlawful  methods,  others  from  working. 
United  Eight  persons  were  indicted ;   and  in  the  indictment  they  were 

charged  for  not  being  content  to  work  at  the  usual  prices,  but 
for  contriving  to  increase  and  augment  them,  and  endeavoring  to  prevent,  by 
threats,  merkaces,  and  other  unlawful  means,  other  artificers  from  working  at 
the  usual  rate,  and  uniting  into  a  club  or  combination  to  make  and  ordain 
unlawful  and  arbitrary  rules  to  govern  those  engaged  in  their  trade,  and 
unjustly  exact  great  sums  of  money  by  means  thereof.  Eminent  counsel  were 
engaged  on  both  sides.  The  account  of  the  trial  here  given  is  taken  from 
"  Lippincott's  Magazine," '  which  says  that  the  evidence  showed  in  the  clearest 
manner  that  a  system  of  frightful  thraldom  had  been  put  in  force.  A  witness 
named  Harrison  stated,  that,  when  he  reached  the  United  States  in  1794,  he 
found  this  system  of  terrorism  prevalent.  He  went  to  work  for  a  Mr.  Bedford, 
and  presently  got  a  hint,  that,  if  he  did  not  join  the  association  of  journeymen 
shoemakers,  he  fiz&  liable  to  be  "  scabbed  ; "  which  meant  that  men  would  not 
work  in  the  same  shop  nor  board  or  lodge  in  the  same  house  with  him,  nor  would 
thev  work  for  the  same  employer.  The  case  of  this  man  seemed  exceptionally 
!iitrd.  He  made  shoes  exclusively ;  and,  when  "  a  turn-out.  came  to  raise  the 
wages  on  boots,"  he  remonstrated,  pleading  that  shoes  did  not  enter  into  the 
question,  and  urging  that  he  had  a  sick  wife  and  a  large  family.  But  it  was  all 
to  no  purpose.  He  then  resolved  that  he  would  turn  a  "  scab,"  unknown  to 
the  association,  and  continue  his  work.  But,  having  a  neighbor  whom  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  deceive,  he  went  to  him,  and  said  that  he  knew  his  cir- 
cumstances, and  that  his  family  must  perish,  or  go  to  "the  bettering-house," 
unless  he  continued  to  work.  This  neighbor,  Swain,  replied  that  he  knew  his 
condition  was  desperate,  but  that  a  man  had  better  make  any  sacrifice  than  turn 
a  "  scab  "  at  that  time.  He  presently  informed  against  him,  and  Mr.  Bedford 
(his  employer)  was  warned  that  he  must  discharge  his  "  scabs."  He  refused, 
saying,  that,  "  let  the  consequence  be  what  it  might,  we  should  sinV  or  swim 
togeiher."  However,  one  Saturday  night,  when  all  but  Harrison  and  a  man 
named  Logan  had  left  him,  Bedford's  resolution  gave  way ;  and  he  exclaimed, 

*  March  number,  1876. 


"I  dc 

I  wish 

to  set 

Bedfor 

must  1 

remove 

had  M 

might  \ 

gave  hi 

to  his  p 

Will 

of  this  ( 

ened,  ai 

more  of 

the  fore| 

In  tl 

artificial 

the  mate 

but  depe 

the  open 

exposes  ii 

welfare. 

are  in  inc 

here  on  o 

dieted  fro 

the  measu 

tion  tend 

are  preven 

their  wives 

The  ji 

wages ; " a 

cost-  of  su 

After  tl 

experiment 

probably  sc 

conditions. 

much  as   t 

prices.     Ac 

very  differer 

earlier  perio 

ism  \vi  thi ; 

3nd  power 

obtain  highe 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


887 


"  I  don't  know  what  the  devil  I  am  to  do !  They  will  ruin  me  in  the  end. 
I  wish  you  would  go  to  the  body  and  pay  a  fine,  if  not  very  large,  in  order 
to  set  the  shop  free  once  more."  'ri;e  fine  offered  was  refused,  and  Mr. 
Bedford's  shop  remained  "  under  scab  "  nr  a  year.  Still  Mr.  Bedford,  who 
must  have  been  a  very  plucky  fellow,  \%ould  not  give  Harrison  up,  but 
removed  in  1802  to  Trenton.  Harrison  stated,  that  although  he  could  not, 
had  Mr.  Bedford  given  him  up,  have  got  work  anywhere  else,  and  that  he 
might  have  ground  him  down  to  any  terms,  yet  he  (Bedford)  very  nobly  always 
gave  him  full  price.  At  length,  by  paying  a  fine,  Harrison  became  reconciled 
to  his  persecutors,  and  Bedford's  shop  was  once  more  free. 

William  Forgrave  said  that  "  the  name  of  a  '  scab '  is  very  dangerous  :  men 
of  this  description  have  been  hurt  when  out  at  night."  He  had  been  threat- 
ened, and  joined  the  association  from  fear  of  personal  injury.  A  vast  deal 
more  of  evidence  was  given,  and  eloquent  speeches  delivered  by  counsel ;  but 
the  foregoing  gives  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  case. 

In  the  course  of  the  summing-up.  Recorder  Levy  said,  "  To  make  an 
artificial  regulation  is  not  to  regard  the  excellence  of  the  work  or  quahty  of 
the  material,  but  to  fix  a  positive  and  arbitrary  price,  govferned  by  no  standard, 
but  dependent  on  the  will  of  the  few  who  are  interested.  .  .  .  What,  then,  is 
the  operation  of  this  kind  of  conduct  upon  the  commerce  of  the  city?  It 
exposes  it  to  inconveniences,  if  not  to  ruin :  therefore  it  is  against  the  public 
welfare.  How  does  it  operate  upon  the  defendants  ?  We  see  that  those  who 
are  in  indigent  circumstances,  and  who  have  families  to  maintain,  have  declared 
here  on  oath  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  hold  out.  They  were  inter- 
dicted from  all  employment  in  future  if  they  did  not  continue  to  persevere  in 
the  measures  taken  by  the  journeymen  shoemakers.  Does  not  such  a  regula- 
tion tend  to  involve  necessitous  men  in  the  commission  of  crimes  ?  If  they 
are  prevented  working  for  six  weeks,  it  might  lead  them  to  procure  support  for 
their  wives  and  children  by  burglary,  larceny,  or  highway  robbery." 

The  jury  found  the  defendants  "  guilty  of  a  combination  to  raise  their 
wages ; "  and  the  court  sentenced  them  to  pay  a  fine  of  eight  dollars  each,  with 
cost"  of  suit,  and  to  stand  committed  till  paid. 

After  this  early  attempt  at  unionism,  nothing  more  was  heard  of  any  similar 
experiment  for  fifty  years ;  though  this  long  period  of  repose  was  not  due 
probably  so  much  to  the  result  of  this  early  venture  as  to  other 
conditions.  There  was  no  need  of  creating  trade-unions,  inas-  to'y'of  trade- 
much  as  every  person  found  instant  employment  at  favorable  unions  in 
prices.  Across  the  ocean  the  condition  of  the  working-man  was 
very  different,  and  he  sought  to  combine  with  his  fellows  at  a  much 
earlier  period  in  order  to  secure  higher  wages  and  other  advantages.  Union- 
ism in  thi ;  country  attracted  no  attention  until  after  i860,  when  its  presence 
and  power  were  first  felt  in  the  mining  regions.  Workmen  there  sought  to 
obtain  higher  wages ;  and,  in  order  to  succeed  in  this  end,  they  formed  them- 


United 
States. 


888 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


selves  into  unions,  believing  that  they  would  be  more  likely  to  achieve  success 
than  if  they  dealt  with  their  masters  single-handed.  As  wages  rapidly  ad- 
vanced, the  miners  naturally  ascribed  the  result  to  the  power  of  unionism  ;  and 
forthwith  other  unions  were  formed  of  men  engaged  in  a  great  variety  of 
pursuits.  Generally  speaking,  wages  were  advanced  in  every  trade ;  and  the 
members  of  these  associations  were  swift  to  conclude,  that,  as  the  wages  of 
miners  had  rapidly  risen,  it  was  due  to  the  resistless  power  of  their  associa- 
tions. They  never  stopped  to  think  that  the  pay  of  thousands  of  men  who 
were  not  members  of  any  sort  of  a  union  was  also  increased ;  that  the  wages 
of  household  servants  went  up  to  a  high  figure,  although  no  combination 
existed  among  them  for  this  purpose.  The  day-laborers — whether  employed 
on  the  farm,  or  engaged  in  working  upon  the  streets,  or  working  here  and 
there  as  they  could  find  employment  —  all  reaped  higher  rewards  for  their 
toil,  although  combinations  amongst  them  were  never  dreamed  of,  and  were 
indeed  impossible. 

Whether  we  are  right  in  our  deductions  or  not,  trade-unions  rose  as  by 
magic,  and  spread  themselves  over  every  part  of  the  country.  In  the  larger 
Rapid  cities,  like   New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and   Chicago,  they 

growth.  made  their  power  most  potently  felt,  and  held  numerous  meetings, 

at  which  their  principles  and  beliefs  generally  received  an  enthusiastic  airing. 
Communism  found  many  an  advocate  among  them  ;  and,  next  to  their  belief  in 
unionism  in  general,  this  doctrine  has  struck  the  deepest  root  in  the  mind  of 
the  average  working-man.  It  is  not  indigenous,  but  purely  a  foreign  importa-. 
tion :  yet  the  plant  has  been  carefully  nursed  ;  and,  however  unwelcome  it  may 
be  to  many,  communism  has  here  found  a  fruitful  soil. 

Besides  holding  meetings,  public  as  well  as  private,  and  discussing  their 
situation,  and,  to  some  extent,  their  principles  and  beliefs,  it  cannot  be  said 
Succenof  ^^^  Unionism  accomplished  very  much  in  the  way  of  securing 
trade-  higher  wages  during  the  first  stage  of  its  existence,  if  the  advance 

un  am.  -^^  wages  to  which  we  have  referred  were  due  to  other  causes  than 

combinations  among  workmen.  It  is  fair  to  say,  however,  that  workmen  them- 
selves ascribed  the  rise  of  wages  which  occurred  about  the  time  of  the  forma- 
tion of  their  unions,  or  soon  after,  to  their  existence.  These  two  facts,  how- 
ever, none  will  deny, — that  many  unions  were  formed  between  i860  and  1865  ; 
and,  during  that  period,  wages  rapidly  rose.  This  created  the  impression  among 
the  working-men  that  their  unions  were  the  cause  of  their  success ;  and  they 
were  led  to  embark  in  a  new  experiment,  a  brief  history  of  which  we  will  lay 
before  the  reader  in  the  next  chapter. 


-*/  I. 


TT  was 
the 
Tl'eir  reaj 
lure  and 
ment;  an 
ed  considi 
many  rega 
one  thoug 
contracts 
the  measui 
pay  for  eig 
sponding  w 
would  occi: 
The  law 
and  the  eff« 
reduced  th( 
employ  at  tl 
formity  with 
which  was  a 
the  matter, 
tion  of  twcr 
txperienced 
nay,  desirotis 
the  men  der 
this  demand 
works  of  Me 
manufacturer 
when  work  m 
ployers. 
During  th( 


OF  THE    UNITED  STATES, 


889 


■)-.!      .-. 


CHAPTER  II. 


EIGHT-HOUR  MOVEMENT. 


IT  was  about  1867  when  the  agitation  began  among  the  working-classes  for 
the  enactment  of  laws  prescribing  eight  hours  as  a  legal  day  of  labor. 
Tl'eir  reason  for  this  law  was,  that  more  time  was  needed  for  cul-  object  of  the 
iure  and  pleasure  than  they  enjoyed  under  the  former  arrange-  '■**'• 
ment ;  and  the  request  to  them  seemed  not  only  reasonable,  but  they  manifest- 
ed considerable  surprise  if  any  one  differed  from  them.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  regarded  the  measure  of  no  importance  from,  any  point  of  view,  as  no 
one  thought  of  making  the  law  compulsory,  so  as  to  prevent  the  making  of 
contracts  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  of  service.  The  chief  opponents  to 
the  measure  were  those  who  feared  the  working-men  would  demand  ten  hours* 
pay  for  eight  hours'  work ;  and  that,  if  a  reduction  in  pay  were  made  corre- 
sponding with  the  reduction  in  service,  strikes  and  other  untoward  difficulties 
would  occur. 

The  law  was  enacted  in  most  of  the  States  and  by  the  Federal  Government, 
and  the  effect  thereof  soon  began  to  appear.  At  first  the  Federal  Government 
reduced  the  number  of  hours  during  which  the  workmen  in  its  Law  every- 
employ  at  the  navy-yards  and  other  places  were  engaged  in  con-  where 
formity  with  the  law,  yet  continued  to  pay  tiiem  the  old  rates ;  "V"*"***- 
which  was  a  great  victory  for  the  laborers.  But  there  was  no  uniformity  about 
the  matter.  In  some  trades  the  day  was  reduced  to  eight  hours,  and  a  reduc- 
tion of  twenty  per  cent  was  made  in  their  wages.  Whenever  this  result  was 
txperienced  from  the  working  of  the  law,  workmen  were  generally  willing, 
nay,  desircjs,  of  leturning  to  the  former  terms  of  employment.  In  some  cases 
the  men  demanded  a  reduction  of  hours  without  a  reduction  of  pay ;  and 
this  demand  resulted  in  strikes,  the  most  important  of  which  occurred  at  the 
works  of  Messrs.  Brewster  &  Company  of  New  York,  the  famous  carriage- 
manufacturers.  Four-fifths  of  the  men  struck,  and  remained  idle  two  weeks, 
when  work  was  resumed  without  any  concession  on  the  part  of  the  em- 
ployers. 

During  the  year  1872  the  movement  reached  its  height ;  and  in  all  the  large 


890 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY- 


cities  and  important  centres  of  industry  there  were  frequent  meetings  among 
Movement  the  working-mcn,  at  which  the  subjected  was  agitated,  and  strikes, 
at  its  heiKht.  ^nd  prosecutions  for  violating  the  law,  were  threatened.  In  most 
of  such  gatherings  it  appeared  clearly  enough  that  the  chief  aim  of  the  friends 
of  the  law  was  to  get  the  same  pay  for  eight  hours'  work  as  for  ten ;  which,  of 
course,  was  an  addition  of  twenty  per  cent  to  the  cost  of  labor,  —  an  advance 
which  employers  very  generally  were  unwilling  to  pay.  The  clouds  of  the 
impending  panic  were  beginning  to  form  :  some  trades  had  already  experienced 
a  slackened  demand,  and  this  .'arge  advance  was  not  regarded  as  warranted  by 
the  future  prospects  of  businesT  anywhere.  In  some  cases  employers  were 
unwilling  to  have  their  laborers  do  less  than  ten  hours'  work  per  day,  whatever 
might  be  the  amount  of  wages  paid  them.  Said  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Steinway  &  Company,  the  famous  piano-forte  manufacturers,  in  reply  to  the 
question,  "  Would  you  agree  to  the  eight-hour  system,  provided  the  men  did 
not  ask  for  ten  hours'  pay?"  "No:  we  would  not  agree  to  any  thing  less 
than  ten  hours,  whether  they  wanted  eight  hours'  pay  or  not."  Many  other 
employers  similarly  situated,  or  who  were  unwilling  to  reduce  their  production, 
entertained  a  similar  opinion.  Thus  opposition  between  employer  and  em- 
ployed increased :  the  meetings  of  the  latter  class  multiplied,  at  which  the 
denunciation  of  employers  became  more  frequent  and  violent.  Everywhere 
strikes  were  threatened,  and  many  actually  broke  out.  In  1873  a  panic  swept 
Collapse  of  Over  the  land.  Many  factories,  furnaces,  and  shops  were  closed, 
movement.  ^^^  thousands  were  thrown  out  of  employment.  The  strife  soon 
was  to  get  work  upon  the  best  terms  possible,  and  the  cry  for  eight  hours  for  a 
day's  work  ceased  almost  as  suddenly  as  the  cry  was  raised.  ■.  ;  r.  •  • 


„•  -V 


iiV. 


w 


was  asci 

would  h; 

these  ins 

hour  moi 

zations  a 

with  gres 

them ;  at 

strikes :  r 

in  many  < 

been  form 

its  cause. 

Strikes 

Jacquerie 

get  an  ad 

struck  to 

Brassey,  " 

strike  in  iJ 

in  1865,  a' 

the  United 

a  cotton-m 

struck  to  r< 

struck  on  , 

One  thous; 

struck  agai 

N.J.,  were  < 

dred  and  fi 

more  to  the 

cordwainers 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES, 


891 


3d  J    r 


■) 


CHAPTER    III. 


LATER    HISTORY    OF    TRADE-UNIONS. 


WE  now  pass  on  to  the  third  stage  in  the  history  of  trade-unions  and 
of  employment  of  labor  in  this  country.     The  eight-hour  movement 
was  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  these  unions ;   yet  it  probably  .j.,,},^  ^tage 
would  have  taken  place,  just  the  same  as  strikes  would,  even  if  oftrade- 
these  institutions  had   never  been  created.     Perhaps  the  eight-   """*"•• 
hour  movement  rose  more  speedily  in  consequence  of  the  existence  of  organi- 
zations among  the  laboring-men,  and  it  may  be  that  measures  were  pushed 
with  greater  force  and  confidence  by  reason  of  the  solidarity  existing  among 
them ;  and  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  working-men  in  respect  to 
strikes  :  nevertheless,  these  have  occurred  where  no  unions  were  known  ;  and 
in  many  cases,  as  we  shall  show  before  concluding  this  chapter,  unions  have 
been  formed  on  the  edge  of  a  strike,  and  as  a  consequence  of  it,  rather  tiian  as 
its  cause. 

Strikes,  which  in  the  fourteenth  century  had  their  counterpart  in  the 
Jacquerie  riots,  are  the  last  argument  to  which  working-men  resort  in  order  tc 
get  an  advance  of  wages.  In  England,  workmen  have  oftener  Result  of 
struck  to  resist  a  fall  than  to  secure  a  rise  of  wages.  Says  Mr.  strikes. 
Brassey,  "  Resistance  to  a  proposed  reduction  was  the  cause  of  the  engineers' 
strike  in  1852,  of  the  strike  at  Preston  in  1853,  of  the  strike  in  the  iron-trade 
in  1865,  and  of  the  strike  of  the  colliers  at  Wigen  in  1868."  The  strikes  in 
the  United  States  have  generally  sprung  from  a  similar  cause.  The  weavers  at 
a  cotton-mill  in  New  York,  having  had  their  wages  reduced  three  cents  a  yard, 
struck  to  regain  the  old  price.  The  sounding-board  makers  in  a  piano-factory, 
struck  on  account  of  a  threatened  reduction  of  ten  per  cent  in  their  wages. 
One  thousand  operatives  employed  in  a  carpet-manufactory  in  New  York 
struck  against  a  similar  proposed  reduction.  The  potterymen  of  Trenton, 
N.J.,  were  on  a  strike  which  lasted  several  months,  causing  a  loss  of  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  the  employers  and  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
more  to  themselves,  determined  to  accept  no  reduction  for  their  labor.  The 
cordwainers  of  New  York  struck  for  a  period  of  nine  months  against  a  pro- 


892 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


posed  reduction  of  twenty  per  cent ;  and  other  instances  might  be  noted.  What 
Mr.  Brassey  has  observed  concerning  English  strikes  applies  to  all  those  men- 
tioned :  "  Masters  had  found  it  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the  depressed 
state  of  trade,  to  reduce  the  rate  of  wages ;  but  the  men,  ignoring  the  circum- 
stance? '^^  the  trade,  and  looking  only  to  what  they  believed  to  be  a  degrada- 
tion of  their  position  as  workmen,  refused  to  accept  the  reduction."  This 
remark  is  emphatically  true  of  the  strikes  which  have  occurred  in  the  United 
States  since  the  panic  of  1873.  Profits  have  greatly  declined ;  prices  in  gen- 
eral have  been  heavily  shrinking ;  and  a  reduction  of  wages  in  most  cases  was 
regarded  as  absolutely  necessary.  The  reduction  of  wages,  however,  has  been 
followed  by  strikes  everywhere  of  varying  degrees  of  duration,  loss,  and  vio- 
lence. During  the  period  when  strikes  were  ordered  to  secure  an  advance 
of  wages,  victory  crowned  the  measure  ;  but  the  strikes  of  later  years  to  resist 
a  fall  of  wages  have  rarely  met  with  success. 

It  would  require  altogether  too  much  space  to  recount  the  story  of  the 
more  recent  strikes  which  have  occurred  in  the  United  States ;  and  we  shall. 
Recent  therefore,  allude  to  only  a  few  of  them.    Two  very  notable  strikes 

•triket.  jyose  among  the  operatives  of  the  cotton-mills  at  Fall  River  to 

resist  reductions  in  wages,  in  which  several  thousands  of  employees  partici- 
pated. The  factories  had  been  losing  money  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
goods,  and  a  reduction  of  wages  was  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  continue 
the  business.  The  operatives  deemed  the  reductions  too  large ;  and,  while 
they  were  willing  to  work  for  less,  they  thought  the  employers  demanded  a 
larger  reduction  than  was  necessary  to  secure  them  against  loss  in  the  manu- 
facture of  their  goods.  When  the  first  reduction  was  ordered,  it  was  hoped 
that  it  would  be  the  last :  but,  as  the  prices  of  manufactured  goods  continued 
to  decline,  a  second  reduction  soon  became  necessary ;  and  it  was  this  which 
gave  rise  to  the  chief  opposition  among  the  operatives.  All  their  efforts,  how- 
ever, to  prevent  a  reduction,  were  unavailing ;  and,  what  was  still  worse  for  them 
in  the  end,  the  most  active  opponents  to  the  reduction  were  prohibited  from 
working  in  the  factories.  A  list  of  them  was  prepared,  and  circulated  among 
the  mills ;  and  the  regulation  was  rigidly  enforced.  Not  long  after,  a  strike 
occurred  in  the  Wamsutta  Mills  at  New  Bedford  on  account  of  a  reduction 
of  wages,  which  ended  in  the  same  way  as  the  previous  strikes  at  Fall  River. 
As  wages  were  rapidly  reduced  in  almost  all  trades,  strikes  broke  out  almost 
daily  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Even  the  rice-fields  of  the  South  were  swept 
with  the  wave  of  discontent ;  and  the  strikes  of  the  working-men  threatened, 
at  one  time,  the  ruin  of  the  crop. 

Thus  one  strike  succeeded  another,  until  a  climax  was  reached  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1877,  when  the  workmen  employed  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Railroad-  Struck  for  the  retention  of  the  wages  they  were  at  that  time  receiv- 
■triket.  jng^  but  which  the  company  had  proposed  to  reduce.     The  com- 

pany announced,  that,  on  the  16th  of  July,  their  resolution  would  go  into  effect ; 


OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


893 


and,  for  several  days  previous  to  the  event,  mutterings  of  discontent  were 
heard  among  the  conductors,  brakemen,  and  firemen,  especially  among  those 
who  were  employed  in  running  freight-trains.  On  the  day  fixed  the  storm 
broke  forth.  The  employees  who  conducted  the  freight-trains  refused  to  work, 
not  only  in  Baltimore,  but  throughout  the  line  of  the  road.  There  was  at  once 
a  total  suspension  of  transportation.  The  company  endeavored  to  procure 
other  men  to  run  the  trains  :  but  it  was  soon  found  that  the  strikers  were  deter- 
mined not  to  allow  them  to  move ;  and  they  dragged  the  crews  from  the 
engines  and  cars,  extinguished  the  fires,  and  openly  avowed  their  determina- 
tion to  resist  by  force  the  passage  of  freight-trains  until  the  company  had  com- 
plied with  their  demand  for  rescinding  the  order  reducing  their  wages.  The 
lawlessness  and  violence  of  the  strikers  rapidly  increased,  while  sympathetic 
mobs  formed  at  the  various  points  where  the  strikers  were  the  most  numerous. 
The  governor  soon  found  that  the  State  militia  which  had  been  called  out  were 
unable  to  cope  with  so  formidable  an  insurrection :  so  application  was  made 
to  the  President,  who  immediately  responded  to  the  call,  and  sent  troops  to 
aid  in  restoring  order.  The  wave  rapidly  swept  northward ;  and  within  two 
days  the  train-hands  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  at  Pittsburg  also  pittiburgh 
struck,  and  stopped  the  movement  of  all  trains  east  and  west.  ""*• 
The  attempts  of  the  municipal  and  county  authorities  to  restore  traffic  failed  ; 
and  by  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  July,  three  days  after  the  commencement  of 
the  strike,  a  large  number  of  trains,  containing  thousands  of  head  of  live- 
stock and  merchandise,  were  massed  at  Pittsburgh.  Every  effort  to  move 
freight  with  the  aid  of  the  workmen  who  remained  in  the  faithful  employ  of  the 
company  proved  unavailing.  In  the  mean  time,  the  State  troops  were  ordered 
out  J  though,  three  days  after  the  riot  began,  only  six  hundred  men  and  offi- 
cers had  assembled  for  duty. 

Gen.  Pearson,  who  commanded  at  Pittsburgh,  fearing  that  the  majority  of 
his  troops  were  in  sympathy  with  the  strikers,  the  first  division  of  the  National 
Guard  was  ordered  to  join  him.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
21st,  the  first  detachment  of  the  Philadelphia  division,  numbering  six  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  under  command  of  Gen.  Brinton,  bringing  with  it 
two  Gatling  guns  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition,  arrived  at  the  Union 
Ddpot  in  Pittsburgh.  After  a  short  delay,  to  feed  the  Sv^ldiers,  the  movement 
to  open  the  road  began.  Preceded  by  the  sheriff,  and  carrying  the  Gatling 
guns,  the  troops  were  marched  down  the  tracks,  between  the  lines  of  freight- 
cars.  For  some  distance  the  road  was  comparatively  clear;  but,  as  the 
column  approached  Twenty-eighth  Street,  it  met  a  constantly-increasing 
crowd,  through  which  it  forced  its  way  into  the  dense  mass  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill.  The  lines  pressed  the  crowd  slowly  and  with  difficulty  back  on  either 
side  of  the  road,  until  that  portion  of  the  tracks  enclosed  by  the  hollow  square 
so  formed  was  clear. 

An  attempt  of  the  sherifT  to  arrest  some  ringleaders  who  had  been  prom- 


894 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


inent  in  the  previous  outrages  raised  a  commotion,  during  which  stones  were 
thrown  by  the  mob.  The  troops  were  ordered  to  charge  bayonets,  and,  in 
doing  so,  came  in  immediate  contact  with  the  pressing  and  excited  mass. 
Several  pistol-shots  were  fired,  and  a  volley  of  stones  thrown  from  the  crowd, 
from  those  on  the  hillside,  as  well  as  others ;  and  violent  attempts  were  made 
to  wrest  the  muskets  from  the  soldiers.  Having  been  wedged  in  among  a 
surging  body  of  rioters  growing  more  and  more  aggressive,  many  of  whom 
were  attempting  to  crowd  the  soldiers  from  the  ranks  or  wrench  the  muskets 
from  their  hands,  and  as  a  few  moments  more  would  have  broken  the  ranks, 
and  involved  the  individual  soldiers  in  inextricable  and  helpless  confusion 
among  their  foes,  the  soldiers  fired.  Under  the  circumstances,  they  did  right 
to  resist  the  attempt  to  disarm  or  overpower  them.  A  soldier  is  stationed  or 
commanded  to  move  as  a  soldier,  and  has  the  undoubted  right,  in  the  execu- 
tion of  his  order,  to  prevent  himself  from  being  forced  from  his  post,  or  dis- 
armed. As  soon  as  relieved  of  the  pressure,  the  commands  of  the  officers  at 
once  stopped  the  firing.  From  proximity  to  the  crowd,  the  firing  was  wild 
and  high  as  well  as  desultory,  and  took  effect  principally  upon  the  hill. 
Panic-stricken,  the  crowd  upon  the  hillside  and  adjacent  streets,  and  imme- 
diately surrounding  the  soldiers,  scattered  in  all  directions,  carrying  with  it 
many  of  the  Pittsburgh  soldiers ;  and  the  main  body  of  the  rioters  fell  back 
along  the  track.  In  the  melee  fifteen  or  twenty  soldiers  were  wounded,  the 
majority  with  pistol-balls,  and  a  number  of  the  mob  killed  and  wounded. 

At  this  time  the  troops  were  undoubtedly  masters  of  the  situation  ;  and  a 
determined  advance  in  all  directions,  and  co-operation  of  the  civil  authorities, 
would  have  driven  away  every  vestige  of  the  mob,  and,  by  activity  and  care, 
might  have  prevented  it  from  re-assembling.  As  it  was,  though  unskilfully 
executed,  the  movement  produced  the  result  intended ;  but,  though  offered 
a  guard  for  each  one,  the  railway  officials  were  unable  to  move  their  trains, 
from  the  impossibility  of  finding  engineers  and  crews  who  were  willing  to  man 
them  at  that  time.  The  troops  held  their  ground  an  hour  or  two,  during 
which  time  the  rioters  gradually  returned,  and  collected  about  in  squads. 
About  six  o'clock  the  troops  were  withdrawn,  and  placed  wholly  within  the 
round-houses  and  adjacent  buildings.  No  pickets  or  guards  were  left  outside. 
From  this  time  on  the  troops  were  kept  on  the  defensive,  which  gave  the  mob 
a  great  and  fatal  advantage.  The  mob,  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers  and 
boldness  after  dark,  broke  into  various  gun-stores  and  armories,  arming  them- 
selves ;  and  a  desultory  firing  was  kept  up  during  the  night,  without  effect  upon 
the  soldiers,  and  with  considerable  loss  to  the  rioters.  From  that  time  on- 
ward, for  several  days,  the  rioters  were  masters  of  the  situation.  The  military 
were  totally  inadequate  to  quell  them  :  indeed,  the  next  day  they  felt  obliged 
to  withdraw  into  the  open  country.  As  no  engineers  could  be  found  to  run 
trains,  re-enforcements  could  proceed  only  at  a  slow  rate  :  so  the  insurrection 
gained  strong  headway.    Finally,  disregarding  all  law,  and  consideration  for 


OF  THE    UNITED    STATES. 


895 


out  of  the 
State. 


private  property,  the  rioters  began  the  wholesale  destruction  of  property  — 
cars,  engines,  freight,  and  buildings  —  belonging  to  or  in  the  ix)ssession  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company.  The  government  was  called  upon  to  aid 
in  suppressing  the  insurrection  ;  but  only  a  few  troops  were  in  the  East,  though 
these  rendered  very  effective  service.  While  several  of  the  State  organizations 
manifested  much  sympathy  with  the  strikers,  and  in  many  cases  refused  to 
serve  at  all,  the  national  troops  came  promptly  to  the  rescue,  and  never 
showed  any  signs  of  wavering.  In  a  few  days,  however,  the  riot  at  Pittsburgh 
had  spent  its  force ;  and  on  Monday,  the  30th  of  July,  the  railroad  companies 
centring  at  that  point  resumed  business,  and  communication  was  opened  with 
all  parts  of  the  country. 

In  the  mean  time  the  disturbances  spread  rapidly  over  the  State.  In 
Philadelphia,  by  the  courage  and  activity  of  the  mayor  and  police,  supported 
by  the  great  body  of  the  citizens  and  the  press,  and  in  Harris- 
burgh,  through  the  coolness  and  promptness  of  the  sheriff  of  rio^'o other 
Dauphin  County  and  the  mayor  of  the  city,  and  the  public  spirit  places  in  and 
of  the  citizens,  who  responded  to  the  call  of  the  authorities,  the 
disturbances  were  speedily  quelled.  In  Reading  the  costly  rail- 
road-bridge over  the  Schuylkill  was  burned  on  the  evening  of  the  2  2d,  and 
freight-trains  stopped.  The  Sheriff  of  Berks  County  proving  unequal  to  the  situa- 
tion. Gen.  Reeder,  with  two  hundred  and  fifteen  muskets  of  the  Fourth  Infantry, 
National  Guard  of  Pennsylvania,  was  sent  there  by  Gen.  Bolton  ;  and  in  a  severe 
street-fight  after  dark,  on  the  23d,  —  in  which  many  of  his  command  were 
injured  more  or  less  severely  with  stones,  and  eleven  of  the  crowd  killed,  and 
above  fifty  wounded,  —  the  rioters  were  dispersed.  These  troops,  having  been 
subsequently  demoralized  by  the  action  of  the  Sixteenth  Regiment,  were  with- 
drawn;  but  the  next  day  (the  24th),  upon  the  arrival  of  a  detachment  of 
United-States  troops  under  Col.  Hamilton,  the  road  was  re-opened. 

In  the  middle  coal-field  of  Luzerne  County,  the  miners,  under  the  prevail- 
ing excitement,  struck  on  the  2Sth  of  July,  and  all  trains  were  stopped  upon 
the  roads  running  through  that  region.  At  Scranton,  on  the  ist  of  August, 
a  large  body  of  men,  endeavoring  to  drive  the  workmen  from  the  railroad-shops 
and  factories,  were  courageously  dispersed  by  the  mayor  and  his  posse,  in 
which  conflict  that  officer  was  severely  injured,  and  three  of  the  rioters  killed 
and  a  number  wounded.  As  the  trouble  was  serious  and  threatening,  and 
rapidly  growing  beyond  the  control  of  the  mayor  and  his  small  force,  brave 
and  determined  as  they  were,  the  first  division,  under  Gen.  Brinton,  was 
ordered  to  that  region,  followed  immediately  with  other  forces ;  and  on  the  3d 
of  August  tire  railroads  were  once  more  put  into  regular  operation.  A  body 
of  troops,  regular  and  militia,  were  stationed  there  until  the  early  part  of 
November,  when,  all  fears  of  any  disturbances  being  removed,  they  were  with- 
drawn. Slight  outbreaks  which  had  occurred  in  various  other  places  had  been 
easily  suppressed  either  by  the  local  authorities  or  the  presence  of  the  United- 


896 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


States  or  State  troops;  and  before  the  middle  of  August  all  the  railroads 
throughout  the  State  were  running  on  schedule  time,  and  by  the  early  part  of 
November  all  manifestations  of  lawlessness  had  disappeared. 

It  was  in  Pennsylvania,  and  especially  at  Pittsburgh,  that  the  riot  rose  to 
its  greatest  height,  was  the  most  destructive,  and  was  least  easily  quelled.  On 
the  2ist  of  July  the  wave  rolled  into  the  State  of  New  York,  and  was  first  felt 
along  the  line  of  the  New- York  and  Erie  Railroad.  Shortly  after,  trains  were 
stopped  on  the  New- York  Central  Road,  and  large  and  excited  crowds  of  men 
gathered  at  Albany,  Syracuse,  BufTilo,  Homellsville,  Corning,  Elmira ;  while  the 
peace  of  the  city  of  New  York  even  was  seriously  threatened.  The  governor 
ordered  the  entire  force  of  the  National  Guard  to  hold  itself  ready  to  move  at 
a  moment's  notice,  and  several  regiments  were  ordered  to  various  parts  of  the 
State.  The  prompt  action  of  the  governor,  and  the  discipline  and  efficiency 
manifested  by  the  troops,  had  the  good  effect  of  speedily  subduing  the  disturb- 
ance ;  and,  within  a  week,  order  was  restored  throughout  the  State. 

But  little  commotion  was  experienced  in  New  England,  and  no  trains  were 
interrupted  by  rioters.  In  the  West,  however,  serious  delays  occurred,  though 
nowhere  was  such  violence  practised  as  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  Many 
trains  were  stopped.  In  some  cases,  the  reduction  of  wages  which  had  been 
proposed  did  not  take  place ;  and  overtures  of  one  sort  and  another  were 
made  satisfactory  to  the  railroad  employees,  and  thus  their  anger  was  appeased. 
Having  originated  among  this  class  of  working-men  for  the  most  part,  the 
rioting  extended  no  farther ;  though,  in  Pittsburgh,  others,  to  some  extent, 
participated.  They  were  aggrieved  over  the  reduction  of  their  wages,  and 
thought  that  various  changes  in  the  arrangement  of  the  railroads  ought  to  be 
made  before  calling  upon  them  to  accept  any  lower  compensation  for  their 
services.  Their  requests  having  been  refused,  and  their  reason  becoming 
dethroned,  they  pursued  a  wild  course,  which  proved,  perhaps,  more  in- 
jurious to  them  than  to  any  other  class  of  people.  It  was  one  of  those  wild, 
thoughtless  movements  which  every  now  and  then  break  out  when  least  ex- 
pected, and  which  give  a  great  jar  to  society ;  but  this  last  blaze  went  down  as 
suddenly  as  it  arose,  because  it  did  not  spring  from  any  fuel  which  could  bum 
long.  It  was  only  a  flash,  terrible  for  the  moment,  blinding,  bewildering,  and 
frightening  many,  yet  leaving  no  dangerous  residuum.  There  are  persons  who 
tremble  over  the  possible  recurrence  of  these  scenes ;  yet  the  public  is  so 
alive  to  the  danger,  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  who  indulged  in  them  must  be 
so  convinced  of  their  folly,  on  the  other,  that  the  repetition  of  this  singular 
outbreak  is  not  likely  soon  to  occur. 

The  consequences  of  striking  ofttimes  have  not  been  very  carefully  con- 
Effectt  of  sidered  before  engaging  in  them,  otherwise  many  of  these  occur- 
atrikeaupon  rences  never  would  have  happened.  In  Antwerp  there  were  at 
buaineaa.  ^^^  ^jj^g  nearly  fifty  establishments  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of 
cigars,  and  employing  about  ten  thousand  workmen  and  apprentices.    During 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


897 


the  summer  of  187 1  all  the  operatives  instituted  a  strilce  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  a  reduction  of  worlcing- hours,  though  not  of  wages  ;  and  also  of  pro- 
curing a  discharge  of  the  apprentices.  Means  were  furnished  to  the  operatives  ; 
so  that  the  strike  was  prolonged  for  four  months  and  a  half,  when  work  was 
resumed.  In  the  mean  time,  what  had  happened  to  the  Antwerp  cigar-trade? 
It  had  received  a  serious  blow  from  which  it  has  never  recovered.  Those  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  obtain  a  supply  of  cigars  from  this  quarter  went  else- 
vhere  when  their  demands  could  not  be  fulfilled,  and  have  never  returned.  A 
Tew  years  ago  a  strike  occurred  in  the  State  of  Nevada,  which  led  to  the  same 
disastrous  conclusion.  In  the  silver-mines  of  (Irass  Valley,  three  hundred 
Cornish  miners  who  were  receiving  four  dollars  a  day  struck  upon  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  kind  of  blasting-powder  which  was  found  to  effect  a  consid- 
erable saving  of  labor.  They  insisted  upon  following  the  Cornish  system  of 
mining :  the  result  was,  that  the  mines  were  closed  forever.  The  pottery- 
men  of  Trenton,  N.J.,  by  indulging  in  a  strike  which  entailed  a  direct 
loss  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  upon  their  employers,  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  upon  themselves,  crippled  the  business  so  severely,  that 
it  has  not  yet  recovered ;  and,  while  the  loss  has  been  keenly  felt  by  the 
proprietors,  the  workmen  have  been  the  greatest  losers.  With  the  sharp  com- 
petition now  raging  in  every  kind  of  business,  it  is  sensitive  even  to  the  slightest 
shock ;  and,  when  so  violent  an  interruption  occurs  as  a  strike,  the  conse- 
quences not  infrequently  are  severe  and  lasting.  The  foregoing  illustrations 
are  only  a  few  of  the  many  which  may  be  given. 

Terrible  as  strikes  often  are,  they  cannot  always  be  laid  at  the  door  of  trade- 
unions.  Many  entertain  the  opposite  opinion ;  and  it  is  desirable  to  present 
the  truth  upon  this  point  as  clearly  as  possible,  even  if  considerable 
space  be  required  for  the  purpose.  All  the  members  of  the  Trade- 
Unions  Commission  were  in  accord  on  this  point  concerning  Eng- 
lish strikes,  and  the  language  used  in  the  leading  and  dissenting 
reports  is  almost  the  same.  To  quote  from  the  chief  one  :  "  It 
does  not  appear  to  be  borne  out  by  the  evidence  that  the  disposition  to  strike 
on  the  part  of  the  workmen  is  in  itself  the  creation  of  unionism,  or  that  the 
frequency  of  strikes  increases  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  union.  It 
is,  indeed,  affirmed  by  the  leaders  of  unions,  that  the  effect  of  the  established 
societies  is  to  diminish  the  frequency,  and  certainly  the  disorder,  of  strikes, 
and  to  guarantee  a  regularity  of  wages  and  hours,  rather  than  to  engage  in 
constant  endeavors  to  improve  them." 

This   evidence   throws  into  bold   relief  a  good  feature  of  trade-unions. 
Admitted  upon  the  best  authority  that  they  are  not  the  authors 
of  strikes,  the   strongest,  richest,   and   most   extended   of  these   unions  have 
organizations  have  had   the  fewest   strikes  and  disputes ;    while  fewe»t 
the  wages  of  their  members  and  their  hours  of  labor  show  the 
greatest  permanence.     The  Society  of  Engineers,  of  which  Mr.  Allan  is  secre- 


Trade- 
unions  not 
always  re- 
sponsible for 
strikes. 


898 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


mott  fre 
quantly 


tary,  is  very  numerous,  embracing  the  principal  portion  of  the  workmen 
engaged  in  that  business  in  (Ireat  Hritain.  At  one  time  the  society  had  a 
reserve-fund  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  So  great  is  their 
power,  that  Mr.  Hcyer,  a  partner  in  one  of  the  largest  iron-founderies  in 
England,  represented  himself  as  wholly  in  the  control  of  the  union.  But 
their  wages,  notwithstanding  their  power,  have  been  scarcely  raised  for  twenty- 
five  years,  except  by  the  voluntary  act  of  their  masters. 

The  feeblest  unions  —  those  just  struggling  into  existence  perhaps,  or  which 
have  the  least  control  over  their  members  —  oftenest  indulge  in  strikes.  Not 
_    . .  infrequently  unions  are  formed  when  the  spirit  for  striking  is  rife  ; 

unioni  strike  and,  conseciuently,  they  are  charged  with  instituting  strikes  which 
would  have  happened  whether  unions  existed  or  not.  When  men 
are  dissatisfied  with  their  wages,  they  can  easily  subscribe  a  small 
fund  for  the  purpose  of  striking,  and  create  a  union  which  is  not  intended  to 
exist  beyond  the  occasion  giving  it  birth.  The  proceedings  of  such  bodies 
ought  not  in  justice  to  be  charged  to  the  regularly-constituted  union.  It  is 
said  of  the  F^nglish  tailors'  and  iron-workers'  unions,  that  they  "  never  possessed 
the  power  or  the  permanent  character  of  such  societies  as  the  Amalgamated 
Engineers  and  Amalgamated  Carpenters  ;  "  and  these  are  the  trades  in  which 
the  loudest  complaints  are  heard  of  the  frequency  of  strikes.  Numerous 
strikes  and  lockouts  have  occurred  in  the  coal-mining  districts  of  Wales  and 
Derbyshire ;  but  no  unions  have  flourished  in  those  regions.  In  the  United 
States  most  of  the  unions  are  young,  hardly  in  working-order,  having  no  accu- 
mulated funds,  the  discipline  exercised  being  exceedingly  lax  ;  the  machine  in 
every  way  bearing  evidence  of  hasty  and  rude  construction.  While  they  have 
wrought  mischiefs  which  cannot  be  excused,  yet  we  may,  in  a  spirit  of  fairness, 
believe  that  many  of  these  would  not  have  arisen  had  the  unions  been  in  longer 
and  more  perfect  operation. 

During  the  years  1875  and  1876  many  unions  were  created  in  the  United 
States  during  strikes,  or  with  special  reference  to  them.  The  societies  grew 
out  of  a  striking  disposition,  but  not  the  strikes  from  the  rre.Ttion  of  Mie 
unions.     Nevertheless,  the  hated  trade-unions  are  unjustly  at  o  .lat- 

ing  grave  evils  which  would  have  happened  in  any  ev»-ii  liga- 

tions grow  older  and  more  stable,  and  select  mor  rs,  i        will 

be  managed  with  greater  wisdom,  and  capital  will  \\.        ess  cau      .0  fea.  ihem. 

It  is  questioned  whether  the  diminished  frequencj  ol  strik-  ->  among  power- 
ful unions  arises  less  from  want  of  disposition  to  strike  on  the  itl  of  the  mem- 
Do  •tronger  ^^""^  ^^'^  iiGm  the  fact  that  their  organization  is  so  powerful,  as,  in 
unioni  abuse  most  cases,  to  obtain  the  concession  demanded  without  recourse 
their  power  7  ^^  ^^^  measure.  Perhaps  this  is  so  ;  but  surely  it  will  not  be  denied 
that  the  Trade-Unions  Commission,  who  raised  this  query,  did  not  glean  a 
scintilla  of  evidence  upon  the  point  in  their  most  thorough  and  in  every  way 
creditable  investigation.    We  can  comprehend  what  influence  these  powerful 


OF    THE    UJV/TED    STATES. 


899 


organizations  could  exert  if  they  chose,  and  how  masters  had  l)cttcr  submit 
to  their  demands,  though  dec  laring  them  wrong,  than  go  through  the  painful 
uncertainty  of  a  strike.  In  several  instances,  masters  have  confesseil  them- 
selves within  tlie  power  of  trade-unions  :  if  this  be  true,  they  (  ould  ol)tain  new 
concessions  without  a  conflict  of  any  kind.  Possibly,  if  several  of  the  socie- 
ties were  less  strong,  they  might  not  have  received  some  of  the  benefits  which 
have  come  to  them  peaceably,  and  perhaps  none  at  all.  Let  us  not  forget, 
though,  that  there  is  no  evidence  on  the  subject  ;  anil  in  the  absenc?  of 
this  the  (luestion  is  purely  speculative,  and  cannot  receive  a  definitive 
answer. 

The  reason  why  the  richer  and  more  powerful  unions  moderate  the  dispo- 
sition for  strikes  is  not  merely  to  conserve  their  funds,  nor  because  they  obtain 
concessions  by  reason  of  their  power,  but  because  they  are  more  ^ 
wisely  conducted  than  the  newer  and  smaller  organizations.  The  uniom  are 
government  of  each  branch  of  the  imion  is  vested  in  a  committee  '"V". 
and  local  secretary  elected  from  time  to  time  by  the  members ; 
while  the  government  of  the  whole  society  is  commonly  vested  in  a  general  or 
executive  council  electetl  by  the  branches,  and  a  general  secretary  elected 
by  universal  suffrage  of  the  entire  organization.  Both  the  executive  council 
and  the  committee  of  the  several  branches  are  requircfl  to  govern  them- 
selves according  to  established  rules ;  and,  when  these  do  not  exist,  they 
must  rely  upon  their  judgment,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  general  body. 
Instituting  and  conducting  strikes  is  the  most  important  function  of  every 
well-organized  union's  council.  It  is  these  councils  which  have  toned 
down  the  disposition  of  workmen  so  much  in  regard  to  strikes ;  for,  gener- 
ally, the  best  men  are  selected  for  these  places,  —  men  of  the  most  intelli- 
gence, and  who  are  the  best  capable  of  ascertaining  the  condition  and 
profits  of  the  business  in  which  workmen  are  employed.  These  leaders,  from 
their  superior  knowledge  and  capability  to  find  out  the  true  condition  of  busi- 
ness, can  judge  better  than  the  members ;  and  hence  it  is  that  strikes  among 
the  larger  and  more  wisely-conducted  unions  are  diminishing.  And  this  we 
regard  as  a  very  hopefiil  feature  of  trade-unions.  One  thing  the  toiling  classes 
need  is  correct  information  concerning  the  business  in  which  they  are  engaged. 
They  imagine  their  employers  are  getting  very  rich  oftentimes,  when  they  are 
running  at  a  loss,  though  keeping  the  fact  concealed.  The  strikes  which 
occurred  in  the  cotton-mills  of  New  England  during  1875  are  unanswerable 
proof  of  this  remark.  Most  of  them  had  earned  no  profits  for  several  months ; 
yet  the  operatives  in  several  cases  unwisely  demanded  an  increase  of  wages. 
Had  they  known  any  thing  about  the  condition  of  trade,  they  would  have 
comprehended  the  folly  of  asking  tor  an  advance  when  employers  were 
keeping  them  busy  at  a  loss.  Personal  knowledge  or  wise  leadership  would 
have  saved  them  from  a  contest  with  their  employers  which  was  sure  to  end  in 
the  laborers'  defeat.     They  were   the  dupes  of   ignorant  and  wild  leaders, 


900 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


instead  of  wise  and  temperate  ones ;  and  behold  the  result !  Every  one  who 
knew  any  thing  about  the  condition  of  the  cotton-trade  was  certain  the  strikes 
would  end  in  failure ;  for,  in  fact,  the  owners  were  quite  as  willing  to  have  tb.e 
men  unemployed  as  not.  Prejudice  and  ill  feeling  between  employed  and 
employer  help  kindle  the  laboring-man's  imagination  respecting  the  profits 
accruing  from  his  labor.  Now  the  leaders  of  unions  are  in  a  situation  to 
learn  more  perfectly  the  exact  nature  of  things,  and  this  is  why  they  advise 
more  peaceful  measures. 

Here  a  streak  of  light  issvies  from  these  organizations,  especially  since  the 
establishment  of  boards  of  arbitration  and  conciliation  for  the  settlement  of 
How  unions  differences  between  men  and  masters.  Members  having  confi- 
aidconci'ia-  dence  in  their  councils  are  able  to  submit  questions  to  third  pariies 
for  settlement.  They  could  do  what  would  be  impossible  were 
they  unorganized.  Should  all  the  men  in  a  shop  strike,  and  the  attemjjt 
be  made  to  leave  the  differences  between  them  and  their  masters  to  some 
person  for  arbitration,  the  difficulty  would  be  in  organizing  the  workmen  for 
consultation  ;  and  even  were  a  temporary  organization  formed,  and  represen- 
tatives selected  from  it  to  confer  with  their  employer,  they  would  not  command 
such  confidence  as  t'lose  who  were  recognii;ed  as  leaders,  and  thoroughly 
knowing  the  condition  of  business. 

It  is  asserted  that  these  very  councils  foment  strikes  when  they  ought '  not. 
Being  paid  officers,  they  regard  it  as  part  of  their  duty,  it  is  said,  to  advise 
Do  councils  Striking  occasionally.  This  is  thought  to  be  their  occupation, 
foment  They  are  chosen  to  wage  war,  not  to  maintain  peace.     These 

notions  are  erroneous.  Only  a  very  few  persons  connected  with 
trade-unions  receive  any  pecuniary  reward  ;  nor  do  they  constantly  agitate  for 
higher  wages  and  other  benefits.  This  we  suppose  they  do,  in  some  cases ; 
yet  it  is  quite  clear,  that,  in  general,  the  tendency  of  their  advice  and  counsel  is 
to  moderate  the  striking  disposition  of  those  under  their  direction  and  control. 
Strikes  began  long  before  trade-unions  were  ever  thought  of:  they  are  inci- 
dental to  collecting  men  in  masses  as  they  have  been  collected  by  the  erection 
of  factories.  The  union  does  give  an  increased  power  of  striking  :  it  can  deal 
a  harder  blow ;  but,  instead  of  giving  it,  an  increased  sense  of  order,  subordi- 
nation, and  reflection,  is  exhibited.  Does  any  one  doubt  the  truth  of  this? 
Listen  to  whai  the  (ieneral  Secretary  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpen- 
ters and  Joiners  says  in  his  last  report :  "  Our  demands  on  our  employers  for 
wages  and  reduced  working-hours,  which  have  been  moderate  in  their  charac- 
ter, and  which  have  been  a  consequence,  not  a  cause,  of  the  enhanced  cost  of 
the  necessaries  of  life,  have  generally  been  courteously  conceded ;  and  thus 
our  disputes  have  been  few  and  uniinportant.  I  sincerely  trust  that  an  ami- 
cable relationship  between  employers  and  employed  may  be  permanently 
maintained.  Although  we  may  be  told,  that,  in  accordance  with  the  law  ol" 
supply  and  demand.,  we  are  justified  in  pressing  for  all  the  advantages  we  c.in 


possil 

offere 

tageoi 

public 

atory  < 

carefu 

examii 

detern: 

themse 

and  res 

thing  H 

with  th 

leaders] 

not  th( 

labor  ? 

demned 

We 

the  trad( 

tries.    Ii 

power  ol 

say  that 

was  give 

able   circ 

some  of 

the  most 

Even  if  < 

main  is  oi 

fly  for  reli 

care  and  < 

their  battl 

ago,  he  d 

said,  — 

"  I  hav 

regarded  m 

lately  by  th 

at  home  to 

ing  their  cc 

woids  I  hai 

Is  it,  thea,  t 

simply  on  i 

unionism,  w 

Are  you  rej 

your  body  w 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


901 


|v  01 

cnn 


possibly  obtain  in  busy  times,  and  that  we  should  accept  whatever  may  be 
offered  to  us  when  trac^e  is  depressed,  I  hold  that  such  a  policy  is  advan- 
tageous neither  to  employer  nor  employed,  and  cannot  benefit  the  general 
public.  Wherever  our  employere  are  disposed  to  meet  us  in  a  fair  and  concili- 
atory spirit,  our  members  will  do  well  to  meet  them  with  equal  cordiality,  to 
carefully  consider  any  arguments  that  may  be  advanced,  and  thoroughly 
examine  both  sides  of  the  question  at  issue.  If  employers  and  workmen  are 
determined  to  act  fairly  by  their  opponents,  as  well  as  to  secure  justice  to 
themselves,  matters  of  detail  may  be  arranged,  differences  amicably  settled, 
and  results  secured  which  would  be  far  more  satisfactory  to  all  parties  than  any 
thing  which  could  be  obtained  by  a  strike  or  lockout."  Who  can  find  fault 
with  this  advice,  or  maintain  that  working-men  are  not  better  off  under  such 
leadership  than  they  would  be  each  one  struggling  for  himself  ?  Do 
not  these  words  give  promise  of  restored  harmony  between  capital  and 
labor?  Surely  trade-unions  thus  directed  ought  to  be  encouraged,  not  con- 
demned. 

We  have  reserved  for  the  close  a  word  or  two  in  the  way  of  contrasting 
the  trade-unions  of  the  United  States  with  those  existing  in  European  coun- 
tries.   In  those,  the  ranks  of  labor  for  centu:  ies  have  been  full :  the   contrast  of 
power  of  capital  has  been  enormous  :   and  fairness  requires  us  to  working-men 
say  that  the  working-man  there  needed  far  more  protection  than  *s"ate8  with 
was  given  him  by  law ;   far  more  than  he,  under  the  most  favor-  those  in 
able   circumstances,   received.     Harsh   and   unjustifiable   as   are     "■'''?*• 
some  of  the  rules  and  methods  of  trade-unions  there,  they  are  grounded  in 
the  most  solid  reasons ;  but  in  the  United  States  the  case  is  very  different. 
Even  if  employers  be  found  selfish  and  too  grasping,  an  enormous  public  do- 
main is  open  for  settlement ;  and  thither  can  the  oppressed  son  of  toil  always 
fly  for  relief.     No  one  has  studied  the  case  of  the  working-men  with  greater 
care  and  devotion  than  Thomas  Hughes  of  England ;  for  years  he  has  fought 
their  battle  without  flinching :    yet,  when  he  visited  this  country  a  few  years 
ago,  he  delivered  a  lecture  to  the  working-men  of  New  York,  in  which  he 
said,  — 

"  I  have  no  right  to  offer  counsel  to  either  side,  and  may  possibly  be  even 
regarded  with,  suspicion  by  employers  of  labor  over  here,  as  I  have  been  till 
lately  by  those  of  England  ;  but  as  I  have  helped  the  working-men  Thomas 
at  home  to  fight  their  battles,  and  have  had  the  happiness  of  earn-   Hughei't 
ing  their  confidence,  I  trust  their  brethren  here  will  take  the  few  °p'""*"- 
woids  I  have  to  say  to  them  in  good  part,  and  as  those,  at  any  rate,  of  a  friend. 
Is  it,  the.i,  the  fact,  that  you,  the  working-men  of  the  United  States,  are  running 
simply  on  the  old  tracks,  and  are  furbishing  up  the  old  weapons  of  trade- 
unionism,  which  have  so  often  run  into  the  hands  of  those  who  wielded  them  ? 
Are  you  really  trying  by  your  organizations  to  control  the  free  will  of  those  of 
your  body  who  are  not  unionists ;   to  put  restrictions  and  limitations  on  the 


i 


902 


INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY 


hours  of  labor,  the  admission  uf  apprentices,  the  use  of  machinery,  the  rate 
of  wages,  and  to  carry  out  your  ideas  by  the  old  method  of  strikes  ?  These 
things  have  been  done  often  enough  in  England.  If  not  wise  even  there,  at 
least  they  had  a  justification  which  here  is  wholly  wanting.  Where  the 
labor-market  is  overstocked,  and  there  are  often  two  men  waiting  for  one 
man's  place,  I  can  understand,  and  have  often  sympathized  with  and  defended, 
rules  and  practices  intended  to  spread  work  evenly,  and  requiring  self-sacrifice 
from  the  ablest  workmen,  that  all  of  fair  capacity  might  earn  a  livelihood. 
Where  all  the  natural  wealth  of  the  country  (if  I  may  use  the  phrase)  is 
already  monopolized,  where  lands,  mines,  waters  —  all  the  raw  material  out  of 
which  wealth  is  created  —  are  in  private  hands,  and  there  is  the  keenest  com- 
petition for  the  use  of  them,  as  there  is  with  us,  one  must  not  be  too  critical 
as  to  the  methods  by  which  the  great  body  of  producers  have  endeavored  to 
secure  their  share  of  the  products.  But  here  you  have  well-paid  employment 
waiting  for  every  man  who  is  ready  to  do  an  honest  day's  work.  Here  the 
natural  wealth  of  the  country  is,  for  all  practical  purposes,  unappropriated,  and 
lying  around  you  in  almost  unbounded  profusion.  You  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  exercise  a  little  thrift  and  foresight  for  a  few  short  months,  to  spend  for 
that  time  less  than  you  earn,  and  there  are  the  means  in  the  hands  of  every 
one  of  you  of  obtaining  house,  land,  whatever  form  of  wealth  you  are  most 
eager  for,  with  only  too  great  facility. 

"  On  what  possible  plea  of  reason  or  justice  or  necessity,  or  even  of  hand- 
to-mouth  policy,  can  you  undertake  to  control  or  limit  the  right  to  work  on  his 
own  terms,  in  his  own  way,  of  any  man,  when  there  is  ample  room  for  twenty 
times  your  present  numb*,rs,  and  your  land  is  crying  out  for  all  the  work  which 
every  man  among  you  can  put  into  it?  When  the  great  trade-unions  of  Eng- 
land are  becoming  every  day  more  peaceable  and  reasonable  as  they  become 
more  powerful,  and  are  jealous  of  every  expenditure  which  is  not  for  some 
provident  or  benevolent  purpose,  are  the  unions  and  the  working-men  of 
America  going  to  pick  up  the  old  armor,  instead  of  leaving  it  to  rust  where  it 
lies,  and  to  spend  the  earnings  which  belong  to  the  wives  and  children  as 
much  as  to  them  in  a  crusade  for  preaching  the  gospel  of  idleness  ?  I  cannot 
believe  it ;  for,  if  there  is  one  truth  which  this  nation  has  hitherto  preached 
faithfully  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  is  the  gospel  of  work." 

It  is  not  for  us,  in  narrating  the  industrial  movements  in  this  country,  to 
add  any  thing  to  them  in  the  way  of  criticism.  Unwelcome  as  trade-unions 
Future  of  ^^  ^°  most  employers  of  labor,  and  however  unnecessary  they 
trade-  may  be,  their  existence  is  a  fact ;  and,  though  many  a  strike  has 

un  on>.  ended  disastrously  to  their  members,  with  only  a  few  exceptions 

they  have  not  disbanded,  nor  have  they  manifested  the  slightest  intention  of 
so  doing.  There  are  persons  who  have  cherished  the  belief  that  a  few  severe 
reverses  would  put  an  end  to  the  organization ;  but  those  who  have  deluded 
themselves  with  such  thoughts  have  not  studied  with  sufficient  care  the  nature 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


903 


of  trade-unions.  Very  likely  they  ought  to  disband ;  perhaps  there  is  no  excuse 
for  their  existence  :  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  are  not  the  thoughts 
of  unionists  themselves.  They  believe  in  the  necessity  of  organization  in  order 
to  secure  and  preserve  their  rights ;  and  as  long  as  they  do,  though  niany  more 
disasters  may  befall  them,  and  severer  ones  than  those  which  they  have  yet 
experienced,  trade-unions  will  probably  live,  and  perhaps  thrive  even  the 
more  because  of  their  defeats. 


BOOK    VII. 


THE  INDUSTRIES  OF  CANADA 


TT 

1     t( 

Of  th 

conn< 

not  b 

newsf 

manui 

of  the 

taken 

lameni 

ent  ta 

occupi 

duces 

over  2 

of  $2S^ 

annual! 
have  bi 
Her  ini 
de/elop 
ployed, 
related  ' 
admirati 
Dominic 


At  pi 
to  the  pe 
industry 
easiest  ai 
train  a  va 
&c.,  whos 
ble.    Th« 


THE   INDUSTRIES  OF  CANADA. 

IT  is  proposed  in  this  book  to  make  a  brief  general  statement  in  regard 
to  the  industries  of  the  nation  which  is  growing  up  on  the  northern  border 
of  the  United  States,  and  with  which  thi;  country  is  intimately  importance 
connected  by  ties  of  race,  language,  trade,  and  destiny.  It  has  of  Canadian 
not  been  unusual  of  late  years  to  observe  laments  in  the  Canadian  "  "• '  '•• 
newspapers  to  the  effect  that  Canada  has  no  industries.  Certain  branches  of 
manufacturing  which  are  carried  on  extensively  in  America  and  in  other  parts 
of  the  world  are  not  yet  practised  in  Canada,  and  general  development  has  not 
taken  place  as  rapidly  as  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Noting  this  fact,  writers 
lament  that  Canada  has  no  industries.  The  government  statistics  tell  a  differ- 
ent tale.  Surely  a  land  richly  endowed  by  nature,  and  happy  in  being 
occupied  by  a  free,  intelligent,  and  active-minded  race,  which  already  pro- 
duces 80,000,000  bushels  of  grain  yearly,  15,000,000  gallons  of  petroleum, 
over  200,000,000  cubic  feet  of  lumber,  800,000  tons  of  coal,  and  a  value 
of  j$250,ooo,ooo  in  general  manufactures,  whose  fisheries  yield  $12,000,000 
annually,  and  which  exports  in  a  fair  year  $89,000,000  worth  of  goods,  must 
have  busy  and  profitable  industries.  Such  is,  indeed,  the  case  with  Canada. 
Her  industries  are  numerous  and  varied,  have  attained  a  most  satisfactory 
development,  and  are  fully  sufficient  to  keep  her  population  profitably  em- 
ployed. The  story  concerning  them  is  interesting,  and  will  now  be  succinctly 
related  with  a  pen  which  will  not  at  any  rate  fail  in  its  task  from  any  lack  of 
admiration  for  what  has  been  accomplished  by  the  spirited  people  of  the 
Dominion. 

THE    FISHERIES. 

At  present  the  fisheries  constitute  the  greatest  individual  source  of  wealth 
to  the  people  of  Canada.  Not  only  do  they  employ  more  men  in  profitable 
industry  than  any  other  pursuit  except  farming,  and  not  only  do. they  form  the 
easiest  and  least  expensive  of  occupations,  but  they  carry  in  their  Magnitude  of 
train  a  variety  of  other  industries,  like  ship-building,  transportation,  '*""  fi»heriM. 
&c.,  whose  prosperity  they  insure.  They  are,  besides,  practically  inexhausti- 
ble.   The  Gulf  Stream,  flowing  northward  near  the  American  coast,  is  met  in 

907 


9o8 


THE   INDUSTKIES    OF   CANADA. 


the  vicinity  of  Newfoundland  by  currents  from  the  polar  basin ;  and  by  the 
deposits  which  take  place  at  the  meeting  of  the  opposing  waters  are  formed 
vast  submarine  islands,  or  "  banks,"  whose  shallow  waters  are  the  feeding- 
grounds  of  immense  shoals  of  migratory  fish  which  resort  thither  annually. 
The  reproductive  powers  of  some  of  the  varieties,  the  cod  particularly,  are 
very  great ;  and  there  is  a  probable  impossibility  that  these  species  can  ever  be 
destroyed  by  human  means.  The  whole  sea  is  their  breeding-ground.  These 
fish  are  not  found  on  the  banks  alone :  they  visit  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
and  the  shores  of  all  the  maritime  provinces  of  Canada,  in  unlimited  numbers ; 
and  the  quantity  of  them  that  will  be  taken  for  ages  appears  to  depend  only 
on  the  efforts  that  will  be  put  forth  for  the  purpose.  This  remark  refers  more 
particularly  to  the  cod,  mackerel,  and  herring.  Certain  of  the  inshore  varie- 
ties, migratory  and  otherwise,  such  as  the  salmon,  shad,  smelt,  and  lobster, 
have  shown  a  susceptibilty  to  decrease  with  excessive  fishing ;  but  they  still 
exist  in  enormous  numbers,  and  their  capture  engages  the  services  of  thousands 
of  men  annually.  These  latter  fisheries  the  Government  of  the  Dominion  is 
taking  steps  to  restore  by  breeding  and  by  protective  laws ;  and  they  show 
such  a  capability  of  responding  to  fostering  measures,  that  they,  too,  may  be 
termed  practically  inexhaustible.  Besides  the  salt-sea  fisheries,  there  are  others 
in  the  interior,  upon  the  lakes  and  rivers,  which  are  very  profitable  in  their  way, 
and  employ  a  great  many  men. 

The  people  of  the  maritime  provinces  arc  peculiarly  fitted  by  origin  and 
training  to  turn  to  account  the  advantages  of  their  geographical  situation. 
Early  de-  "^'^^  early  French,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese  navigators  of  these 
veiopment  of  coasts,  all  discovered  the  plentifulness  of  the  fish  in  the  neighbor- 
t  e  n  ustry.  j^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^  Unlimited  abundance  of  the  herds  of  walrus  anil 
seals  which  swarmed  on  the  islands  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  As  early  as 
the  first  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  they  were  aware  of  the  great  sources  of 
wealth  which  surrounded  these  shores.  The  reports  they  made  to  their  respec- 
tive governments  brought  whole  fleets  of  fishing-vessels  to  their  waters ;  and 
in  process  of  time  the  hardy  adventurers,  instead  of  coming  out  in  the  spring 
and  going  back  in  the  fall,  as  they  were  wont  to  do  at  first,  went  ashore,  and 
settled  permanently  on  the  fishing  islands  and  coasts.  This  was  particularly 
the  case  with  the  French,  who  swarmed  to  this  region  from  the  Norman, 
Basque,  and  Breton  seaports  in  great  numbers,  and  became  permanent  resi- 
dents of  the  country.  The  most  extensive  fisheries  of  the  early  times  were 
Disappear-  ^^  walrus,  seal,  and  cod ;  but,  when  the  former  two  had  nearly 
disappeared,  the  settlers  fell  back  upon  cod,  herring,  and  mackerel. 
Great  Britain  finally  contributed  her  quota  to  the  population  of 
the  maritime  provinces  from  her  own  fishing-ports ;  and  thus  the  country  was 
taken  possession  of  by  a  body  of  energetic  men,  who,  though  of  different 
nationalities,  were  one  in  their  love  for  the  sea  and  the  past  training  which 
fitted  them  for  the  cultivation  of  the  rich  fishing-grounds  which  they  had  come 


ance  of  the 
walrus. 


THE   INDUSTRIES   OF   CANADA. 


909 


over  here  to  enjoy.  Agriculture  was  for  a  long  period  neglected,  and,  in  fact, 
even  despised.  The  whole  population  was  sustained  by  the  fisheries  and  naviga- 
tion alone.  This  state  of  things  changed  after  a  while  :  for  the  more  far-sighted 
began  to  clear  the  land,  and  raise  grain  and  cattle,  in  order  to  take  advantage 
of  all  the  resources  of  their  situation ;  and  they  found  their  profit  in  so  doing. 
But,  while  this  changi*  has  continued  to  go  on  until  agriculture  has  received 
a  very  considerable  development  in  the  maritime  provinces,  fishing  has, 
nevertheless,  always  been  the  main-stay  of  the  people,  and  apparently  always 
will  be. 

The  government  report  for  the  year  1877  shows  the  magnitude  to  which 
the  Canadian  fisheries  have  now  attained.     The  figures  are  as  fol-   statiitics 
lows  ;  the  statistics  for  Newfoundland  for  1874  being  added  to  the   'o^'Sy^. 
table,  as  properly  belonging  there,  although  the  island  is  still  politically  inde- 
pendent of  the  Dominion  :  — 


VALUE  OF 

VALUE  OF 

DISTRICTS. 

BOATS. 

BOATS. 

FISHERMEN. 

SHOREMEN. 

PRODUCT. 

Gaspe     .... 

2,970 

$213,000 

3.306 

1,674 

• 
$616,309 

Honaventure  . 

1,111 

204,000 

'.455 

247 

J  30,71 5 

Labrador 

1,86s 

416,000 

2,795 

1,281 

954,285 

Magdalen  Islands  . 

767 

2S2,000 

1,500 

597 

366,170 

Anticosti  Island     . 

375 

29,000 

416 

"7 

'35.352 

St.  Lawrence  River 

1,840 

21,000 

3,061 

.  •  •  • 

362,314 

Nova  Scotia  . 

11,064 

1,504,000 

25,859 

.... 

S.527,858 

New  Brunswick 

3.710 

285,000 

8,307 

.... 

2,133,236 

Prince  Edward  Island    . 

1,486 

77,000 

4,28s 

.... 

763.03s 

Ontario  .... 

1,267 

68,000 

3,867 

.... 

438,223 

Manitoba 

.... 

24,023 

British  Columbia  . 

161 

11,000 

444 

745 

583,432 

Total 

26,616 

$3,080,000 

55-295 

4,661 

$12,034,952 

Newfoundland 

12,000 

32,000 

.... 

9,000,000 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that,  whereas  manufacturing  and  many  other  pur- 
suits have  been  obliged  to  curtail  production  since  the  flush  times  prior  to 
1873,  the  fisheries  of  Canada  have  steadily  increased  their  prod-   increase  of 
uct  year  by  year.    There  has  been  no  falling-off  owing  to  the  hard   product 
times :  on  the  contrary,  the  market  for  fish  becomes  more  eager  "'"'^'  *  ^^" 
and  active  every  year ;   and  the  larger  catch  is   merely  the  response  to  a 
growing  demand.     The  completion  of  the  Intercolonial  Railroad  gffect  ^f 
in  the  maritime  provinces  within  the  last  few  years  has  been  a  intercolonial 
powerful  auxiliary  to  the  fishermen.     The  difficulty  of  distributing     "' '"' 
fresh  fish  in  former  years  compelled  the  fishing-people  to  salt  down  their  catch 
in  barrels,  or  preserve  it  by  canning,  in  order  to  save  it,  and  get   it  to  a 


9IO 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


market.  By  the  opening  of  the  Intercolonial  Railroad  they  are  now  enabled 
to  transmit  salmon,  cod,  halibut,  lobsters,  and  other  fish,  fresh,  and  packed  in 
ice,  from  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  other  fishing-coasts  to 
market  in  a  few  hours,  and  at  greatly  reduced  prices.  This  has  rendered  the 
trade  more  profitable  by  reducing  the  expense  of  transportation,  and  has  led  to 
its  expansion  by  bringing  the  catch  into  the  centres  of  population  in  a  per- 
fectly fresh  state.  The  same  results  may  be  expected  when  the  parts  of  Canada 
more  distant  from  the  sea-coast  are  better  united  therewith  by  the  future  railroads 
of  the  Dominion.  There  will  be  an  enlargement  of  the  market  for  fish,  and  a 
consequent  increased  activity  among  the  pursuit  of  the  treasures  of  the  fishing 
banks  and  coasts ;  there  will  be  less  canning  and  salting,  and  more  packing 
in  ice  (something  of  this  sort  being  already  seen  in  the  abandonment  of  can- 
ning and  salting  establishments  in  New  Brunswick)  ;  and  there  will  be  more 
boat-building,  more  freighting  by  rail  and  ship,  more  training  of  hardy  seamen 
for  the  merchant-marine,  and  a  larger  body  of  non-agricultural  people  to  pur- 
chase the  produce  of  the  farms. 

Statistics  The  following  table  will  show  the  character  and  yield  of  the 

for  1877.  different  fisheries  of  the  Dominion  (Newfoundland  being  omitted), 

the  figures  being  for  the  year  1877  :  — 


Codfish 

Herrings 

Mackerel 

Haddock 

Salmon 

Alewives,  bbis 

Smelts,  lbs 

Lobsters,  preserved,  lbs 

Oysters,  bbls 

Fish  and  clams  for  bait  and  manure,  bbls.     . 

Fish-oils,  galls 

Seal-skins,  pieces 

Pollack,  cwt 

Hake,  cwt 

Halibut 

Trout 

White-fish 

Shau 

Whale-oil,  galls 

Cod-oil,  galls. 

All  other  fish  and  products,  including  fresh  and  salt 
water  varieties,  the  catch  in  each  case  never  exceed- 
ing |l6o,ooo 


QUANTITIES  CAUGHT. 


'S.3I3 
2,266,202 

8,085,569 

29.568 

222,379 

466,579 

20,312 

58,746 

77.4S4 


13.716 
225,129 


)J3.S6i.i99 
1,522,091 

1,667,815 

47S.722 

855,687 

67,298 

135.972 

1,212,835 

88,704 

195.724 

303.276 

43.9' 5 
205,61 1 
271,090 

48,732 

173.499 

210,625 

80,256 

6,858 

•  112,564 


795.479 


10; 

of  I 


$12,034,952 


THE    INDUSTRIES   OF   CANADA. 


911 


At  Newfoumllanfl  the  principal  fisheries  are  of  cod,  seal,  herring,  and 
salmon,  ranking  in  importance  in  the  order  named.      In   1874   p,,„j|    , 
the  catch  of  cod  amounted  to   1,500,000  ciuintals.      In   1873  ft«hari«t«t 
107  vessels,  with  8,062  men,  were  employed  in  scaling  (twenty   **«wiound. 
of  these  vessels  being  steamers),  and  525,000  skins  were  taken. 

Cod-fishing  is  the  industry  upon  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  maritime 
provinces  and  Newfoundland  chiefly  rely  for  a  living.  It  is  practised  along- 
shore in  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  the  islands  of  the  Gulf  „  .  . 

,  „      w  .  .       .       ,  .  ..        ^  ,  Cod-llthlng. 

of  St.  Lawrence,  and  at  the  banks  two  or  three  miles  from  shore, 
as  well  as  at  the  great  banks  in  the  open  sea.  It  is  mostly  carried  on  in  small 
boats  near  shore.  The  great  banks  in  the  gulf  and  open  sea  have  been  com- 
paratively neglected.  Only  a  few  years  ago,  the  interest  of  the  people  of 
Newfoundland  in  the  great  banks  was  confined  to  the  sale  of  bait  to  the 
Americans  and  French  who  were  enterprising,  or  who,  having  larger  capital, 
built  large  boats  for  the  industry,  and  pushed  out  boldly  into  the  stormy  waters 
avoided  by  the  Canadians.  Newfoundland  and  gulf  fishermen  now,  however, 
understand  the  advantages  of  deep-sea  fishing.  Cod  being  sometimes  scarce 
along  the  shore,  owing  to  a  lack  of  food  or  other  causes,  they  have  of  late 
been  fitting  out  vessels  for  the  bank-fisheries,  where  cod  never  fail,  by  reason 
of  their  always  finding  there  an  abundance  of  food.  Cod  is  found  in  the  gulf 
the  whole  year  round.  Other  specimens  of  fish  frequent  the  gulf  at  specific 
periods  of  the  year,  and  seals  and  whales  follow  them  in  more  or  less.  But 
these  varieties  retire,  or  disappear ;  whereas  cod,  though  most  abundant  along- 
shore in  the  spring,  when  the  herring  and  caplin  strike  in,  are  nevertheless 
found  either  alongsiiore  or  on  the  banks  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the 
other.  Speaking  of  the  abundance  of  cod  in  the  gulf,  Mr.  N.  Lavoie,  the  fish- 
ery-officer of  the  gulf,  says,  "  The  great  extent  of  the  Canadian  fishing- 
grounds,  and,  above  all,  their  inexhaustible  wealth,  are  not  sufficiently  appre- 
ciated by  our  own  people.  Men  of  education  who  visit  the  coast  of  Gaspd 
for  the  first  time  cannot  sufficiently  express  their  wonder  at  seeing  such 
abundance,  and  are  compelled  to  own  that  its  shores  might  afibrd  a  comforta- 
ble living  to  thousands  of  adventurers,  who  would  find  these  sources  of  wealth 
more  accessible  than  the  gold-mines  of  California,  and  secure  more  prosperity 
than  could  afford  wages  paid  for  working  in  unhealthy  manufactories  of  the 
United  States."  The  reason  why  these  fisheries  have  not  been  appreciated, 
that  is,  utilized,  is,  that,  though  the  richest  fishing-banks  in  the  world  are  found 
in  the  gulf  and  about  its  mouth,  the  facilities  for  distributing  their  treasures  to 
market  on  shore  have  been  limited,  and  the  inducement  to  embark  in  the  cap- 
ture of  cod  upon  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  abundance  of  the  fish  has 
been  lacking.  Now  that  railways  are  building,  a  great  change  is  taking  place 
in  the  business. 

The  chief  difficulties  which  beset  the  cod-industry  arise  from  the  scarcity 
of  bait,  from  the  lack  of  large  boats,  and  the  competition  of  the  Americans. 


iflli 


T 


913 


THE    IXDUHTRIES    OF   CAS  ADA. 


Id  cod-flah 
Ing. 


'I'hc  cod  is  remarkable  for  its  vorarioiis  appetite.  It  ftjjlows  the  shoals  of 
Difflcuitui  small  fish  in  to  the  shore  m  May  and  June,  in  order  to  feed  upon 
them  ;  and  even  devours  its  own  young.  It  frecjuents  most  the 
banks  where  food  is  abumlant,  and  migrates  along  the  shores 
according  as  the  means  of  satisfying  its  eager  stomach  are  provided  for  it 
by  the  sea.  A  great  deal  of  bait  is  consumed  in  catching  it ;  so  much 
indeed,  that  Professor  Hind  estimates  that  the  cost  of  bait  is  one-seventh 
in  the  production  of  all  cod  and  halibut.  In  order  successfully  to  carry  out 
cod-fishing,  therefore,  a  large  supply  of  bait  is  necessary.  The  fish  ordinarily 
used  for  this  purpose  are  herring,  caplin,  mackerel,  launce,  s-'uiil,  smelt, 
trout,  and  clams.  Some  of  these  varieties,  sue  h  as  the  mackerel,  have  now 
grown  scarce  in  certain  localities  from  over-fishing  ;  and  the  cod-boats  are 
at  times  very  much  delayed  in  consequence.  The  demands  of  the  United- 
States  schooners  for  bait  at  the  Newfoundland  Hanks  caused  the  trade  in  her- 
ring and  caplin  to  take  such  proportions,  that  the  (lovernment  of  the  Domin- 
ion has  been  informed  that  the  enactment  of  measures  to  protect  the  small 
fish  from  extinction  would  be  hailed  with  pleasure.  In  1876  cod  struck  the 
southern  shores  of  the  gulf  in  August ;  and  the  fishermen  supposed  for  a  while 
that  they  would  have  to  forego  reaping  the  rich  harvest  presented  to  them, 
because  they  had  no  bait.  Those  of  the  (laspe  coast  were  able  t(j  avail  them- 
selves of  the  rush  of  cod  only  by  employing  several  boats  during  the  whole 
fishing-time  in  bringing  clams  taken  on  the  rocks  at  low  tide  from  the  north 
shore,  from  forty-five  to  sixty  miles  distant.  No  less  than  five  thousand 
bushels  of  clams  were  thus  carried  away  for  bait  by  the  (laspt?  fishermen  while 
the  fish  were  running ;  but  they  secured  six  thousand  extra  cpiintals  of  cod  in 
consequence  of  it.  It  is  said  that  about  eighteen  hundred  boats  had  to  lie 
idle  for  three  or  four  weeks  in  the  best  fishing-time  in  1877,  on  the  (laspd 
coast  alone,  for  lack  of  bait ;  and  the  same  general  fact  is  true  of  other  fish- 
ing-districts. The  attention  which  has  been  called  to  this  subject  of  late 
will  doubtless  be  followed  by  suitable  action  by  the  Government  of  the 
Dominion. 

The  small  size  of  the  Canadian  boats,  growing  out  of  too  great  a  depend- 
ence on  shore-fisheries,  is  another  drawback.  The  migration  of  small  fish. 
Small  size  the  temperature  of  the  water  and  air,  and  various  other  jjhysical 
of  boats.  causes,  operate  to  make  the  shore-fisheries  uncertain ;  and,  when 
the  cod  are  scarce,  the  fishermen  are  restrained  from  pushing  out  to  the  banks. 
where  they  might  always  load  their  vessels,  by  the  small  size  and  frail  character 
of  their  boats. 

It  is  also  held,  in  some  of  the  provinces,  that  great  injury  has  been  done  by 
the  United-States  fishermen  by  their  over-eager  pursuit  of  mackerel,  which  has 
Trawl-  served  at  times  for  bait,  and  by  the  American  practice  of  trawl- 

fithing.  fishing  offshore,  which  secures  to   the   Americans   the   best   and 

largest  cod,  and  otherwise  injures  the  cod-fishery  for  the  Canadians.     The 


THE    tNDUSTRlES    OF   CANADA. 


913 


trawl  or  bultow  fishing  is  carried  on  by  a  long  rope  buoyed  and  anchored,  to 
which  are  attached  from  seventy-five  to  a  hundred  lines  baited.  The  trawl 
being  taken  out  from  the  schooner,  and  set,  the  men  return  to  the  schooner, 
and  fish  with  hand-lines ;  while  the  trawl,  left  to  itself,  is  doing  its  special  work 
besides.  Sometimes,  when  the  trawl  is  hauled  in,  it  is  found  to  have  fish  on 
every  line.  'I'his  practice,  the  Nova-Scotians  claim,  gives  the  best  and  largest 
fish  to  the  Americans,  because  of  the  large  extent  to  which  they  employ  it :  it 
kills  a  large  number  of  small  and  useless  fish ;  and  it  keeps  the  fish  offshore  by 
reason  of  the  large  quantity  of  bait  used,  and  prevents  them  from  coming 
inshore. 

There  is  nothing  in  these  drawbacks  to  the  Canadian  industry,  however, 
which  enterprise  and  patience  will  not  overcome,  especially  if  the  government 
takes  judicious  action  in  regard  to  them. 

The  salmon-fishery  is  second  in  interest  among  the  different  branches  of 
this  industry.    The  catch  is  less  in  amount  than  some  of  the  others ;  but  the 
fishery  excites  greater  enthusiasm  both   among   pleasure-hunters  Salmon- 
and  fishermen,  and  is  more  eagerly  pursued.     Before  the  con  fed-   •*»•""«• 
eration  of  the  Provinces,  the  salmon  were  almost  extinguished  in  Canada,  owing 
to  reckless  modes  of  fishing.     The  fish  were  netted  at  the  mouths  of  the 
rivers  as  they  ran  in  during  the  spring  to  spawn,  and  as  they  ran  out  in  the 
fall.    They  were  taken  in  the  rivers  with  nets,  spears,  and  line  ;  and,  on  Sunday, 
poaching  was  carried  on  as  actively  as  during  the  week.     Many  of  the  coast 
counties  had  fishery  acts  ;  but  they  were  almost  a  dead  letter.     After  the  con- 
federation, laws  to  protect  the  salmon  were  enacted,  and  the  means  created 
for  carrying  them  out.     It  was  difficult  to  enforce  the  law.     Respectable  fisher- 
men were  hard  to  convince  that  the  laws  which  interfered  with  ^jtion  ^f 
them  were  really  in   their  interest,  and  poachers  would  not  be  the  govern- 
restrained  anyway.    The  government  finally  won  the  day,  however ;  """*' 
and  the  rivers  are  now  being  allowed  to  restock  themselves.    Artificial  breed- 
ing is  also  going  on  at  several  important  establishments.     Good  results  are 
already  apparent  at  the  streams  emptying   into   the   gulf;    and,  Artificial 
though  there  is  yet  over-fishing  on  the  other  coasts,  there  is  little  breeding, 
doubt  but  that  the  public  policy  will  ere  long  prevail  there  also.    Says  Mr. 
Lavoie,  the   fishery-ofificer,  *'  Had  not  the  government  taken  the  matter  in 
hand,  what  would  at  the  present  time  be  our  humiliation  in  seeing  these  fine 
and  numerous  streams  which  strangers  so  much  admire  left  to  the  discretion 
and  caprice  of  net-fishermen,  who  have  no  other  notion  but  to  destroy,  without 
calculating  the  consequences  1     To  what  irretrievable  loss  and   deprivation 
would  we  now  be  subjected,  had  not  the  government  spent  time  and  money 
to  protect  and  increase  salmon  in  these  streams  1 "    An  illustration  of  the  good 
results  of  protection  of  the  salmon  is  presented  by  the  record  of  fly-fishing  on 
the  Ste.  Anne  des  Monts  River  for  the  last  seven  years.    The  catch  by  angling 
was  as  follows  :  — 


i 


914 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


VBAR, 


t873 
1874 
187s 
1876 
1877 


AVERAGE      ' 
WEIGHT,  FOUNDS, 


17 

i8i 
I7i 

21 

i9i 
i9i 


Mackerel. 


The  measures  for  the  increase  of  salmon  include  action  in  regard  to  put- 
ting sawdust  and  mill-rubbish  into  the  rivers  in  the  lumbering  districts.  This 
discharge  of  rubbish  is  very  large.  The  quantity  of  sawdust  put  into  the  Ot- 
tawa River  alone  every  year  is  more  than  12,300,000  cubic  feet,  —  a  bulk 
which  is  considerably  increased  by  bark,  slabs,  buttings,  and  other  refuse  of  the 
mill.  This  stuff  greatly  injrres  the  streams  into  which  it  is  put.  A  law  has 
been  enacted  against  it,  and  the  government  is  also  agitating  in  favor  of  the 
erection  of  furnaces  by  these  mills  for  burnin*;  the  rubbish.  The  law  is 
little  observed  in  any  of  the  provinces ;  but  that  it  ,/ill  ultimately  prevail  the 
officers  are  confident.  ''■■  ■ 

Mackerel  is  caught  chieriy  by  the  Nova-Scotians.  The  fish  is  plentiful  at 
times  in  the  gulf;  out  the  catch  there  is  not  so  great  as  on  the  other  coasts. 
The  fish  is  taken  by  hand-lines,  seines,  and  trap-nets.  The  catch 
of  1877  was  larger  than  that  of  the  year  before,  owing  to  the  larger 
use  of  trap-nets.  This  method  is  becoming  popular  with  Canadians,  and  there 
are  now  numerous  applications  for  licenses  to  use  that  sort  of  net.  While  the 
mackerel-catch  is  large,  it  is,  on  the  whole,  smaller  than  it  used  to  be,  owing 
Decrease  In  in  large  part  to  the  seining  of  mackerel  on  a  large  scale  by  the 
quantity.  American  schooners  offshore.  The  fish  are  intercepted  before 
they  reach  the  shore,  and  often  do  not  reach  the  three-mile  limit  at  all.  The 
Canadian  authorities  have  given  much  attention  to  the  mackerel-fishery  of  late, 
owing  to  the  falling-o.T  in  the  catch.  It  has  beeh  claimed  by  the  Americans 
thai  mackerel  and  herring  come  from  the  waters  of  the  Amer'can  coasts,  and 
that  their  visit  to  the  Canadian  coasts  is  a  migration  or  accidental  fact.  This 
the  Canadian  comr)isr,ioner  cf  fisheries  combated  before  the  Halifax  com- 
mission. His  observ?*tionb  convinced  him  that  the  fish  frequenting  the  shores 
of  the  maritime  provinces  merely  retired  to  deep  water  when  thn  cold  weather 
set  in,  still  remaining  in  the  vicinity  of  the  places  where  they  were  born.  Ht 
maintained  this  view  of  the  case  with  great  anir.iation,  and  accounted  for  the 
decrease  of  fish  through  excessive  seining  by  means  of  it.  It  is  upon  this 
theory  also  that  Professor  Hind  and  others  believe  thai  the  fishery  can  lie 
fully  restored  in  time  to  its  former  prosperity  by  proper  regulations  and  enter- 
prise on  the  j'^rt  Df  the  authorities. 


THI:     INDUSTRIES    OF    CANADA. 


915 


Sealing. 


How  caught. 


The  whale,  herring,  trout,  hake,  haddock,  and  other  general  fisheries,  need 
not  be  mentioned  in  detail ;  but  perhaps  the  seal  and  the  lobster  business  may 
be  referred  to,  owing  to  the  interest  which  attaches  to  them. 

Sealing  is  practised  in  the  spring  and  fall.  The  points  from  which  it  is 
carried  on  are  Newfoundland,  Anticosti,  Magdalen  Islands,  Labrador,  and, 
though  on  a  small  scale,  on  the  southern  coast  of  the  gulf. 
Sealing  has  enriched  hundreds  of  outfitters ;  and  the  industry, 
though  not  unattended  with  uncertainties,  appears  to  be  inexhaustible.  Between 
four  hundred  thousand  and  five  hundred  thousand  are  caught  annually,  the 
number  exceeding  five  hundred  thousand  in  good  years.  In  addition  to  these, 
about  six  thousand  seals  are  taken  annually  in  British  Columbia  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  The  migrations  of  seals  formerly  took  place  in  such  dense  herds,  that 
the  spectacle  has  been  described  as  resembling  that  of  the  heads  of  cattle 
crowded  into  a  narrow  lane.  This  used  to  last  for  weeks  in  old  times,  and  the 
shores  of  the  islands  of  the  gulf  and  the  mainland  surrounding  it  were  fairly 
alive  with  barking  swarms  of  animals.  The  migration  lasts  for  only  two  or 
three  days  now ;  and,  when  the  spectacle  is  over,  the  season's  fishing  is  at  an 
jnd.  Seals  sometimes  go  very  high  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  having  where 
been  seen  as  far  up  as  the  Saguenay.  In  the  gulf  the  seal  are  'o""«i- 
caught  in  several  ways.  They  are  taken  off  the  coast  of  Labrador  with 
nets,  which  are  set  in  the  water  to  take  them  as  they  are  hugging 
the  shore  in  their  migrations.  They  are  also  even  caught  with 
hook  and  line.  The  Newfoundlanders  go  out  and  hunt  them  with  guns  and 
spears  on  the  ice-fields.  The  enthusiasm  with  which  the  Newfoundlanders 
go  into  the  business  has  been  already  exhibited  in  the  figures  for  1873.  In 
1877  they  fitted  out  twenty-four  steamers  manned  by  4,000  men,  and  thirty- 
six  sailing  vessels  with  2,658  men,  and  despatched  them  all  to  the  ice-fields. 
'I'hey  had  great  success,  taking  412,000  seals,  whose  pelts  sold  from  a 
dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  to  a  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  and  whose  oil  sold  for 
forty-five  cents  a  gallon.  They  were  taken  chiefly  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Newfoundland,  where  the  captains  said  tiie)  saw  thirty  seals  to  one  in  (Jreen- 
land.  The  outfit  for  these  sealing-voyages  is  very  exiiensive.  It  includes 
houses,  stores,  trying  apparatus,  &c.,  on  the  land  ;  craft  with  nets,  harness,  lead, 
anchors,  guns,  boats,  &c.,  and  provisions  for  the  men.  The  cost  of  steamers 
is  greater  than  that  of  sailing-vessels  ;  l)ut  there  is  a  greater  certainty  of  success, 
because  the  vessel  can  poke  its  way  around  amonj^  the  ice-floes,  regardless  of 
wind  and  tide.  Half  the  cargo  goes  to  the  owners,  the  otiier  half  to  the  ship's 
crew ;  the  captain  taking  half  of  that  isalf,  or  a  quarter  of  the  whole.  One  of 
the  steamers  sent  out  in  1877  got  a  cargo  worth  |i  120,000.  The  Newfound- 
land Government  does  not  permit  stc.uners  to  sail  for  the  ice-fields  before  the 
loth  of  March,  this  regulation  being  designed  to  prevent  too  great  a  slaugh- 
ter of  the  seal,  from  the  islands  of  the  gulf  sealing  is  carried  on  from  shore 
by  nets,  by  a  few  schooners  from  forty  to  eighty    ons'  burden  which  seek 


m 


ifl 


m 

i 


m' 


9i6 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


the  floating  ice  in  the  giilf,  and  by  killing  the  game  on  the  ice  grounded  near 
shore.  Great  danger  attends  the  latter  practice.  The  sight  of  a  field  of  ice 
covered  with  these  valuable  animals,  whose  slaughter  is  so  easily  effected  by  a 
blow  on  the  nose,  and  whose  furs  are  so  precious,  throws  the  fishermen  on 
shore  into  a  fever  of  reckless  excitement ;  and  they  rush  at  the  chance  of  gain, 
forgetful  of  the  fragility  of  the  links  which  hold  the  field  of  ice  to  the  shore. 
A  change  of  tide  or  wind  is  apt  to  loosen  the  ueld,  and  carry  it  off  to  deep 
water ;  and  the  death  of  the  hunter,  who  is  too  far  away  to  regain  the  shore,  is 
almost  an  absolute  certainty.  A  great  many  lives  have  been  lost  by  impru- 
dence in  this  direction.  Five  seals  are  taken  on  the  ice,  however,  to  one 
caught  in  the  nets ;  and  the  temptation  to  go  out  upon  the  floating  fields  is 
one  which  no  true  Canadian  ever  neglects. 

Very  little  attention  was  paid  to  the  lobster- fishery  in  Canada  until  the 
grounds  where  that  crustacean  is  caught  on  the  American  coast  began  to  be 
Lobster-  exhausted.  The  great  fisheries  took  up  all  the  time  of  the  Cana- 
flshing.  dians  ;  and  this  rare  and  delicate  shell-fish,  so  highly  prized  in  the 

States,  was  caught  by  them  only  to  a  small  extent.  When  the  Maine  and 
Massachusetts  coasts  had  become  almost  depopulated  of  the  lobster,  the  firms 
engaged  in  canning  repaired  to  th(  adjoining  coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  unwilling 
to  give  up  a  business  which  was  exceedingly  profitable,  and  for  whose  products 
there  was  a  lively  demand  in  American  families.  V>y  1876  there  had  been 
Canning-  forty-sevevi  canning-factories  brought  into  operation  in  Nova 
factories.  Scotia  (American  and  Canadian)  between  Cape  Sable  and  Sambro 
alone ;  and  others  were  in  profitable  operation  on  Prince  Edward  Island, 
along  the  H?y  of  Fundy,  and  on  other  fishing-coasts.  Excessive  fishing  soon 
reduced  the  number  and  size  of  the  lobsters,  until  it  required,  on  an  average, 
two  lobsters  an.l  a  half  to  produce  meat  enough  to  fill  a  pound  can,  the 
crude  fish  weighing  only  irom  two  to  four  pounds.  About  six  or  seven  years 
ago  the  packers  thought  of  taking  a  look  at  the  gulf  coasts,  and,  to  their 
delight,  found  certain  portions  of  them  swarming  with  shell-fish.  No  Cana- 
dian had  yet  taken  advantage  of  this  mine  of  wealth,  which  would  yield  such 
large  profits  to  the  first  companies  which  ■should  undertake  the  business. 
There  was  a  clear  field  for  enterprise  ;  and  an  American  firm  opened  a  canning- 
establishment  in  1874  at  Carleton  '^^  Hie  Eav  des  Chaleurs,  while  a  Halifax 
concern  started  another  at  the  Magdalen  Islands.  Other  firms  soon  followed, 
and  there  was  a  furore  in  the  business.  The  profits  matle  for  the  first  two  or 
three  years  were  dazzling.  The  fish  were  large,  often  weighing  from  ten  to 
fourteen  i)ouiids,  —  a  noblf  size  compared  with  those  of  the  puny  lobsters  on 
the  American  and  Nova-Scotia  coasts.  Inconsiderate  fishing,  however,  com- 
pletely ruined  the  grounds  at  Carleton,  Maria,  Bonaventure,  New  Richmond, 
and  other  places  ;  and  the  same  thing  followed  which  had  previously  taken 
place  in  Nova  Scotia,  —  canning-establishments  had  t  j  be  abandoned,  and  the 
firms  had  to  move  to  new  waters. 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


917 


lo  1874  no  less  than  216,432  pounds  of  lobsters  were  canned  at  Carleton 
and  Maria;  but  only  9,315  pounds  at  the  latter  place  in  1875,  and  in  1877 
none  at  Carleton.  The  factory  at  the  latter  place  was  completely  given  up. 
At  th<!  Magdalen  Islands  the  Halifax  concern  opened  establishments  which 
rivalled  1  in  size  the  largest  anywhere  on  the  North-Atlantic  coasts.  It  caught 
very  k  rge  lobsters  at  first,  and  made  enormous  profits.  The  fish  were  too 
eagerly  pursued,  however ;  and  the  catch  of  240,000  lobsters  in  Decrease  in 
1876  yielded  only  124,000  pounds  of  meat.  In  1877  the  firm's  qu»nt»»y- 
three  establishments  caught  692,760  lobs'ers ;  but  the  smaller  size  of  the  fish 
resulted  in  a  product  of  only  227,104  pounds  of  canned  meat ;  the  large  catch 
and  the  reduced  size  of  the  lobsters  indicating  a  probable  extinction  of  the 
fishery  at  an  early  day,  unless  measures  are  taken  to  give  the  grounds  a  rest, 
or  protect  the  species  from  inconsiderate  fishing.  The  eagerness  with  which 
the  lobster  has  been  and  is  fished  in  Canada  is  shown  by  the  yearly  increase 
of  the  catch  after  the  Americans  first  resorted  to  the  Nova-Scotian  coast,  by 
the  decrease  caused  by  excessive  fishing,  and  by  the  revival  of  the  business  after 
the  catch  began  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.     The  figures  are  as  follows  :  — 


1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 

1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 


POUNDS 
(IN  cans). 


6i,cx>o 

591,500 

1,130,000 

4,864,998 
8,047,957 
6,514,380 
5,373,088 
8,090,569 


';=.S7s 

2Cc,500 

882,633 
1,214,749 
2,011,989 
1,638,659 

795,082 
1.213,085 


There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  development  of  the  business  of  lobster- 
canning  in  Canada  has  been  due  to  the  ruin  of  the  New-England   Decline  of 
grounds  by  the  Americans  ;  but  it  is  easy  to  foresee  a  rapid  decline   »"^"s""y> 
in  the  industry  in  the  early  future,  unless  inconsiderate  fishing  is  government 
v.  jtrained  by  the  action  of  the  government.  interferes. 

It  was  formerly  tiie  custom  to  chronicle  a  yearly  decline  of  the  fisheries 
of  the  'arious   British   provinces  in    America.      Since    1869  the   increase  in 
annals  of  the  business  show  a  yearly  increase  consetjuent  upon  the   fisheries 
opening  of  new  markets  on  shore  vid  the  Intercolonial  Railway.   '""'^*       ' 
and  t^e  ready  market  which  has  been  found  for  Canadian  fisii  abroad.     The 
yearly  product  has  nearly  trebled  since  1869,  as  will  be  seen  by  examining  the 
following  very  interesting  figures  :  —  - 


9l8  THE    INDUSTRIES    OF    CANADA. 

-J.     1869 $4(376,526 

,  .  1870 6,577,391 

''  ■    1871 7,573.199 

1872 9.570.116 

1873  •   • 10,547,402   '  ' 

1874 11,681,886   '. 

1875 '0,350,385 

1876 11,012,302 

J877 12,034,952 

The  yearly  export  has  grown  vcy  large.  It  amounted  to  $7,000,402  from 
Canada,  and  about  the  same  from  Newfoundland.  The  purchasers  were  the 
United  States,  South  America,  the  West  Indies,  and  Europe. 

The  Government  of  the  Dominion  is  taking  intelligent  and  energetic  action 
for  the  improvement  of  the  fresh-water  fisheries  of  Canada,  some  of  which  have 
Action  of  become  nearly  extinct  by  the  unceasing  spoliation  of  many  gen- 
Dominion  erations  of  men.  It  has  now  seven  public  p  ablishments  for  the 
overntnent.  ^(,fjyg  reproduction  of  fish ;  namely,  at  Newcastle  and  Sandwich 
(Ontario),  Tadousac,  Gaspe  Basin,  and  Restigouch^  (Quebec),  Bedford  in 
Nova  Scotia,  and  Miramichi  in  New  Brunswick.  These  hatching-houses  are 
the  means  of  placing  about  fourteen  million  young  salmon,  white-fish,  and 
sea-trout  in  the  rivers  and  lakes  annually.  The  system,  though  well  organized, 
is  in  its  infancy.  The  results  of  its  work  are  already  gratifying  :  what  will  they 
not  be  \i\  the  future,  when  the  work  of  the  present  produces  its  full  effect,  and 
the  system  is  expanded  and  developed  ?         ,       .       .       . 


of  Canadian 
forests 


THE    LUMBER-TRADE. 

The  magnificent  forests  of  Canada  have  long  been  the  admiration  of  trav- 
ellers and  the  pride  of  the  people  of  the  Provinces.  They  originally  clothed 
Ext  nt  and  nearly  the  whole  surface  of  the  country ;  and  though  now  cleared 
magnificence  away  to  a  great  extent  along  the  Great  Lakes  and  in  the  more 
thickly-r.ettled  regions  of  the  country,  yet  they  rear  their  heads  in 
unbroken  majesty  in  the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa 
and  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  Province  of  Ontario,  and  cover  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  squa'-e  miles  of  territory.  Prior  to  1759,  when  Canada,  with 
its  little  population  of  sixty-five  thousand  souls,  was  transferred  from  the  flag 
of  France  to  that  of  England,  the  primeval  forests  of  this  region  had  hardly 
felt  the  settler's  axe.  Fishing,  and  the  pursuit  of  forest-animals  for  their  furs, 
were  about  the  only  occupations  of  the  inhabitants.  Occasionally  a  few  ships 
were  built ;  but  the  idea  of  felling  the  trees  of  the  forests  so  as  to  clear  up 
the  land,  or  to  transport  it  to  distant  lands  where  timber  was  scarce,  never 
entered  the  heads  of  the  people.  The  entire  exportation  of  the  country  at 
that  time  amounted  only  to  ;^i  15,415  a  year,  chiefly  in  furs  and  fish.  After 
the  English  flag  was  unfurled  over  tlie  Provinces,  the  influx  of  population 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


919 


caused  some  attention  to  be  paid  to  timber-cutting ;  and  after  1 800  the 
scarcity  of  timber  in  England  and  in  the  West  Indies  led  to  the  loading  of 
ships  with  the  products  of  the  forests,  and  the  transportation  Exportation 
of  them  in  considerable  quantities  to  those  parts  of  the  earth,  **'  timber. 
The  trade  became  active  in  1809,  1810,  and  181 1,  owing  to  the  duties  levied 
by  England  upon  timber  from  the  countries  of  the  Baltic.  Those  duties  were 
imposed  for  the  benefit  of  the  British  provinces  in  America ;  and  the  people 
of  the  latter  took  advantage  of  them,  building  a  great  many  ships  for  the 
purpose,  and  freighting  timber  to  the  mother-country  actively.  The  war  of 
181 2  checked  the  business  temporarily.  The  ships  of  the  Provinces  were  in 
danger  of  capture  by  American  privateers  if  ever  they  put  out  to  sea ;  but, 
after  the  war,  Canada  was  rewarded  for  her  loyalty  to  England  by  regulations 
which  permitted  her  timber,  grain,  and  provisions  to  enjoy  certain  advantages 
in  the  trade  to  the  British  West  Indies  and  the  mother-country  which  were  not 


STEAMSHIP. — ALLAN  LINB. 


accorded  to  those  of  the  United  States.  The  trade  became  active  again,  and 
has  remained  so  ever  since,  the  market  for  Canadian  lumber  widening  year 
by  year,  extending  to  South  America  and  elsewhere,  until  the  forests  of  the 
Provinces  became  one  of  their  principal  sources  of  wealth.  In  1842  the  duties 
on  timber  in  England  were  changed.  Baltic  timber  had  been  taxed  a  duty  of 
fifty-five  shillings  a  load,  and  Canadian  timber  ten  shillings.  In  1842,  at  the 
time  England  was  remodelling  her  whole  commercial  system,  the  duty  on 
Baltic  timber  was  reduced  to  thirty  shillings,  and  that  on  Canadian  to  one 
shilling.  The  change  alarmed  the  lumbermen  of  Canada,  who  Effect  of 
feared  the  ruin  of  their  business.  It  turned  out  to  be  a  great  help  '°^*'  duties, 
to  them,  however ;  and,  in  place  of  ruining  the  market  for  Canadian  lumber, 
it  stimulated  the  market  instead.  The  lowering  of  the  duties  cheapened  the 
selling-price  of  lumber,  and  caused  a  greatly-increased  consumption ;  and 
the  difference  of  duty  in  favor  of  Canada  gave  the  timber  from  that  region 


ill 


930 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


the  preference  in  the  market.  In  1872-73  the  exportation  had  reached  the 
enormous  figures  of  $28,586,816  in  one  year.  Within  the  last  five  years  the 
sales  of  Canadian  lumber  have  fallen  off  considerably.  This  is  due  chiefly  to 
the  general  stagnation  of  business  the  world  over,  but  partly  to  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  reciprocity  treaty.  The  depression  in  the  business  can  be  consid- 
ered only  as  temporary.  The  exportation  still  remains  at  the  very  high  figure 
of  |>  2  0,000,000  a  year. 

There  is  no  means  for  stating  accurately  the  present  production  of  forestrj'- 
statistics  of  products  in  Canada ;  but  the  timber  cut  and  sawed  into  lumber 
production,  cannot  be  less  than  320,000,000  cubic  feet  in  quantity.  In  1870, 
according  to  the  census,  the  production  was  as  follows  :  — 


t;*.  - 

CUBIC  FEET 

OF  SQUARE 

PINE. 

Ct'F,IC  FEET 

OF  SQUARE 

OAK. 

CUBIC  FEET 

OF 
TAMARACK. 

NUMBER  OF 
PINE  LOGS. 

NUMBER  OF 
OTHER 
LOGS. 

Cl-BIC  FEET  OF 

MISCELLANEOUS 

TIMBER. 

Ontario    . 
Quebec    . 
New  Brunswick 
Nova  Scotia    . 

16,315,901 

9.223.575 

39J.059 
260,658 

3. '44. 5  54 

53.635 

7.360 

96,494 

'.223,444 

3,994,878 

360,825 

116,816 

5.713.204 
5.011,532 
1,214,485 

477,'87 

1,255,090 

3,628,720 

3.533.152 

897.595 

10.590,943 

10,414,710 

2,192,608 

3,088,003 

Total 

26,191,193 

3.302,043 

5.695.963 

12,416,408 

9.3'4.557 

26,290,264 

To  which  are  to  be  added  1,939,000  cubic  feet  of  maple,  and  1,832,000  of 
elm.  The  standard  log  is  twelve  feet  long  and  twenty-one  inches  in  diameter. 
The  above  figures  would  make  the  product  for  1870  about  412,945,903  feet. 
The  production  was  one-third  larger  in  1873;  but  it  has  since  fallen  slightly 
below  the  figures  for  1870. 

The  principal  trees  are  the  magnificent  white-pine  (which  often  grows  to  a 
height  of  two  hundred  feet,  and  affords  a  square  log  sixty  feet  long  and  twenty 
Varieties  of  inchcs  in  diameter) ,  the  red-pine,  the  white-oak,  tamarack,  elm, 
timber.  beach,  walnut,  cedar,  maple,  bird's-eye  and  curled  maple,  and  ash. 

The  sugar-maple  is  a  prominent  feature  of  Canadian  woodlands  ;  but  it  is  too 
valuable  a  tree  for  its  sugar  to  be  felled  for  its  timber.  A  cluster  of  sugar- 
maples  is  a  valuable  addition  to  a  farm  ;  and  so  much  is  this  tree  prized  and 
utilized  in  Canada,  that  the  product  of  sugar  from  it  in  Canada  in  1871 
amounted  to  17,267,000  pounds.  A  single  tree  yields  two  or  three  pounds  in 
a  spring ;  and  a  single  farmer  will  often  make  2,000  pounds  of  it,  worth  ten  to 
thirteen  cents  a  pound.  The  timber-districts  are  all  owned  by  the  government. 
How  right  to  The  manufacturers  obtain  the  right  to  cut  timber  by  purchasing  a 
cut  timber  ii  "  berth,"  or  "  limit,"  at  public  auction,  getting  possession  in  this 
"  '*  "°  ■  manner  of  a  tract  of  land  at  a  cost  of  a  dollar  to  a  dollar  and  fifty 
cents  per  square  mile.  He  becomes  the  tenant  of  the  government  at  a  fixed 
rate,  and,  in  addition,  pays  a  slight  duty  per  cubic  foot  of  squar»;d  timber  cut. 


THE   INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


921 


and  on  each  standard  log.  About  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  timber  cut  is 
square ;  about  forty  per  cent  is  in  logs ;  and  thirty-five  per  cent  is  under- 
brush, or  useless  or  damaged  wood. 

Lumbering  is  carried  on  at  present  chiefly  in  the  valleys  of  the  Ottawa  and 
St.  Lawrence,  the  operations  being  on  the  largest  scale  in  the  former.     The 
large  lumber-factories  of  the  Ottawa,  especially  those  of  the  Chau-   Lumber- 
diere,  severally  get  out  from  25,000,000  to  40,000,000  feet  of  '«toriei. 
lumber  in  a  year,  and  employ  800  men  and  300  teams  throughout  the  year. 
The  Gatineau  Mills  at  Chelsea  have  "  limits  "  covering  1,700  square  miles,  and 
employ  1,000  men  in  winter  and  500  in  summer,  producing  35,-  oatineau 
000,000  feet  of  lumber  annually.    The  business  is  carried  on  at  ^'"•• 
great  expense.     Men,  horses,  and  oxen  have  to  be  transported  into  the  forest 
to  the  proper  point  for  operations,  and  camps  built  for  them,  and  material 
accumulated  for  their  support  during  the  long  season  of  felling  and  hauling. 
Hay  is  purchased  as  near  to  the  camps  as  possible ;  but,  as  it  has  to  be  hauled 
a  long  distance  into  the  forest  to  reach  the  camps,  it  is  never  obtained  except 
at  a  very  costly  rate.     The  supplies  for  the  men  consist  of  salt  pork  and  beef, 
peas  for  soup,  tea,  flour,  potatoes,  beans,  and  onions.     The  fare  is  simple  ;  but 
it  is  of  the  best  quality,  because  the  men  are  fastidious,  and  will  p^^j  ,„j 
take  nothing  that  is  inferior.     Spirits  are  seldom  if  ever  introduced  camps  of 
to  the  camps.    The  camps  consist  of  log  and  board  shanties  capa-    "*"  '""*"• 
ble  of  containing  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  men  apiece.     The  only  opening 
through  the  walls  is  the  doorway.     There  are  no  windows,  and  no  chimney. 
To  compensate  for  the  lack  of  these  architectural  features,  a  large  opening  is 
left  in  the  roof,  which  is  chimney,  window,  and  ventilator  all  in  one.    Three 
sides  of  the  shanty  are  occupied  by  sleeping-berths,  and  the  fourth  by  that 
important  and  much-respected  personage  the  cook,  with  his  tables  and  appa- 
ratus.   The  fire  is  built  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  d.  la  mode  Alaskan  ;  and  the 
kettles  are  suspended  over  it  from  the  iron  crane  in  the  opening  in  the  roof. 
In  this  airy  and  healthy  style  of  house  the  hardy  wood-choppers  pass  their 
leisure  hours  between  the  intervals  of  work.     They  smoke,  read,  play  cards, 
spin  long  yarns,  and  comport  themselves  in  the  most  rational,  law-abiding,  and 
God-fearing  manner  possible.    When  the  camps  have  been  prepared,  the  stores 
accumulated,  the  roads  cut  down  to  the  river  or  some  stream  emptying  there- 
into, and  all  made  ready  for  work,  the  regiments  of  wood-choppers  are  brought 
up  from  the  settlements,  and  work  begins. 

The  land  is  net  cleared  entirely  of  timber,  as  is  popularly  sup-  oniythebeit 
posed.    There  is  no  object  in  doing  that.     It  is  only  the  farmer,  tr«e»  are 
who  wants  a  field  devoid  of  shade  and  of  roots,  who  completely  **  *"'  ' 
clears  the  soil.    The  choppers  select  only  the  best  trees.    The  small  ones  are  as 
worthless  to  them  for  timber  as  freshly-hatched  goslings  for  feath-  Renewal  o( 
ers.    They  pass  the  small  trees  by  :  and  the  consequence  is,  that  '<""*•*•• 
the  forests  renew  themselves  ever)'  fifteen  years.    The  danger  of  an  exhaus- 


933 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


Rafts. 


tion  of  the  timber-supply  is  not,  therefore,  so  great  as  is  supposed.  The  de- 
structive fires  which  sweep  through  these  primeval  groves  in  dry  seasons 
threaten  the  timber-supply  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  does  wood-chopping. 

When  the  trees  are  felled,  the  logs  are  marked  with  a  brand,  or  slash, 
peculiar  to  the  manufacturer  who  is  working  the  "  limit."  They  are  then 
hauled  down  to  the  river,  and  set  afloat.  They  float  down  stream 
(if  in  the  Ottawa)  to  the  Chaudifere,  where  they  are  caught  by  a 
boom  stretched  across  the  river,  and  guided  into  ways  leading  to  the  saw-mills 
of  their  respective  owners,  A  common  sight  in  the  lumber-regions  is  to  see 
a  huge  raft  of  logs  securely  bound  together,  sometimes  containing  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  cubic  feet  of  timber,  coming  down  stream  in  compact  array. 
It  is  organized  like  a  brigade  of  troops,  the  logs  being  joined  together  in 
"draws,"  or  sections,  each  one  in  charge  of  its  special  gang  of  men,  and  these 
sections,  in  turn,  united  into  a  great  raft.  At  every  considerable  rapid  the  raft 
is  dispersed  into  its  component  draws,  which  are  taken  down  the  rapids  singly. 
At  the  foot  of  the  fall  they  are  again  joined,  and  the  raft  glides  on  gracefully 
down  stream,  fluttering  with  banners  and  covered  with  shanties,  and  with 
camp-fires  burning  brightly  on  earthen  hearths.  Sometimes  the  logs  are  sent 
down  in  confused  rafts,  or  drives,  being  carried  down  from  the  heart  of  the 
woods  by  the  spring  freshet,  which  follows  the  melting  of  the  snow.  In  these 
instances  the  logs  come  down  stream  in  terrific  fashion,  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands at  a  time,  tumbling  and  turning  upon  one  another  at  the  rapids,  getting 
jammed  here  and  there  into  tremendous  masses,  requiring  the  desperate 
efforts  of  the  men  to  liberate  them  again  with  their  iron-shod  poles,  and  then 
shooting  down  stream  again  with  the  roar  and  rush  of  a  cavalry  charge,  until 
they  reach  some  broad,  calm  sheet  of  water,  where  they  slacken  their  pace, 
and  submit  to  be  caught  by  a  boom,  and  directed  peacefully  here  and  there  to 
the  respective  saw-mills  to  which  they  belong. 

These  great  forests,  which  were  formerly  esteemed  only  as  the  haunts  of 
game  which  were  prized  for  their  fur,  and  were  threaded  only  by  daring  adven- 
Canadian  turers  in  pursuit  of  these  animals,  are  now  jusdy  regarded  as  a 
forests  a  mine  of  wealth  to  the  people  of  Canada.  They  exercise  a  great 
influence  on  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country.  They  employ 
ii,ooo  men  every  year  in  wood-chopping,  and  the  saw-mills 
employ  40,000  more.  They  yield  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of 
produce  annually  in  the  form  of  ashes  and  bark,  the  gathering  of  which  em- 
ploys another  large  body  of  men  in  profitable  industry.  The  distribution  of 
the  enormous  quantity  of  $20,000,000  to  $28,000,000  worth  of  timber  to 
foreign  lands  annually  engages  the  services  of  hundreds  of  ships  with  their 
A  source  of  '^'"cws  of  mariners,  and  contributes  largely  to  traffic  of  important 
revenue  to  lines  of  railroad.  The  government  derives  a  revenue  from  the 
government,  ^j^gj^ggg^  ^nd  farmers  adjacent  to  the  lumber-districts  find  a  most 
profitable  market  for  their  produce  in  supplying  the  camps  and  villages  with 


mine  of 
wealth. 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


923 


needed  stores.  The  business  quickens  twenty  other  trades,  and,  like  the  sun, 
gilds  every  interest  which  comes  within  the  reach  of  its  rays.  With  icgard  to 
the  future,  nothing  can  be  said  on  the  subject  which  would  be  better  than  the 
following  words  from  a  statement  by  the  Mercantile  Agency  of  putureof 
Dun,  Wiman,  &  Company,  printed  in  January,  1877,  summing  thiiindut- 
up  the  business-outlook  in  Canada:  "This  particular  asset  in  the  ^^^' 
nation's  wealth  "  [the  timber-region]  "  is  gaining  in  value  with  a  rapidity  hardly 
dreamed  of,  and  the  realization  of  which  is  only  a  (juestion  of  time.  So  scarce 
has  accessible  anil  marketable  lumber  become,  that  it  is  alleged  that  plots  of 
land,  now  cleared  farms,  with  all  appliances,  are  really  less  valuable  than  if  the 
trees  stood  in  undisturbed  majesty  thereon.  Even  certain  towns  in  former 
lumbering-districts  would  bring  less  than  if  the  land  they  occupy  were  covered 
with  pine-forests.  Over-production  has  cheapened  this  great  staple,  and  the 
waste  of  years  may  well  be  atoned  for  by  a  few  years  of  cessation  and  depres- 
sion. Nothing  will  eventually  be  lost  by  this  delay  in  realization  :  indeed,  the 
yearly  gain  in  value  of  this  valuable  product  will  more  than  compensate  for 
what  appears  to  be  loss  and  disaster  at  the  present  moment." 


i 


t 


i  I 


MINING. 

A  large  part  of  the  territory  of  Canada  is  valuable  only  for  its  mineral 
resources,  this  being  more  especially  the  case  with  the  region  lying  along  the 
shores  of  Lake  Superior.     The  Ottawa  Valley  is  also  rich  in  min-   ^ 
erals.     New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia  have   iron  and  coal  in   country  in 
immense  quantities,  in  close  proximity  to  each  other  and  to  the  """"■' 
limestone  required  in  the  process  of  iron-smelting  for  flux.     The 
Rocky  Mountains  are  full  of  the  most  important  commercial  ores,  and  British 
Columbia  has  an  endowment  in  this  direction  which  would  make  the  ever- 
lasting fortune  of  any  country  with  plenty  of  population  and  capital.     Never- 
theless, the  mining-industry  in  Canada  is  more  a  matter  of  the  future  than  of 
the  present.     Scarce  any  thing  has  been  done  toward  utilizing  the  vast  stores 
of  mineral  wealth  which  lie  buried  in  the  rocks  and  mountams  of  the  country. 
It  is  not  even  yet  accurately  known  what  that  mineral  wealth  is  in  its  character 
and  full  extent,  except  in  a  general  way.     It  is  only  known  that  the  endow- 
ments of  the  country  by  nature  are  such,  that  at  a  future  day  Canada  will 
bring  to  bear  a  heavy  competition  against  the  United  States  and  England  for 
the  supply  of  the  world's  market  with  iron  and  the  other  commercial  metals. 

Quebec  and  Ontario  have  no  coal  ;  but  there  are  rich  deposits  of  this  fuel 
in  the  maritime  provinces,  in  Manitoba,  the  North-west  Territory,  and  British 
Columbia.     The  principal  mining  of  coal  takes  place  at  present   coai-mine« 
in  Nova  Scotia.     The  mines  there  have  been  worked  for  a  long  of  Nov* 
period  j  and  the  production  is  now  very  large,  amounting  in   1875 
to  781,165  tons,  and  in  1877  to  757,496  tons.    About  one-third  of  the  product 


i 


924 


THE   INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


Iron. 


is  exported  to  foreign  countries.  In  British  Columbia,  154,052  tons  of  coal 
Export  of  were  mined  in  1877.  The  mines  are  on  Vancouver's  Island; 
product.  ar,(i  (i,g  mineral  is  in  very  high  esteem  on  the  Pacific  coast  for 
gas,  factory,  and  household  purposes.  Its  principal  market  of  sale  is  the  city 
of  San  Francisco. 

Iron  is  mined  chiefly  in  the  Ottawa  Valley,  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  Superior.  In  the  first-mentioned  region,  magnetic  ore  of  the 
best  (juality  is  found  in  all  the  mountains  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river.  The  proportion  of  magnetic  oxide  in  the  ore  is  about 
ninety-three  per  cent,  and  the  yield  averages  sixty-nine  per  cent  of  metallic 
iron.  It  is  said  that  this  valley  produces  a  car-wheel  iron  which  has  no 
superior  in  America.  The  metal  has  been  used  for  that  purpose  at  Toronto, 
anil  Cleveland,  O.,  and  is  valued  for  its  tenacity  and  durability.  The  region 
Extent  and  '^  ^^  overgrown  with  forests,  that  the  full  extent  of  the  mines 
superiority  is  not  known  ;  but  that  the  ((uantity  of  iron  which  can  be  taken 
out  is  enormous  is  api)arent  from  the  prodigal  abundance  in 
which  it  has  been  found  wherever  sought  for.  In  i)laces  it  lies  upon  the 
ground  in  blocks  large  and  small,  and  the  strata  of  the  mountains  wherever 
opened  are  seen  to  be  full  of  valuable  veins.  A  fire  which  burned  off 
the  woods  in  1871  disclosed  the  existence  of  a  hundred  million  tons  of  iron 
ore  in  one  hill.  The  only  mines  which  are  being  worked  at  present  are 
in  the  township  of  Hull,  at  the  village  Ironsides.  The  situation  is  somewhat 
remote  from  the  principal  markets  ;  but  it  is  very  favorable  for  manufacturing. 
Labor  is  cheap,  water-power  is  abundant,  and  fuel  costs  scarce  a  song.  This 
region  is  known  to  contain  plumbago,  kaoline,  lead,  and  pyrites,  as  well  as  iron  ; 
but  these  minerals  remain  undisturbed  in  the  beds  where  they  were  deposited 
by  the  volcanic  forces  of  the  early  ages  of  the  world.  In  Nova  Scotia  the 
Production  production  of  iron  ore  is  from  fifteen  thousand  to  twenty  thousand 
of  iron  ore  in  tons  yearly,  it  being  consumed  almost  entirely  in  the  blast-furnaces 
ova   cotia.   ^j-  ^j^^  j^.^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  company  at  Londonderry.     Notwithstanding 

the  great  resources  of  Canada  in  respect  to  iron,  the  manufacturers  still  con- 
tinue to  import  a  large  part  of  their  pig-iron,  rather  than  make  it  at  home. 
The  whole  iron-industry,  in  fact,  is  only  in  the  very  first  stages  of  development. 
About  twenty  blast-furnaces,  a  few  forges,  two  rolling-mills,  and  two  steel-works, 
substantially  comprise  the  iron-enterprises  of  Canada;  and  in  1877  only  half 
of  these  establishments  were  in  ojieration.  Recently  mining  oi)erations  have 
The  Snow-  been  begun  energetically  at  the  Snowdon  mine,  in  Ontario ;  the 
don  mine.  intention  of  the  proprietor,  Mr.  Myles  of  Ontario,  being  to  take 
out  thirty  thousand  tons  in  1878,  and  smelt  the  ore  at  Port  Hope.  He  has  a 
contract  with  an  American  firm  for  tl  e  purpose. 

Silver  ores  are  found  in  the  Province  of  Quebec,  and  have  been 
worked  for  many  years.     Recently,  st'll  richer  ores  have  been  found 
in   the   Lake-Superior  region.      They  have  yielded  wonderful  results.      The 


Silver. 


THE   INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


925 


region  is  now  being  carefully  surveyed  by  the  officers  of  the  government, 
with  a  view  to  ascertain  more  fully  its  capabilities,  (lold,  which,  up  to  1870, 
was  found  almost  exclusively  in  Nova  Scotia  (the  few  ounces  gath- 
ered  yearly  in  Ontario  and  Quebec  hardly  deserving  mention),  is 
now  known  to  exist  in  large  (luantities  in  this  same  region  north  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, which  is  so  rich  in  all  the  metals,  tluit  it  would  almost  seem  as  if,  in  sonu' 
great  war  of  the  'I'itans  against  heaven,  the  gods  had  rained  mountains  of  iron 
and  gold  and  silver  and  copper  upon  this  region  in  the  effort  to  exterminate 
the  rebellious  giants  who  inhabited  it.  Kxtensive  tracts  of  gold-bearing  ([uart/ 
are    reported.     Within    the    basin   of  the    Nipigon,  a   htuidrcd    and    seventy 


Ifl 


CORRUGATED  COLD-QUARTZ,   WAVERI  RV. 


miles  long  and  eighty  miles  broad,  the  u])per  copper-bearing  series  obtains 

its  greatest  development.     Distinct  belts  of  the  rock  extend  along 

the  line  of  the  lake  to  Thunder  Bay  and  Fond  du  Lac  ;  and  in  one 

of  these,  called  the  Lake-Shebandowan  band,  the  gold-bearing  rock  is  found. 

Gold-bearing  veins  arc  reported  at  Cross  Lake,  on  the  Red- River  route.     Rich 

copper-regions  are  reported  still  farther  to  the  west.     These  mines  nearly  all 

await  the  pick  and  gunpowder. 

Among  the  other  mineral  resources  of  Canada  are  zinc,  cobalt,   zinc  and 
manganese,  gypsum,  granite,  sandstone,  marbles  of  every  imagi-   other metais. 
nable  color,  slate,  and  petroleum.      A  magnificent  display  of  specimens  of 


^. 


<>, 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


// 


^  .<.\ 


1.0 


I.I 


UillS  12.5 

|50     "^^  ■■■ 

•^  1^  12.2 

'u  ...  n^K 


1.8 


p^i'-^i'-^ 

^ 

6"     

► 

Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14S80 

(716)  S73-4503 


'tf'^^ 


.^ 


926 


THE   INDUSTRIES   OF  CANADA. 


these  and  all  other  metals  and  minerals  of  Canada  was  made  at  the  Philadel- 
StatuticRof  phia  Exhibition  in  1876.  The  following  is  a  statement,  from  the 
production,  census  of  1 87 1,  of  the  raw  mineral  product  of  Canada  for  the  year, 
the  principal  items  alone  being  given  :  — 


IRON 

ORB, 
TONS. 

COPPBR 
ORIi, 
TONS. 

COAL, 
TONS. 

I'RAT. 
TONS. 

tioLU, 
OZ. 

SILVRR, 
OZ. 

rVRITBS, 
TONS. 

* 

MAN- 

<MNKSR, 

TONS. 

OVPSHM, 
TONS. 

PBTRO- 
LRUM, 
GALLS. 

STONB   rOR 
URB.«8INU, 

CUBIC  rr. 

Ontario    , 

30,7»6 

'.934 

«99 

69.>97 

500 

4.a3o 

".969.435 

a.o93.7«« 

(Quebec     . 

92,001 

11,326 

'4.597 

34" 

2,300 

... 



1,674,362 

N.  Urunt- 

wick  .  . 

3.070 

50 

'  3.50a 

160 

475 

'3.659 

8'o,5$2 

N.  Hcolia, 

3.566 



657.S06 
671,008 

•5 
■4.77a 

W.33« 
22,941 

t  •  •  •* 

160 

"635" 

96.544 
"4.433 

628,171 

Toul    . 

119.363 

13.310 

69.«97 

2,800 

".969.435 

$,206,796 

What  a  pity  that  by  the  side  of  this  modest  statement  cannot  be  placed 
the  figures  of  the  mineral  product  of  Canada  a  hundred  years  hence,  when  the 
mining-industry  of  the  region  will  have  grown  from  the  s(iuads  of 
veiopmentR  the  scattered  recruiting-sergeants  to  a  grand  army  planting  its 
of  mineral  banners  on  all  the  fortresses  of  trade,  and  by  its  achievements  win- 
ning the  applause  and  resjject  of  the  whole  world  !  Of  course,  the 
figures  for  1877  are  somewhat  better  for  all  the  classes  of  product  mentioned, 
except  petroleum ;  but  they  do  not  change  the  embryonic  character  of  the 
indus  .7,  and  would  not  make  a  comparison  with  the  protluct  of  a  hundred 
years  hence  any  less  interesting.  With  reference  to  petroleum,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  product  is  falling  off,  owing  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  wells.  The 
manufacture  in  the  fiscal  year  of  1872-73  was  still  12,168,406  gallons:  but  in 
1874-75  it  was  only  4,009,663  ;  and  in  1875-76,  4,838,215. 


FARMING. 

The  va.st  territories  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  stretching  northward  from 
the  United  States,  and  comprising  an  area  larger  than  that  of  the  Unitetl 
Extent  of  States  leaving  out  Alaska,  and  not  much  smaller  than  that  of 
territory.  Europe,  is  popularly  regarded,  by  most  people  who  reside  beyond 
tiieir  borders,  as  delivered  over  to  the  austerities  of  a  barren  soil  and  an 
inhospitable  climate.  The  old  stories  that  used  to  circulate  in  Europe  and 
elsewhere  about  the  Canadian  winters  have  turned  millions  of  people,  seeking 
a  home  in  the  New  World,  away  from  the  regions  north  of  the  lakes  to  the 
broad  and  fertile  States  lying  south  of  them.  The  Canadians,  it  was  sup|)osed, 
would  have  to  dress  in  furs,  and  live  by  timber-cutting,  trapping,  and  fishing. 
There  never  was  a  more  idle  fiction.  No  doubt  a  large  part  of  the  territories 
of  the  Dominion  in  the  extreme  north  are  characterized  by  long  and  dread- 
ful winters,  short  summers,  and  unfruitful  soils :  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 


THE   INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


9*7 


fact  has  been  repeatedly  recognized  in  debates  in  the  American  Congress, 
that  Canada  is,  in  that  respect,  no  worse  ofT  than  the  United  States,  whose  dry 
and  burning  plains  in  the  Far  West  appear  almost  beyond  the  jxjwer  of  man  to 
reclaim ;  whereas  these  same  plains,  upon  passing  into  Canada,  change  their 
character.  The  Rocky  Mountains,  being  less  elevated,  and  having  a  narrower 
base,  admit  the  passage  of  clouds  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  and  the  fertilizing 
showers  descend  upon  that  happy  region  which  are  withheld  from  the  plains 
in  America.  At  the  same  time,  the  isothermal  line  of  60°  for  summer  — 
which,  in  the  eastern  provinces,  is  no  farther  north  than  about  the  forty- 
eighlh  parallel  —  rises  on  the  Canadian  plains  to  the  sixty-first  parallel.    The 


rom 

lited 

of 

)nd 


CAN/.OIAN   HORSB. 


soil  is  rich  ;  and  thus,  for  a  distance  of  twelve  hundred  miles  northward  from 
the  boundary  of  the  United  States,  there  stretch  vast  plains,  upon  whidi  wheat, 
barley,  the  grasses,  and  many  root-crops,  will  thrive  bounteously.     In  Ontario, 
Quebec,  and  the  maritime  provinces,  the  land  and  climate  are  well   y,,,  ,,g, 
suited  to  agriculture  ;  and  farms  are  seen  in  every  part  of  the  in-   capable  of 
habited  portions  of  the  Provinces,  as  fertile,  thrifty,  and  well  kept  "="'"^"'«'"- 
as  anywhere   on  the  continent.     With  the  exception  of  Labrador  and  the 
extreme  north,  the  whole  territory  of  Canada  is  equipped  with  rich  lands  and  a 
pleasant  climate.     Its  agricultural  capacity  is  simply  enormous,  and  the  value 
of  the  unoccupied  regions  is  incalculable. 

Agriculture  began  to  be  practised  in  Canada  on  a  liberal  scale  about  the 


928 


THE   INDUSTRIES   OF   CANADA. 


time  of  the  war  for  American  independence.  Thaf  war  caused  an  influx  of 
Baginnini  of  population  from  the  States  which  had  formed  the  American  Union ; 
•grieuiture.  j^d,  as  has  been  already  stated,  the  population  of  Canada  were 
rewarded  for  their  loyalty  to  the  king,  both  during  that  war  and  the  one  of 
Immigration  i8i2,  by  special  privileges  in  supplying  the  West  Indies  and  Eng- 
••»«»7»-  land  with  grain,  provisions,  and  lumber.     This  was  a  great  en- 

couragement to  farming  both  in  the  maritime  and  upper  provinces.     After 


CANADIAN  MOWINOMACHINB. 

i8i2,  considerable  immigration  to  Canada  took  place.  The  whole  population 
Population  °^  ^^  region  had  been,  in  1790,  only  about  200,000 ;  but  in  1825 
of  country  what  are  now  the  Provinces  of  Ontario  and  Quebec  alone  had 
'"*'*'■  637,000.     The  country  after  that  filled  up  very  fast.     In  1871 

the  population  of  Canada  was  3,602,321,  it  being  distributed  as  follows :  — 

Ontario 1.620,851 

Quebec i.i9>>Si6 

Nova  Scotia 387.800 

New  Brunswick 285.394 

Manitoba i'>593 

British  Columbia 10,586 

Prince  Edward  Island 94.021 

Total 3.6o*»32« 

incruM  of  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  incomers  to  Ontario  and  Que- 

farmeri.  \^^  ^gnt  immediately  into  farming,  and  agriculture  was  inspired 

with  fresh  life  in  all  of  the  Provinces.     In  1854  occurred  an  event  which  was 

Reciproettr  *  S^cat  Stimulus  to  this  interest.     A  treaty  of  reciprocity  with 

trmty  of  America  was  entered  into,  being  signed  by  the  Earl  of  Elgin  for 

'•**•  Canada,  on  the  5th  of  June  of  that  year.    This  opened  to  Canadian 

farmers  a  market  for  their  produce  such  as  they  had  never  known.    A  de- 


THE   INDUSTRIES   OF   CANADA. 


939 


mand  for  barley  suddenly  sprang  up,  and  the  cultivation  of  that  grain  spread 
rapidly  throughout  the  grain -growing  counties.     Barley  almost  excluded  wheat 
from  among  the  list  of  Canadian  crops.    The  wheat-crop  of  1856  Thebartty- 
had  been  a  failure,  and  fanners  were  discouraged  with  the  idea  ''°P' 
of  planting  it.    They  raised  barley  instead,  buying  wheat  and  flour  from  the 
United  States.    The  war  of  1861  in  the  United  States  then  broke  out,  and  the 
era  of  high  prices  began.    The  treaty  was  abrogated  in  1866,  but  Abrogation 
the  high  prices  continued;   and  until  1873,  when  the  financial  of  treaty  in 
crash  took  place,  or,  in  other  words,  for  a  period  of  nearly  twenty  *'"■ 
years,  Canadian  farmers  had  the  benefit  of  the  most  lucrative  market  in  the 
world  for  the  sale  of  their  barley,  wheat,  dairy-produce,  and  other 
goods.     During  that  period  agricultural   exhibitions  were  insti-  j,,"J"(^,* 
tuted.     Dairy-farming,  with  its  concomitants  of  butter  and  cheese  twenty  year* 
factories,  was  developed.     Ontario  went  largely  into  the  pork-  p"'**'""« 
packing  business.    So  profitable  did  farming  become,  that  farms 
rose  to  the  value  of  a  hundred  dollars  an  acre.    Since   1873  it  has  been 
found  necessaiy  to  seek  a  larger  market  for  the  surplus  produce  of  Canada  in 
South  America,  Europe,  and  the  Indies.    The  market  has  been  j),,,, 
found,  however ;  and  Canada  has  no  more  difficulty  in  disposing  progreat 
of  her  grain  and  provisions  than  before,  though  the  prevalent  *  "'*  *^* 
depression  of  prices  prevents  her  from  obtaining  the  bounteous  profits  of  the 
era  of  war  and  reciprocity.     One  of  her  best  customers  is  England. 

It  is  regretted  that  there  are  no  later  returns  than  those  of  1871  in  regard 
to  the  total  product  of  this  interest.    The  figures  for  that  year,  statittica 
however,  serve  to  give  a  fair  idea  of  what  the  farmers  of  Canada  '"  *•'*• 
are  doing.    They  are  as  follows  :  — 


le- 
ked 
ras 
^ith 
for 
lian 
ie- 


■ 

'I 

22,138,958 
15,116,363 

3.044.134 
3,190,099 

RVB 

(bushels). 

Vi 

CORK 

(bushels). 

fotatobs 
(bushels). 

HAY 

(tons)  . 

It 
il 

Ontario       .       . 

Quebec 

New  Bruniwick . 

Nova  Scotia       . 

>4.«33.389 

3,058,076 

304,911 

«a7.497 

9.461.233 
1,668,208 

«o,547 
396,050 

547.600 

458.970 
a3.79» 
33.987 

585.158 
1,676,078 
1,331,091 

'34.157 

3. '48.467 

603,356 
27.658 

»3.349 

i7.»38.534 

18,068,333 

6,562.355 

5.560,975 

47.330.t87 

1,804,476 

1,735,646 

344.793 

443.73» 

6,247.44* 

10,497,418 

380,004 

151,190 

Total    . 

«6.7»3.87a 

11,406,038 

4».48o,453 

1 
'.064,3583,736,484 

3,803,830 

3,818,641 

'7. '76.054 

A  few  later  figures  are  the  following :   In  1875  the  splendid  wheat-crop  of 
that  year  made   the   production  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  wheat-crop 
30,  1876,  as  much  as   26,834,680  bushels,  of  which  8,600,000  for«>75- 
bushels  were  exported  in  flour  and  grain.    The  pork-packing  of  1876  was 
344,742  head,  making  about  38,000  barrels  of  pork. 

In  regard  to  dairy-produce,  Canada  now  fully  supplies  her  own  market. 


930 


THE  INDUSTRIES   OF   CANADA. 


Townships  un  the  border  of  the  United  States  buy  a  small  quantity  of  Ameri- 
Dairy-prod-  can  butter  and  cheese ;  but  the  whole  quantity  of  l)oth  will  not 
"'*'  exceed  350,000  pounds,  and  is  too  insignificant  almost  for  men- 

tion. On  the  other  hand,  the  export  of  both  of  these  articles  is  now  very 
large,  showing  how  admirably  the  interest  has  been  developed,  and  what  a 


FAkM-KCRNB. 


large  surplus  Canada  produces  beyond  the  demands  of  her  own  consumption. 
The  increase  of  the  export  of  cheese  has  been  due  to  the  attention  paid  to 
the  factory-system.    The  exportation  has  been  as  follows :  — 


VBAM. 


1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 

•873 
1874 
1875 
1876 


BUTTER 
(l-OUNDS). 


10,853,268 
12,259,887 
15,439,266 
19,068,348 
15,208,633 
12,233.046 
9,268,044 
12.392.367 


CHKBSB 
(mUNDS). 


4.503.370 
5,827,782 

8.27  >. 439 
16,424,025 
19,483,211 
24,050,982 
32.342,030 
35,024,090 


THE   INDUSTRIES   OF  CANADA. 


93 « 


The  export  price  of  butter  has  remained  at  an  average  from  nineteen  to 
twenty-one  cents  and  a  half;  and  that  of  cheese,  from  eleven  to  twelve 
cents  and  a  quarter. 

The  principal  development  of  the  factory  system  in  Canada  dates  from 
1871.  The  success  of  a  few  factories  which  had  been  tried  led  to  the  rapid 
building  of  a  large  number  of  others.  The  system  everywhere  introduction 
met  with  the  support  and  encouragement  of  farmers,  who  soon  of  the  (ac- 
came  to  discover,  that  by  clubbing  together,  and  building  a  factory  **'^  •y«ttm. 
to  which  the  milk  could  be  sent  for  conversion  into  cheese,  they  could  save 
themselves  the  expenditure  of  much  time  and  labor,  and  get  in  return,  perhaps, 
a  better  quality  of  cheese  than  if  they  had  made  it  themselves.  The  Province 
of  Ontario  has  been  the  most  active  in  the  building  of  factories  ;  and  its  yearly 
conventions  of  factory-men,  farmers,  and  scientists,  interested  in  cheese  and 
butter  making,  are  among  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  of  the  meetings 
which  take  place  in  the  province.  Canadian  cheese  has,  by  means  of  the 
attention  paid  to  its  manufacture,  now  attained  a  reputation  in  the  commerce 
of  the  world  which  is  unsurpassed.  At  the  Philadelphia  Exhibition  it  made  a 
decided  sensation,  and  the  demand  for  it  in  Europe  is  increasing  every  year. 

The  total  exportation  of  farm-products  from  Canada  now,  in-  Farm- 
eluding  live  cattle  and  horses,  meats,  and  wool,  amounts  to  the  ?«■«»*««!»•• 
very  large  sum  of  1^30,000,000  to  $35,000,000  annually. 


0 

2 

9 
S 


MANUFACTURING. 

With  reference  to  general  manufacturing,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Canadian 
provinces  have  had  essentially  the  same  experience  as  all  agricultural  and 
maritime  states  since  the  world  began.  The  people  have  followed  the  pursuits 
which  required  the  least  expenditure  of  toil,  and  those  which  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  country  suggested  the  most  directly  ;  and  these  were,  in  Canada, 
fishing,  lumbering,  and  farming.  Some  parts  of  the  Dominion  are  still  only 
one  step  removed  from  this  original  and  natural  condition  of  things,  in  which 
the  large  body  of  the  population  are  sustained  by  open-air  pursuits.  The 
most  extreme  instance  is  the  case  of  Newfoundland,  which  has  no  manufac- 
tures except  those  simple  and  necessary  arts  of  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  &c,, 
without  which  the  fishery-business  could  not  be  carried  on.  It  has  no  general 
manufacturing  whatever.  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  occupy  the  first 
terrace  above  the  position  of  exclusively  agricultural,  fishing,  mining,  and 
timber-cutting  provinces.  They  are  supplied  with  nearly  all  the  ordinary 
shops  for  the  manufacture  of  carriages,  boots  and  shoes,  clothing,  machinery, 
iron-work,  furniture,  and  other  articles  of  general  consumption,  which  the 
Provinces  require ;  and  they  have,  besides,  a  cotton-factory  or  two,  iron  and 
Steel  rolling-mills,  large  ship-yards,  and  other  establishments,  the  operation  of 
which  requires  large  capital,  and  great  manual  skill  on  the  part  of  the  workings 


93* 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF  CANADA. 


Province*  of 

Ontario  and 

Queboc 

(artheat 

advanced  in 

manulactur> 

ing. 


men.    The  two  more  densely-settled  Pj.ovinces  of  Ontario  and  Quebec  are 
also  well  supplied  with  the  shops  needed  for  the  production  of 
articles  of  common  use.    They  have  in  addition  made  a  consider- 
able advance  into  the  field  of  general  manufacturing,  and  have 
now  filly  laid  the  foundations  of  that  which  will  become,  following 
the  growth  of  the  country,  a  great  and  thriving  national  industry. 
They  have  cotton  and  woollen  factories,  chemical-works,  distil- 
leries, machine-shops,  locomotive-works,  great  carriage  and  agricultural-imple- 
ment factories,  and  many  other  of  the  higher 
and   more  important   classes  of  establish- 
ments.     They   have   not   factories   enough 
yet  fully  to  supply  their  own  market  with 
cloth,  manufactured  iron  and  steel,  cutlery, 
fancy-goods,  glassware,  railway-material,  and 
many  other  things  which  their  high  civiliza- 
tion demands ;  but  neither  has  their  neigh- 
bor the  United  States,  which  is  far  more 
populous,  and  has  far  more  capital.     The 
Canadians  are  ambitious,  and  are  not  con- 
Annuat  im-     tent  with  the  situation,  when  they 
portation.       reflect  that  they  are  obliged  to 
import  about  $70,000,000  of  manufactured 
goods  every  year  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  their  own  production.     They 
are  anxious  for  a  policy  which  shall  bring  about  a  more  rapid 
people  to        building-up  of  their  own  factory-interests.     Their  spirit  in  regard 
promote  do-   to  the  matter  is  that  which  always  moves  a  free,  intelligent,  pro- 
gressive race ;  yet  it  must  be  said  that  the  development  thus  far 
is  commendable,  and  will  compare   favorably  wi»h  that  of  any 
other  agricultural  people. 

The  following  table  shows  the  degree  of  clevelopment  which  the  industries 
of  Canada  had  obtained  in  1 871,  the  year  of  the  census  :  —     - 


TVaaiNB-WHBBL. 


mestic  man- 
ufactures 


CAMTAL. 

HMPLOVBES. 

87,281 
66,714 

'8.352 
'5.595 

WAGES. 

RAW  MATERIAL. 

PRODUCT. 

Ontario . 
Quebec  . 
New  Brunswick 
Nova  Scotia  . 

$37,874,010 

28,071,868 

5,976,176 

6,041,966 

$21,415,710 

12,389,673 

3,869,360 

3,176,266 

$65,114,804 

44.555.025 
9,431,760 
5.806,257 

$1  14.-06,799 
77,205,182 
17,367,687 
12,338,105 

Total 

$77,964,020 

187,942 

$40,851,009 

$124,907,846 

$221,617,773 

The  product  increased  considerably  during  the  three  years  following  the 
census. 


THE   INDUSTRIES    OF  CANADA. 


933 


Among  the  largest  items  in  the  list  of  manufactures  in  187 1  were  the 
following :  — 


Boots  and  shoes      .       .       .       . 

Furniture 

Carriages 

Flour 

Machinery  and  castings  . 

Leather 

Ships 

Spirits 

Ale  and  beer 

Woollen  cloth 

Woollen  cloth  (home-made),  about 

Sawed  lumber 

Chemicals 

Engines 

Paper 

Ropes  and  cordage  .        .        .        . 
Musical  instruments        .        . 
Carding  and  fulling 


MVMBBR  or 

FACTORIES. 


4.«9« 

854 

2,636 

2,29s 

430 

1,142 

252 

20 

"37 

270 

5.254 


650 


EMrtOYBM. 


18,719 
4.366 
7.798 
4.992 
7,653 
4,207 
6,046 
467 
918 

4.453 


35.681 


1.224 


VALUc  or 

PRUDUCT. 


116,133,638 
3,580,978 
4349.234 

39.'35.9>9 

7.325.53' 
9,184,932 

4,432,262 

4.092,537 
2,141,229 

5.507.549 

7,000,000 

30,256,247 

816,250 

1,044,000 

1,071,651 

769,000 

622,162 

2,253,794 


The  period  of  active  development  of  general  manufacturing  began  in  1855 
with  the  reciprocity  treaty  ;  but  was  not  due  to  that  treaty,  howev  ?-•  except  in 
part.  The  years  of  1855  and  1856  were  those  in  which  the  Grand  Bg^„„,„  ,, 
Trunk  Railway  was  building,  —  a  road  which  it  cost  a  hundred  and  period  of  ac 
five  million  dollars  to  get  into  complete  operation.  The  enormous  ***'  deveiop- 
sums  spent  by  the  Grand  Trunk  Company  airjong  the  people,  the 
employment  it  gave  to  all  the  sjiare  labor  of  Canada,  the  heavy  importation  of 
working- people  from  the  Old  World  to  assist  in  constructing  the  road,  and  the 
shops  built  to  supply  the  road  with  material,  gave  a  tremendous  stimulus  to 
every  business-interest  in  Canada.  In  1859  the  protection  princi-  Tariff  of 
pie  was  infused  into  the  tariff  of  Canada  by  Mr.  Gait ;  and  after  »*»• 
1 86 1  the  farmers  of  Canada  became  extremely  prosperous  by  reason  of  the 
large  prices  they  were  obtaining  for  their  produce  in  America  under  the  reci- 
procity treaty,  th"S  enabling  them  to  l)ecome  good  customers  in  the  purchase 
of  manufactured  wares.  These  things  all  assisted  Canadian  industry.  Facto- 
ries sprang  up  throughout  the  Provinces  like  magic  ;  and  the  period  was  one 
of  universal  activity,  bustle,  and  prosperity.  In  1866  the  reciprocity  treaty  was 
abrogated.  This,  in  its  nature,  was  a  blow  at  Canadian  interests.  It  certainly 
was  so  regarded  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes.  It  cut  off  the  ready 
and  profitable  market  the  farmers  had  for  so  long  enjoyed,  and  placed  them 


934 


THE   INDUSTRIES    OF  CANADA. 


CORLIM  INCINB. 


ViEor  dia- 
playtd  in 
building  up 
manufac- 
turta. 


under  great  disadvantages  for  the  sale  of  their  produce.      It  is  well  known 

that  whatever   seriously  affects  the 
farming  community  quickly  re-acts 
upon  every  other  occupation  in  the 
country.    The  ill  effect  of  the  abro- 
gation of  the  treaty  was,   however, 
averted   by   prompt   action   on   the 
part  of  the  |)eople  of  the  1  )ominion. 
With  true  northern  vigor  they  set  on 
foot  compensatory  measures,  and  in- 
dustry and  agriculture  continued  to 
thrive  side  by  side.     What  was  done  is  referred  to  by  Sir  Kdward  Thornton, 
in  his  "  Memorandum  of  (.'ommercial  Relations  "  submitted  to  the  govern- 
ment at  Washington  in  April,  1874,  as  follows  :  — 

"The  industry  of  Canada  had  been  largely  attracted  to  the  supply  of  the 
American  market  with  commodities  for  home  consumption  as  well  as  for 
foreign  exportation;  and  the  repeal  in  1866  of  the  reciprocity 
treaty,  under  which  so  vast  a  trade  had  grown  up,  rendered  im- 
peratively necessary  ])rompt  measures  to  open  new  markets  for  the 
sale  of  Canadian  produce.  These  measures  were  at  once  taken. 
Under  the  influence  of  the  formal  notice  given  by  the  United 
States,  in  1865,  of  their  intention  to  terminate  the  treaty,  confederation  of  the 
Provinces,  then  under  discussion,  was  hurried  up,  and  became  a  fait  accompli 
within  fifteen  months  after  the  repeal.  The  Intercolonial  Railway  was  at  once 
undertaken,  at  a  cost  of  over  twenty  million  dollars,  at  the  national  expense, 
to  secure  direct  communication  to  and  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  at  Halifax  and 
St.  John  on  Canadian  soil.  Commissioners  were  despatched  to  the  British 
and  other  West-India  islands,  and  to  the  South-American  States,  to  promote 
the  extension  of  direct  trade  between  them  and  the  Dominion.  The  enlarge- 
ment of  the  canals,  and  the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  lakes  and 
the  River  St.  Lawrence,  the  construction  of  the  Bay-Verte  Canal  to  connect 
the  waters  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  subsidizing  of 
ocean  and  river  steamship  lines,  and  the  promotion  of  the  great  ship-building 
and  fishery  interests,  all  received  a  new  and  vigorous  impulse." 

The  building  of  the  Intercolonial  Railroad  was  alone,  for  a  time,  a  great 
compensation  for  the  repeal  of  the  reciprocity  treaty.  At  one  time,  in  1871, 
Conat  c.  there  were  employed  in  the  constniction  of  it  133,694  men  and 
tionof  11,960   boys,  29,426  horses,  and   324  oxen.     The   huge  sums 

juiV*!?"*''  disbursed  in  Canada  for  the  labor  of  creating  this  road  and  its 
plant  did  much  to  atone  for  the  loss  of  free  markets  in  America. 
Another  cause  operated  concurrently  with  those  above  mentioned  to  sustain 
Canadian  industry  during  this  period.  The  state  of  affairs  in  America,  under 
the  influence  of  a  heavy  internal  taxation,  a  protective  tariff,  and  the  specula- 


THE    INDUSTRIES    OF   CANADA. 


935 


tive  prices  which  grew  out  of  the  war,  gave  to  Canada  what  Mr.  Thomas  White, 
jun.,  calls  "  an  absolute,  entire,  and  complete  protection  of  all  the  industries 
of  the  country."  In  order  to  induce  the  maritime  provinces  to  unite  in  the 
confederation,  the  protective  duties  introduced  by  Mr.  Gait  were  lowered 
almost  to  a  free-trade  basis,  —  to  a  low-tariff  basis,  at  any  rate.  But  the  high 
cost  of  labor  and  materials  in  the  United  States  saved  Canada  from  American 
competition ;  and  so  her  industries  went  on  expanding  and  thriving  in  spite 
of  the  repeal  of  1 866,  which  seemed  so  much  against  her. 

Since  1873,  manufacturing  in  Canada  has  encountered  the  same  re-action 
as  it  has  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  The  collapse  of  speculation  and  unset- 
tling of  the  markets  have,  however,  been  met  with  the  same  pluck  in,„uf,etMr. 
and  energy  which  characterized  the  Canadians  in  previous  crises.  »nf  »nttrt»t« 
Manufacturers  have  reduced  expenses  and  production  to  give  the  ""'*  '^'" 
markets  a  chance  to  recuperate,  and  they  have  been  exceedingly  wide-awake 
in  the  matter  of  opening  up  new  fields  for  the  sale  of  their  wares.  They  were 
present  at  the  Philadelphia  Exhibition  in  force,  and  made  a  display  of  goods 
which  attracted  marked  attention.  Their  whole  exhibit  of  agricultural  tools 
was  bought  by  the  Australian  commissioners  for  transportation  to  Austialia. 
This  was  followed  up  by  the  Canadians  sending  a  ship  or  two  to  sydnty 
Sydney  direct,  loaded  with  goods  for  the  great  Exhibition  there,  E«>»»»»iUon. 
and  for  sale.  They  made  a  better  show  in  that  Exhibition  than  the  .■\mericans 
did,  and  they  have  been  active  ever  since  in  working  up  that  market.  They 
have  also  paid  fresh  attention  to  South-.^merican  and  Indian  markets,  and  are 
leaving  no  stone  unturned  to  find  a  place  where  Canadian  goods  can  be  intro- 
duced, and  their  sale  made  to  yield  a  profit.  When  business  revives,  they  will 
be  in  a  most  admirable  position  to  catch  its  first  and  best  fruits. 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  of  Canadian  industries  is  ship-building. 
The  practice  of  the  art  by  that  people  is  historic,  it  having  come  down  from 
the  earliest  times.  The  bulk  of  the  building  is  done  in  the  mari-  ship- 
time  provinces  and  on  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  where  the  facili-  ^""'I'nB' 
ties  for  it  are  better  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  country,  and  where  the 
fisheries  make  constant  demands  upon  the  yards.  In  187 1  the  distribution  of 
the  yards  was  as  follows :  — 


Ontario    . 
Quebec    . 
New  Brunswick 
Nova  Scotia    . 

Total 


NUMBBR  OP 
SHir-VARDS. 


19 

43 
78 

113 


253 


WORKMEN. 


a,i64 

1.364 
2,058 


6,046 


VALUE  OP 
FROBUCT. 


#3S9.»" 
i.3S'.4»6 
1,086,714 
1,634,930 


*4.432|263 


936 


THE   INUUSTRIES    OF  CANADA. 


In  1877  the  number  of  vessels  built  in  Canada  was  508,  of  which  365  were 
launched  in  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island.  This 
•hipt  built  refers  simply  to  vessels  large  enough  to  be  registered.  There  were 
In  tin.  built  in  addition  a  large  number  of  small  boats  for  fishing-purposes 

alongshore,  the  production  of  which  may  have  been  as  many  as  2,000,  there 
being  built  four  of  these  independent  small  boats  on  an  average  to  one  of  the 
registered  craft.  The  figures  for  Newfoundland  are  not  at  hand.  Of  the 
508  vessels  built  in  1877,  no  were  sold  to  foreigners.  The  Canadian  ships 
are  generally  built  of  soft  wood,  —  that  is,  spruce,  hackmatack,  and  pine,  —  in 
distinction  from  oak,  the  latter  wood  being  the  more  common  wood  in  Ameri- 
can ships.  They  are  good  sailers,  and  last  for  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years. 
The  Canadian  merchant-marine  in  1871  included  5(672  vessels,  399  of  them 
being  steamboats,  and  3,019  l>&i'ge>> 


Xl*etr$ifftd  mud  PrimUd  if  Rmnd,  Avtry,  tf  Co.,  SmUh 


irere 
rhis 
^ere 
}ses 
>ere 
the 
the 
lips 
-in 
eri- 
ara. 
tem 


